May 22, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Senate Appropriations Chair Announces 2019 Education Spending. Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Roy Blunt (R-MO) announced that the allocation for Labor-HHS-Education for the 2019 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 will be $2 billion above the amount Congress provided in fiscal 2018. The fiscal 2018 omnibus spending bill signed into law in March placed the discretionary allocation for...
May 22, 2018
Comings and Goings ... The late Richard E. Wylie Endicott College President Richard E. Wylie passed away. Wylie was widely credited with spearheading the college’s transition from a small, two-year school for women to a coeducational institution with international reach offering undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees. Katie Barnes was named interim president. Quincy College President Peter Tsaffaras announced his resignation...
May 15, 2018
Healey Comings and Goings ... Former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, a member of NEBHE's Commission on Higher Education & Employability, announced she will step down as president of Babson College next year after leading the business college since 2013. Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Jane Oates, who was a senior policy advisor to U.S....
May 8, 2018
NEBHE is pleased to announce the following grant from Lumina Foundation to launch the High Value Credentials for New England (HVCNE) initiative. The initiative is part of the ongoing work stemming from NEBHE's Commission on Higher Education & Employability. The Commission, chaired by Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, brought together leaders of education, business and policy for nearly a year...
May 8, 2018
Long Comings and Goings ... Bridget Terry Long, Saris Professor of Education and Economics and former academic dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), will become the next dean of HGSE in July, succeeding James E. Ryan, who will become president of the University of Virginia. Long co-authored the article "As Student Debt Increases, Colleges Owe More in Performance"...
May 8, 2018
Something as mundane as a campus boiler system can help colleges meet climate goals and offer hands-on research at the intersection of environmental studies and engineering ... For many institutions in New England, the 2020 deadline to hit objectives for the Presidents' Climate Leadership Commitments that once seemed far away are now right around the corner. These ambitious plans were entered i...
May 2, 2018
Tweets, despite their limited characters, can offer some pretty telling narratives. In May 2017, we ran a piece titled Real Tweets, Fake News … and More from the NEJHE Beat, and then followed up in November with Chance of Tweetstorms. We noted that every NEJHE item automatically posts to Twitter, but that we also use Twitter to disseminate interesting news or opinion pieces from elsewhere. These...
April 30, 2018
DC Shuttle ... States Move Legislation on Student Loan Servicers. States have continued to move legislation regarding student loan servicing, despite the fact that the Trump administration says it should be handled by the federal government, and not state governments. The administration sought to put an end to states' regulation of the companies that collect federal student loans. U.S. Education...
April 24, 2018
Comings and Goings ... Sandra J. Doran NEBHE's Sandra J. Doran, who in January 2014 became the first director of the New England State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), was named interim president of Salem Academy and College, while the private women's school in Winston-Salem, N.C., seeks a new permanent leader. At Salem, Doran replaces Lorraine Sterritt, who in January was...
April 23, 2018
DC Shuttle ... House Committee Passes Apprenticeship Bill. The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee unanimously approved the Innovations in Mentoring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act (H.R. 5509), introduced by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and cosponsored by Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX). The bill directs the National Science Foundation to provide grants for innovative approaches to STEM education and related workforce...
April 16, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Universities Targeted by Department of Justice in Antitrust Probe on Early-Decision Policies. The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into antitrust violations related to early-decision college admissions. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department has sent letters to top U.S. universities notifying them of the investigation. The letter also asks institutions to preserve...
April 16, 2018
The recent March for Our Lives at hundreds of locations around the globe rattled my cage, particularly as I stood in the middle of hundreds of thousands of protesters in Washington, DC. Had we finally found a way to increase activism, to get more and more people of all ages and stages involved in the well-being of their communities? As I listened to the young speakers both over the loudspea...
April 10, 2018
Ferrini-Mundy Comings and Goings ... The University of Maine System appointed National Science Foundation COO Joan Ferrini-Mundy to be the 21st president of the University of Maine, succeeding Susan Hunter, who will retire this summer. Ferrini-Mundy will also serve as president of the system's smallest campus, the University of Maine at Machias as part of a partnership established last summer.The...
