As has become tradition at EWA’s higher education conferences,
Inside Higher Ed Co-founder and Editor Scott Jaschik offered a
series of story ideas for reporters to pursue this academic year.
Innovation
What does the term “innovation” mean in regard to higher
education, and should journalists take colleges’ definitions at
face value?
“A bad attitude is like a bad tire: You can’t go anywhere until
you change it,” Arizona State University sophomore Ricardo
Nieland told a roomful of journalists gathered on the campus for
a seminar on innovation in higher
education earlier this month.
Nieland was speaking on a panel about college students who are
among the first generation of family members to pursue a degree.
The session addressed the struggles many of these young adults
encounter in higher education.
Two numbers haunt the college landscape: $1.3 trillion and 40
percent.
The first is the ever-increasing debt Americans are shouldering
to pay off the cost of a degree. But a growing chorus of experts
believes that extraordinary sum obscures another crisis: For
many, those debts wouldn’t be as devastating had they earned a
degree. But only 40 percent of Americans complete a bachelor’s
degree in four years.
The upshot is that millions of Americans earning meager wages are
on the hook for thousands of dollars with almost nothing to show
for it.
“There’s a lot of talk about the student debt crisis and I’m
going to tell you that I don’t think there really is a student
debt crisis,” said Debbie Cochrane, vice president at The
Institute for College Access and Success. “What there are are
multiple student debt crises.”
You’d be forgiven for thinking higher-education reporting is a
game of billion-dollar bingo, with each aspect of the beat pegged
to insane sums, such as the $1.3 trillion in student loan debt.
One way of answering whether students are getting a fair shake is
to see if the colleges that educate them are spending the
institution’s resources in ways that enable more college-goers to
afford the cost of a postsecondary degree.
With 52 data points over 52 weeks, the University of Pennsylvania
Center for
Minority-Serving Institutions hopes to raise public awareness
about these types of colleges and the return on
investment they can offer.
Millions of high school graduates show up for the first day of
college academically unprepared for the rigors of higher ed. And
that’s where remedial (or “developmental”) education comes into
play. Students don’t get academic credit for these classes even
though they still cost them in time and money. And there’s
another problem: being placed in even one remedial class as a
freshman — particularly at a community college — can
significantly reduce a student’s odds of ever completing a
degree.
The number of Hispanics taking the ACT exam jumped 50 percent
from 2011 to 2015. But only 15 percent of those test takers
are scoring well enough to be deemed college-ready in all four
subjects, compared to 28 percent of other students.
These figures starkly reflect “the gap between the level of
aspiration and the level of readiness” required to thrive in
college, said Juan Garcia,
senior director of the ACT’s Office for the Advancement of
Underserved Learners.
Margarita is a four-year-old girl living in East Harlem. She
speaks Spanish at home with her Mexican-born parents, is
obedient, well-behaved and plays well with kids her age,
younger and older.
The Obama administration is rolling out an experimental program
that will allow employers and training programs to partner with
accredited universities to teach students work-related skills.
This pilot will enable students to receive federal financial aid
for programs such as coding boot camps that typically are
ineligible for these funds.
Call them the top four percent: elite private colleges and
universities that together sit atop three-quarters of the higher
education terrain’s endowment wealth.
Among that group of 138 of the nation’s wealthiest colleges and
universities, four in five charge poor students so much that
they’d need to surrender 60 percent or more of their household
incomes just to attend, even after financial aid is considered.
Nearly half have enrollment rates of low-income students that
place them in the bottom 5 percent nationally for such
enrollment.
‘Ban the Box,’ Campus Carry and More Higher Ed Story Ideas for Reporters
As has become tradition at EWA’s higher education conferences, Inside Higher Ed Co-founder and Editor Scott Jaschik offered a series of story ideas for reporters to pursue this academic year.
Innovation
What does the term “innovation” mean in regard to higher education, and should journalists take colleges’ definitions at face value?
