The economic recovery is not jobless as economists once warned, but it is slow and uneven.
Every month, the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution reports on the number of jobs the U.S. economy will have to create to return employment levels to where they were when the Great Recession began in December 2007, while absorbing people who enter the potential labor force. At the end of May, t...
Education provides one of the best opportunities for American children to build the capacity to climb up the economic ladder. It has even been called the “great equalizer” in American society. In today’s tightened labor market, providing equal access to postsecondary education is more critical than ever. The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce projects that 70% of jobs by 2020 w...
Liability of higher education institutions (HEIs) for off-campus housing risks is tricky, focusing on the institution’s role in off-campus housing arrangements.If an HEI “assumes a duty” to its students who rely on that duty, it must fulfill the duty with due care. This general rule applies to off-campus safety: For example, if the college offered a limited shuttle bus service to...
This is an unprecedented era of human history, in which simultaneous transformations of every technically advanced field are being driven by the powerful technological revolution in information and communications. Technically, these transformative changes are “paradigm shifts”—a distinct kind of historical change in which the governing model of a mature field is superseded by a radically new...
College affordability is an increasingly important public policy issue. With decision-making power over funding to institutions, funding to students and the pricing of institutions, states play a tremendous role in determining what students pay for college. In New England, these decisions are spread across institutional boards, system offices, state agencies and state legislatures. The processes f...
Notes from the Classroom ...
This is the most common question I hear at conferences. Inevitably, upon the conclusion of my presentation, which focuses on working with college students who may experience barriers to learning—who are “at risk” in some way—somebody raises his or her hand and asks with a sense of frustration, “Yes, but, how do I get them to do the home...
Times are tough for institutions that do not have access to substantial endowment funds or benefit from a top ranking position. Whether with a rural or metropolitan setting, a large number of colleges are discovering that there is a limit to raising tuition prices. Prospective students no longer automatically queue up. And once the “at risk” notice is up, the perceived deficiency becom...
Do more with less is a rarely questioned mantra in an age of austerity. But higher education consortia can turn that declaration on its head, allowing each partner higher education institution (HEI) to do more with more.
Consortia can offer ways to save money without killing jobs and valuable programs. The Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts began getting Worcester colleges to ...
Forget disruption. This is the age of chaos in higher education. First MOOCs. Now Sweet Briar. Seemingly every day brings a new moment where we must confront the reality that we no longer know how to control nor predict what higher education will become. And with this lack of control comes a flailing for next steps, any steps, in an attempt to secure our future.
We suggest that there is a way t...
Across the U.S., an estimated 60% of incoming community college students require developmental courses to be ready for college-level work, according to estimates by experts. As these courses act as a gateway to further studies, those who fail are most often lost to higher education: Less than a quarter will earn a degree or certificate within eight years. Connecticut’s Middlesex Community Colleg...
The economic recovery is not jobless as economists once warned, but it is slow and uneven.
Every month, the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution reports on the number of jobs the U.S. economy will have to create to return employment levels to where they were when the Great Recession began in December 2007, while absorbing people who enter the potential labor force. At the end of May, t... 
Education provides one of the best opportunities for American children to build the capacity to climb up the economic ladder. It has even been called the “great equalizer” in American society. In today’s tightened labor market, providing equal access to postsecondary education is more critical than ever. The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce projects that 70% of jobs by 2020 w... 
Liability of higher education institutions (HEIs) for off-campus housing risks is tricky, focusing on the institution’s role in off-campus housing arrangements.If an HEI “assumes a duty” to its students who rely on that duty, it must fulfill the duty with due care. This general rule applies to off-campus safety: For example, if the college offered a limited shuttle bus service to... 
This is an unprecedented era of human history, in which simultaneous transformations of every technically advanced field are being driven by the powerful technological revolution in information and communications. Technically, these transformative changes are “paradigm shifts”—a distinct kind of historical change in which the governing model of a mature field is superseded by a radically new... 
College affordability is an increasingly important public policy issue. With decision-making power over funding to institutions, funding to students and the pricing of institutions, states play a tremendous role in determining what students pay for college. In New England, these decisions are spread across institutional boards, system offices, state agencies and state legislatures. The processes f... 
Notes from the Classroom ...
This is the most common question I hear at conferences. Inevitably, upon the conclusion of my presentation, which focuses on working with college students who may experience barriers to learning—who are “at risk” in some way—somebody raises his or her hand and asks with a sense of frustration, “Yes, but, how do I get them to do the home... 
Times are tough for institutions that do not have access to substantial endowment funds or benefit from a top ranking position. Whether with a rural or metropolitan setting, a large number of colleges are discovering that there is a limit to raising tuition prices. Prospective students no longer automatically queue up. And once the “at risk” notice is up, the perceived deficiency becom... 
Do more with less is a rarely questioned mantra in an age of austerity. But higher education consortia can turn that declaration on its head, allowing each partner higher education institution (HEI) to do more with more.
Consortia can offer ways to save money without killing jobs and valuable programs. The Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts began getting Worcester colleges to ... 
Forget disruption. This is the age of chaos in higher education. First MOOCs. Now Sweet Briar. Seemingly every day brings a new moment where we must confront the reality that we no longer know how to control nor predict what higher education will become. And with this lack of control comes a flailing for next steps, any steps, in an attempt to secure our future.
We suggest that there is a way t... 
Across the U.S., an estimated 60% of incoming community college students require developmental courses to be ready for college-level work, according to estimates by experts. As these courses act as a gateway to further studies, those who fail are most often lost to higher education: Less than a quarter will earn a degree or certificate within eight years. Connecticut’s Middlesex Community Colleg...