April 10, 2018
As an immigration attorney for the past 14 years in both private practice and legal services, I feel confident in saying there is not a single kind of immigrant or one kind of immigration story. There are multifarious individuals and families of diverse global origin bearing a cornucopia of ideas, perspectives, hopes and dreams. This past year, I was given another vantage point to observe the mani...
April 3, 2018
NEBHE announces 2017-18 Regional Student Program annual report ... The New England Board of Higher Education's Regional Student Program (RSP), also known as Tuition Break, provided more than $59 million in tuition savings in academic year 2017-18 to 8,654 participating students, according to the recently published 2017-18 Annual Report of the New England Regional Student Program (RSP). The RSP allows eligible...
April 3, 2018
Current anxiety over the values and directions of what we used to call “higher education” has rich and complex roots in the past, as well as problematic branches into the future. A crucial and core aspect of the subject not yet adequately understood is the structure and strategy of scholarship itself, and its future. Forty-five years ago, in the heyday of “multiversities” lauded in bo...
April 2, 2018
PROVIDENCE, R.I., March 19, 2018--The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) Commission on Higher Education & Employability today released a major report with recommendations to increase the career readiness of graduates of New England colleges and universities and improve their transitions to work.Click here to read and download the Learning for Life and Work report in PDF format.Chaired by...
March 28, 2018
American confidence in higher education began waning at just the time that more people began to see colleges as more concerned about their bottom lines than about education and making sure students have a good education experience, according to Public Agenda President Will Friedman. That was among observations that Friedman made to educators gathered in Boston on Monday at a NEBHE panel dis...
March 27, 2018
Olian Comings and Goings ... Judy D. Olian, dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, was named the first woman president of Quinnipiac University, succeeding John L. Lahey. Thomas Bailey, director of the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, since the center's founding in 1996, was named the next...
March 27, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Omnibus Spending Package Boosts Ed Funding Where Trump Wanted Cuts. President Trump signed into law spending legislation that provides a significant funding increase for the U.S. Department of Education, including more money for educator development, afterschool programs and special education. The bill funds the Department of Education at $70.9 billion, which is $2.6 billion above the fiscal...
March 19, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Students March to Address School Shootings. Thousands of students and teachers joined a National School Walkout on March 14 in Washington, D.C. and across the nation, to call for stricter gun-control measures. The actions came on the one-month anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Hundreds of students gathered at the White House,...
March 19, 2018
Mandel Comings and Goings ... Maud S. Mandel, dean of the college and professor of history and Judaic studies at Brown University, was named president of Williams College, succeeding Protik (Tiku) Majumder, who has served as interim president since Adam F. Falk left the Williams presidency after eight years to be president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Massachusetts College...
March 5, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Senators Ask for Loan Forgiveness for Disabled Borrowers. Senators Angus King (I-ME), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Chris Coons (D-DL) led a group of senators including Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in writing a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin and Acting Commissioner of Social Security Nancy Berryhill, urging them to...
March 4, 2018
From 2012 to 2017, nearly 15,000 New England residents participated in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA students are ineligible for federal financial aid programs, but state and institutional aid can flow to undocumented students. As of March 2017, 20 states, including Connecticut and Rhode Island, offered in-state tuition rates to undocumented students. It’s a mo...
February 27, 2018
I can tell within the first few seconds of seeing a student in my class, from their face, their clothes, where they sit in class, what their final grade will be and sometimes I’m actually right. – College Professor: Initial impressions of the classroom. As a teacher and designer of leadership classes, I am often asked to speak at organizations around the world about topics dealing with busin...
February 21, 2018
Comings and Goings ... Lawrence Bacow, former Tufts president, was named the next president of Harvard University, succeeding Drew Gilpin Faust, who became Harvard's first woman president in 2007 and is set to retire in June. As president of Tufts, Bacow wrote a piece for NEJHE (when it we called Connection) arguing that early decision while a "highly effective—and therefore...
