Guess which major news magazine had this cover headline last week: “Time to Scrap Affirmative Action.” (Note there is no question mark.) In past years, one might have thought it was National Review or The Weekly Standard. Not this time. The story belongs to that well known “right-wing publication,” The Economist.

The Economist’s article discusses a case before the U.S. Supreme Court on tContinue Reading »

Ever since the White House introduced its College Scorecard, critics have emerged from every corner (including my colleague Jeff Selingo on this blog yesterday). The Scorecard is incomplete and does not evaluate the proper measures, we are told. Selecting a university and judging quality based on five variables limits and insults what a college education is all about. The data is too general anContinue Reading »

Recently, several DC think tanks and advocacy organizations have issued a series of reports about how to improve and sustain federal financial aid programs.  The recommendations have been varied – converting Pell grants into entitlements, consolidating duplicative federal loan programs, and holding institutions more accountable for student progress and completion.  But there’s one thing that’s Continue Reading »

When I see a story or blog nowadays on MOOCs, I am inclined not to read it. I mean, how much more could be said about Udacity, EdX, or Coursera that has not already been written?  But if you’re like me, resist that temptation and go back and read one of the many articles that appeared earlier this week about San Jose State partnering with Udacity to develop online, entry-level courses. It’s worContinue Reading »

As any casual reader of the Quick and the Ed knows, 2012 was the year of the MOOC. Whether it’s individual professors offering free online courses through Udacity, elite colleges signing up with Coursera or EdX to expand their online footprint, or the many efforts underway to determine how to attach formal academic credit to these innovations, 2012 will be remembered as the year that the traditContinue Reading »

The past four years have been busy ones for the Department of Education as it’s broadened its reach into higher education. But with all that activity, what have we learned, where are the gaps, and what should the administration’s agenda be for its second term?  No doubt, the administration has and will receive many suggestions (most uninvited), so I will keep it simple and focus on three areas—Continue Reading »

Last week, Capella University President Scott Kinney wrote a piece in Inside Higher Education encouraging the U.S. Education Department to make available data it collected initially for the now much-in-doubt gainful employment regulation that would allow universities to examine the earnings data of their graduates by degree area.  A few weeks before, the Washington Post ran a story on how VirgiContinue Reading »

Late last week, the Department of Education released its annual update on student loan default rates. Not surprisingly, the overall two-year default rate shot up from 8.8 to 9.1 percent over the course of the last year, and the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and other news outlets all ran stories highlighting yet additional evidence of the poor economy and job market, and their impact on Continue Reading »