The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced March 5 that it will now accept complaints from borrowers about problems with their private student loans. These problems could include difficulty with taking out a loan, repaying an existing loan or handling a loan which has gone into default. Under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the CFPB has the authority to oversee private, non-ban...
On Tuesday, the House voted 303 to 114 to pass legislation (H.R. 2117) repealing two recent Education Department regulations, with 69 Democrats voting for the bill. As part of its program integrity proposal, the Education Department included a definition of a credit hour for the purposes of distributing federal student financial aid. The bill would rescind that definition and prevent the departmen...
Playing up its activist roots, Goddard College announced it will host a conference to explore the role of higher education in the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. The conference will take place on Saturday, March 10, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Haybarn Theatre on Goddard's Plainfield, Vt. campus.****Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect (which he co-founded wi...
One-third of all students who began their postsecondary education in 2006 transferred (before earning a degree or certificate) to a different institution within a five-year period, according to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.The report reveals that the majority of transfers occurred in students' second year, regardless of the direction of transfer (vertical, ...
A new $5 billion Education Department program aims to improve teacher training and career paths. The Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching (RESPECT) project encourages states and districts to work with teachers and education colleges to reform teacher training, compensation and professional development. Education Secretary Arne Duncan introduced the pr...
The University of Maine System Board of Trustees named James H. Page as the system's next chancellor.Page, a 59-year-old Maine native. is principal and CEO of the James W. Sewall Co., in Old Town, Maine, and an adjunct professor in UMaine’s Department of Philosophy. Sewall Co. provides consulting in the areas of energy, infrastructure and natural resources.Page holds a bachelor’s degre...
MIT President Susan Hockfield announced she would leave the position she has held for more than seven years once a new president takes office.As the first woman president of MIT, Hockfield presided over significant strides in hiring and promotion of women scientists and engineers after a faculty report brought national attention to inequity in campus. Among students, the MIT Class of 2015 will be...
On Thursday, the White House granted the waiver requests of 10 states, including Massachusetts, to opt out from the requirements of the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) law. As passed, NCLB requires school districts to demonstrate through testing proficiency in reading and math skills for all grades by 2014. Many have called the NCLB law too unrealistic to implement, and a number of states have indic...
The term "Access" has acquired a bit of a Rodney Dangerfield complex since back in the day when I suggested: "If one word captures the range of compelling issues that the New England Board of Higher Education should focus its energy on at the start of the new century, the word is access."
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) wants you to know that access still deserves respect,...
Members on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) took advantage of a hearing Thursday on containing the cost of higher education to voice their thoughts on President Obama's plan to reward colleges who keep costs down with increased federal support. Several Republican members were concerned that the administration was effectively "picking winners and losers" by dete...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced March 5 that it will now accept complaints from borrowers about problems with their private student loans. These problems could include difficulty with taking out a loan, repaying an existing loan or handling a loan which has gone into default. Under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the CFPB has the authority to oversee private, non-ban... 
Playing up its activist roots, Goddard College announced it will host a conference to explore the role of higher education in the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. The conference will take place on Saturday, March 10, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Haybarn Theatre on Goddard's Plainfield, Vt. campus.****Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect (which he co-founded wi... 
The University of Maine System Board of Trustees named James H. Page as the system's next chancellor.Page, a 59-year-old Maine native. is principal and CEO of the James W. Sewall Co., in Old Town, Maine, and an adjunct professor in UMaine’s Department of Philosophy. Sewall Co. provides consulting in the areas of energy, infrastructure and natural resources.Page holds a bachelor’s degre... 
MIT President Susan Hockfield announced she would leave the position she has held for more than seven years once a new president takes office.As the first woman president of MIT, Hockfield presided over significant strides in hiring and promotion of women scientists and engineers after a faculty report brought national attention to inequity in campus. Among students, the MIT Class of 2015 will be...