February 20, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Administration Planning Education Department Reorganization. The Trump administration is proposing a major overhaul of the U.S. Education Department's organizational structure, according to reports. The plan would eliminate or consolidate more than a half-dozen offices at the agency. The restructuring would affect nearly every major unit of the department, including K-12 education, higher education, communications and legislative affairs,...
February 19, 2018
Harvard University recently appointed a new president, Larry Bacow. He’s a well-known, highly regarded leader, having spent the better part of his adult life in educational administration. He’s been president of Tufts and chancellor of MIT; he also served on the Corporation, Harvard’s governing board, prior to being considered a presidential candidate. And the announcements have been clear: ...
February 13, 2018
New England higher education professionals gathered last month at NEBHE's Next Generation Transfer event at the College of the Holy Cross and called for increased open discussion of college transfer, with the aim of greater sharing of data, information and policy. Four in 10 students in New England transferred at least once in their college career, according to 2015 data from...
February 13, 2018
NEJHE Executive Editor John O. Harney had the chance to catch up with Lasell College President Michael Alexander about the small Newton, Mass. college’s plans to challenge the higher education business model. Harney: NEJHE recently published a piece on how data on colleges in NEBHE's 2018 Guide to New England Colleges & Universities—namely their acceptance rates, percentage of fres...
February 12, 2018
Bipartisan Budget Act Adds Ed Funding. Following a short government shutdown overnight, both chambers voted to approve spending for the federal government. The bipartisan budget bill funds the government through March 23 and raises spending caps.
February 6, 2018
Davis-Blake Comings and Goings ... Bentley University appointed Alison Davis-Blake, the former dean of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, to be its eighth president, succeeding Gloria Cordes Larson, who will step down in June 2018 after 11 years as president. Saint Michael's College named North Carolina's Salem Academy...
February 5, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Trump Talks About Community Colleges and Vocational Training. The Washington Postreports that President Trump had only one sentence relating to education in his State of the Union, and it was about vocational schools. Speaking at a GOP retreat after the address, he said, "We can open more vocational schools because we want every American to reach their...
February 5, 2018
In many ways, higher education has not changed in the nearly 1,000 years since the first university was founded in Bologna, Italy in 1088. Many courses still have professors or “masters” lecturing in front of students, with exams being reproduction of facts learned in lectures. But in other ways, higher education changes daily. A brief perusal of headlines from the Chronicle of Higher Educatio...
January 30, 2018
Accreditation has been in the hot seat of late. It is both faulted for being asked to do too much—serving a “regulation-by-other-means” function as gatekeeper for federal student financial aid dollars—and for asking too little in terms of student learning and life outcomes. Along with these criticisms have come some interesting proposals for improvement. The following summarizes the more c...
January 29, 2018
DC Shuttle ... HEA Hearings in Senate. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA). The hearing focused on access and innovation in the higher education space. The committee heard testimony from Barbara Brittingham of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) as well as other...
January 26, 2018
Arbaje-Thomas Comings and Goings ... Milagros 'Milly' Arbaje-Thomas was named chief executive of Metco, the Massachusetts program that sends 3,300 mostly African-American and Latino students from Boston and Springfield into predominantly white suburban schools. Arbaje-Thomas, who spent 15 years managing neighborhood antipoverty programs for Action for Boston Community Development, will succeed Jean McGjuire, who led Metco from 1973 to 2016....
January 26, 2018
John Hennessey lived a remarkable, full life as a professor, as a leader in his field of management and business, and moral, ethical leadership, and as dean at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business and provost at the University of Vermont. He was extraordinary on many fronts, a great man who lived in tumultuous times marked by world war as a young man, later as a graduate student and then ...
January 22, 2018
Video snippets from NEBHE's Summit on Employability: A National Imperative ... Northeastern University President Joseph E. Aoun spoke at last month's summit about the future of higher education in the age of artificial intelligence and the work of the Commission on Higher Education & Employability. Here, Aoun discusses a new curriculum he calls "humanics" ... And here on lifelong learning...
