The Other 85 Percent

A recent Washington Post article reviews the “ambitious” Obama administration plans to change the entire landscape for student financial aid.  The article specifically cites the problem of students “amassing debt on a scale that approximates a home mortgage.”  I recently posted about increasing concerns over student debt.
The article details how the president wants to [...]

I have repeatedly posted on the failings of the 21st Century GI Bill and its negative impact on veterans.  The VA is insisting on pressing forward with implementation when the evidence keeps piling on that the bill is seriously flawed and unfair.  The article below from the April 29, 2009, Inside Higher Ed provides one [...]

The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) recently released its report on a summit of what it describes as “200 higher education stakeholders” who addressed the topic “Difficult Dialogues, Rewarding Solutions: The Imperative to Expand Postsecondary Opportunities While Controlling Costs.” The report tells how the summit participants developed an overall understanding of the “problem,” [...]

There has been considerable discussion and concern about how well the United States is ranked internationally on the proportion of our population that has a college degree.  College degree attainment is seen as critical for our ability to compete globally and maintain a healthy economy.  The National Center for Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) has estimated [...]

I have made several posts referencing the work of Peter Ewell. Mr. Ewell wrote an article in the November-December 2008 publication of Change, titled “No Correlation: Musings on Some Myths About Quality.
Mr. Ewell leads off with “For an enterprise dedicated to truth, American higher education harbors a lot of myths.” He then [...]

I first wrote about the problems in the 21st Century GI Bill last July. Well, the problems are finally getting some media attention.
When asked by the reporter for Inside Higher Ed who wrote this recent article why I thought that the bill included the disincentive for distance education, my response is that I don’t know.  [...]

A recent article claims that the current report of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) “challenges online learning assumptions.”  But this is not the first time that NSSE has documented that students in online programs report that they are very engaged in their learning, more so than their counterparts who participate in face-to-face programs.
I [...]

Obviously the extreme economic downturn is having an effect on higher education, and there are many articles in the press about immediate and future impacts.  The Wall Street Journal captured the general issues that have recently been in the press, and concludes that the combination of current and planned enrollment caps and tuition increases “will [...]

Recently the annual survey of online learning was released by the Sloan Consortium. The report shows continued growth in demand for online offerings despite the expectation of many, including the report’s authors, that demand would slow.
Institutions responding to the survey indicated that they believe current economic challenges will have a positive impact on overall [...]

An article posted to Inside Higher Ed reporting on this year’s results from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) indicates that many community college students are part of the other 85 percent of college students: the article correctly reports that “many more (students) at community colleges work, attend class part-time or have pressing [...]