The Other 85 Percent

The American Enterprise Institute recently released its study titled “Diplomas and Dropouts:  Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don’t).”  There are parts of the study that are good.  There is an attempt to compare institutions with similar missions, and there is a strong emphasis on success, as in completion.  But, there is a [...]

As reported on the Inside Higher Ed Web site,  the American Federation of Teachers released analysis of ten-year’s worth of data on the decline of faculty who have earned and been awarded tenure. I think this quote from Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress that is the AFT chapter at CUNY, captures [...]

As stated by Inside Higher Ed, reporting on a newly released meta-analysis of research by the U. S. Department of Education, “online learning has definite advantages over face-to-face instruction when it comes to teaching and learning.”  Wow—this is what those of us involved in online learning have been arguing for some time in the face [...]

The premise of this blog is that the prevailing view about who attends college, and how they engage, is way off the mark.  The general assumption is that students go directly to college after high school, live on a campus, and study full time. That view drives public policy decisions even though it addresses a [...]

This opinion piece from the New York Times seems to use overstatement in its headline.  But, the piece makes some very interesting points.
Basically, Mark C. Taylor argues that the “dirty little secret” is that graduate students are underpaid for the work they do in helping teach and run laboratories for undergraduate students.  Taylor’s argument [...]

This is a perfectly silly piece. To assert that a study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities demonstrates that assessment of learning outcomes is widespread but students don’t know about it is really more than silly.  What is the purpose of assessment if students don’t know it is happening, what the results are, [...]

Over the last few months, various public colleges and universities have announced that they are restricting enrollment due to financial reasons.  One example is the University of California institutions.  See this LA Times article for a story about how it is more difficult to get into the UC institutions this fall.  And, the more restrictive [...]

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 [...]

Recently, Steve Vodhanel has made comments on this blog about the problems of student loan debt and the impact that such debt can have on people who get caught in a situation where they are unable to get a job that allows them to repay their student loans.  A recent media interview on Inside Higher [...]

EduVentures has released a timely survey of the attitudes of adults about the value of higher education. It reveals the same level of complexity and uncertainty that consumers in general are feeling as they try to make sense of how the recession is impacting their lives.
While it is often argued that demand for higher education [...]