Obama speaks on college access. President Obama announced a new initiative aimed at increasing low-income students' access to higher education that relies on commitments from states, universities, nonprofit organizations and businesses. The Obama administration unveiled more than 100 commitments from colleges and universities and millions of dollars in philanthropic donations aimed at helping more...
Harkin releases 2014 priorities. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), the retiring chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, told the Washington Post that his New Year's resolutions were his minimum wage and early education bills.
Enrollment report. The U.S. Department of Education released a report on enrollment and graduation rates in higher education institutions in the fall o...
Health and Human Services announces early learning grants. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that six states, including Vermont, would be awarded Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants. Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will also receive a portion of the $280 million in grant awards. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said his state's $37 milli...
Budget deal changes loan-collection policies. Two changes involving the collection of federal student loan debt would contribute about $5 billion in savings to the broad budget deal announced last week. The compromise worked out by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) would reduce the compensation that companies receive for rehabilitating defaulted student loans made under a now-defu...
Pell Grants subject of House hearing on Higher Ed Act. The House Education and the Workforce Committee's Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training held a hearing on Pell Grants as part of its series of hearings on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. House Republicans expressed some doubts about recent expansions of the Pell Grant program, while Democrats vowed to defend ...
Study on frequent testing. According to a study released in the journal PLoS One, frequent testing improves overall performance in college students and reduces achievement gaps.
University use of patents. The Brookings Institute released a study that explored the ways universities try to capitalize on research and patents. The study looked at schools that licensed their patents and at schools tha...
House and Senate hearings on federal student aid. Both chambers of Congress discussed ways to restructure the federal government's student aid programs. The House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing on federal student aid and on Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on the same issue. Lawmakers discussed simplifying the administ...
Bill targets for-profit schools' funding. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Protecting Our Students and Taxpayers (POST) Act (S.1659), which would aim to make for-profit colleges and universities less reliant on federal funding. Under current law, the "90-10 rule" requires universities to get at least 10% of their funding from non-federal sources. The proposed bill would repla...
College value ranking lists on the rise. The New York Times reported that rankings of colleges' value, based on cost compared to returns, are increasing.
Children's hospitals graduate medical education payment program. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved by voice vote legislation (S. 1557) that would reauthorize a program that provides federal money to suppo...
College net prices stable, reports find. Last week, the College Board released reports on "Trends in College Pricing" and "Trends in Student Aid" which found that, even though the price of college has grown, the cost to students has remained stable for the past decade. The report shows that the net cost of tuition, fees, room and board for the average student at a private, nonprofit college is abo...
Obama speaks on college access. President Obama announced a new initiative aimed at increasing low-income students' access to higher education that relies on commitments from states, universities, nonprofit organizations and businesses. The Obama administration unveiled more than 100 commitments from colleges and universities and millions of dollars in philanthropic donations aimed at helping more...