Credit for MOOCs? The American Council on Education will review up to 10 MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses, and recommend whether they should be eligible for college credit. (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

A 71-year-old dentist with more than $500,000 in debt. The king of all outliers in the ongoing saga of student loan debt woes. (Los Angeles Times)

Keeping the best. D.C.Continue Reading »

The name of the newest student loan repayment program – Income Based Repayment (IBR) – is an Orwellian abuse of language. It implies that student loans will be repaid, but under IBR, – typical undergraduate borrowers will not repay their loans.

And changes to IBR that are going into effect soon mean they will repay even less. We know this courtesy of the awesome calculaContinue Reading »

If the public were in charge. A large majority of Americans say teachers should be laid off based on poor performance, not seniority, according to a new report out today. (Thomas B. Fordham Institute)

Light reading. If you missed the American Enterprise Institute’s day-long discussion on “stretching the higher education dollar” today, there is a compilation of 11 papers, written by panelContinue Reading »

His reasoning is even better. A New Hampshire lawmaker claims he found the culprit of high crime rates in his local community: kindergarten. (Yahoo News)

Cashing in on a historic home run. A Connecticut mother is auctioning off a baseball hit by Lou Gehrig during the 1928 World Series in order to pay off her son’s student loans. (Los Angeles Times)

Priceless. What is a good teacheContinue Reading »

“Actually, I don’t remember.” NPR talks to current college students and graduates and finds many don’t, or didn’t, know much about their loan borrowing—or the long-term implications it has. (NPR)

Just a little reorganization. Philadelphia School District officials are considering a complete overhaul that would “essentially blow the district up and start with a new structure.”Continue Reading »

About that $1 trillion number floating around. Sallie Mae’s CEO says he doesn’t see “anything of any evidence” that points to a student loan bubble. (Bloomberg)

In which fruit speaks. A state test question on an eighth-grade exam involves a talking pineapple that challenges a hare to a race (think: Aesop’s fable) and ends with “The animals ate the pineapple.” The first question after theContinue Reading »

Representative Virginia Foxx (R – N.C.) has no patience for students who whine about their student loan debt. After all, she was able to work her way through college without taking on a single penny of debt. According to Foxx, “We live in an opportunity society… You don’t sit on your butt and have it dumped in your lap.” Thank goodness we have someone like Foxx who is willing to pContinue Reading »

Not just a fad. Michael Jonas takes a extensive look at virtual learning and its potential to change the face of education. (The piece also features Education Sector’s Bill Tucker.) (CommonWealth)

‘I’m getting so much more bang for my buck.’ U.S. students are increasingly turning to foreign institutions to get their four-year degrees. Beyond the enriched cultural experience, they say theContinue Reading »

We’re in the haze of the morning after The Big Dance. No more interoffice banter, no more friendly competition, no more basketball on the big screen. Now that March Madness is over, the only thing left is the bragging rights of the office pool’s victor.

While we didn’t hold our breath for a final matchup between Brigham Young University and Harvard, as we earlier predicted in our debt-toContinue Reading »

Dismal stats. Student loan debt now sits at $1 trillion, which is larger than economists had predicted for this time. It’s also larger than the America’s collective credit card balance. (The Atlantic)

A little competition never hurt anyone. Sara Mead argues that recompetition for Head Start will be a good thing, allowing officials to better identify and support quality providers. (PolicyContinue Reading »