The New York Times reported on Friday that the for-profit University of Phoenix will close 115 physical campuses, dispossessing around 13,000 students and putting 800 employees out of work. Why now? Tamar Lewin, the story’s author, suggested that competition from other for-profit universities played a role. But she also cited the “steady drumroll of negative […]
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As if you needed any more proof that the 2012 campaign will fail to take higher education issues seriously, the New York Times reported yesterday that President Obama is using his stops in swing states to assail Mitt Romney for his supposed views on financing college tution. Obama, the article notes, argued that Romney “would cut student loans and […]
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Today Professor William Jacobson (of Legal Insurrection fame) launched College Insurrection, a new website devoted to higher education. The site, according to Professor Jacobson, will help “conservative/libertarian students…find out what is going on with like-minded students on other campuses, and understand that they are the many, not the few, no matter what they are told.” […]
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The Atlantic recently declared that the 2012 presidential campaign is “no longer about the economy”; that is to say, given the dire economic straits in which we still find ourselves, it is surprising how much attention the candidates are giving to peripheral issues such as Medicare, welfare, and most importantly for our purposes, student loans. […]
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The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions released a massive and negative report today on the for-profit college industry. In explaining why more than half of students leave for-profit colleges after a median of four months, the report’s main contention is that “Congress has failed to counterbalance investor demands for increased financial returns with […]
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MTC contributor Richard Vedder punctures many myths about American universities in his new report, “Twelve Inconvenient Truths about American Higher Education.” Among other issues, he investigates whether a college degree guarantees success, if students actually make good use of their time in college, and whether freedom of expression truly exists on American campuses. It’s a […]
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Over at NRO yesterday Jay Hallen proposed a few solutions to easing the student-loan bubble. Though his impulses are correct his recommendations fall flat. Hallen first proposes that the Department of Education move to a “risk-based pricing” system in which it would consider a student’s high-school GPA or intended major in determining the loan price. […]
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The New York Times piece John Leo referenced earlier cites a startling statistic: while almost 40% of births to college-educated women are out-of-wedlock, the figure for women who haven’t graduated college is over 90%. Another figure from same study indicates that though a third of women who hold only a high school diploma have had children with […]
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From MyBudget360, a sobering reminder of explosive student loan growth:
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Today the law firm of Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan (FSS) released its report on Penn State’s negligence in the case of Jerry Sandusky’s extensive abuse of minors. After a seven-month investigation, The Freeh Report assigns greater blame to Joe Paterno than was originally assumed, claiming that in conjunction with Penn State’s President, Senior Vice-President for Finance and […]
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