Posts Categorized: News

CDC Reduces School Physical Distancing Guidance to Three Feet

DC Shuttle ... Hearings/Markups of Interest. The House Education and Labor’s Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education will hold a hearing Charting the Path to Educational Equity Post-COVID-19 on Thursday, March 25 at 1 p.m. via Zoom. CDC Releases Updated School Safety Guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidelines for phys...

NEBHE Reports on Results of Pandemic-Shaped Elections

The New England states set new records for voter turnout in the 2020 presidential election. A significant percentage of absentee, mail-in ballots were cast in each state, ranging from 20% to 50% of the total vote. City and town clerks attributed the rising share of absentee, mail-in ballots to COVID. In the race for president, Democrat Joe Biden won all six New England states. Members of the re...

Tuition Break Enrollment Increased at 40% of Institutions in Fall 2020 Despite Challenging Year

The 2020-21 academic year was a year like no other as a pandemic caused unprecedented disruptions on college campuses. New England colleges and universities responded with agility as they worked to ensure safe campus operations for students, faculty and staff, while continuing to offer their programs through hybrid, in-classroom and remote formats. COVID-19 had a significant impact throughout t...

TIAA Names JP Morgan Chase Exec to Top Spot

Comings and Goings ... TIAA named JPMorgan Chase CEO of  Consumer Banking Thasunda Brown Duckett to succeed Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., as president and CEO of the century-old provider of retirement investments and other financial services for people working in the academic, research, medical, cultural and government fields. As Boston City Council President Kim Janey prepares to become acti...

A Different Look Into the Labor Pool

NEBHE offers a regional analysis of national Counting Credentials report ... The U.S. is in the midst of one of the most severe economic recessions in history, and now more than ever, it is important to acknowledge all possible pathways to gainful employment. On Feb. 10, 2021, Credential Engine released its third Counting Credentials report, which compiled and described the array of available c...

Holy Cross Names Its First Black Lay President

Comings and Goings ... The College of the Holy Cross chose Boston College Law School Dean Vincent Rougeau to be the first-ever Black and first-ever layperson to serve as president of the 178-year-old Jesuit college in Worcester, Mass. Rougeau will succeed the Rev. Philip Boroughs on July 1, who led Holy Cross for nine years. Whitney Soule, senior vice president and dean of admissions and...

Nick Donohue to Step Down as Leader of New England’s Largest Education Foundation

Comings and Goings ... The Nellie Mae Education Foundation announced that Nicholas C. Donohue will step down as the organization’s president and CEO at the end of 2021 after 14 years in charge. He focused the foundation on student-centered approaches to learning and re-emphasized its grantmaking strategy to advance racial equity. In addition to supporting various NEBHE initiatives, the fo...

Sentenced to Knowledge

NEBHE explores higher education and incarceration ... Congress voted in December to lift the 26-year-old ban on Pell Grants for incarcerated students. A bipartisan effort to direct Pell Grants to a population that has long been deprived of federal funding for higher education reflects the growing desire for increased education in our prisons and jails across the U.S., especially in this time...

NEBHE Announces Transfer Guarantee Agreement Connecting Community Colleges and Independent Institutions in Massachusetts

NEBHE announced that 16 Massachusetts four-year independent institutions, along with all of the state’s 15 community colleges, have signed onto the Massachusetts Independent College Transfer Guarantee. Supported by a grant from the Teagle Foundation and the Davis Educational Foundation, the "Massachusetts Guarantee" is a statewide effort to establish systematic transfer pathways between Massa...

Long-Distance Operators: A New National Report on College Students Learning Virtually 

The number of students nationwide enrolled in distance education programs rose to nearly 3 million in fall 2019, a 7.5% increase over 2018 enrollment data, according to a new report by the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). And that’s before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted an unprecedented shift to virtual course delivery.       ...