Since the start of the global financial crisis a little over two years ago, many concerns have been raised on how it might affect funding to higher education and whether or not it might hasten moves toward greater cost sharing. While, globally, some steps have been taken in this direction, in most countries, hard decisions have yet to be taken on…

When it comes to creating an international campus, America's universities are far better at welcoming faculty and students from abroad--and sending students to study abroad--than in truly elevating global consciousness. Simply having foreign individuals on campus doesn't make global citizens of the rest. Exposure is hardly sufficient. Like…

In the context of the recent efforts to arrive at a federal budget, articles abound in the popular media and trade publications debating both the value of Pell Grants and their rising cost to the U.S. government. Both pros and cons of the debate hold value. Pell Grants are what enable many low-income families to send their children to college and,…

Connecticut's strategy for higher education focuses on one central goal: to increase student success. While other states in New England and beyond are increasing the percentage of adults with degrees, Connecticut's rate of increase for young adults has dropped to 34th out of 50 states. For a state among the nation's richest and home to world-class…

A 2008 report from the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Culture Affairs of the Maine Legislature indicates a quarter of those who enrolled at a public university in Maine required a remedial course to catch them up to the level where they should have been when they completed high school. Regardless of how hard Maine has tried and how much…

While most in the academic community know about the attempt to rein in the for-profits, few are aware of its collateral damage. In October, the Department of Education (DOE) issued its Program Integrity Rules, intended to protect federal funds especially from those for-profit institutions with high student loan default rates. Well-intentioned…

Thanks to its dedicated teachers and committed students, Massachusetts leads the nation in student achievement and classroom innovation. Massachusetts has made education its top priority because it's the path to a more fulfilling life, a more rewarding career and a richer society. The author has personally experienced the transformative power of…

Many faculty and staff working in higher education lament the increasing involvement of the parents of their college-aged students. They denigrate such individuals as "helicopter" parents, and when the contact occurs in person as opposed to through the phone or email, they call them "lawn mower" parents. The whole issue of parental involvement is…

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…

The author has spent much of his working life studying and promoting student loans. As a good liberal Democrat, he spent years arguing for the expansion of the old Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) which had its roots in Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. His professional life included stints working for one of the nonprofit FFELP…

Since 1964, the federal government has had two successful programs that have helped Americans from low-income and first-generation college backgrounds (whose parents never enrolled in higher education) prepare for and earn their college degrees, helping to stop the cycle of poverty. The federally funded TRIO programs (Upward Bound, Veterans Upward…

For decades, the cost of serving college students, from community colleges to Ivy League institutions, has been a barrier that has blocked access for many who want an education. With a recent massification effort aimed at producing more college graduates for the workplace, the enrollment numbers have increased and student debt load has become a…

For over a decade, educators, government representatives, entrepreneurs, social scientists, economists and journalists have espoused a constant drumbeat on the critically important skills and habits of mind that students will need to possess not just to survive, but also thrive in a rapidly changing and highly competitive world. Each commentator,…

When an individual hears the term risk, he/she usually thinks of the financial institutions whose mismanagement of risk was instrumental in causing the 2008 financial crash. But all organizations, including colleges and universities, face various types and levels of risk, which threaten to harm the institutions and their ability to fulfill their…

While many business schools may want their graduates to pursue social, environmental and economic opportunity, few schools are in fact developing leaders who have the skills, knowledge, and passion to do so. The reasons for this shortcoming have been highlighted by both educators and practitioners. On the one hand, this problem is rooted in how…