Many higher education institutions are scrutinized by their campus community and the media for the way that they respond, or fail to respond, to allegations of sexual assault. Tack on the fact that nearly 100 colleges and universities are currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for…

Previously, this author had suggested that a gradual redistribution was occurring across American higher education, especially among adult learners. Local hegemony was at risk, as online interlopers, increasingly from top tier universities and other academic behemoths, offered students choice they never had before without having to relocate. A…

The number of incoming college students who require development mathematics coursework is a national problem. This is an enormous area of concern for a number of reasons--such as the monetary cost to students who must take courses for which they are not granted credit, and colleges and universities who must pay instructors to teach such courses.…

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has had concerns about student debt for decades. Her recent solution seeks to redistribute tax revenue from the richest Americans to enable students to refinance their postgraduation indebtedness; this would allow students to benefit from the low interest rates in today's financial markets. The Massachusetts…

The recent decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that Northwestern University football players on scholarship are "employees" entitled to unionize under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) should serve as a wake-up call for higher education administrators. Part of a trend in which both the NLRB…

Now that members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have voted to approve a sweeping, if not radical, proposal giving the five largest athletic conferences "autonomy" to establish new governance rules regarding a compensation pay package for the recruitment of athletes, some important public policy concerns need to be…

In 2011, PayPal co-founder Peter Theil introduced the first Thiel Foundation Fellows--students who agreed to drop out of college to do scientific research, start a tech company, or work in a social movement. Although this may have been seen as a radical and daring idea at the time, 400 people applied for 24 scholarship awards of $100,000 apiece.…

Two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, killing three and injuring more than 260. The pressure-cooker bombs sent shrapnel at leg-level, leading to amputations for 15 victims. An immediate concern was how to deal with the feelings of school children whose sense of safety was shattered by the blasts. As the city healed, Boston…

When the author first started as interim director of the Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS) based at the University of Massachusetts Boston, he was given three studies that broadly identified specific needs and disparities of Native people in the region. Given that he was at an institution of higher education, his immediate…

According to the recent "New York Times" Education Life section, this was the "Year of the MOOC." That's "massive open online courses." It is what "Times" columnist David Brooks called a "campus tsunami" and Thomas Friedman declared as the "college education revolution." That's because anyone, anywhere can now take a course from some of the best…

Since New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) began publishing tables and charts exploring "Trends & Indicators" in New England higher education more than a half-century ago, few figures have grabbed as much attention as college "enrollment" data. These local, state, regional and national data go beyond simple headcounts of students going to…

This paper deals with the "problem" of student retention in higher education. But unlike most, this paper focuses not on the problem of retention "per se" but rather on how institutional leaders think about student retention, completion, and success--how the way they frame their concerns about retention can give rise to a different sort of…

Every March on campuses across the country, students participate in a time-honored tradition: spring break. For the past 15 years, Bay Path College students have spent their spring break having a truly transformational experience through the "Capitals of the World" program. The students visit the major capitals of Europe, many for the first time,…

The monikers are many: (1) "Generation Y"; (2) "Echo Boomers"; (3) "GenMe"; (4) the "Net Generation"; (5) "RenGen"; and (6) "Generation Next". One name that appears to be gaining currency is "Millennials," perhaps as a way to better differentiate the current generation from its predecessor, Generation X. Millennials are those individuals born…

The U.S. once had the world's highest percentage of adults with a college degree, but has now dropped to 10th, according to the OECD. In an attempt to reverse this slide, a number of policymakers and foundations have sought to make increased degree attainment a national priority. President Obama has articulated the goal that America will regain…