Campus Finance Briefs

Michigan means business when it comes to going after student loan defaulters. Michigan college students graduate with a slightly higher debt than the national average, and about one in 10 Michigan student loans winds up in default—on par with the national average. However, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit has been far more aggressive in pursuing defaulters than in other states.

Given widespread protests against rising tuition and the impending doubling of student loan interest rates, one might expect to see students picketing on a college campus. But at Fairfield University (Conn.) in May, the shoe was on the other foot, as nearly 100 faculty and students picketed outside President Jeffrey P. von Arx’s annual address to faculty.

The reason? The Fairfield U administration, faced with budget woes and shrinking enrollment, wants to end a long-standing practice of paying professors as well as, or better than, peers in comparable institutions.

Washington and Lee University (Va.) and Unimarket, an eProcurement and eSourcing solutions provider, have signed an agreement to implement the complete Unimarket solution from eSourcing through eProcurement and eInvoicing.

Mount Holyoke College (Mass.) announced that it will not raise tuition or room and board for the 2012-2013 academic year, holding prices at the 2011-2012 rate—and making next year the first since 1968 that Mount Holyoke has not experienced an increase in the cost of attendance.

A new analysis of U.S. Department of Education data by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities quantifies the reliance on federal student aid by students in every state and congressional district.

Time is running out for Congress to take action to stop a scheduled interest rate increase on Stafford loans this summer. In July, interest rates are set to double for almost 8 million students. The average subsidized Stafford loan borrower will pay an extra $2,800 on their loans, and students borrowing the maximum $23,000 in subsidized loans starting next year would pay almost $5,000 more over a 10-year repayment period.

Industry News

Heartland Payment Systems Campus Solutions division has been awarded a contract by the Tennessee Board of Regents System to manage financial aid disbursement and refund management to six universities, 13 community colleges and 27 technology centers. The TBR System manages more than $600 million in annual financial aid refunds.

Since the federal calculator mandate’s October deadline, Student Aid Services has announced that 678 campuses have selected the company’s net price calculators to help families plan how to pay for an education.

The good news: The majority of U.S. colleges and universities polled in the third annual tuition pricing survey from Moody’s Investor Service project net tuition revenue growth for fiscal year 2012. The bad news: More U.S. universities anticipate tuition revenue to drop than compared to the previous year.

Heartland Payment Systems’ Campus Solutions division has been awarded contracts by 12 higher education districts and campuses totaling 20 different colleges to manage financial aid disbursement and refund management with its electronic financial aid disbursement product. ... Higher One has entered into an agreement with Wright Express Financial Services Corporation, a provider of business payment processing and information management solutions. Wright Express Financial Services Corporation will establish and maintain Higher One’s OneAccount for a portion of Higher One’s customers.

With ever more affordable options available to them, a new report shows that students are spending somewhat less on average for their textbooks than in previous years. According to the Student Watch study conducted by the OnCampus Research division of the National Association of College Stores (NACS), students spent $655 on required course materials this year, down from $667 two years ago and from $702 four years ago.