By Bruce Horovitz. Starbucks is expanding its college tuition reimbursement program for workers. The coffee chain will now cover the entire cost of an online undergraduate degree.
Starbucks soon may find itself almost as famous for college diplomas as it is for java. The coffee giant late Monday announced it was doubling its free college tuition plan for employees to cover a full four years of college instead of two. It also will offer employees faster tuition reimbursement — after every semester instead of after completing 21 class credits. More...

By Liz Weston. A list of schools that are under the microscope for financial reasons was recently made public. How risky is it to attend a troubled school?
Regulators recently made public a once secret watch list of around 550 colleges under scrutiny for financial irregularities. More...

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What will it take to redesign and reinvigorate American higher education?
Pretty much anyone you talk to in America today has an opinion about what’s wrong with our universities. Parents think they’re too expensive. Recent graduates fear being crushed by debt and ending up untrained for the current job market. Professors worry that entering students have not been adequately prepared by their high schools. Economists and sociologists point to troubling studies about a lack of diversity—in both income and race—on American campuses. In Silicon Valley, they talk about MOOCs and STEM, flipped classrooms and gamification. And in Washington, D.C., they talk about federal aid and compliance, Title IX and irresponsible lending. More...

By Milan Simonich. In a largely unheralded move in January, the Board of Regents of Northern New Mexico College voted to change the school’s name to “Northern New Mexico University.” Officials at the time said the change would better reflect the school’s academic offerings, and would help the institution be regarded in the same light as the state’s other regional universities, such as Western New Mexico in Silver City and New Mexico Highlands in Las Vegas. More...