January 22, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Labor Dept Issues New Internship Guidance. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced changes to the way it defines interns. DOL issued an updated fact sheet on internship programs under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The "primary beneficiary" Fact Sheet lists seven factors for determining whether an intern is an employee and thus should be paid. That...
January 16, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Response and Debate Follow Committee Passing of HEA Reauthorization. The House bill (H.R. 4508) to reauthorize the Higher Education Act would overhaul the federal student aid programs and eliminate some regulations on for-profit colleges, such as the 90/10 rule and gainful employment regulations. The bill takes some steps toward a unit-record system, Inside Higher Ed reports. It...
January 16, 2018
As English Language Arts and Math continue to be touted as top priorities, and as the assessment of related skills takes up more and more time in many schools, teachers are left with less time to share ideas with each other or with their students. In the realm of higher education, where more is being left to adjuncts and part-time staff, communication is limited within departments, let alone acr...
January 9, 2018
Isaak Comings and Goings ... Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) President Larry Isaak announced he'll retire as MHEC president, effective Nov. 16, 2018, after nearly 15 years as the compact's president. Before joining MHEC, Isaak was the chancellor of the North Dakota University System for 10 years. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy named Greenwich corporate attorney Thomas E. Kruger to be...
January 8, 2018
New England has a rich history of innovation and economic prosperity due, in part, to the fact that our region is home to some of the nation’s most prestigious higher education institutions as well as a wide array of other postsecondary offerings. As the nation’s economy has evolved to be knowledge-based and technology-driven, New England is well-positioned to produce the knowledge workers to ...
January 2, 2018
Each year, colleges around the nation select a common reading book for their incoming students or, in the case of our institution, for the entire college community. In 2017, our institution selected Hidden Figures as a reading meant to provide a common intellectual experience, illustrate the vigor and breadth of our college’s curriculum, and lend itself to a convocation discussion at the start o...
December 22, 2017
Video snippets from NEBHE's Summit on Employability: A National Imperative ... NEBHE's Dec. 4, 2017 Summit included a session on "Educating Workers for the Digital Economy." Companies are looking for qualified applicants who have 'digital' skills. The challenge for educators is to find ways to integrate the current digital skills needed into the curriculum while teaching students to be agile...
December 18, 2017
Video snippets from NEBHE's Summit on Employability: A National Imperative ... Estela Mara Bensimon, founder and director of the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, spoke at the Dec. 4 Summit about the Commission on Higher Education & Employability's 'Equity Imperative.' Here, Bensimon suggests a higher ed institutions have a performance gap in educating African-American, Latinx...
December 18, 2017
DC Shuttle ... House Education and Workforce Committee Passes HEA Reauthorization. The House Education and the Workforce Committee marked up and passed legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The legislation, the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act (H.R. 4508), was approved on a party-line vote, with all democrats opposing the measure introduced by Chair...
December 18, 2017
Working in college career services, I see companies recognizing that the path from college to career has shifted from a one-way to a two-way street where employers and students can connect. Truth be told, it’s more of a rotary—with many exits—because it takes a committed community to successfully transition students to their first jobs and beyond. The career-development ecosystem includes no...
December 17, 2017
College campuses are not immune to mounting safety and security concerns that stem from international and domestic terror threats, active shooter situations and more. Parents of students want to know that their children are safe when they leave home for the first time. The antennas raise even higher for parents when they hear their students plan to spend the next term studying abroad. What some m...
December 11, 2017
Video snippets from NEBHE's Summit on Employability: A National Imperative ... Former U.S. Secretary of Education John King Jr., now president and CEO of The Education Trust, spoke at the Dec. 4 Summit about the Commission on Higher Education & Employability's 'Equity Imperative.' Here, King notes how institutional forces exacerbate segregation ... and suggests that institutions should help first-generation students...
