Thirty percent of higher ed students today are the first in their family to attend college, while 24 percent—4.5 million—are both first-generation and low-income. That means a significant portion of students is at risk of dropping out, as National Center for Education Statistics data shows that only 11 percent of low-income, first-generation students graduated within […]
The athletic department at Columbia College in Missouri will have tripled in size by the 2016-17 school year. But it has no plans to field a football team, says Cindy Potter, the associate director of athletics. In 2012, the college—which has about 1,100 students attending class on its "day" campus and another 25,000-plus in various […]
The U.S. Department of Education has been working to establish the Postsecondary Institution Rating System (PIRS) since President Obama announced it in August 2013. The proposed system is planned to provide consumers of higher education with objective data and information that helps students make educated decisions between different institutions. It also aims to improve the […]
A self-described "space nerd," Laurie Leshin brings an infectious sense of wonderment and discovery to almost everything she does. Leshin will share that enthusiasm as a keynote speaker at UBTech in Orlando (June 15 to 17), discussing "How innovation is unleashed by asking unanswerable questions." As president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (and the first female […]
When a student gets accepted to a top-10 ranked program like the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, they’re entering the most challenging, rigorous educational environment they’ll ever experience. But, due to the fact that the school is one of the earliest pioneers and most prolific users of academic video, it’s also one of the […]
Complying with recordkeeping laws and information security requirements can be made easier with electronic document management. This is critical for higher ed institutions that are struggling to do more with less. This web seminar, originally broadcast on April 22, 2014, featured leaders from the Washington Student Achievement Council, a state agency working with colleges and […]
The concept of campus-as-merchant is a hard one to grasp. Sure, there’s the campus store, but the college or university itself? For those involved in securing credit card data used in higher ed transactions, that merchant status is not only a good-to-know fact, but one that must be acted on. Banks are beginning to exercise […]
The United University Professions (UUP), SUNY’s labor union, has defended funding for public higher education—which has decreased nationwide by about 25 percent since the Great Recession. (Only two states, Alaska and North Dakota, have increased funding.) “Funding impacts classroom sizes, ability for students to afford college—it means that because states aren’t investing, there is less […]
The temperature around higher education unionizing efforts often runs hot. Officials are reluctant to have outside labor groups on campus or to relinquish control over important personnel decisions—including pay, benefits and other sensitive employee issues. But should higher ed leaders fear unionization efforts? One primary area of worry for institutions whose employees are beginning to […]
All offices involved in student success are now, for the first time, housed together in the new 230,000-square-foot University Crossing student center. The building also links the South, North and East campuses with the city’s downtown business district and cultural attractions. Challenge Historically, University of Massachusetts, Lowell comprised of three separate campuses geographically divided by […]
