A consortium of higher education associations, public interest groups and high-tech companies today announced a new partnership called AIR.U (Advanced Internet Regions) to deploy Super Wi-Fi networks in university communities by taking advantage of unused television channels, known as white spaces.Home to 291 two- and four-year postsecondary institutions that enrolled more than 990,000 students in...
With a June 30 deadline quickly approaching, lawmakers are running out of time to prevent student loan rates from doubling. Leadership from both parties has said that a compromise will be coming before the deadline and suggested on Friday that they are close to a deal. In 2007, Congress approved PL 110-84, which gradually reduced loan interest rates over four years. but expires July 1. The is...
Next Generation Learning Challenges awarded Southern New Hampshire University's (SNHU) Innovation Lab a $1 million grant to develop online and blended programs designed to improve student access and college completion through the use of technology. SNHU's Pathways Project targets include low-income and minority students, and will initially offer an associate degree with content and assessment deli...
The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education confirmed the appointment of Ellen Kennedy as the next president of Berkshire Community College, effective July 1. Kennedy has been serving as interim president at the college since January, following the retirement of Paul Raverta. Kennedy previously served as the college's vice president for administration and finance....
On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted along party lines to approve FY2013 authorization for Labor-HHS-Education programs, including $68.5 billion for the Department of Education. This includes an $85 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award level, from $5,550 to $5,635, beginning in the 2013-14 school year. Funding for most other student financial aid programs would remain at curr...
The University of Massachusetts Amherst will host the third annual New England Conference for Student Success, “What Do We Mean By Student Success?,” on Friday, Sept. 21. The program committee seeks proposals for conference sessions from practitioners and scholars that emphasize programs aimed at fostering student success.Proposals highlight promising ways of defining student success, ...
On Tuesday, administration officials announced a White House partnership with 10 colleges and universities to give students better information on the cost of higher education and financial aid options. The schools, which include the University of Massachusetts System, have voluntarily committed to adopting an information sheet for incoming students to help them understand the costs of college and ...
The OECD invites New England higher education leaders to attend its Programme for Institutional Management in Higher Education's 2012 General Conference on “Attaining and Sustaining Mass Higher Education” to be held from Sept. 17 to Sept. 19 in Paris.The conference will examine:
Where have we got to in attaining and sustaining mass higher education?
What can higher education contribu...
In a bid to break the stalemate over offsets for student loan interest rate legislation, Republican leadership in the House and Senate proposed two alternative proposals on Thursday. While general agreement exists on the desire to extend the current 3.4% interest rate on federal student loans for one year, delaying an increase to 6.8% scheduled for July 1, lawmakers have been unable to ...
Massachusetts Bay Community College named Francesca Purcell, formerly associate commissioner for academic and P-16 policy with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, to be the Wellesley, Mass-based community college’s next provost/chief academic officer. Purcell wrote Smooth Transfer: A Once Mundane Administrative Issue Re-emerges as a Key Tool for Equity for the Summer 2006 issue...
With a June 30 deadline quickly approaching, lawmakers are running out of time to prevent student loan rates from doubling. Leadership from both parties has said that a compromise will be coming before the deadline and suggested on Friday that they are close to a deal. In 2007, Congress approved PL 110-84, which gradually reduced loan interest rates over four years. but expires July 1. The is... 
The University of Massachusetts Amherst will host the third annual New England Conference for Student Success, “What Do We Mean By Student Success?,” on Friday, Sept. 21. The program committee seeks proposals for conference sessions from practitioners and scholars that emphasize programs aimed at fostering student success.Proposals highlight promising ways of defining student success, ... 
The OECD invites New England higher education leaders to attend its Programme for Institutional Management in Higher Education's 2012 General Conference on “Attaining and Sustaining Mass Higher Education” to be held from Sept. 17 to Sept. 19 in Paris.The conference will examine:
Where have we got to in attaining and sustaining mass higher education?
What can higher education contribu... 
Massachusetts Bay Community College named Francesca Purcell, formerly associate commissioner for academic and P-16 policy with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, to be the Wellesley, Mass-based community college’s next provost/chief academic officer. Purcell wrote Smooth Transfer: A Once Mundane Administrative Issue Re-emerges as a Key Tool for Equity for the Summer 2006 issue...