December 11, 2017
DC Shuttle ... Tax Bill Moves Forward Despite Educators' Resistance. Both the U.S. House and Senate voted to go to conference on their versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The bills would make significant changes to higher education. Between the House and Senate versions of the legislation, the following changes would impact higher education institutions and students: Endowment...
December 11, 2017
The 2018 Guide to New England Colleges & Universities data published by Boston magazine in association with the New England Board of Higher Education provided me the opportunity to examine the schools’ prices, defined as tuition plus fees, as a function of several independent factors including those listed below. (I conducted a similar study last year.) Percentage of freshman applicant...
December 8, 2017
Video snippets from NEBHE's Summit on Employability: A National Imperative ... Eastern Connecticut State University President Elsa Núñez led a session at the Dec. 4 Summit about the Commission on Higher Education & Employability's 'Equity Imperative.' NEBHE aims to ensure that the Commission's workforce vision serves all New Englanders ... as a matter of social justice, but also as a...
December 4, 2017
DC Shuttle ... House Ed and Workforce Releases Draft HEA Reauthorization. Republican leadership of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce released a bill that would reauthorize the federal law governing higher education, the Higher Education Act of 1965. The "Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act," H.R. 4508, was introduced by the Committee's...
December 1, 2017
Everyone knows money is important. For those privileged to have enough of it, money is not an obstacle for living a decent life or for college access. My husband and I frequently say, “Money isn’t everything,” but only the freedom of having money allows us to say such a thing. We didn’t want our own children restricted in their college choices. Of course, we hoped that they would consid...
November 30, 2017
Apply now for 2018-19 scholarship. The New England Board of Higher Education is pleased to announce the NEBHE-Chinese Government Scholarship, a timely opportunity for New England college and university students. Over the past decade, China has become a top study abroad destination for U.S. students. According to the Institute of International Education's Open Doors report, the number of American students studying...
November 29, 2017
Through its partnership with RadioHigherEd.com, NEJHE presents a conversation with Martha Kanter, who is leading the College Promise Campaign's national initiative to increase college access, affordability, quality and completion.Kanter is the former U.S. undersecretary of education, where she had oversight responsibility for all federal postsecondary statutory, regulatory and administrative policies and programs in Obama Administration. NEJHE was pleased to feature Kanter's...
November 28, 2017
NEBHE's 2018 Guide to New England Colleges & Universities lists key data for public and independent, degree-granting colleges and universities based in New England—such as admissions application deadlines and acceptance rates; faculty-student ratio; enrollment totals and breakdowns for part-time, commuting, female, international and minority students; cost of attendance; and degrees offered. NEBHE gathered the information for the college listings through...
November 28, 2017
If there is one area of common ground between the Republican leadership in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, it is that the time has finally come for those entities that are not currently paying their fair share of taxes to step forward and be held accountable. Both the Senate and House tax reform bills propose that these entities—which have traditionally been afforded favorable tax ...
November 20, 2017
DC Shuttle ... FAFSA Simplification Hearing and Bill. The Senate Health, Education Labor & Pensions (HELP) committee will hold a hearing on Nov. 28 to take a look at simplifying the free application for federal student aid (FAFSA). The committee will hear from witnesses representing researchers, students, schools and financial aid professionals on proposals to simplify the FAFSA. Committee Chair...
November 15, 2017
In the spring, we ran a piece titled Real Tweets, Fake News … and More from the NEJHE Beat. We noted that every NEJHE item automatically posts to Twitter, but that we also use Twitter to disseminate interesting news or opinion pieces from elsewhere. These are often juxtaposed with something NEBHE has worked on in the past and sometimes presented with an added comment, but not always. Among some ...
November 13, 2017
DC Shuttle ... Senate Releases Tax Bill. The Republican-led U.S. Senate released a tax bill that would impose a new 1.4% excise tax on the earnings of endowments at private universities. The new tax, which is also in the House bill, would apply only to private, not public, universities that have at least 500 students and endowment assets of at...
