It happened suddenly – on the pages of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Chronicle of Higher Education – read as, industrialist Henry Rowan placed a $100 million strategic bet on creating a new kind of engineering school – i.e. reengineering engineering education for the better. Rowan’s legacy transformed the Glassboro […]
Now that the dust is beginning to settle from the political tsunami created by the campaign vitriol, many folks in the education community are ready to challenge the subliminal messages of building the wall, deporting the immigrants, and removing the safety nets that support the Nation's underserved Latino populations. Significantly, The National Center for […]
Some advocacy groups see student loan debt as not just a financial problem, but a growing social justice concern, as well. The Washington Center for Equitable Growth, which studies economic inequality, has released heat maps showing loan defaults concentrated in zip codes representing black and Latino communities. And in August, 40 civil rights, legal aid and […]
Sometimes, well-known propositions lead to predictable conclusions. But not always. Occasionally, they lead to surprises—and even busted myths. Here’s one: Wealthy, private institutions willing to invest large endowments in financial aid for poorer students do the best job of expanding access to higher education and reversing the trend toward greater income inequality. That statement turns […]
Sometimes, well-known premises lead to predictable conclusions. But not always. Occasionally, they lead to surprises—and even busted myths. Here's one: The best job of helping low-income and first-generation students gain access to higher education and reverse the trend toward greater income inequality in our society is being done by wealthy private institutions willing to invest their […]
Almost everybody ranks colleges these days—old stalwarts like U.S. News & World Report, influential upstarts like Washington Monthly and click-baiting websites that measure everything from campus sustainability to most attractive students to coolest mascots. William Destler, president of Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, even found his university named one of the "geekiest" in […]
The purpose of a college education is to give students the wherewithal to thrive in the future. We know that certain skills can quickly become obsolete. We also know, as former President Bill Clinton said, “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist using technologies that haven’t been invented in order to […]
Higher education is supposed to be a critical first step on the ladder that leads to economic mobility. But William Elliott and Melinda Lewis say that students often leave school with debilitating debt that delays or even prevents any upward climb on that ladder. The Real College Debt Crisis: How Student Borrowing Threatens Financial Well-Being […]
Decades ago, U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell eloquently stated: “The strength of the United States is not the gold in Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction we have, but the sum total of the education and character of our people.” Shortly thereafter, Pell backed up his statement by sponsoring legislation to provide grants to […]
Michael Crow is out to reinvent the public research university. As president of Arizona State, Crow has made it his mission to create and spread a "New American University" model. Using ASU as the prototype, Crow sees the promise of an egalitarian institution committed to academic excellence, inclusiveness to a broad demographic, and maximum societal […]
