When the economy stalls, demand for college typically rises as the unemployed decide to go back to school to improve their job prospects… Ironically, funding for education plummeted. States didn’t have money and they cut funds to public colleges just as enrollments surged. “Funding per student was a disaster,” said Sandy Baum, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. “We’ve seen it recover very slowly but it’s still lower than what it was before the recession.” Budget cuts forced public institutions to raise tuition… We’re already seeing states from Missouri to New Jersey cut funding for public colleges and universities because they don’t have the money. That’s potentially setting the stage for tuition hikes. “Here we go again,” said Baum.

Read full article [here].
by Jill Barshay, The Hechinger Report.

Posted: April 6th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The infrastructure of UCSB’s online learning experience compared to that of the local community colleges, or even local high schools, has been inferior. This rush to implement inadequate software coupled with poor instructor communication under a strict quarter system threatens to tarnish the reputation of UCSB… Within the bounds of a research university, connection should be the emphasis. Students that are now practicing social distancing are also feeling isolated from their academic community. The general feeling of faculty disarray is communicated through chaotic Zoom lectures and the numerous conflicting emails subsequently raising student anxiety levels. It is clear that the faculty were not supported enough prior to the start of spring quarter to prepare and alter their lesson plans.

Read full article [here].
by Terra Paige, Daily Nexus.

Posted: April 4th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California announced Wednesday that it will suspend admission testing requirements for students seeking to enroll in fall 2021, among other temporary measures, to help students during the coronavirus pandemic… The university also said it will suspend its letter grade requirement for A-G courses completed in winter/spring/summer 2020 for all students… “The goal of these changes is to ensure a fair process that does not affect the life chances of students who, but for the coronavirus pandemic, would have become full-time students at the University of California,” said Kum-Kum Bhavnani, chair of the Academic Senate.

Read full article [here].
by Jasmine Kim, CNBC.

Posted: April 1st, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Over the weekend, young MAGA operative Charlie Kirk and undercover conservative trickster James O’Keefe put out calls in widely circulated tweets for conservative college students to take advantage of new online classes by recording their professors… The threat of having recorded Zoom classes taken out of context online ups the ante, however, with the likelihood of those segments being turned into Fox News clips that are then weaponized against academic institutions… “For all the concern these days that conservatives are expressing for free expression in universities, activities such as these seem to indicate a different interest in the suppression of views,” Tiede said.

Read full article [here].
by Will Sommer, The Daily Beast.

Posted: March 25th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Declaring that it would be unseemly to raise tuition during the current national health emergency, leaders of the ten-campus University of California system on Wednesday withdrew their proposal to increase costs for the next five incoming freshmen classes. However, the tuition plan — which originally was scheduled for a vote Thursday — may be revived at a later date, they said. The regents’ next meeting is expected to be in May.

Read full article [here].
by Larry Gordon, Ed Source.

Posted: March 18th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Online education has been alternately hailed as the wave of the future, a way to deliver relevant curriculum to the masses at a lower cost, and disparaged as an inferior, Mickey Mouse version of “real” study that leaves some of the most vulnerable students behind. Now California is about to embark on an enormous, unplanned experiment in remote learning — and no one knows how long it will last.

Read full article [here].
by Vanessa Arredondo , Felicia Mello and Janelle Salanga, CalMatters.

Posted: March 17th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

It’s not fair that we should be charged full tuition. We pay money for going to classes, seeing professors and having one to one meetings during office hours,” said Oganesian, a biology major from Los Angeles. The online experience is a lesser one and should not cost as much as regular classes, she said, adding: “If I had wanted to go to an online school, I would have done that.”

Read full article [here].
by Larry Gordon, Ed Source.

Posted: March 17th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chair of the House’s education committee, introduced a bill Monday that would give colleges $1.2 billion in emergency aid for students affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Colleges could also receive part of an additional $1.2 billion that would help K-12 and postsecondary institutions plan for closures and make sure buildings are safe for students’ return. The bill comes as colleges scramble to move their classes online to help stem the outbreak of COVID-19, the respiratory illness the virus causes.

Read full article [here].
by Natalie Schwartz, Education Dive.

Posted: March 17th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

All 23 California State University campuses and all nine University of California campuses with undergraduate courses have now made plans to move classes online in response to the spread of the coronavirus… CSU Chancellor Tim White said in a statement Tuesday that all face-to-face classes on all Cal State campuses will be discontinued and converted to virtual modes, including lab courses.

Read full article [here].
by Michael Burke, EdSource.

Posted: March 17th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California’s faculty leaders, after a yearlong review, have recommended keeping the SAT and ACT in UC admissions. Yes, there have long been concerns that test scores are influenced by family income, parents’ education and race. But the faculty task force found that the UC system has been able to offset such bias by including other relevant factors in admissions. I believe that as a practical matter, eliminating the tests could make inequities worse. Doing so would mean relying more heavily on other measures that are equally biased or more so, like high school grades.

Read full article [here].
by Kim Wilcox, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: February 18th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.