#1: Who is the best president for higher education?

[Editor’s note: This story, originally published on October 24 th of this year, was our #1 most popular story of the year. Happy Holidays and thanks for tuning into our 2016 countdown!]

It’s been quite a dramatic election season, with the two main presidential candidates debating on a number of topics; however, due to the theatrical nature of this election, education has, unfortunately, taken a backseat.

That why eCampus News has put together an informal, quick-hitting resource on the two main presidential nominees’ positions on some of the most pressing higher education issues today. Be sure to check out Page 2 for the results of our reader poll.…Read More

#8: What does Betsy DeVos mean for higher ed?

[Editor’s note: This story, originally published on November 29th of this year, was our #8 most popular story of the year. The countdown continues tomorrow with #7, so be sure to check back!]

School choice advocates likely let out a collective cheer when President-elect Donald Trump nominated conservative billionaire Betsy DeVos for U.S. Education Secretary, but the higher education community was left to wonder about the impact on its institutions.

The nomination was felt strongly at the K-12 level, where her advocacy for school vouchers pitted school choice advocates against those who feel vouchers funnel valuable tax dollars away from public schools and into parochial and unaccountable private schools. [Read the K-12 version: “Here’s what you need to know about Betsy Devos, likely Education Secretary.“]…Read More

What does Betsy DeVos mean for higher ed?

School choice advocates likely let out a collective cheer when President-elect Donald Trump nominated conservative billionaire Betsy DeVos for U.S. Education Secretary, but the higher education community was left to wonder about the impact on its institutions.

The nomination was felt strongly at the K-12 level, where her advocacy for school vouchers pitted school choice advocates against those who feel vouchers funnel valuable tax dollars away from public schools and into parochial and unaccountable private schools. [Read the K-12 version: “Here’s what you need to know about Betsy Devos, likely Education Secretary.“]

But the impact DeVos might have on higher education has been less evident in the few days since her nomination, though this follows Trump’s lead, as he himself has been sparse on plans for higher education. [Read: “Who is the best president for higher education?“]…Read More

What is Obama’s higher education legacy?

The College Scorecard, Pell Grants and gap widening, funding help that went slightly awry—if you ask higher education thought leaders, they’ll probably argue that the Obama Administration initially set out to take a top-down, almost Big Brother-esque hand in reforming higher education; and when that faced opposition from the right and the left alike, performed a reversal in tactics that may have done some good.

“Many of the most positive aspects of the Administration’s higher-education policy legacy have actually been reversals of policies proposed—and in some cases enacted—by the same officials,” pens Autumn A. Arnett, a writer for The Atlantic. “The Administration has retreated from the College Scorecard it touted unrelentingly, which was presented as the answer to the nation’s college-affordability crisis.”

According to Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) President Emerita Carol Schneider, in an interview with Arnett, “the Obama Administration’s biggest failure was not in any policy it implemented, but in its failure to capitalize on a huge opportunity to enact meaningful education reform: ‘The big reform that we needed in higher ed would have put learning outcomes [as] the drivers. Instead, we ended up with a more technocratic approach to competency-based learning that I think is not going to be as fruitful as it could have been…’”…Read More

3 tips for faculty addressing the election

By now we’ve all been inundated with pre- and post-election coverage and analysis on numerous media platforms. It seems as if we might never escape the constant barrage of political commentary in both traditional media and social media platforms.

As November 8th approached, I made sure to leave extra class time to allow my communications students to discuss the upcoming presidential election, hoping to align their discussions with topics on my syllabus. My only rule was that they were to be respectful in their comments. I was encouraged by their mature approach of their comments, but also troubled by their dialogue, which often ranged from being frightened to air their views to confusion as to where they could find truthful information about the candidates—this from the Millennials who grew up with technology and have constant access via their handheld devices.

Is too much information a bad thing? Do countless new outlets guarantee diversity or even truth?…Read More

Presidential Election: Who is the best president for higher education?

It’s been quite a dramatic election season, with the two main presidential candidates debating on a number of topics; however, due to the theatrical nature of this election, education has, unfortunately, taken a backseat.

That why eCampus News has put together an informal, quick-hitting resource on the two main presidential nominees’ positions on some of the most pressing higher education issues today. Be sure to check out Page 2 for the results of our reader poll.

[Editor’s note: Under the two images below, we included a link to the PDF version for downloading and easier reading. For coverage on each main candidate’s position on K-12 issues, click here.]…Read More

Should all endowments be on trial?

[Editor’s note: This piece originally published on the Christensen Institute’s blog. Read more here.]

Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee will be holding hearings on the endowments of America’s elite institutions of higher education. Ostensibly, the inquiry relates to how colleges use their endowments, but ultimately the question before the Committee is whether these wealthy institutions deserve the tax breaks inherent in their nonprofit status—this is an exercise that Congress has been through before. But rather than spending its time throwing mud at traditional institutions of higher education, Congress would be better served to focus on how it could support disruptive innovations to bring down higher education costs and reach more students.

There is no doubt: the wealthy elite colleges and universities are very, very rich—and getting even richer. Philanthropic efforts in higher education are highly skewed toward the fundraising machines of elite institutions. In fact, of the $40.3 billion raised by U.S. colleges last year, the top 20 universities raked in $11.6 billion of these funds. For context, edtech—inclusive of both higher ed and K–12—raised only the $2.5 billion in 2015.…Read More

States: Our financial aid needs major overhaul

Although state financial aid programs can be powerful policy tools to defray the increasingly burdensome costs of college, many states’ financial aid programs are not in alignment with strategic postsecondary education policy goals, according to a new report from the Education Commission of the States (ECS).

The report, State Financial Aid: Applying redesign principles through state engagement, examines a variety of state-level projects intended to redesign state financial aid and shares lessons learned from those efforts.

During the past two years, ECS supported states as they developed more strategic approaches to financial aid policy design, notes author Sarah Pingel, Ed.D., a policy analyst in the Postsecondary and Workforce Development Institute at ECS. In 2014, states allocated $11.7 billion to financial aid programs that supported 4.5 million students. States that want to redesign their financial aid programs can apply for state technical assistance through the State Financial Aid Redesign Project.…Read More

3 reasons why higher education regulation is failing America

Higher education regulation is failing America, and the costs may well be no less than those paid for the regulatory errors that led up to the financial crisis, an era that holds lessons for higher education.

Seven million Americans are now in default on their student loans—a number comparable with the five to 10 million Americans who lost their homes during the subprime mortgage crisis. Many more are paying off their student debts, but are stuck in low paying jobs because their degree is worthless or because they didn’t complete their programs. The biggest group of Americans suffering from the crisis in higher education, however, is those who haven’t gone to college at all—either because of the high costs or a lack of availability; these potential students remain non-consumers, shut out of American higher education entirely.

A Design with Fatal Flaws…Read More

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