Search

The first Survey of Public Opinion on Higher Education shows that the United States' faith in the value of college remains strong, despite misgivings about some longstanding practices. (EV)

Explores the implications of the recent Supreme Court decision concerning race-conscious college admissions policies, including the continuing debate, college's admissions reactions, implications for race-exclusive scholarships, and student activism. Includes the complete text of the court's rulings. (EV)

Discusses how the Supreme Court will hear two cases involving racial preferences at the University of Michigan, with the fate of affirmative action in college admission in the balance. (EV)

Explores how social, legal, and demographic forces threaten to dethrone the most widely used college entrance exam. New criticism focuses on the use of what is essentially an IQ test to measure students' ability to learn. (EV)

Describes the budget shortfalls facing many public colleges and universities, particularly in the Midwest and Southeast; the familiar cut-back and tuition increase methods many are using to cope; and criticism of their use of earlier windfalls. (EV)

Analyzes plans of some states (California, Florida, and Texas) to admit top high school graduates to public colleges and universities as a way to promote diversity without affirmative action programs. Critics claim such plans exploit educational segregation while doing nothing to improve schools, and may create inequities by denying admission to some achieving students while admitting other underprepared students. (DB)

Northeastern University's continuing-education division is being rejuvenated with market research, faculty involvement, and a non-traditional approach under its new vice president Christopher E. Hopey. The college shifted its emphasis from undergraduates to graduate and certificate programs aimed at working professionals, resulting in a 20 percent rise in enrollment and a 21 percent jump in tuition revenue.

Discusses why public colleges think their appropriations will rebound after the recession should think again. (EV)

Describes how Massachusetts' governor and the politically powerful head of the state university are grappling over a plan to revamp the system, reduce its budget, and do away with the president's job. (EV)

Describes how lawmakers in cash-strapped states--including California, Wisconsin, and Tennessee--are forcing public colleges into hiring freezes, tuition increases, and even cuts in research designed to spur economic development. (EV)

Describes how more regional public institutions are opening honors colleges to raise their profiles and attract better students. (EV)

Discusses how, while other governors slash higher education spending, Gray Davis of California is championing investment in colleges to spur economic growth in his state. (EV)

Describes how delivering on the promises of broad-based merit scholarships has been neither easy nor cheap. Problems with such programs, which offer scholarship money to in-state students who meet modest academic requirements, include skyrocketing costs, intense popularity with the public which makes change difficult, legal challenges, and many students' mediocre performance once enrolled. (EV)

Describes positive developments for the University of Hawaii system after an 11-percent loss of funding since 1993. Discusses administrator, faculty, and student responses to the financial pressures. (EV)

Describes the activities of Pennsylvania State University's president, Graham B. Spanier. Discusses his hectic work pace and some of his initiatives, including successful fund raising, transformation of the system's two-year branches into four-year institutions, distance learning, and run-ins with state lawmakers. (EV)

Examines conflict in Texas over whether to increase appropriations for the state's two premier research universities, the University of Texas (Austin) and Texas A&M University, to match comparable institutions in other states, or whether to increase funding to raise the stature of Texas Tech University and the University of Houston. Compares state support of Texas institutions to California. (DB)

Asserts that state colleges, squeezed between research universities and community colleges, are falling even further behind due to pressure from legislators and growing competition from distance education and for-profit institutions. Discusses various issues in their decline and attempted makeovers, including faculty, "mission creep," declining student enrollment and retention, and lagging reputations. (EV)

Capitalizing on the ban on affirmative action in college admissions in Texas, a number of out-of-state colleges are aggressively recruiting in that state and offering generous financial aid packages. Oklahoma was one of the first states to do so. For many students, financial aid makes the difference in college attendance. (MSE)

Under pressure from governors and legislators to heighten academic rigor, technical colleges in several states are becoming part of higher education, whether they want to or not. With business leaders calling for better-educated workers, technical colleges are seen increasingly as stepping-stone institutions within higher education and key cogs in state economies. Some states see them as top spending priorities. (MSE)

Louisiana's program of state merit scholarships, inspired by Georgia's HOPE Scholarship program, is over budget in its first year because lawmakers pushed to expand eligibility and data for estimating costs was inadequate. Critics find such programs often provide aid to families with little financial need. The program pays full tuition at state institutions or partial tuition at private colleges. (MSE)

Many colleges in New Jersey are opposed to the for-profit University of Phoenix plan to offer six degree programs within that state. The university currently enrolls 50,000 on 87 campuses in 13 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico and has formally applied for licensing in this and three other northeastern states. Thirteen colleges operate within a 20-mile radius of the proposed location. (MSE)

After five years, the AmeriCorps program, a federal program designed to encourage youth to perform public service by providing substantial scholarships after completion, has been both praised as effective in getting things done and criticized as cost-ineffective. Some feel the money could have been better spent for federal grants or work-study programs. (MSE)

Small regional colleges are bracing for a battle to protect their profitable continuing-education programs from competition with distance-learning programs at research universities. Concern is particularly for part-time students who may choose distance programs that are less expensive, more convenient, and offer diplomas from better-known institutions. Other small-college officials say the fear is unwarranted. (MSE)

Higher-education officials want protection against tighter state budgets in years ahead FEARING that good economic times might soon wane, college officials across the United States will urge their state lawmakers [...]

Three articles explore the controversy over whether to mitigate dwindling state support for higher education by charging a range of tuition rates based on students' ability to pay; also discussed is students' efforts to bring legal action to stop tuition increases. (EV)