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 […]
As a conservative political strategy, "starving the beast" means to deprive an entity of funding to force it to reduce spending. Steve Mims' new film, "Starving the Beast," documents a political and philosophical shift that seeks to reframe public higher education—not as a public good for society, but as a "value proposition" to be borne by […]
Gone is the single cafeteria line in the Maryville University dining hall, with the Missouri institution's students making their way down a familiar row of plates, picking up food not much different from the day before. Enter Fresh Ideas, featuring a vibrant food hall that offers innovative meals prepared in front of students by culinarians […]
The need for infrastructure such as classrooms, student housing, dining and wellness facilities has never been greater at colleges and universities. Teaming with the real estate development community through public-private partnerships—commonly known as P3s—continues to gain in popularity as a way to get projects built on or near campus. Public-private partnerships are a form of […]
"I know the idea of bringing your own device is becoming more prominent, but I still think pulling out a phone, tablet or laptop is distracting. You always lose students for a measurable amount of time, and that's the primary concern." —Dwight Farris, instructional technologist, The University of Arizona "The reality is, students are going […]
All eyes turn to the front of the lecture hall as John August, dean of faculties and associate provost at Texas A&M University, directs his class of 100 veterinary medical students to answer a question on the screen. Pulling smartphones from their pockets, students quickly type their responses into a polling application—a newer version of […]
When Teri McIntyre was a University of Wisconsin undergrad in the early '90s, she volunteered to call alumni to ask for college fund donations and—believe it or not—she liked making those calls. A university development officer noticed and offered McIntyre a job after graduation. "I didn't know if I could spend my whole life in […]
There's no doubt mobile devices anchor our technology-enabled lives. We may not use their small screens on the go, all the time, but when we do, we have high expectations. If a web page takes more than a few seconds to load on mobile, many of us move on to another website. Patience has never […]
Under age-discrimination laws, college professors, like most American workers, can't be forced into retirement. Congress ended mandatory age-70 faculty retirement in 1994, after the National Academy of Sciences predicted the change wouldn't increase professors' average retirement age. But that prediction was wrong, data suggests. A 2013 study by New York University researchers found the average […]
Are universities hiring non-tenured adjuncts—who now make up two-thirds of the faculty workforce—because their tenured veterans won't retire? Delayed retirement is a contributing factor in the proliferation of adjuncts, says Brian Kaskie, associate professor of health policy at the University of Iowa's College of Public Health. Employees who can't be fired and won't retire are […]
