Any affiliations entered into by a publicly funded system that allow religious considerations to outweigh scientific and medical judgments are improper — and according to the state constitution and statutes, quite possibly illegal. Instead of reaching an agreement, the working group splintered. It ended up submitting two options for the UC administration and regents to choose from: Option 1, favored by those who think the university should find a way to collaborate with religious healthcare institutions, and Option 2, which explicitly places UC’s nondiscriminatory values above any and all religious restrictions.

Read full article [here].
by Michael Hiltzik, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: January 30th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The AFT, alongside Student Defense, a legal and advocacy organization for students, said DeVos had pushed through “a repeal riddled with errors and unfounded assertions” of the Gainful Employment Rule. The rule, enacted in 2014, required colleges and universities to maintain a certain student debt-to-earning ratio, according to NBC News. The rule also effectively blocked for-profit colleges from receiving aid under the Higher Education Act Title IV student programs, in addition to other regulations for colleges and universities. DeVos repealed the law in June, after previously delaying regulations that imposed requirements on for-profit colleges and universities.

Read full article [here].
by Marina Pitofsky, The Hill.

Posted: January 24th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

In recent years, the number of students enrolled in higher education has declined and the cost of attending college has stabilized relative to people’s incomes, Moody’s analysts said. But borrowers have been slow to pay back their debt, meaning student loan balances will keep growing over the years… “The growth in student loans has slowed in recent years as states have invested more in public colleges, but millions of students continue to struggle with their debts,” Debbie Cochrane, executive vice president of the organization, said in a statement at the time. The student loan debt burden, Moody’s analysts said, is “weighing on household finances and the broader economy.”

Read full article [here].
by Harmeet Kaur, CNN.

Posted: January 19th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

A decrease in federal funding particularly affects research efforts in higher education. Federal support of basic research drives innovation. Only the federal government can make a strategic, long-term commitment to creating new knowledge that [could] to lead to new or improved technologies, goods or services,” said Julia Phillips, chair of the National Science Board’s science and engineering policy committee. “Basic research is the ‘seed corn’ of our US S&E enterprise, a global competitive advantage, and the starting point for much of our GDP growth since World War II.” The US global share of research and development has declined to 25%, according to the report. Asian countries are increasing their global share by focusing on rapid growth efforts in comparison to modest efforts by the US.

Read full article [here].
by Ashley Strickland, CNN.

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

Senator and presidential contender Elizabeth Warren made headlines last spring when she announced a higher education plan that included student debt cancellation for 95% of student borrowers. That plan would—among other things—cancel up to $50,000 in student loans, scaling back that forgiveness for those individuals earning more than $100,000 annually. This morning, Senator Warren released a new plan that says she would be able to do this on day one of her administration. This new plan is built off of a legal theory proposed by some that under the Higher Education Act—the primary federal law governing higher education—the Secretary of Education can cancel debt under its “compromise and modification” authority.

Read full article [here].
by Wesley Whistle, Forbes.

Posted: January 14th, 2020, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

A majority of voters said they support the idea of free state college and canceling student debt, according to a Hill-HarrisX poll released on Thursday. The survey found that 58 percent of registered voters said they would support a proposal that would make public colleges, universities and trade schools tuition-free. The same group also said they would back a plan eliminating all existing student debt.

Read full article [here].
by Staff, The Hill.

Posted: September 12th, 2019, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Christ became chancellor in 2017 and pledged to wrestle down the debt mainly by raising revenue, not cutting programs, a strategy that seems to have worked… Intercollegiate athletics still bleeds money, as it has for years. Football and other sports lost more than $19 million last year alone. But for the first time, campus officials say they’ll balance that budget… Not everyone is applauding. Leaders of the Berkeley Faculty Association, a watchdog group, say Christ is steering the public university too heavily toward private funding. “We applaud Chancellor Christ’s dedication and thoughtful leadership, but wish that she were a stronger advocate for restoring public funding,” co-chairs Wendy Brown, a political science professor, and Celeste Langan, an associate professor of English, said in a statement. “Public divestment from education has been bad for democracy, society, economy and the individual. On this issue, the chancellor seems out of step.”

Read full article [here].
by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted: September 2nd, 2019, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

UC campuses from San Diego to Berkeley are reporting that Chinese students and scholars are encountering visa delays, federal scrutiny over their research activities, and new restrictions on collaboration with China and Chinese companies… The overarching fear is that Trump’s crackdown will drive away top Chinese scholars and jeopardize the kind of open international collaboration that has been a hallmark of higher education in the U.S., contributing to world-class research and scientific progress. Federal officials warn that China is exploiting America’s open academic environment to steal intellectual property and innovations.

Read full article [here].
by Teresa Watanabe, Don Lee, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: July 22nd, 2019, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

In its latest effort to find a fair way to raise tuition — and avoid student protests every time it happens — the University of California wants yearly price hikes, but only for incoming freshmen and transfer students. The UC regents don’t yet have a plan to do that. But at the regents’ midsummer meeting in San Francisco on Thursday, university officials will float a trial balloon to see what the governing board thinks. Under that pricing system, tuition would remain flat as long as students are enrolled, perhaps up to six years. It’s called cohort-based tuition because prices would rise only for each group of new students.

Read full article [here].
by Nanette asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted: July 17th, 2019, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

We will likely hear a lot of back and forth over the policy details during the Democratic primary race. Would the Sanders and Warren plans reach the neediest students? Wouldn’t debt forgiveness disproportionately help the middle class? Yet such criticisms, while well-intentioned, miss the emotional core of free college. The point, the red-hot sell, is that some things, like education, should be had by all — on equal terms. The debate over student debt is ultimately about our nation’s indefensible inequality.

Read full article [here].
by E. Tammy Kim, The New York Times.

Posted: June 30th, 2019, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.