As a rising stock market inflates college endowments, the institutions are calling on alumni and other friends for investment expertise and to act as trustees. Skills required to manage an endowment differ from those called for in other investments, and colleges must choose advisors carefully and consider potential conflicts of interest. (MSE)

Developers of the Intelligent Essay Assessor claim that it saves time in evaluating college students' essays and improves the assessment. This and the growing number of other automated grading programs use the same technologies that make computer-based tutoring possible. Many academics remain skeptical of grading technologies, citing the…

Increasingly, lawmakers are treating proprietary institutions like traditional colleges. Only six years ago, the for-profit trade schools were battling to avoid being thrown out of federal student aid programs. As reauthorization of the Higher Education Act approaches, signs suggest the schools may be treated as members of the higher education…

A new Education Department statement on athletic scholarships, intended to clarify the term "substantially proportionate" in assessing scholarship allocation to women, has turned some colleges from institutions in compliance with Title IX's gender-equity provisions into ones that could be breaking the law. How many institutions are affected is…

College faculty have been concerned about grade inflation for years, particularly at selective colleges, but the few recent attempts to remedy the problem have met with resistance or proved ineffective. Institutions feel pressure to grade as others do, and have abandoned efforts to develop stricter policy. In addition, teachers who do distribute…

A National Collegiate Athletic Association study has found that the average athlete on a top college football or men's basketball team enters college in the bottom quarter of his class. Critics say the pursuit of success in athletics is corrupting higher education. Some attribute this pattern to racial bias in testing that skews athletes' test…

Employee assistance programs at colleges and universities are increasingly called on to mediate in department politics and faculty disputes. Issues treated include competition among faculty, elitism, alcohol and drug abuse, favoritism, and work-related stress. Defusing personnel problems before they escalate has proven to be a good institutional…

Federal budget-balancing legislation includes tax credits and deductions, worth $40-billion over five years, to help people pay for college. Provisions include tax credits, deduction of student loan interest and some employer-paid tuition assistance, penalty-free individual retirement account withdrawals, student loan forgiveness, institutional…

A decade after mathematicians began a crusade to make calculus more relevant to undergraduate students ("Reform Calculus"), a backlash threatens to derail the effort and divide the profession. Critics charge the movement has watered down mathematics courses, teaching only superficial use of skills. The debate is fierce and the stakes high. About…

Internet II, a higher-speed information network under development, is supported by almost 100 colleges and universities. It would let researchers develop advanced tools, but would be costly for institutions. A similar but more limited project, the Very High Speed Backbone Network Service (VBNS), has also garnered college support. Technical,…

The ten-campus University of Hawaii system is experiencing a 15% cut in state funding since 1995, tuition rates rising 70% by 1997-98, sharply declining enrollment, rising deferred maintenance, and loss of 900 teaching and staff positions. An ambitious long-term plan aims to turn the system into the leading center of higher learning in the Asian…

Charles F. Feeney has given over $600 million to colleges and universities over 13 years through two obscure foundations, a secret kept for a decade by a small group of people. The foundations, wealthier and more public than previously because of a pending lawsuit, plan to continue existing policies, but take no new grant applications and announce…

In 1996, Oregon State University had the highest athlete graduation rate in the country, at 95%. Neither faculty nor alumni are impressed with the rate because the athletic teams are not performing well. The athletic director is committed to improving athletics while recruiting bright athletes and rigorously maintaining academic standards. (MSE)

The federal Hope Scholarship program, designed as a middle-class tax break, required substantial negotiation and diverse, often conflicting tactics to become policy. The story of the idea's creation and its journey to policy, based on interviews with over three dozen college officials, Clinton administration aides, lawmakers, and others is…

After four months of work, a national panel studying why colleges cost so much has reached the conclusion that American higher education is, for the most part, a bargain. Republicans originally asked the commission to focus on cost containment. The commission's membership is dominated by educators. Panel recommendations emphasize explaining to…