Senior
(Citizen) Student Debt Rising
The number of Americans who are nearing or past retirement age and still
have student loan debt has ballooned in recent years, as has the amount of
money the government is seizing from their Social Security checks to recoup
defaulted federal loans, Congressional researchers have found.
Inside Higher Ed, September 11, 2014
Smartphone Use
Rising Fast Among College Students
On a typical day of classes, college students are still more likely to use
a laptop than a tablet or smartphone, according to a survey on
mobile device use sponsored by Pearson. The survey, conducted by Harris
Poll, found smartphone use growing almost as common as laptop use, however.
Inside Higher Ed, September 11, 2014
Project Seeks
to Ease Path to 4-Year Degree for Nontraditional Students
The American Council on Education announced on Wednesday a
project intended to make it easier for nontraditional students to earn
four-year college degrees. Financed by a $1.86-million grant from the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, the new program will create roughly 100
free or inexpensive general-education courses that will earn students as
much as two years’ transfer credit at some 40 participating colleges.
The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 10, 2014
The 'Murky
Middle'
Colleges and universities trying to improve retention and graduation rates
may be directing academic support services to the wrong students, emerging
research suggests.
Inside Higher Ed, September 10, 2014
Tugged in Two
Directions
A surge in new competency-based degree programs has created challenges for
the accreditors tasked with approving them. They must seek to ensure
academic quality without quashing promising ideas, while also dealing with
sluggish and sometimes confusing guidance from the federal government.
Inside Higher Ed, September 10, 2014
New Payscale
Salary Ranking Includes 2-Year Colleges
Rankings week continues with today's release of Payscale's annual
salary report, which rates more than 1,000 colleges on the early
career (through five years post-graduation) and mid-career (through 10
years) median salaries reported by their graduates. The 2014-15
version of the Payscale rankings -- which are controversial in
some quarters of higher education for encouraging overreliance on
post-graduate salary as an indicator of quality -- include for the first
time data on the salary outcomes of associate degree recipients from 349
two-year institutions.
Inside Higher Ed, September 10, 2014
Princeton
Weighs Ideas to Help Low-Income Students
Princeton University may soon take several steps to create a campus that is
more inclusive to lower-income students, including featuring socioeconomic
diversity in freshman orientation and diversity programming, incorporating
sensitivity to socioeconomic status in residential housing assignments, and
forming a standing committee of administrators to consider polices that
affect the educational and social experiences of low-income and
first-generation students.
Inside Higher Ed, September 10, 2014
Opinion: The
college degree has become the new high school degree
You’ve heard of grade inflation? Welcome to the world of degree
inflation. A new report finds that employers are increasingly
requiring a bachelor’s degree for positions that didn’t used to require
baccalaureate education. A college degree, in other words, is
becoming the new high school diploma: the minimum credential required
to get even the most basic, entry-level job.
The Washington Post, September 9, 2014
College savings
on the rise as plans average $20K
The good news is that Americans are saving more than ever for college. The
bad news is that the average amount still isn't enough to cover one year at
a four-year public university.
The Seattle Times, September 8, 2014
Why Sally can’t
get a good job with her college degree
Almost half of all recent college graduates are working at jobs that don’t
require a bachelor’s degree, according to a study from the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York. While it might have been rare to see
college graduates in these low-quality jobs a few years ago, they’re
increasingly the norm these days. That same New York Fed study found that
more and more recent college graduates are taking low-wage jobs and working
part-time while fewer and fewer of them are working full-time at
high-quality jobs. Wharton School professor Peter Capelli tried
to figure out whether the problem in the labor market is because
the jobs don’t require the skills that candidates are offering or because
workers don’t have the proper skills that employers are
seeking. Here’s what he found. The main problem with the U.S. job
market isn’t a gap in basic skills or a shortage of employees with
particular skills, but a mismatch between the supply and the demand for
certain skills. There’s a greater supply of college graduates than a demand
for college graduates in the labor market.
The Washington Post, September 5, 2014
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