Higher education has long been a primary source of America’s competitive advantage, so government officials would be wise to proceed cautiously. But an examination of the economic forces that have shaped the higher-education market in recent decades suggests that there may be promising opportunities to curb tuition growth.
College Costs Are Rising Amid a Prestige Chase
March 11, 2012 By
The New Student Activism
January 21, 2012 By
“I’m not sure it would’ve happened if Occupy Wall Street wouldn’t have started,” said Marina Keegan, of the Morgan Stanley protest at Yale, where she is a senior. “Definitely people are starting to think more critically about their choices after graduation and how they affect not just themselves, but the world.”
Young Women Go Back to School Instead of Work
December 29, 2011 By
Workers are dropping out of the labor force in droves, and they are mostly women. In fact, many are young women. But they are not dropping out forever; instead, these young women seem to be postponing their working lives to get more education. There are now — for the first time in three decades — more young women in school than in the work force.
Do Expensive Homes Make for Wealthy Kids?
December 27, 2011 By
“For students that start in the bottom fifth of the income ladder, a college degree quadruples their chances of making it to the top. That to me is the most amazing indicator of the power of education to give a family economic security and upward mobility,” says Currier.
At Emory Students Find Funds for Peers in Need
December 15, 2011 By
Emory, like a few dozen other colleges, has moved to reduce its students’ debt, meeting financial need without loans for students whose families make up to $50,000, and limiting loans for students with family incomes of up to $100,000. But even so, some students struggle financially, especially when faced with emergency situations.
So two Emory seniors, Stephen Ratner and Jordan Stein, started the hardship fund. Students in need apply for a grant of up to $500, and a committee of students, faculty, and staff reviews applications and interviews students, if they would like.
California schools get hit again
December 14, 2011 By
Though the size of the cuts may be all California –that is, big — the situation is everywhere. And, as usual, students and their families will likely end up paying the price. From the Marketplace Education Desk at WYPR, Amy Scott reports.
Cuts in State Budgets Threaten Nation’s College-Completion Agenda
December 8, 2011 By
Cuts in state budgets are putting the nation’s college-completion agenda in jeopardy, says a new report by the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama.
The center surveyed members of the National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges, whose institutions’ main goals these days are graduating more students and adequately preparing them for employment. Yet few states have long-term plans to increase colleges’ operating and capital budgets enough to serve additional adult students pursuing degrees and certificates, respondents said. The stagnant financial outlook presents a particular challenge to institutions enrolling one of the nation’s fastest-growing demographic groups, Latinos, the report says.
Cuts in State Budgets Threaten Nation’s College-Completion Agenda
After Decades of Expansion, South Korea Has More Colleges Than It Needs
November 27, 2011 By
With a demographic crisis looming, the government now admits that the expansion has gone too far. “We allowed too many universities to open,” says Sung Geun Bae, director general of South Korea’s education ministry. Mr. Sung points out that his country simultaneously has one of the world’s highest university enrollment rates—and one of the world’s lowest birthrates. “Fifteen years ago we needed all those universities, but times have changed.”
After Decades of Expansion, South Korea Has More Colleges Than It Needs
Columbia Actively Recruits Veterans
November 13, 2011 By
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Two years ago, in an effort to attract more veterans to Columbia, Curtis Rodgers, a dean of admissions, began recruiting at military bases. Almost immediately he noticed differences between the Marines and the typical 18-year-old Ivy League applicant.
Cooper Union weighs charging tuition, raising questions about viability of tuition-free model
November 2, 2011 By
Economists like to say that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and soon it may be harder to find a free college education.
Cooper Union, a well-regarded art, architecture, and engineering college in New York City that has not charged tuition for most of its history, announced Monday that, due to sustained budget pressures, it would consider a range of options, including charging tuition, to develop a sustainable funding model. The announcement has generated a flurry of angry responses from Cooper Union alumni, faculty, and students.
Cooper Union weighs charging tuition, raising questions about viability of tuition-free model
