By Meris Stansbury - . Faculty across institutions aren’t using OER—and the few who are often don’t know it, says a new industry report; leading to concerns about definition and copyright understanding. More...
5 policy gaps hindering higher education’s success
By Meris Stansbury - . Is it really a skills gap that’s preventing college graduates from getting jobs, or is it a policy gap in how higher-ed institutions are governed and funded?
It’s the policy gap, says author of a new report, Mary Alice McCarthy, a senior policy analyst in the Education Policy Program at New America. More...
Report: Mass. higher ed system needs billions
By Gintautas Dumcius. The Massachusetts Legislature should pass a higher education borrowing bill to meet $4.2 billion in deferred maintenance needs, add $95 million a year for five years to public higher education institutions' coffers, and boost student financial assistance by $210 million, a state higher education commission said in its report Tuesday. The report also called for state higher education officials, including the commissioner, the chair of the board of higher education and the secretary of education, to work with community college representatives to refine a performance-based funding formula, and create one for the state universities. Read more...
Shut Out of Higher Education
By Brent Staples. The United States set out 40 years ago to ensure that people who qualified academically for higher education would not be turned away for financial reasons and would have access to college degrees that allowed them to move up on the social ladder. This plan required the states to subsidize public colleges and universities to keep tuition affordable, while the federal government furnished the poorest students with Pell Grants that largely covered the remaining costs. More...
Online Programs Attract Fewer Minority Undergrads
By Devon Haynie. But black students enrolled in online bachelor's programs at a higher percentage than at brick-and-mortar schools in 2013-2014. Although online students come from different backgrounds, statistically they tend to fit a certain profile. Read more...STEM programs difficult to judge
By Alice Culp. In 2012, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education
set a goal that 60 percent of Hoosiers obtain credentials or degrees beyond high school by 2025. It based its goal on a Georgetown University study, which suggested that more than 60 percent of expected Indiana job vacancies in 2020 would require postsecondary education. More...
Deepest state cuts led to highest tuitions for lower-income students
By . State funding for higher education isn’t what it used to be. The fact that most public colleges and universities took a significant hit when state revenues fell during the recession is well documented. Five years into the economic recovery, 31 states have yet to return to funding higher education at the same levels they did in 2007. Even in many states where funding has bounced back, increasing enrollment has kept per-student spending from rising. More...
King of Free Online Courses May Soon Add Videochats With Professors
By Cade Metz. Coursera is one of the driving forces behind the MOOC, the massive open online course, a way for enormous numbers of people to experience university courses over the internet. But the company may soon delve into something not so massive. More...
Rethinking the Lecture: In the Information Age, It’s Time to Flip the Classroom
By . It’s been my experience that too much of the same thing tends to end badly — and higher education is no exception. It was that way in college when my roommate Chris decided his life’s work was to take the Doodle Challenge — at the time, beating the record of 19 burgers within a 2.5 hour session at The Yankee Doodle, the local greasy spoon. More...
Obama administration rules target for-profit colleges
By . The Obama administration on Thursday will publish new regulations intended to target for-profit career colleges that leave students with debts they cannot repay.
The U.S. Department of Education rules will sanction schools with students who carry too much debt compared with their earnings after graduation. Programs that fail to meet debt-to-income requirements for two out of three consecutive years would lose eligibility for federal student loans and grants -- the primary revenue stream at for-profit colleges. More...