The most extreme predictions envision hundreds and even thousands of colleges and universities closing over a decade or so. But more even-keeled analysts also have foreseen increases in the number of failing institutions… New federal data suggest the increasing financial pressures may be starting to take a toll on institutions. An annual report from the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics shows that the number of colleges and universities eligible to award federal financial aid to their students fell by 5.6 percent from 2015-16 to 2016-17. That’s the fourth straight decline since a peak of 7,416 institutions in 2012-13. It is also by far the largest (the others were 0.3, 1.2 and 2.0 percent, in order)… That combination of factors contributed to a one-year drop of 11.2 percent (from 3,265 to 2,899) in the number of Title IV-eligible for-profit institutions, according to the federal data, and a sharp decline of 17.8 percent since the 2012-13 academic year.

Read full article [here].
by Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed.

Posted: July 19th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

… Although Cal State has made room for an additional 30,000 students since 2013, administrators said, the number of eligible applications continues to outpace the amount of funding provided by the state. After months of lobbying by faculty, students and staff, Gov. Jerry Brown last month signed off on a $20-million boost dedicated to increasing enrollment by about 3,000 students across the 23-campus system… Officials are grappling with how to enroll every Californian who wants a shot at higher education — all while juggling efforts to double the Cal State system’s four-year graduation rate to 40% by 2025, faculty salary demands and a number of other priorities. The state’s 2017-18 budget gave Cal State an additional $177.2 million in recurring annual funds — $20 million more than earlier proposals. Brown also approved a one-time, $20-million expenditure for efforts to increase graduation rates, as well as to address student hunger and fund equal employment opportunity programs.

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by Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times.

Posted: July 18th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Currently, the University of California makes the vast majority of admissions decisions by looking at grades, classes, test scores, extracurricular activities and essays. But under a new policy, the UCs will be able to ask some applicants for more information — for instance, an updated transcript that includes first semester grades the student earned after initially applying, or a questionnaire asking about special talents or home environments. Perhaps a student doesn’t have many extracurricular activities because she’s watching her younger siblings after school, for instance… Ultimately, the regents voted last week to let campuses ask no more than 15 percent of freshman applicants for letters, and only when they need more information to decide whether to admit the student.

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by Emily DeRuy, The Mercury News.

Posted: July 17th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The deeper story here is what I call “the great mistake” in higher education policy. This occurs when a government mistreats a public good as a private good… we start a devolutionary cycle of knock-on effects. Unpayable student debt is one, the elevated stress and dissatisfaction of “generation regret” is another. More inequality among institutions is a third, as many widening participation-focused universities struggle to recruit students who are mopped up by richer, more selective universities. And if graduate numbers fall, as the latest UCAS statistics suggest could be possible, then overall workforce productivity will be lowered.

Read full article [here].
by Christopher Newfield, The Guardian.

Posted: July 14th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Board Chairman George Kieffer opened Thursday’s discussion by noting that the state’s action — which he called “very wrong” — would require the university system to make substantial changes in budget management to make sure smaller campuses get their fair share of funds… The regents also voiced concern over the directive from Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature for UC to enroll 1,500 more California undergraduates in 2018-19 — without any guarantee of how much the state would chip in to cover the additional per-student cost of enrollment. Napolitano called that directive “fairly astonishing,” but said the state has asked UC to identify plans to pay for that growth by December.

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by Teresa Watanabe, The Los Angelese Times.

Posted: July 13th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California Board of Regents reluctantly approved a new $797.5 million budget for the Office of the President, while questioning the constitutionality of new direct funding from the state Legislature… At Thursday’s meeting, board chair George Kieffer said he agreed with much of what State Auditor Elaine Howle found in her audit, but singled out the Legislature taking direct control of state funding as a “troubling incursion into the board’s authority.” … Kieffer said the university has asked outside counsel to weigh in on the constitutionality of the move. The change is authorized only for one year, but Los Angeles state Sen. Ed Hernandez has introduced a constitutional amendment that would enshrine stricter legislative control over the UC system in the state’s constitution.

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by Ryan Levi, KQED.

Posted: July 13th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The conservative narrative about colleges and universities has several common complaints: They’re inhospitable to conservatives. Liberal professors indoctrinate their students. And left-wing students have become snowflakes—but also militant “social justice warriors.” In every instance, the evidence against these claims is stronger than the evidence for them… But even if the decline in Republicans’ regard for higher education is largely attributable to right-wing hysteria and hyperbole, liberals can’t afford to ignore it. The Pew poll has serious implications, for instance, for the funding and independence of public colleges and universities, which is increasingly under attack by Republicans.

Read full article [here].
by Graham Vyse, The New Republic.

Posted: July 13th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California is headed toward allowing all campuses to use letters of recommendation in admissions decisions for the first time, despite concerns that the policy could hurt students who have less access to teachers and counselors who could artfully write the endorsements. As the system’s nine undergraduate campuses grapple with a record number of applicants — nearly 210,000 last fall — UC Berkeley has sought to invite letters from all prospective students… If approved by the full regents board Thursday in San Francisco, the policy will take effect when the application season for fall of 2018 begins, on Aug. 1. Letters will likely be used sparingly, since UC officials say 98% of admissions decisions are made using grades, courses, test scores, activities and essay responses on standard applications.

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

Posted: July 12th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Following the state audit of the California State University (CSU) system released in April, it was revealed that Cal Poly gave general salary increases (GSI) to administrators without evaluations on file. According to California state regulations, these administrator salary increases violated state law as they were not supported by merit-based evaluations. President Armstrong was criticized by faculty for the unjustified administrator salary increases during an Academic Senate meeting about the results of the audit on May 9. In 2015, the Academic Senate called for a hiring freeze on management positions until tenure density among faculty reached 75 percent and the student-to-faculty ratio reached 18:1. Meanwhile, tenure density — the proportion of professors to all faculty members — currently sits at 59.2 percent.

Read full article [here].
by Aidan McGloin, Mustang News.

Posted: July 8th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The program ran a $22 million deficit last year, and a new apparel deal and a new naming rights deal for Memorial Stadium’s field will only take small chunks out of that gap… Tensions between Cal’s athletics and academics are nothing new, and this situation isn’t helping… The task force issued a report on its findings this week—you can read it below—and while they did not mention any specific remedies, things look incredibly dire: “Given its magnitude, it is virtually certain that interest expense will exceed IA’s operating income for the foreseeable future no matter what actions are taken regarding program scope in IA.”

Read full article [here].
by Patrick Redford, Deadspin.

Posted: July 7th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.