Cuts imminent, Senate rejects stopgap efforts

Squabbling away the hours, the Senate last night swatted aside last-ditch plans to block $85 billion in federal spending reductions as President Barack Obama and Republicans blamed each other for the gridlock and the administration readied plans to put the sequestration cuts into effect, reports the Associated Press. So entrenched were the two parties that the Senate chaplain, Barry Black, opened the day’s session with a prayer that beseeched a higher power to intervene. “Rise up, O God, and save us from ourselves,” he said of cuts due to take effect sometime on March 1. On the Senate floor, a Republican proposal requiring Obama to propose alternative cuts that would cause less disruption in essential government services fell to overwhelming Democratic opposition, 62-38. Moments later, a Democratic alternative to spread the cuts over a decade and replace half with higher taxes on millionaires and corporations won a bare majority, 51-49, but that was well shy of the 60 needed to advance. Republicans opposed it without exception.  So it appears that school leaders will have to brace for what could be devastating cuts to services that affect mostly poor and minority students…

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Feds’ loan changes hamper black college enrollment

Thousands of students this year unexpectedly had to stay at home, transfer to a less expensive school, or find new money after the U.S. Department of Education quietly changed how it evaluated the credit of parents applying for a federal PLUS loan, reports the Associated Press. The greater scrutiny affected families and schools everywhere, but historically black colleges were hit particularly hard, because so many of their students come from low-income families dependent on PLUS loans. In recent years, as many as a third of all black college graduates had used PLUS loans, a proportion twice as high as the rate for all schools, according to one estimate. The Education Department said the changes were made as part of an effort to more closely align government lending programs with industry standards and decrease default rates. Before the changes, the loan program looked at whether an applicant had an adverse credit history for an account in the past 90 days. Now, the program looks for delinquent accounts during the last five years. While many colleges worried about the denials, others said the changes prevented lower-income families from being saddled with debt they can’t afford…

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At more colleges, classes on genetics get personal

Bakir Hajdarevic didn’t have to study for the most important test in a class last fall. He just had to spit — a lot, the Associated Press reports. The 19-year-old freshman at the University of Iowa took an honors seminar on personal genetics in which students had the option of sending saliva samples so a testing company could use DNA to unlock some of their most personal health and family secrets. The results would tell them how likely they were to get some forms of cancer, whether they were carriers for genetic diseases, where their ancestors came from, and a trove of other information. The class, taught at Iowa for the first time, is part of a growing movement in higher education to tackle the rapidly advancing field of personal genetics, which is revolutionizing medicine and raising difficult ethical and privacy questions. The classes are forcing students to decide whether it is better to be ignorant or informed about possible health problems — a decision more Americans will confront as the price of genetic testing plummets and it becomes more popular…

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IBM, NY to create new technical education programs

IBM and New York are teaming up to create 10 new technical education programs, one each at public schools in different regions of the state, the Associated Press reports. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and IBM say Tuesday the goal is to train students for skilled jobs in technology, manufacturing, health care and finance to support economic growth and development. Armonk-based IBM will provide guidance, mentoring, internships and other support at two of the schools and will help recruit companies to do the same at the eight others…

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SC college: 1 wounded in shooting near campus

One person was wounded Tuesday night in a shooting at a residence hall near a South Carolina college campus, prompting school officials to order a lockdown of campus buildings, the Associated Press reports. Coastal Carolina University spokeswoman Martha Hunn said the gunman left in a vehicle and was still at large Tuesday night. The State Law Enforcement Division has taken over the investigation into the shooting. Hunn said dispatchers received a call at around 7:20 p.m. regarding a shooting at University Place, an apartment-style residence hall that is adjacent to S.C. Highway 544. Students were alerted by email and text message. The school is in Conway, 15 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach…

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Stanford University is 1st college to raise $1B

Stanford University has set a new record for college fundraising, becoming the first school to collect more than $1 billion in a single year, according to a report released Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. For the eighth straight year, Stanford ranked first in the Council for Aid to Education’s annual college fundraising survey, which shows that elite institutions continue to grab a disproportionate share of donor dollars. In the 2012 fiscal year, roughly 3,500 U.S. colleges and universities raised $31 billion, 2.3 percent more than the previous year. The record was set in 2008 when schools took in $31.6 billion before fundraising dropped during the height of the financial crisis.

“We’re climbing out of the doldrums,” said survey director Ann Kaplan. “We haven’t returned to the high point of 2008, but we’re approaching it. I think you can say that about a lot of industries…”

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Judge rejects Lehigh U student’s grade lawsuit

A judge in eastern Pennsylvania ruled Thursday against a former Lehigh University graduate student who sued to have a grade of C-plus changed to a B and was seeking $1.3 million in damages, the Associated Press reports. Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano made the ruling in the lawsuit filed by Megan Thode, a report by The Express-Times of Easton (http://bit.ly/VXlYj2) said. Thode was seeking damages over the C-plus grade in a 2009 graduate-level therapist internship course she alleged was retaliation because she supports gay marriage. She said the grade is preventing her from becoming a licensed therapist. An expert estimated Thode would suffer $1.3 million in damages in earnings she would never make as a result over the course of her career. Lehigh University lawyer Neil Hamburg argued that professors, not judges or juries, possess the expertise required to make academic decisions. “The grades are what the academics in the academic institutions say they are,” Hamburg said…

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Pa. grad student sues, says C-plus cost her $1.3M

Graduate student Megan Thode wasn’t happy about the C-plus she received for one class, saying the mediocre grade kept her from getting her desired degree and becoming a licensed therapist — and, as a result, cost her $1.3 million in lost earnings, the Associated Press reports. Now Thode is suing her professor and Lehigh University in Bethlehem, claiming monetary damages and seeking a grade change. A judge is hearing testimony in the case this week in Northampton County Court. Lehigh and the professor contend her lawsuit is without merit. Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano declined to dismiss the suit Wednesday, ruling that there was enough evidence for the suit to proceed, according to The (Easton) Express-Times (http://bit.ly/Ye2Aj1). Thode took the class in the fall of 2009. Her instructor, Amanda Eckhardt, testified this week that she stood by the grade, saying Thode failed to behave professionally and thus earned zero out of 25 points in class participation, bumping her down a full letter grade…

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College credit recommended for free online courses

Students may soon be able to receive college credit for the free online courses that are reshaping higher education, the Associated Press reports. The American Council on Education announced Thursday that it is recommending degree credit for five undergraduate courses offered by Coursera, a Palo Alto-based company that provides “massive open online courses” from leading universities.

“A rigorous evaluation of these courses showed that they meet ACE’s standards for college credit recommendations,” Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, whose recommendations are used by colleges and universities to determine whether to offer credit for nontraditional courses…

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Hawaii lawmakers investigate university tuition

Hawaii lawmakers are investigating the rising cost of tuition at the University of Hawaii and are pushing to reform the system’s board of regents, the Associated Press reports. Senators in the Committee on Higher Education approved a proposed constitutional amendment Tuesday giving the governor the power to nominate members of the board of regents without the need for the current advisory council. The bill was one of several that senators moved forward Tuesday that would give state officials more control over the university board of regents. Lawmakers have been critically examining university finances after the university lost $200,000 last year to someone promoting a fake Stevie Wonder concert…

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