Flap at the Good Will-Hinckley School

Comings and Goings ... Maine's Good Will-Hinckley school rescinded its offer to House Speaker Mark Eves to be the next president of the organization. The Bangor Daily News reported that the Democrat from North Berwick signed an employment contract in late May, "prompting a scathing response from Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who argued in a letter to Good Will-Hinckley that Eves’ prior oppos...

Spotlight Cast on Accreditation

DC Shuttle ... HELP Committee Holds College Accreditation Hearing. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA). Entitled, "Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: Evaluating Accreditation's Role in Ensuring Quality," the hearing was the fourth hearing of this Congress on the topic. Previous hearings focused on c...

As First Few Terms Go, So Goes Success of Students Who Get Maine State Grants, NEBHE Finds

Half of State of Maine Grant recipients completed a postsecondary certificate or college degree, according to a New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) analysis. The NEBHE analysis reveals that the first few terms are a crucial make-or-break time for students’ success. The analysis offers preliminary findings of NEBHE’s research on the impact of the State of Maine Grant, i...

An SOS for Corinthian Students

DC Shuttle ... U.S. Education Department Announces Corinthian College Debt Plan. The U.S. Department of Education released a forgiveness plan for students of the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges. The plan would extend to all students who can prove their college defrauded them. According to Inside Higher Ed, the department expects to receive claims from borrowers that attended other for-profit col...

Radio HigherEd Features National, Western State Experts on Redesigning Aid

Through its partnership with RadioHigherEd.com, NEJHE is pleased to provide a conversation with Sarah Pingel of Education Commission of the States and Brian Prescott of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education about efforts related to state financial aid program redesign. Radio Higher Ed’s entire podcast collection can be accessed by visiting www.radiohighered.com&nb...

A Prior-Prior Priority?

DC Shuttle ... Senate Hearing on HEA Reauthorization. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held its third hearing of this Congress on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA). The previous two hearings focused on consumer information and institutional risk sharing. The most recent hearing, entitled "Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: Ensuring College Afforda...

RI State Grant Recipients More Likely to Graduate College, but Grant’s Purchasing Power Weakening, NEBHE Study Finds

Rhode Island students who received the Rhode Island State Grant were 19 percentage points more likely to complete a degree than students who never received the grant, according to a new study by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE). Recent decreases in the maximum grant award and increases in tuition and mandatory fees, however, weaken the grant’s purchasing power for future stu...

Get Charged! Economists to Meet in Boston on Energy, Infrastructure Issues

The New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) will hold "Building the Backbone of Energy Efficiency" on Tuesday, June 2 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Co-sponsored by the Brandeis International Business School and the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, the NEEP conference begins at 12:15 p.m., leading to an evening reception and dinner honoring Siemens USA President and CEO Eric Spiegel wit...

“America Competes” Reauthorization Gets Competitive; Sanders Calls for Free Tuition

DC Shuttle ... America Competes Act Passes House. The House passed the America Completes Reauthorization Act of 2015 in a 217-205 vote. The legislation is a renewal of a bipartisan act signed into law in 2007 and would provide funds for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, the Energy Department and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. As R...

Santiago Named Mass Higher Ed Commish; Cummings to Lead USM, as Previous Candidate Decides to Stay On in NJ

Comings and Goings ... The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education voted unanimously to appoint Carlos Santiago to be the new commissioner of higher education. Santiago was senior deputy commissioner for academic affairs witt the state's Department of Higher Education and had served as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. The University of Maine System (UMS) announced that cur...