The twin goals of affordability and diversity dominate the nation’s push to expand access to higher ed, but another critical factor—geography—is drawing more attention for the role it plays in where students go to college. With more than half selecting colleges less than 50 miles from home, there’s growing concern about “education deserts”—localities that lack […]
It wasn't like we didn't get the memo about the gap in oral healthcare in America. As far back as the Surgeon General's report 15 years ago, we knew that quality, affordable, and accessible oral health is acutely disaggregated – read as, if you live in a middle class or high end suburban neighborhood, quality […]
Some colleges and universities don’t need to market themselves to prospective students. Names like Harvard, Princeton and Stanford are the academic equivalent of Rolex, Tiffany and Mercedes. Other schools don’t have it so good. So more of them are advertising these days. But some, paradoxically, seem to do it without much use of what is […]
Much of what we read today about higher education tends to dwell on constraints and reductions, but at least one sector of academe is actually growing. New medical schools are in various states of planning, development and accreditation, while existing schools are expanding class sizes, portending perhaps the greatest increase in this sector since World […]
Community college students who take out the smallest loans default at the highest rates, and many borrowers who get into trouble make no effort to fix their problems. Those are two findings in a new report, “A Closer Look at the Trillion,” which calls for institutional and federal policy changes to help students and community […]
Lone Star College has the fourth highest number of international students among U.S. two-year institutions, but the Houston-area school does not recruit abroad aggressively, says Nithy Sevanthinathan, the executive director of international student services. While officials at Lone Star—which has a total enrollment of 95,000—attend job fairs overseas, its international marketing is a bit more […]
The wave of first-generation and low-income students now seeking higher ed access is placing unprecedented financial strain on the full spectrum of liberal arts institutions, says James F. Jones, the interim president of Sweet Briar College. But while other higher ed leaders acknowledge this and other challenges, many say the shutting down this year of […]
A pair of draft horses often plows the campus farm at Sterling College. Sterling does have tractors—its agriculture students have to learn how to use all varieties of equipment—but the energy-saving horses are just one step in the Vermont school’s extensive and award-winning sustainable dining program. The farm produces about 20 percent of the food […]
In a “post-racial” and “post-feminist” America, do we still need colleges and universities that serve women? If most institutions now admit those previously excluded, isn’t the disappearance of women’s colleges and historically black colleges, oddly, a good thing? Not in my view. The recent announcement of the closing of Sweet Briar College is not a […]
Early-college high schools have inspired a new wave of close collaboration between K12 and higher education as both sides recognize the benefits of better preparing students for the rigors of college life and coursework. High school graduates who’ve taken college courses and experienced campus life—and who may have collected up to two years’ worth of […]
