Recent research studies have begun to recognize males as a new "at-risk" population. Achieving gender balance means different things to different institutions. Technical programs with STEM-heavy curricula have traditionally struggled to attract female enrollments (though women are fast making inroads into these fields). Large public universities and smaller liberal arts colleges, on the other hand, […]
Need-based financial aid was supposed to give everyone an opportunity to get into college and better their lives and career prospects. But that assistance is not always applied as intended, says the third edition of New America's "Undermining Pell" report. Nearly half of the public, four-year colleges studied now leave the most financially needy students on […]
A campus washing machine should send students a text when their clothes are done, and it can. Thanks to a concept called the Internet of Things, anything—really, anything—can and will be hooked up to a network. A simple bathroom scale in an athlete's dorm room can connect to Wi-Fi and transmit weight, body fat percentage, […]
As colleges and universities look for ways to deliver more online services to students and faculty, they also want the best performance from their IT investments. For many, that means moving to the cloud. Whether your goal is lower operating costs or better application performance, it's still a good business decision. University of Maryland University […]
As highly visible institutions with perceived "deep pockets," colleges and universities are targets for lawsuits arising from injuries and property damage only tenuously tied to the schools' actions. The negligence of contractors, vendors, and professional service providers can and do land universities in court where they pay millions of dollars to defend and settle claims […]
With increasing urgency, today's colleges are being asked—by business, government and the nonprofit field—to impart so-called "21st century skills" of communication, collaboration, problem-solving and creativity to their students. What's often missing from the list is leadership, which galvanizes these other skills and equips students to make informed decisions, take meaningful action, and develop pathways to […]
A bit of institutional self-interest motivates campus leaders when they work to spend money with businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans and other underrepresented groups. In fact, the institution's own bottom line comes into play, says D.M. Hodnett, director of the University of Missouri System's Supplier Diversity and Small Business Development Program. "If we can't […]
The use of race as a factor in a holistic admissions strategy has been upheld as constitutional by the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. UT Austin creates classes of students from a variety of ethnic and economic backgrounds by using race, and the state's […]
When the economy tanked in 2009, the trustees of Hamilton College in upstate New York made a major investment in the future of admissions practices—they shifted from need-sensitive to need-blind admissions, while remaining a school that promises to meet full need. The trustees of the 1,850-student liberal arts college provided bridge funding of five $500,000 […]
Reducing costs, while increasing student retention and success, is a challenge facing every higher ed institution. Providing accessible and affordable course materials is an important part of this complex issue. On that we can all agree. But making decisions based on misinformation doesn't serve anyone well, least of all students. Conventional wisdom tells us students […]
