September 27, 2012
Just 43 Percent of College-Bound Seniors College Ready, College Board Finds
On Monday, the College Board released a report indicating that only 43 percent of the 1.66 million college-bound seniors taking the SAT in 2012 are “college ready,” as defined by achieving a score of 1550 or more on the SAT. The College Board claims a student scoring 1550 or higher on the SAT has a…
Supreme Court Case Calls into Question the Use of Race in Higher Ed Admissions
On October 10th, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas (UT)—the first Supreme Court case on the use of race in higher education admissions since Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003. The case asks that the Court either declare UT’s admissions policy to be in violation of Grutter v. Bollinger…
September 26, 2012
Possible Federal Sequester Will Harm State Budgets
The UW’s Office of Federal Relations posted information this morning detailing the federal sequester’s impact on state budgets. Read the grim summary here. The Offices of Federal Relations, Planning & Budgeting, and Research recently collaborated on a policy brief summarizing basic sequester information. Note that sequester updates are available on the Office of Federal Relations’…
September 21, 2012
Is It All About the Money?
As a recent post discussed, if you attend college, you are more likely to earn more money. But, as you might imagine, the financial value of higher education depends on what program you choose and where. Information on the annual earnings of students from different programs and institutions is exactly what Sen. Ron Wyden, a…
WA Revenue Forecast Up Slightly
The Economic Revenue and Forecast Council (ERFC) released its September revenue forecast on the 19th. Believe it or not: Anticipated revenues for the current (2011-13) and upcoming (2013-15) biennia were slightly ahead of the previous forecast. Although only eight months of the current biennium remain, revenues are running $29 million ahead of predicted levels due…
September 17, 2012
Reseach Shows College is Worth It. Again.
The NY Times reports that researchers at the Brookings Institution have summarized why college is worth it. Their chart shows the percent of people at each income level who have various levels of educational attainment. Not surprisingly, the conclusion is that more education opens the gateway to better, higher-paying jobs. A few findings to consider:…
2012 Democratic and Republican Higher Education Platforms
Now that both Democrats and Republicans have adopted party platforms at their respective conventions, what do we know about their plans for higher education? Below is a quick overview of each party’s higher education goals and associated action steps (past, present, or future) adapted directly from the parties’ formally-adopted platforms: DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM GOAL 1: To…
September 13, 2012
UW Slips Slightly in US News Rankings: Here’s Why
US News and World Report released its annual college rankings Tuesday and the UW dropped from 42 to 46 in the National Universities category, and from 10 to 13 among public universities. This drop isn’t as severe as it might seem. As noted by the Seattle Times, this change is a relatively small one. In the…
September 10, 2012
New to the OPBlog
Hi, my name is Becka Johnson. I recently joined the OPB as the Higher Education Policy Analyst and am excited to be contributing to the OPBlog as part of my new position. I earned a BA in Psychology from Whitman College and, this June, I received my Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the…
September 7, 2012
Pell Expenditures Decrease as Recipients Increase
The Pell Grant program, the largest federal student grant program, was expected to be $20 billion short of the $40 billion price estimated for FY12 (which ended July 1). However, the Department of Education surprised many with newly-released data showing the federal government not only spent well under that estimate at only $33.4 billion, but…