-
With College Costs Skyrocketing, Why Still Go?
As graduating seniors unravel their freshly-printed diplomas, it’s hard for most of them to see anything but a huge bill. In recent years, skyrocketing tuition prices have forced 70 percent of college students to take out loans to pay for their education. On average, these borrowers graduate with $37,172 left to pay back. But despite Read More
-
The SAT’s New ‘Adversity Score’ Is a Poor Fix for a Problematic Test
The College Board recently revealed a new “adversity score” that it plans to use as part of the SAT in order to reflect students’ social and economic background. The mere fact that the College Board sees a need for an “adversity score” is a tacit admission that the SAT isn’t fair for all students. But Read More
-
A New Bill Could Help Low-Income Students Gain Internet Access
In 2019, a year where people spend the majority of their waking hours looking at screens, it is easy for some to take technology, and more specifically the internet, for granted. However, there is still a “digital divide” present in the United States, and for low-income individuals — especially students — life without regular access Read More
-
Who Are Today’s College Students?
When envisioning the typical college student, people may see a 20-year-old fumbling books while walking through a library, or maybe — if they have seen the movie “Animal House” too many times — they think of partygoers decked out in togas. But in reality, college students today are very different from those outdated stereotypes, and Read More
-
Cash Incentives and Campus Coaches Improve Free Community College Programs
Adding cash incentives and educational support systems to existing College Promise programs increases community college students’ likelihood to stay in school and excel, according to a study conducted by MDRC, a non-partisan education and social research organization. Since 2014, individuals on both sides of the political spectrum have gathered in support of making community college Read More
-
2020 Candidates on Free College
Free college, an idea Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made popular in 2016, has already become a key talking point in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. Tuition costs are forcing students and their parents to take out high-interest-rate loans that can take decades to pay off. Currently, Americans owe more than $1.56 trillion in Read More
-
For Success in the Digital Age, Job Seekers Need New Skills
With the rise of technology and automation, it’s easy for some to reminisce about simpler times and be fearful of the future. But what was successful in the past — spending one’s entire education and professional career honing one particular skill — is a dangerous tactic today. Repetitive tasks are now too easy to replace Read More
-
Why Both Democrats and Republicans Support Free Community College
Recently, West Virginia became the 24th state to establish a statewide College Promise program to allow students to attend community and technical colleges for free. This news comes at an increasingly partisan time when nearly every political idea is tagged with either a red or blue stamp. However, the concept of free community college has Read More
-
The Key to Finding Your Ideal Job After Graduation
Today, career pressure starts early for students. The excitement that comes from stepping onto campus for the first time, being handed a dorm room key and meeting neighbors in a residence hall is too short-lived. As soon as midterm exams swing around and career fairs start popping up, those feelings of excitement can quickly turn Read More
-
Universities: Increasingly Stressful Environments Taking Psychological Toll – Here’s What Needs to Change
Every year, millions of international students travel to different countries to study at university. This, together with a lack of public funding for universities, has created an increasingly competitive market in which universities work directly against each other to chase students and the money they bring. This shift was heralded by the introduction of a Read More
-
Why Pay Transparency Alone Won’t Eliminate the Persistent Wage Gap Between Men and Women
No matter how you slice the data, women in the U.S. earn a lot less than men. A typical woman working full-time makes 81 cents for every dollar a man earns, little more than the 77 cents she got a decade ago. Within careers, it can vary widely, with female physicians and marketing managers earning Read More
-
How Higher Ed Can Earn the Public’s Trust After the Admissions Scandal
The college admissions scandal is exposing illegal and unethical conduct by dozens of people who paid or took bribes to get students into the University of Southern California and other elite universities. Concerns about social justice, meritocracy, parental overreach, privileges tied to wealth and philanthropy are rampant. It’s also pointing to another widespread concern that Read More
-
Subsidized Privilege: The Real Scandal of American Universities
U.S. federal prosecutors have charged 50 people — 38 of them are parents — for allegedly being involved in fraud schemes to secure spots at Yale, Stanford and other big-name schools. Prosecutors accused some parents of paying millions of dollars in bribes to get their children into these prestigious schools. The scandal has thrust the Read More
-
Trump’s Executive Order Is About More Than Free Speech on Campus
*Updated March 25, 2019 On March 21, President Trump signed an executive order, which, in part, aims to protect free speech on college campuses by threatening to withhold federal research funding to public colleges and universities that don’t give a stage to controversial speakers. “We will not stand idly by and allow public institutions to Read More
-
Why Universities Need Homerooms
What kind of education can give us hope for the future? As an experiential educator for the past 20 years who focused my doctoral research on school exclusion, this is a question close to my heart. Over 20 years ago, environmentalist David Orr stated in in his seminal essay What Is Education For? that the Read More
