Anthony Paletta is a freelance writer.
Here’s a letter from a reader addressing some of the travails of technology at her college and the role that they seem to play in the dropout rate: I went back to college this semester after dropping out 18 years ago for a family obligation. I came from a wealthy family. My entire family were […]
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KC Johnson wrote here last about the University of Alabama’s combination of its women’s and African-American studies departments. It seems they’re not alone. In an act of even more radical compression, the University of Nevada-Reno has combined [takes a breath] the holocaust, genocide, and peace studies program, religious studies, ethnic studies, and women’s studies into […]
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The College Board’s “Trends In Pricing” report, released this week, reveals that public university tuition rose by an average of 6.5% this fall while private university costs increased by only 4.4%. The discrepancy is no surprise, in an atompshere of reduced state education budgets, declining out-of-state enrollment, and notable increases in in-state applications (and attendant […]
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The New York Times’ college admissions blog The Choice hosted four days of questions for the President of the College Board. The questioners aren’t pulling any punches: I always try to give the benefit of the doubt, but is the College Board really nonprofit? Why does testing cost so much? Where does the money go? […]
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Will ACLU campus events for Banned Books Week feature any of the censored illustrations from the Yale Mohammed cartoons volume?
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Check out Mariah Blake’s Washington Monthly piece “Pie in the Sky” for the unfortunate story of Ave Maria University.
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Some of the college selections seem premised on the strength of a college’s activist community (University of Kansas) or environmental studies programs (several) but most of the others are quite sound. The modest list is here.
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The latest installment of the Washington Monthly college rankings is out. Their ranking evaluates such factors as the percentage of students entering ROTC or the peace corps, awards won by professors, and total research expenditures. If you’re a sucker for college lists, you won’t be able to resist this one (here are some reasons why […]
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Almost all of the best-paying undergrad degrees by salary are in engineering, the Huffington Post points out in a gloss on the PayScale rankings of degrees by average salary.
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The American Council of Trustees and Alumni has released a trustee guide Restoring a Core as a follow-up to What Will They Learn, their recent survey of core curricula (more about that here) Take a look at the “How Will A Core Benefit My Institution” section beginning on page 4 for some interesting examples from […]
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“Fear of Debt Changes College Plans” from USA Today.
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“How To Pay For College As An Adult” from Forbes
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Joe Mont at The Street suggests that perhaps you shouldn’t be.
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The American Council of Trustees and Alumni has unveiled a new site, www.whatwilltheylearn.com, that provides a survey of core curriculum requirements at 100 American Universities. They evaluate the existence of requirements in 7 areas: Composition, Literature, Foreign Language, U.S. Government or History, Economics, Mathematics, and Science. Suffice it to say that most colleges required don’t […]
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Cary Nelson’s statement: “We do not negotiate with terrorists. We just accede to their anticipated demands.” That is effectively the new policy position at Yale University Press, which has eliminated all visual depictions of the Prophet Muhammad from Jytte Klausen’s new book The Cartoons That Shook the World. Yale made the unusual decision not only […]
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Curious about the starting and mid-career salaries of graduates of different colleges? Wonder no longer. Check out an interesting list at Payscale. Yes, Amherst is higher than Auburn, but there are some surprising results.
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Some advice from the Philadelphia Inquirer “Renting” and digital textbooks? It’s a new world out there…
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Sunday’s “U” Issue of the New York Times offers a few interesting features: – How dropping test score requirements is also a convincing tool for the benefit of colleges. – An interesting University of Cincinatti dorm effort to retain first-generation college students. – Some advice on balancing grad school prospects and debt. And plenty more, […]
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Top Party Schools, from the new Princeton Review college guide: 1. Penn State University, State College, Pa. 2. University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla. 3. University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss. 4. University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. 5. Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 6. West Virginia University, Morgantown, W.Va. 7. University of Texas, Austin, Texas 8. University of […]
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“Choosing Community College Means Some Homework” by Kathy M. Kristof from the L.A. Times: “You can go two years to a community college for the cost of one course at a four-year university,” said Don Silver, author of the “Community College Transfer Guide.” “What is overlooked is how complex it can be.” Too often, students […]
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The New York Times poses the question. I’m not going to tell you the answer – take a look for yourself.
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“Weighing Price And Value When Picking An Elite College” from the Wall Street Journal.
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A revealing video from Reason TV on increased federal student aid. Reason speaks with, among others, Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Charles Murray.
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We’re looking for any upcoming or recent accounts of freshman orientation from those who’ve undergone the process or shortly will. PC skits, “white privilege” games, and the like, we’re interested in all of this. Any stories are welcome and encouraged. Write us or urge anyone you know who might be going through the process to […]
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High schools appear to be steadily dumbing down summer reading assignments, if this Boston Globe report is any indication. One teacher: ..created a cheeky list with titles like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith and Our Dumb World by The Onion. The former is a spoof on the Jane Austen classic that has […]
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“Maximize Your 529 College Savings Plan” from the Boston Globe
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Become a fan of the Manhattan Institute on Facebook – enjoy easy updates to MI material and entertain and inform yourself all-around. Join here.
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Have you heard about: The UNC job created for the wife of the former governor of North Carolina (with an $850,000 contract)? The underqualified applicants admitted to the University of Illinois thanks to political pressure (among them a relative of Tony Rezko’s)? The university that gamed its way up the US News and World Report […]
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“Should America Tax University Sports?” Read the piece, and an interesting comments thread.
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Take a look at brief state-by-state overview of student loan forgiveness programs, from the New York Times.
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