Trump Budget for “American Greatness” Would Slam Aid Programs

DC Shuttle ... Budget Proposal Funds School Choice, Hits Aid to to Low- and Middle-Income Students. The White House released President Trump's budget proposal for fiscal year 2018, which cuts spending at the U.S. Department of Education and focuses on school choice. The budget would reduce the Department of Education's discretionary funding from $68.2 billion to $59 billion, 13% below the ...

As Mainers (Come and) Go …

Adams Comings and Goings ... William D. Adams announced his resignation as the 10th chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Before being appointed NEH chair in 2014, Adams spent 14 years as president of Colby College. The University of Maine System Board of Trustees appointed Raymond Rice to be president of the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where he has been interim pr...

Lifting Ban on Student-Level Records

DC Shuttle ... Senators Introduce Unit Record System Bill. U.S. Senators Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced legislation that would change how schools report data and overturn the federal ban on a unit record system. The College Transparency Act (H.R. 2434) would transition to the collection of data on the individual student...

Two Connecticut Presidents to Leave After 18 Years; White Mountains CC Names New Interim

Hadsell Comings and Goings ... Hartford Seminary President Heidi Hadsell announced she will retire following the 2017-18 academic year after 18 years in charge of the graduate theological institution. Neil A. Salonen announced he will resign as president of the University of Bridgeport following the 2017-18 academic year, also after 18 years.Charles Lloyd, associate vice president for enrollment...

Trump Admin Wrestles With Its HBCU Positions

DC Shuttle ... DeVos Visits HBCU, Trump Questions HBCU Funding. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visited Bethune-Cookman University to deliver its commencement address. She was met with controversy as hundreds of graduating seniors booed and turned their backs on her, the NY Times reports. The Trump administration has had a rocky start with HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities)...

Freshman Applications Still Being Considered by 50 New England Colleges, Reports NACAC Survey

According to the annual College Openings Update provided at the beginning of May by the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC), 50 New England colleges and universities reported they could consider additional freshman and transfer applications for fall 2017. Of the 50, the following 13 public colleges reported freshman and transfer openings: Eastern Connecticut ...

Huddleston to Retire as Longest-Serving UNH President, SHEEO Names New Chief

Huddleston Comings and Goings ... Mark Huddleston announced he will retire as president of the University of New Hampshire at the end of the 2017-18 academic year, leaving as the longest-serving president in the university’s 150-year history. The State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) association appointed Robert E. Anderson, the interim chief academic officer for the Univ...

Prez Changes and Maine Labor Commish Moves on to USM

Nemec Comings and Goings ... Fairfield University trustees appointed University of Chicago dean of continuing liberal and professional studies Mark R. Nemec as the university's ninth president and the first non-Jesuit to hold the post.Lyndon State College interim President Nolan Atkins was named provost of Lyndon and Johnson State Colleges and of their to-be-unified institution, Northern Ver...

Is Return of Year-Round Pell Around the Corner?

DC Shuttle ... Year-Round Pell Included in Spending Bill. Lawmakers reported that they had struck a deal to fund the government through the rest of fiscal year 2017 and it is expected that Congress will vote on that bill this week to avoid a government shutdown on Friday. The deal reached Sunday includes year-round Pell Grants, lawmakers have confirmed. Through year-round Pell Grants, students ca...

Motley to Leave UMass Boston Chancellorship

Motley Comings and Goings ... University of Massachusetts Boston Chancellor J. Keith Motley will step down at the end of the academic year. He has headed the diverse campus of 17,000 students since 2007 and increased its stature with new programs and buildings, but the campus faces a deficit up to $30 million, declining enrollment, overdue construction projects and weakening fundraising, UMass o...