November 7, 2017
DC Shuttle ... House Tax Plan Would Hit Higher Education. Republican leadership in the U.S. House released its draft "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act", which would have major implications for the higher education community. A new tax would make private colleges subject to a 1.4% excise tax on the net investment income of their endowments. The provision would apply only...
October 31, 2017
The childhood bullying that once tormented kids at school is now following them home via social media and the internet. For many people growing up, being teased was almost a rite of passage—something we all experienced at some point in our lives. It never felt good and, in some cases, this teasing turned more serious and became bullying. Fortunately, more and more schools are taking a no-toleran...
October 30, 2017
DC Shuttle ... Hearing on Free Speech on Campus. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on free speech on college campuses. The only legislation proposed to address the issue is a House resolution (H Res 307) to ban campuses from designating specific areas where students can protest or pass out flyers. In September, Attorney...
October 30, 2017
Last year, I attended my 50th reunion at Amherst College. One evening at dinner under a tent, a former roommate, “Nick,” dominated the conversation with assertions that claims about human-induced climate change were a hoax and those about global warming a fraud. At first, I thought he was trying to be entertaining—or provocative. After a while, I realized my error. His was no parlor game; n...
October 24, 2017
Studley Comings and Goings ... Former U.S. Department of Education official and Skidmore College President Jamienne S. Studley was named president of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges' Senior College and University Commission, one of the seven U.S. regional accreditors. Studley has been featured several times in NEJHE, speaking about college rating systems and other initiatives to promote access,...
October 23, 2017
DC Shuttle ... College Presidents Ask for Solution to Dreamers' Status. Presidents from almost 800 colleges and universities sent a letter to leaders of Congress, calling on them to "pass a long-term legislative fix as soon as possible to protect Dreamers." In the letter, presidents argue that "Colleges and universities have seen these remarkable people up close, in our classrooms...
October 23, 2017
Kaitlyn Iglesias is entering her senior year at Rutgers University-Newark ready to launch her career. She had internships at Ernst & Young in New York this summer and last. She is finishing up a degree in accounting and management information systems and is a member of Women BUILD (Business Undergraduates in Leadership Development). She’s beginning the semester with an offer from Ernst &...
October 18, 2017
Mills Comings and Goings ... Barry Mills, the former Bowdoin College president who became interim chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston in July after the resignation of Chancellor J. Keith Motley, will step down from the UMass Boston post in June 2018. Regis College appointed former professor and later chief diversity officer at Vermont's School for International Training Michelle Cromwell...
October 16, 2017
DC Shuttle ... Ed Secy Outlines Priorities. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos outlined her vision and policy priorities for education in the U.S. In a document published in the Federal Register, the Department of Education details 11 proposed priorities for use in competitive grant programs that "reflect the Secretary's vision for American education." The department said that its 11 initiatives...
October 12, 2017
We asked thousands of college students what they wish their college knew. Here’s what they said … Every year, Denver teacher Kyle Schwartz invites her third-graders to share on a Post-It note an answer to the prompt: “I wish my teacher knew …” The responses offer poignant glimpses into their young lives, revealing struggles with poverty, absent parents and social isolation. After Schw...
October 10, 2017
DC Shuttle ... Executive Order Extends Presidential Commissions on Education. President Trump signed an executive order extending three presidential advisory commissions on education until Sept. 30, 2019. All three had been set to expire over the weekend. Trump's order extends the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics and...
October 6, 2017
A college president spoke up to his students and campus community the other day. His concern was a timely topic: race and race relations, bigotry and racial slurs. And who was the president? Well, while we don’t often think of these leaders in this way, the superintendents of our three major military academies are the presidents of their universities. And this superintendent of the Air Force Aca...
October 3, 2017
Scolforo Comings and Goings ... The Vermont State College System appointed Central Penn College President Karen Scolforo to be the next leader of Castleton University, succeeding Dave Wolk, who is retiring from the post after 16 years. Vermont State Colleges Chancellor Jeb Spaulding noted that with Scolforo's appointment, all five institutions in the Vermont State College System will all be...
