Student success is the number one goal at Columbia College Chicago. When an increasing number of students were delaying that success because of financial challenges, administrators took action. New this fall were automated payment plans that encourage students and their authorized users—usually parents—to spread out a semester’s worth of tuition payments. Using plans from Nelnet […]
Over the years, college applications have become increasingly similar, with seemingly generic questions and check-boxes that often leave prospective students to wonder, “What does this have to do with me?” That’s part of what the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success aims to change. The goal is not just to revise a few forms, but for […]
Columbia University students concerned with hunger on campus launched two initiatives this fall—one involving a mobile app—that help provide struggling classmates with meals. The Emergency Meal Fund allows students on Columbia’s meal plan to donate up to six unused meals per semester. Any Columbia undergraduate or graduate student can register to receive a donated meal, […]
What's going on? Marvin Gaye's plaintive question from decades ago echoes hauntingly today. With each new incidence of brown-skinned people being brutalized, it returns more bitterly to our lips, triggered by each new image from Ferguson to Tempe, Baltimore to Cleveland, Staten Island to Charleston the list goes painfully on. The geography and frequency […]
A resolution to the now-standard debate over college athlete compensation was reached, and measures of opposition were quick to follow. While student athletes cannot be paid for their efforts in a paycheck, as of Aug. 1, the NCAA permits “cost of attendance”—a $2,000 to $5,000 yearly stipend given in addition to scholarships, intended to cover […]
As long as there have been cars on campus, there has been frustration over parking. Hundreds of cars spewing exhaust as drivers troll for a free spot harms the environment. Inefficient campus-owned vehicles only worsen the situation. The fact is, old-school vehicle management strategies are running on fumes. In the last few years, parking technology […]
Embezzlement originating from any corner of campus can threaten any college and university. As for the losses, they can be big. Take, for example: Emory University in Atlanta. In July, a former employee received an 18-month prison term for stealing over $300,000. As an administrative assistant in the school of nursing, she misled students into […]
When making decisions about Hope College’s website redesign, project team members found themselves looking at a photo of Adam, an 18-year-old freshman, to gauge what he might think is the most logical place for a piece of content—or whether he thinks the content should be there at all. And then, knowing Adam’s mom is very […]
Congratulations, you’ve landed your first job as a college’s chief public relations and marketing officer. It’s a grand role loaded with ocean-size opportunities and responsibilities. I got my first director’s position in 1988 when I joined the staff at Georgetown College in Kentucky. Up until then I had been a one-person shop. With my appointment […]
For decades, colleges and universities have used big data to track high-risk students and intervene as needed. Now a growing number of institutions are using data tools to track and analyze another group: successful students. It is a radically different approach that many campus administrators believe will help them understand what makes students successful—developing a […]
