In the News

From admissions to outreach and student data collection, the undergraduate journey must be reviewed to narrow unacceptable social and educational inequalities, say Kim Hunter Reed and Ray Belton

The University of Wisconsin System places a high priority on improving baccalaureate completion rates, closing the opportunity gap for minoritized students and minimizing the financial and other barriers to degree attainment for all students regardless of where they begin their college career. In a collaborative attempt to remove transfer barriers for Wisconsin students, the UW…

A useful and overlooked tool for scaling transfer student success and creating more seamless transfer experiences across multiple institutions. The struggles and poor outcomes of transfer students have been well-established in this blog, as well as the broader literature, and need not be restated here. “Fixes” often focus on helping a prototypical student transfer vertically…

If there’s a new “hot seat” in higher-education administration, it might burn hottest at the top. The job of public-college system head has seen a string of abrupt departures, board battles, and contentious searches. Last month, for example, Melody Rose resigned as chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education after less than two years on the…

Systems have the data to track students, the leverage to facilitate collaboration and the authority to create transfer policies, says Nancy L Zimpher The US’ higher education delivery system is leaky at best. We are seeing record declines in enrolment due to a number of societal and economic factors, including rhetoric that questions the value…

Public university systems should invest in training and support for quality teaching, Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and Penny MacCormack write. As the pandemic hits the two-year mark and higher education takes full stock of its impact, the challenges we face are multiple—but so are the opportunities. We face the largest enrollment decline in a decade.…

If picking a college comes down to the financial bottom line, then an in-state public school is often the best deal. “In-state tuition is half to two-thirds lower than out-of-state,” said Mark Kantrowitz, author of “How to Appeal for More College Financial Aid.” Since the start of the pandemic, students and their families are increasingly…

Picking the right college has increasingly become a question of cost. But not everyone is choosing the most economical option. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, college enrollment has continued to sink. For the most part, community colleges are the hardest hit, followed by public four-year colleges, according to a report by the National…

In last week’s Teaching newsletter, Beth McMurtie and Carl Weiman share an email exchange where he accuses college and university leaders of having a “lack of an understanding that there really is expertise on teaching.” That’s just plain wrong.  

Between sky-high costs and hefty student loan debt, more students and their families are questioning the value of a college degree. While about 81% of college-bound juniors and seniors still see college as a worthwhile investment, only 42% of families feel confident about covering the cost, according to a report by Sallie Mae. As a…