Posts Categorized: Admissions

Learning to Do During High Unemployment

Even as the economy appears to have turned a corner, high unemployment persists. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the national unemployment rate teetered at 7.9% in January 2013, and New England’s was 7.3% in December 2012. Strangely, as millions nationwide struggle to find work, there are millions of jobs that remain unfilled. The BLS reports that on the last business day o...

Single-Source Responsibility: An Innovative Way to Build College Sports, Fitness and Rec Facilities

While schools wrestled with how to build a new athletic facility in the middle of a recession, Tufts University’s Athletics and Operations Departments worked with a Massachusetts-based developer called Stanmar Inc. to devise a creative solution to designing, building and financing a new sports and fitness center in just under 24 months.In an education environment that is experiencing rising ...

Trendsetting: A New Way to Keep Up With Trends & Indicators in New England’s Education and Economy

Introducing NEBHE's new Trends & Indicators ... It should go without saying that data is tricky (or is it are tricky?).Take the issue of student aid as one example. Some states have annual budgets; some have biennial. Some states report all kinds of aid in one place; others leave it to observers to patch together the hodgepodge of merit and need-based programs from the state’s gener...

Coming to Terms with MOOCs: A Community College Angle

When MIT approached Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) to participate in edX, the new Harvard/MIT massive open online course (MOOC) initiative, we reacted with both interest and skepticism. What did MIT have in mind for Bunker Hill Community College? How would edX “transform the way that community college students learn” as edX President Anant Agarwal claimed, when he discussed the l...

Advancing a Fumble?

National report looks at impact of college spending on athletics and academics For some small colleges, just the sight of the school's branded team bus traveling to road games can nail a marketing extra point. And television deals bring big bucks to major football programs. But for the most part, spending on college athletics drains money from campuses still bruised by recession and, as faculty...

Degrees of Durability and the New World of Credentialing

Those that believe a higher education degree is becoming increasingly superfluous make reference to the fact that 19 of the top 100 chief executives in the Fortune 500 lack college degrees. In consideration of that, a recent U.S. News analysis of the Fortune 500 CEOs reports that many of those CEOs who hold academic degrees choose not to mention their degree as among their achievements in their c...

Role Calls for Boys & Girls Clubs

The New Hampshire Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs has come a long way since the inception of the state’s first Club in Manchester more than 100 years ago. Today, there are Boys & Girls Clubs of America organizations in New Hampshire–Salem, Derry, Portsmouth Naval and Nashua serving the southern part of the state; Manchester, Concord, Souhegan Valley, and the Lakes Region serving...

In Time of Need, Less Sharing?

NEBHE publishes new Policy Snapshot: State Student Grant Aid in New England In the 2010-11 academic year, New England states appropriated more than $181 million for state grant aid—collectively about 15% more than they did in 2006-07. Each state's aid performance varied dramatically during this time, with Connecticut awarding 51% more grant aid ($21.5million) and New Hampshire awarding 20% ...

Are Sandy Hook and Other Tragedies Creating a New Category of Student?

Today, students can be categorized in many different ways. Domestic, international, first generation and stealth are all terms used frequently in higher education. Through the application process to college, students may also be categorized as a “legacy,” having a learning challenge or even down to their demographic background. As our society and world changes with time, is there a new categor...

I Am Not a Machine

An education dean reflects on MOOCs … I am not a machine. This makes my college students happy. Though, to be honest, they assume as much since I walk into the classroom, make some small talk and launch into my lecture. After a few minutes, I may stop, ask for questions, prompt some discussion and perhaps tell a few bad jokes. Which should prove once and for all that I am human and fallibl...