Pell for the neediest — or Pell for all?
Pell Grants should be targeted at the neediest students, argues Arthur Hauptman, a higher education policy consultant, on Inside Higher Ed. Eligibility rules have been expanded so much that half of undergraduates now receives a Pall Grant, driving up the costs. In addition, it should be easier and simpler to apply. Instead of FAFSA, parents [...]
Free courses may shake universities’ monopoly
Free or cheap online courses may shake universities’ monopoly on credentials, writes the Hechinger Report. “If I were the universities, I might be a little nervous,” said Alana Harrington, director of Saylor.org, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit established by entrepreneur Michael Saylor that offers 200 free online college courses in 12 majors. Among other similar initiatives [...]
States cut higher ed funds by 7.6%
States spent 7.6% less on higher education in 2011-12 than in the previous year, concludes the annual Grapevine study by the Illinois State University Center for the Study of Higher Education and the State Higher Education Executive Officers. The declines were “driven heavily by the depletion” of federal stimulus funds, notes Inside Higher Ed. . [...]
Again, Obama touts community colleges
President Obama touted community colleges as “community career centers” in his State of the Union speech. He proposed training 2 million people for skilled jobs through business-college partnerships, not a new idea. Obama cited the experience of Jackie Bray, a single mom in North Carolina who was laid off from her job as a mechanic. [...]
Some college, no degree
Thirty-seven million Americans have some college credits but no degree, reports Emily Hanford of American RadioWorks. Marilyn Johnson Jackson could only manage the stress of night classes, two jobs and life as a single mom for so long. She gave up on the idea of ever getting her degree — and then discovered a new [...]
Aids experts discuss Pell reforms
Pell Grants must change to remain viable, concluded financial-aid experts at the The State of College Access 2012 Forum in Washington D.C., reports Ed Week‘s College Bound. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), which hosted the event, released an issue brief on the role of Pell Grants in access, persistence, and completion. If [...]
College is the path to the American Dream
To keep open the path to the American Dream, we must tackle college productivity and affordability, writes Jamie Merisotis, CEO of the Lumina Foundation in the Huffington Post. To increase productivity, institutions and systems must find ways to graduate significantly more students while controlling costs and delivering high-quality degrees. We believe that part of the [...]
Illinois: Fix K-12 math to boost CC grad rate
Illinois isn’t getting enough out of its community colleges, concludes a state report (pdf), Focus on the Finish. Four out of five students fail to earn a certificate or degree within three years, said Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, who visited all 48 community colleges in the state last year. “We’re doing a good job of [...]
Badges undercut colleges’ monopoly on credentials
Badges aren’t just for Boy Scouts — or video game enthusiasts — anymore, I write on U.S. News. The Mozilla Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC) have created a $2 million Digital Media and Learning Competition to encourage the development of digital badges that recognize lifelong learners’ [...]
New Pell rules cut off failing students
New Pell Grant rules will cut off some students for failure to show “satisfactory academic progress” (SAP), reports Community College Times. Many students at Jefferson Community and Technical College (JCTC) in Kentucky were caught off guard by new U.S. Department of Education regulations aimed at ensuring students stay track to graduate. College officials there have [...]