October 2, 2017
DC Shuttle ... Perkins Loan Program Expires. The federal Perkins Loan program expired with the end of the fiscal year on Saturday night. More than 200 House lawmakers asked leadership for a vote on the legislation (H.R. 2482) to reauthorize the Perkins Loan program for an additional two years. A bill was also introduced in the Senate (S. 1808) sponsored...
September 28, 2017
Look around your campus this semester for some students who look unusually young, eager and attentive. It may not be, as faculty sometimes say, that “the students are looking younger every year” or that you yourself are aging rapidly. They may be students in an “Early College” program. Less evident at first gaze may be the multiple types of students within the ranks of Early College goers,...
September 25, 2017
DC Shuttle ... Ed Dept Solicits Feedback on Regulation Reduction. The U.S. Department of Education will hold the first of two public hearings tomorrow to solicit additional public input on which federal higher education regulations it should roll back. The hearing will be at Salt Lake Community College's Miller Campus in Sandy, Utah. A second hearing will be held on...
September 25, 2017
When U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced Sept. 7 that her department would revisit how Title IX rules are enforced with respect to campus sexual assault, she said the first step would be a “transparent notice and comment process” to replace the 2011 “guidance” (and follow up 2014 guidance) that has been criticized for its one-size-fits-all presumption and lack of flexibility ...
September 19, 2017
As a Tick superhero gathers comic book and video followers, Maine state Sen. Jim Dill, a UMaine Cooperative Extension professor, has emerged as a key expert in the real-life challenge of understanding the often-disease-carrying insects. NEBHE presented its 2017 regional Higher Education Excellence Award to Dill, during the organization's board meeting at the Sable Oaks Marriott in South Portland, Maine,...
September 19, 2017
It is difficult to travel on any road today without seeing solar panels on the rooftops of houses, larger solar farms across vast fields or wind turbines in the distance. With larger initiatives to create more environmentally sustainable energy and reduce carbon footprint, many universities are reviewing their options for alternative energy sources. Three of the most common types of alternative e...
September 18, 2017
NEBHE on Sept. 15 issued the following statement ... The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) urges Congress to follow the president's direction to legislate permanent protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). DACA allowed "Dreamers" to "come out of the shadows," enroll in postsecondary opportunities and legally secure jobs. "Dreamers" are required to follow specific rules to...
September 18, 2017
DC Shuttle ... House Approves Spending Package with Ed Dept Cuts. The House of Representatives approved an omnibus spending package (H.R. 3354), by a 211-198 vote, to fund the government, including the U.S. Department of Education funding bill (H.R. 3358). The bill, as approved, would cut about $2.3 billion from the Department of Education, a roughly 3.5% reduction from the...
September 12, 2017
New Hampshire lawmakers ended hard-fought budget deliberations on June 22 and passed a two-year $17.7 billion budget along party lines. During House budget deliberations, Republicans faced opposition in their own party coming from the newly formed Freedom Caucus. The result was the Republican-dominated House failed to produce a budget, which hadn't happened in several decades. The Republican House and Senate...
September 12, 2017
The first regular session of Maine's 128th state Legislature was exceptionally challenging, as lawmakers engaged in a bitter fight over the budget while wrestling with four ballot questions approved by voters in the November 2016 election. Lawmakers were divided on Question 2, which was approved by voters and would have imposed a 3% tax on those making $200,000 or more....
September 12, 2017
Two weeks into FY 2018, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a $39.4 billion spending package that increases spending by 1.7% over the prior year. He vetoed $320 million from the budget, including $222 million in spending for MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program. Baker has proposed reforms to MassHealth including a 'gate' which blocks eligibility for full-time workers who have access to...
September 12, 2017
On June 7, 2017, Connecticut legislators wrapped up their session without passing a two-year budget. The failure to pass a budget or a provisional budget reflects a deeply divided Legislature with an 18-18 split in the Senate and a slight Democratic majority, 79-72, in the House. As lawmakers adjourned, Gov. Dannel Malloy chastised them for failing to break the deadlock...
