Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Students seek to stop loan interest rate hike

President Obama said keeping the rate low would help 7.4 million borrowers save on average $1,000 over the life of the loan.

Millions of college students could be in for a shock this summer when the interest rate on a popular federally subsidized student loan doubles unless Congress acts.

College students on March 13 delivered more than 130,000 letters to congressional leaders asking them to stop rates from increasing from 3.4 to 6.8 percent.

The rate hike affects new subsidized Stafford loans, which are issued to low and middle income undergraduates. They hope to raise enough awareness to get Congress to stop it.…Read More

University pushes for better attendance with electronic scanners

Student ID cards are required at many buildings on NAU's campus.
Student ID cards are required at many buildings on NAU's campus.

Officials at Northern Arizona University are reminding students that faculty members have the choice to use new electronic scanners that track attendance at the campus’s largest lecture halls, but some students continue their vocal opposition to the technology as the fall semester gets underway.

The Flagstaff, Ariz., university will use “proximity card readers” in freshmen and sophomore classrooms that hold more than 50 students, where calling attendance would eat into valuable class time for instructors.

The scanners would require students to swipe their campus identification cards and create an electronic record that they attended class that day.…Read More