First in the Family: What Works for First-Generation College Students
“A bad attitude is like a bad tire: You can’t go anywhere until you change it,” Arizona State University sophomore Ricardo Nieland told a roomful of journalists gathered on the campus for a seminar on innovation in higher education earlier this month.
Nieland was speaking on a panel about college students who are among the first generation of family members to pursue a degree. The session addressed the struggles many of these young adults encounter in higher education.
College Completion Failures Must Be Tackled in Tandem With Costs, Report Says
Two numbers haunt the college landscape: $1.3 trillion and 40 percent.
The first is the ever-increasing debt Americans are shouldering to pay off the cost of a degree. But a growing chorus of experts believes that extraordinary sum obscures another crisis: For many, those debts wouldn’t be as devastating had they earned a degree. But only 40 percent of Americans complete a bachelor’s degree in four years.
The upshot is that millions of Americans earning meager wages are on the hook for thousands of dollars with almost nothing to show for it.
Hiring More Black and Latino Professors: ‘You Have to Want to Do That’
ASU President Michael Crow with his thoughts on faculty diversity
Why aren’t there more black and Latino college professors at elite institutions?
Understanding the Student Loan-Debt Picture
“There’s a lot of talk about the student debt crisis and I’m going to tell you that I don’t think there really is a student debt crisis,” said Debbie Cochrane, vice president at The Institute for College Access and Success. “What there are are multiple student debt crises.”
Analyzing College Endowments: Do’s and Don’ts
You’d be forgiven for thinking higher-education reporting is a game of billion-dollar bingo, with each aspect of the beat pegged to insane sums, such as the $1.3 trillion in student loan debt.
One way of answering whether students are getting a fair shake is to see if the colleges that educate them are spending the institution’s resources in ways that enable more college-goers to afford the cost of a postsecondary degree.
Year-Long Campaign to Highlight ROI of Minority-Serving Institutions
With 52 data points over 52 weeks, the University of Pennsylvania Center for Minority-Serving Institutions hopes to raise public awareness about these types of colleges and the return on investment they can offer.
Same As It Ever Was: The Pitfalls of Remedial Education
EWA Radio: Episode 88
Millions of high school graduates show up for the first day of college academically unprepared for the rigors of higher ed. And that’s where remedial (or “developmental”) education comes into play. Students don’t get academic credit for these classes even though they still cost them in time and money. And there’s another problem: being placed in even one remedial class as a freshman — particularly at a community college — can significantly reduce a student’s odds of ever completing a degree.
Ensuring College Readiness and Success for Latino Students
The number of Hispanics taking the ACT exam jumped 50 percent from 2011 to 2015. But only 15 percent of those test takers are scoring well enough to be deemed college-ready in all four subjects, compared to 28 percent of other students.
These figures starkly reflect “the gap between the level of aspiration and the level of readiness” required to thrive in college, said Juan Garcia, senior director of the ACT’s Office for the Advancement of Underserved Learners.
From Pre-K to Higher Ed: Inequities Latino Students Face
Margarita is a four-year-old girl living in East Harlem. She speaks Spanish at home with her Mexican-born parents, is obedient, well-behaved and plays well with kids her age, younger and older.
Coding Boot Camps Join Forces With Universities in New Federal Program
The Obama administration is rolling out an experimental program that will allow employers and training programs to partner with accredited universities to teach students work-related skills. This pilot will enable students to receive federal financial aid for programs such as coding boot camps that typically are ineligible for these funds.
The ‘$500 Million Club’ of Colleges Tends to Be Stingy With Aid to Low-Income Students
Call them the top four percent: elite private colleges and universities that together sit atop three-quarters of the higher education terrain’s endowment wealth.
Among that group of 138 of the nation’s wealthiest colleges and universities, four in five charge poor students so much that they’d need to surrender 60 percent or more of their household incomes just to attend, even after financial aid is considered. Nearly half have enrollment rates of low-income students that place them in the bottom 5 percent nationally for such enrollment.