The issue of for-profit colleges is a hot political debate, but until now, for-profits haven’t been mentioned in the presidential election (though they were a major issue in last year’s race for attorney general in Kentucky). But now, a leading candidate for the Republican nomination has injected himself into the debate on for-profit costs and…
Conservatives often portray academia as a place teeming with the influence of liberalism. The all-powerful liberal professors, so the stereotype goes, indoctrinate students with Marxism and political correctness, while muscling conservatives out of the ivory tower, lest their hated views bring a diversity of opinion to campus. But of course, like any caricature, it’s false.…
If you follow higher education, you know that the number of students and recent graduates who are interning is higher than ever before. Whether they’re part- or full-time, during school or after graduation, paid or unpaid, internships are becoming a ubiquitous part of early professional experience. By one estimate, as many as three-quarters of college…
In June, the Department of Education released its new rules about for-profit colleges. The regulations are known as the “gainful employment” rules, because they seek to ensure that graduates are adequately prepared for the workforce (and prepared to pay off their student loans) once they leave school. The final rules were weaker than those originally…
Last week, I wrote about a new report out from the General Accountability Office that investigated educational practices at for-profit schools. The report is mixed, with some schools looking good, and others that appear willing to violate academic standards in order to pass and graduate students. The context for this investigation is that about a…
On November 23, the United States Government Accountability Office released a report titled “Experiences of Undercover Students Enrolled in Online Classes at Selected Colleges.” It’s a behind-the-scenes look at a few for-profit schools, and the lengths to which they will go to keep students enrolled. This week, I’m going to explain the context for the…
On November 14, the Institute of International Education (IIE), a group which advocates for and collects data about international student and scholarly travel, released this year’s “Open Doors” data at an event at the National Press Club in Washington DC. The data tracks how many students from around the world come to the United States…
Last week’s state elections attracted attention for a variety of causes and elections, most notably the defeat of Ohio’s tough new collective bargaining law and the defeat of the pro-life “personhood amendment” in Mississippi. But for for-profit colleges, the most important election of the night mostly flew under the radar: Democrat Jack Conway was re-elected…
This week, more than three million Ohioans went to the polls to vote on a measure that would preserve public employee collective bargaining rights. Those rights were under attack from the state’s governor, John Kasich, who spearheaded the highly controversial Senate Bill 5, which would have essentially ended public employee unions, earlier this year. Supporters…
Reductions in state support are forcing public colleges and universities across the country to raise tuition and fees. A small but growing number of institutions are also acting on financial grounds to eliminate undergraduate majors, graduate programs, or even entire academic departments. In an effort to document this troubling trend, Academe has created an interactive…