By Paul Fain. The Higher Learning Commission, which is the largest regional accrediting agency, is seeking to change the conversation around defining student success for today's learners. With the release of a position paper, the first of three HLC plans to release on the issue in coming months, the accreditor argued that "current discussions and measures of student success are based on a construct that does not represent students now enrolled in U.S. postsecondary education institutions." The paper was written by a group of experts convened by the accreditor. More...
Master's Degrees More Popular, Increasingly Online
By Paul Fain. Master's degree programs have grown more popular, enroll more diverse students and are increasingly offered online, according to a new analysis from the Urban Institute. They're also getting more expensive, with net prices having risen faster for master's degrees than bachelor's degrees. More...
Unmet Financial Need Is Rising
By Paul Fain. Unmet financial need, meaning the gap between the cost of college and all student resources that do not need to be repaid, grew by 23 percent between 2012 and 2016, according to an analysis of federal data that the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) released today. More...
Yale to Offer Coding Boot Camp
By Paul Fain. Yale University is partnering with the Flatiron School to offer a web-development boot camp, the university announced on Friday. Students who the complete 10-week summer session will receive two credits from Yale. More...
Extended Negative Credit Outlook for Higher Education
By Paul Fain. Higher education has received a negative financial outlook from Moody's, the credit ratings agency, for a second consecutive year. An expectation of continued low net tuition revenue, Moody's said, is the primary driving force behind a prediction that 4 percent growth in overall operating expenses for the sector will outpace projected revenue growth of 3.7 percent. More...
Broader College Completion Data From the Feds
By Paul Fain. The federal government on Tuesday released an early look at student completion data that it collected as part of a winter 2016-17 survey of federal aid-eligible colleges. For the second year, the annual release from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics includes a more comprehensive view of student success than the typical limitation of federal data to first-time, full-time students. More...
A Curriculum to Copy?
The Degree Rules, for Now
Shifting Focus of Publishers Signals Tough Times for Textbook Authors
By Lindsay McKenzie. Leading academic publishers are signing fewer textbook authors and instead channeling investments into digital courseware. More...
50 Colleges Hit With ADA Lawsuits
By Lindsay McKenzie. A blind man is taking 50 colleges to court, alleging their websites are inaccessible to people with disabilities. More...