Officials at Marinello Schools of Beauty announced Thursday that they are shutting down campus operations. This decision follows the U.S. Department of Education's announcement Monday that the institution lost the ability to participate in the federal student aid program. Read more...

The Association of Community College Trustees released two white papers today. One examines how leaders from the two-year sector can partner with local school districts to close the gap in college readiness. The other paper tracks how Latino students are faring at community colleges. Read more...

The Obama administration plans to ask Congress to approve $2 billion in new funding to help communities fund efforts to prevent students from dropping out of high school and to get them into postsecondary education. Read more...

Students at the University of California at Berkeley are launching a class action lawsuit against Google over the company's automatic scanning of emails for advertising keywords. Read more...

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities this week announced a project to work with 44 of its member institutions to substantially change students' experience during their first year of college. Read more...

One of the most famous professors at the University of Texas at Austin said this week that he plans to ban guns from his classroom, despite a new state law that will allow concealed weapons across campus, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The new law has already attracted lots of faculty opposition, but the pledge from Steven Weinberg, winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in physics and the Jack S. Josey-Welch Foundation Chair in Science and Regental Professor at Austin, gives the cause new weight. Read more...

The GED Testing Service today announced that it will lower the passing score for the GED, a test that serves as the equivalent of a high-school degree. At the same time the service, which Pearson and the American Council on Education own jointly, said it was adding two new, optional levels above the passing score (and the previous passing level) that will allow students to signify college readiness or to earn ACE recommendations for college credits. Read more...

The Association of American Universities is urging Congress to overturn a ban on federal funding of health-related research about gun violence. Read more...

One in five female undergraduates have experienced some kind of sexual assault while in college, according to a new study of students at nine institutions released Wednesday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The study included survey responses from 15,000 women and 8,000 men, and defined sexual assault as including both rape and sexual battery, such as forced kissing, touching, grabbing or fondling. Read more...