By Peter Harriman. A slight decline in full-time equivalent enrollment at South Dakota higher education institutions this fall is a small signal of an improving economy, according to Board of Regents Executive Director Jack Warner.
“Students with work opportunities lighten their course loads to accommodate their workloads,” Warner said. “Higher education runs countercyclical to the economy. We are seeing a little bit of that.” More...

By Rebecca L. Sherrick. Most Americans believe that the major problem with K-12 education today is a lack of quality standards. Schools aren't able to effectively impose higher standards, students aren't expected to meet higher standards, and the process of implementing standardized initiatives like Common Core seems more daunting every day. More...

By Anna North. The value of online education at the college level has been a subject of much dispute. But at The Daily Dot, Cabell Gathman considers the role of the Internet in teaching high school kids — and raises larger questions about how online resources might amplify some inequities even as they lessen others. More...

By Susan Dynarski. College costs have been rising for decades. Slowing — or even better, reversing — that trend would get more people into college and help reduce student debt. The Obama administration is working on an ambitious plan intended to rein in college costs, and it deserves credit for tackling this tough job. More...

By Doug Bandow. China’s economy is growing.  So is the country’s university system.  However, the latter still lags behind the U.S. and other Western nations.  With few spots available at top schools, Chinese students increasingly are heading to America for higher education. More...

By Robert Farrington. The financial aid office – the place where students figure out how they are going to pay for school. We’ve talked about the secrets of the financial aid office before, and how students can take advantage of programs that may not be available to them. More...

By Adam Andrzejewski. Salary spending is up 2.5 times with additional billions of dollars spent on a building binge, but IL student enrollment is flat since 2000. Is this a higher educational system or a jobs farm and patronage pool?
Here is what’s wrong with higher ed. More...