August 30, 2011
Despite Challenges, the Class of 2010 is Optimistic About Higher Ed
A new survey conducted by Hart Research Associates for the College Board entitled One Year Out asked a representative sample of 1,507 high school graduates of the class of 2010 about their high school experience and their first year out of high school. Of the sample, 43 percent are at a four-year college, 25 percent…
August 29, 2011
Texas Adopts Controversial Higher Ed Reforms
We’ve blogged previously about the controversial reforms being aggressively pursued by Governor Perry and various of the appointees he has placed on Texas higher education governing boards and in university administrations. The reforms were initially developed by the conservative think tank the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), and are centered around placing the student in…
August 17, 2011
Sierra Club Gives UW Top Spot
The UW moved from #4 to #1 on the Sierra Club’s 5th annual ranking of America’s ‘Coolest’ Schools. The survey questions sent to over 900 four year institutions focus on environmental goals and achievements in ten areas (energy supply, efficiency, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, administration, financial investments, and other). Although ranked #1, there…
August 15, 2011
Higher Ed News Roundup
UW Ranked 16 in the world: The annual Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), compiled by Chinese university Shanghai Jiao Tong, places the University of Washington at number 16 in the world. The rankings are heavily based on institutional and faculty achievements in STEM fields, including number of Nobel prizes and Fields medals won, and…
August 9, 2011
Higher Education Pays Off, If Not Equally
Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce has published a report entitled “The College Payoff” which calculates the lifetime median earnings of workers at various levels of educational attainment. As could be expected, the more degrees a worker has, the more they will earn, on average, in their lifetime. This holds true even for…
August 4, 2011
A New Measure for College Success?
Education Sector, an education policy think tank, recently released a report entitled “Debt to Degree,” which measures the ratio of student and parent, government-backed loans taken by students to the number of credentials awarded by an institution per year. Based on this, the report concludes that: Across all institutions and sectors, for each degree awarded…
August 3, 2011
Low Debt to Income Ratio for College Grads in WA
Kiplinger has released a map showing average student debt versus average income across all fifty states, as well as categorizing institutions they have identified as the most expensive and the ‘best values’. The UW comes in as the 10th best value public institution in the nation for 2010-11. The map illustrates that Washington state students…
August 1, 2011
PELL Grant Program Left Intact For Now.
If the US House and Senate approve the debt deal that the Obama Administration and Congressional leaders seem to have worked out over the weekend, the Pell Grant Program will remain intact. Although PELL had been targeted for significant cuts, the deal leaves the current maximum grant at $5,550, and retains the in-school interest subsidy…
July 21, 2011
Is Public Higher Ed in CA Showing Evidence of Strain?
The Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy at California State University, Sacramento recently released a report titled “Consequences of Neglect: Performance Trends in California Higher Education.” The report claims that, although California is considered the world’s leader in public higher education, the state’s college and university system is closer to average—and may be declining….
Federal Scrutiny of For-Profits Spurs State Action
As the for-profit higher education industry continues to fight federal regulation, states are starting to pay more attention to the fast growing sector. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) reports that, as of May, twenty states have introduced at least 34 bills aimed at regulating or supporting for-profit higher education. NCSL reports that eight…