BY MARK S. JAMES One of the most discussed passages from the Supreme Court’s majority opinion on affirmative action comes at the very end. It reads: At the same time, nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL In “Colleges Should Not Allow Students to Pay With a Percentage of Future Earnings”, Forbes contributor Derek Newton got both the intent and purpose of an income share agreement (ISA) wrong. In conversations with higher education leaders across America, my experience indicates that there has been a dramatic shift over the past…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL American higher education is a complex, decentralized, and interlocking network of institutions that provide education to a disparate group of learners. Historically, many of the fundamentals build around an applicant cohort of 18- to 22-year olds. The demographics of the 21st century predict that this group will not be able to…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The following data is from the Student Loan Report produced by 24/7 Wall St. This news release provides a summary explanation of that report, highlighting the key findings and aspects of the methodology: “Total student debt in the United States, at approximately $1.26 trillion, is the second largest consumer debt in…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL One of the striking features of the new presidential administration appears to be the difference between fact and perception. On most levels, it seems that optics matter more than words.Facts seem to be afterthoughts to positions floated. Further, it looks like many positions shift regularly depending upon how the outcome is likely…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The following page is from a College Board Report on Student Debt: Of course, one of the factors in this decline has been the closure of several of the largest for-profit chains with dozens of campuses nationwide and the dramatic decline in enrollment at the major online for-profit institutions. So, although…
BY TIFFANY KRAFT Guest blogger Tiffany Kraft is a former adjunct and present higher education activist and organizer with Faculty Forward Network. For all special snowflakes who aren’t on the front lines with students and contingent faculty fighting for racial and economic justice in our nation’s colleges, universities, and communities, you may want to stop…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH According to an article written by Patrick Clark for Bloomberg News, companies that specialize in off-campus student housing have become one of the most profitable investments in the real-estate sector: “Shares in Education Realty Trust, a Memphis-based landlord whose earnings report met Wall Street expectations this morning, are up 54 percent in the past…
Reporting in “CNN Money,” Heather Long notes that college enrollments have been dropping since 2010. By the fall of 2014, there were more than 800,000 fewer students than in 2010. Ted Mitchell, US Under Secretary of Education, suggests: “Historically, as the economy improves and Americans get back to work, college enrollment declines.” Ms. Long notes…