- Show Me the Data- The Chronicle of Education reports that the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment has found that few colleges and universities post data on public websites about whether their students are learning. The NILOA’s report, “Making Student Learning Evidence Transparent: The State of the Art,” looked at 200 publicly accessible college and university Web sites and found that most colleges were publishing learning data on internal sites that aren’t available to prospective students and their parents.
- Occupy Education- While Accepted has already reported on the outcry against student loans coming from Occupy Wall Street, Inside Higher Ed looks at a movement stemming from OWS called Occupy Student Debt. The movement calls for 1 million people to stop repaying student loans and for many reforms of higher education, including free public colleges and no-interest loans. While OSD has gotten off to a good start, most experts believe that it cannot be successful. The federal government, which has given a large percentage of these loans, can “garnish wages, dock tax returns and take borrowers to court” to make sure these borrowers pays—meanwhile, the borrowers’ credit scores will be ruined. #Fail.
- Are Universities Holding Black Students Back?- Inside Higher Ed looks at Maya A. Beasley’s recently published book, “Opting Out: Losing the Potential of America’s Young Black Elite,” which examines why black students—even in elite colleges—end up working in less prestigious fields than their white counterparts. Beasley claims that the reason for this phenomena is that black students “face social and institutional obstacles” that make them veer away from the high-status, high-paying jobs. The author believes that universities need to reexamine the idea of black-themed student residence halls and be aware of the “need for diverse interaction” on campus to remedy the problem.
- Presidents Get Rich While Colleges Struggle- The Chronicle of Education reports on the imbalance between university presidents’ salaries and what university professors are paid. A Chronicle analysis shows that a typical private-college leader makes 3.7 times as much as the average full professor. The Chronicle also discovered that out of the 401 presidents they analyzed, there are some that make over 1 million dollars a year. In defense, college officials point out that presidential salaries must remain high, since many presidents pass on much more lucrative positions in the corporate world.
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