September 12, 2017
The Rhode Island General Assembly abruptly ended its 2017 legislation session on Friday evening, July 1, following a protracted disagreement between House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio related to the car tax. Eliminating the car tax was a high priority of Mattiello's. But some lawmakers expressed concern that with revenues lagging by approximately $100 million, eliminating the...
September 12, 2017
From January to April, there appeared to be an unusual degree of cooperation among legislators and newly elected Gov. Phil Scott. The House and Senate passed a budget with minor differences. Up until this point, some legislators were characterizing the session as “boring.” All that changed on April 20, when Scott proposed that the Legislature adopt the Vermont School Boards...
September 11, 2017
DC Shuttle ... DeVos to Change Sexual Assault Rule. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gave a speech in which she said she would replace an Obama-era schools directive on sexual assault with an alternative that she said would do a better job balancing the rights of victims and the accused, Politico reports. The plan is to develop new guidance through...
September 11, 2017
Immerman Comings and Goings ... Steve Immerman announced he will retire as president of Montserrat College at the end of the 2017-18 academic year, after nearly nine years leading the four-year visual arts and design college. Immerman authored Letting Off STEAM at Montserrat College of Art for NEJHE. Bob Pura announced he will retire as president of Greenfield Community College, ...
September 5, 2017
Post-Labor Days. For many, that means time to put away the white pants and relish that last summer getaway. Few will reflect on the true meaning of Labor Day (and May Day) or the too-often-denigrated labor movement in general. Fewer will think of the 19th century mill girls in Lowell, Mass., and their successors who risked their jobs—and sometimes their lives—to create the day of recognition ...
August 28, 2017
Imagine that you have a big trip coming up to someplace you have never been before. You’ve been thinking about this trip for a long time, and many people have helped you plan it and figure out how to pay for it. Along the way, you’ve managed to book the ticket and reserve a place to stay. You are apprehensive about going, but all of your friends are getting ready for similar trips, and there i...
August 24, 2017
NEBHE Senior Fellow Stafford Peat teamed up with Sarah Linet, a policy specialist with the Great Schools Partnership, to write a piece for the online collaborative CompetencyWorks titled Debunking a Myth–Competency-Based Transcripts Don't Disadvantage High School Graduates in the Admissions Process. Peat and Linet note that a focus group of deans and directors of admission from the most selective private...
August 21, 2017
With high school populations declining throughout New England and in several other regions of the country, it’s only natural to be concerned about the fiscal challenges confronting our nation’s private colleges and universities. Forecasts by prominent higher education experts increasingly suggest that many, if not most, of our small private institutions will face closure in the decade ahead. H...
August 14, 2017
Recently, I read yet another higher education professional’s case for standardized testing, specifically that making such tests free and universal would help level the playing field for low-income and minority students seeking access to top colleges. But while the SAT’s hefty $57 fee contributes to the barriers low-income students face, eliminating it won’t solve the problem. Access to highe...
August 9, 2017
The affordability of public colleges and universities, whose primary mission is to serve state residents, is top-of-mind for students and parents, institutional leaders and state policymakers. NEBHE's 2016-17 tuition & fees report New England Fast Facts: The Price of Public Colleges in New England, 2016-17 shows that since fall 2011, tuition and required fees have risen 16% at community colleges and...
August 9, 2017
From time to time we revive the collection of facts and figures called "Data Connection" that we had published quarterly for nearly 20 years in the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (formerly Connection). The latest ... "Patriotic" rank of northern New England states measured by indicators such as share of enlisted military population, share of...
August 7, 2017
DC Shuttle ... Justice Dept Memo Suggests Lawsuit on College Discrimination. A leaked document suggested that the U.S. Justice Department may soon begin investigating whether colleges are discriminating in the way they use race in admissions. An internal Justice Department posting seeking lawyers for "investigations and possible litigation" relating to university affirmative action policies was leaked to the New York...