Go to Pell!
Once a fan of Pell Grants, Ohio University economist Richard Vedder, director of the Center for Affordability and Productivity, is in a Go to Pell! mood. Once a benefit for low-income students, Pell is on its way to becoming a universal entitlement, Vedder writes. Half of undergraduates now receive Pell Grants. Why is this bad? [...]
GIs may pay 25% of tuition
Active-duty military personnel may have to pay 25 percent of college tuition, reports Inside Higher Ed. Currently, the tuition assistance benefit pays up to $4,500 a year or $250 per credit hour. The budget-cutting move would affect more than 300,000 students who receive tuition assistance, especially those who pay less than $250 per credit hour [...]
Enrollment plunges at for-profit colleges
New-student enrollments are way down at for-profit colleges, reports the Wall Street Journal. Companies have pulled back on aggressive recruiting practices amid criticism over their high student-loan default rates. And many would-be students are questioning the potential pay-off for degrees that can cost considerably more than what’s available at local community colleges. “People are just [...]
Rethinking remediation
Complete College America’s new CCA Blog is kicking off with a series on remediation, which is “broken.” If they show up at all — a recent study of Virginia community college students reported that as many as 40 percent of those assigned to math remediation did not attend the first day of class – students [...]
Community colleges add housing
Community colleges are building dorms and leasing apartments to attract out-of-the-area students and provide a residential “college experience.” Half of New York community colleges offer student housing and more are considering it, reports the Post-Star In June, Dutchess Community College broke ground on a 465-bed residential hall. In Schenectady, the community college is working with [...]
Military tech degree designed for vets
Veterans and active-duty military personnel will be able to use their military training and academic credits to earn an associate of applied science degree in military technology at a Mississippi community college. Copiah-Lincoln Community College is “very military friendly,” public relations director Natalie Davis told The Daily Leader. Co-Lin will reach out to Guard members [...]
Dual enrollment isn’t fast track in Florida
Florida’s dual enrollment program — high schools students study tuition-free at nearby community colleges — is producing 18-year-olds with associate degrees. But very few complete a bachelor’s degree in two years, a state analysis finds. That means there are few cost savings. Despite her associate degree from Gainesville’s Santa Fe College, Deina Bossa plans four [...]
Build non-degree paths to the middle class
Can the Middle Class Be Saved? asks Don Peck in an interesting (and depressing) Atlantic story. College graduates with a four-year degree are doing better than non-graduates, whose prospects are “flat or failing,” he writes. But the only people earning more are those with postgraduate degrees. The less-educated middle class — people who made a [...]
Low-income achievers are ‘running in place’
High achievers from low-income families are more likely to end up in community colleges and unselective four-year universities than at elite colleges and flagship universities, according to Running in Place in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Low-income students have improved their academic preparation for college — especially in math and science — since the 1970s, [...]
Pew: Women value college more than men
It’s not surprising more women are going to college and earning degrees: Women value higher education, while men have doubts, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Half of all women who have graduated from a four-year college give the U.S. higher education system excellent or good marks for the value it provides given the [...]
