By Paul LeBlanc. In a recent letter to the Higher Learning Commission, the largest of the regional accreditors, the Office of the Inspector General offered a scathing review of the commission’s approvals for direct-assessment competency-based education programs. Read more...

By Carl Strikwerda. A board member recently asked me, “If you can do two-minute elevator speeches on why someone should give a million dollars to the college, why don’t you give me an elevator speech on the biggest challenges facing higher education? Skip the nuance. No laundry list. Just the top six. You have 120 seconds.” Read more...

By Paul Fain. When low-income students take credit-bearing college courses while still in high school, research has shown they are more likely to graduate from high school, enroll in college and then stick with it. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. No consensus exists in American society about the practice of colleges considering race in admissions decisions. Since the 1970s, colleges have been doing so to try to enroll diverse classes of students (and of course under Jim Crow many colleges considered race to prevent diversity). But the practice has always been controversial -- and voters and judges have questioned and in some cases banned the practice. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. As exposés go, it may not rank up there with the Pentagon Papers, but student journalists have captured the attention of Ryerson University, in Canada, and national coverage there with an investigation of differential toilet papers. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. Teaching is the primary source of income for nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of adjunct faculty members, and two-thirds have actively sought a tenure-track position. Some 38 percent have been on the market for a tenure-track job for five or more years. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. Putting a project out to bid is typically part of the public works process, since competitive bids tend to drive down the price and ensure fair opportunity for contracts. But should that process be applied to faculty hiring in public higher education. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. Faculty salaries have stagnated at most colleges and universities in recent years, even as other portions of institutional budgets have ballooned. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. Many liberal arts institutions across the U.S. are feeling the squeeze of declining enrollments, interest in career-related education and other factors affecting their bottom lines. So some colleges are taking drastic measures in programs cuts. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled, 2 to 1, that five psychologists who wrote a memo criticizing the management of the counseling center at Georgia State University lacked First Amendment protections in their grievance. Read more...