USG Institutions:
www.macon.com
Accreditation group denies Middle Georgia State’s bid for master’s program
http://www.macon.com/2015/06/24/3813234/middle-georgia-state-wont-offer.html
BY DAVID SCHICK
Middle Georgia State College will still become a university on July 1, but it will not be able to offer a master’s degree program this fall as it had intended. Earlier this month, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools denied the college’s bid to offer a Master of Information Technology program. In March, the program had been approved, along with the school’s new university status, by the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents. Christopher Blake, president of Middle Georgia State, said in an email to faculty and staff that the college is “confident in our ability to offer a range of approved baccalaureate and graduate degrees” as a university.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
GRU public safety chief to retire amid investigation
http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2015-06-24/gru-public-safety-chief-retire-amid-investigation
By Travis Highfield
Staff Writer
Georgia Regents University public safety Chief William McBride will retire at the end of the month, officials confirmed. On Wednesday, employees in the public safety division were advised that he would step down from his position June 30, the last day of the fiscal year, GRU spokeswoman Kelly Jasper said. McBride has been the subject of an internal investigation at the university and was put on administrative leave June 1. Officials have not released any details of the investigation despite repeated inquiries.
www.myajc.com
Police identify men accused of assaulting Kennesaw State student
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/police-identify-men-accused-of-assaulting-kennesaw/nmkcg/
By Daniel Funke – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Law enforcement officials have identified the four men accused of sexually assaulting a Kennesaw State University student in an on-campus apartment Sunday night. Kennesaw State President Daniel S. Papp released a statement Wednesday night saying investigators have identified the accused men, who are “cooperating with law enforcement,” according to the release.
www.statesboroherald.com
OTC, GSU agree to link logistics degrees
Agreement designed to minimize lost credits, duplicated courses
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/68518/
BY Al Hackle
Officials signed an agreement Tuesday that would allow students who complete an associate degree in logistics at Ogeechee Technical College to progress to Georgia Southern University’s bachelor’s degree program in the same major. The articulation agreement is designed to minimize lost credits or duplicated courses for OTC graduates who choose to turn their two-year degree into the first half of GSU’s four-year degree. Direct links of this kind became possible one year ago when Ogeechee Tech achieved Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges accreditation.
www.wgxa.tv
Junior Knight Summer Camp At MGSC
http://www.wgxa.tv/news/local/Junior-Knight-Summer-Camp-At-MGSC-309389691.html
By Ivy Nova
The Junior Knight Summer Camp kicked off Monday at Middle Georgia State College. First through six graders have opportunities to engage in STEAM activates – science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. …Dozens of college students who are training to be teachers helped out with the camp. “Our job here is not to just prepare our teachers to teach but our job is also to help prepare our community to be better citizens and be equipped to handle the challenges and be better equipped to have the jobs that will be in the future,” said Wendy Pooler, Assistant Professor of Education at MGSC.
www.pb.org
How A Supreme Court Ruling Could Affect Obamacare in Georgia
http://www.gpb.org/news/2015/06/23/how-supreme-court-ruling-could-affect-obamacare-georgia
BY Michael Caputo
Macon, Ga. — The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule on a case that could dismantle the Affordable Care Act by ending financial subsidies for 6.4 million Americans. What can Georgians with insurance through the exchanges and health care providers expect if the high court overturns the subsidies? GPB’s Michael Caputo asked Chris Tsavatawa – chair of the Health Services Administration program at Middle Georgia State College
—————————————-
Michael Caputo, GPB
What’s the worst-case scenario for folks here in Georgia?
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Ratings Without … Rating
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/25/education-department-says-rating-system-will-be-consumer-tool-rather-comparison
By Paul Fain
The federal government will not compare colleges or pass judgment on their relative merits as part of the ratings system the U.S. Department of Education plans to release before the end of the summer, department officials said Wednesday. But the department isn’t bailing on the idea entirely, as some would have liked. Instead, the system will be more of a consumer-facing tool that students, their families and high school guidance counselors can use to learn more about how undergraduate institutions stack up, said Ted Mitchell, the under secretary of education.
www.diverseeducation.com
Presidents Partial to Severance Packages
http://diverseeducation.com/article/74190/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=1ba5bd3ffa1846939bfb2fd3f761f4b1&elqCampaignId=415&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=977d8f4ac694407a89782fa286aaf43b
by Catherine Morris
Severance packages for college and university president can be quite hefty. It recently came to light that Yale University President Richard C. Levin received $8.5 million as a supplemental pension payment when he stepped down in 2013. However, unless it is an exorbitant amount or there are extraordinarily extenuating circumstances, presidents typically collect their severance pay without much remark from outside parties. After all, the salaries they earn while actually in office are so much more distracting. …Increasingly, college and university presidents are staying in office for shorter terms, and are coming into their positions from outside of academia. As a result, the compensation structure is changing and growing to reflect a more corporate model ― including allocations for severance or deferred payments and more. As they move into uncharted territory, “[boards] are looking for guidance, frankly, when they’re developing presidential contracts and they’re negotiating them,” Hutcheson said. The study was developed to help create a reference point for them.
www.insidehighered.com
Adjunct Retirement Insecurity
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/25/tiaa-cref-survey-reveals-adjuncts-concerns-about-having-enough-savings-retirement
By Colleen Flaherty
Just 19 percent of adjunct faculty members say they’re very confident they’ll have enough money for retirement, while another 49 percent say they’re somewhat confident at best. Nearly one-third of adjuncts (31 percent) say they’re not confident they’ll be financially able to retire at all. Those are the findings of a new report from TIAA-CREF Institute, the research arm of TIAA-CREF, which is a major provider of financial services and retirement planning to colleges and universities.
www.usnews.com
Court rules in favor of making colleges prove their students can find jobs to get loan money
http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/06/23/federal-court-upholds-rules-aimed-at-for-profit-industry
By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court has ruled in favor of tough new regulations aimed at career training programs, dealing a major blow to the for-profit college industry. In an opinion released Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled the Education Department has the right to demand that schools show their graduates make enough money to repay their student loans. The Education Department announced its plan last fall as a way of weeding out fraudulent colleges that were targeting low-income students because of their ability to receive federal student loans, grants and military benefits.
www.diverseeducation.com
Analyst: Student Debt an Issue for 2016 Presidential Candidates
http://diverseeducation.com/article/74184/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=1ba5bd3ffa1846939bfb2fd3f761f4b1&elqCampaignId=415&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqTrackId=e88a76d9d3f44c08aaa8efc1c70e0f6c
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
WASHINGTON — In order to win the White House in 2016, the successful candidate will have to develop a higher education agenda that deals with student debt, a political analyst told a group of higher education accreditors Wednesday. “You can’t go into a discussion — especially with anyone under the age of 30 — and not have the issue of student debt raised,” said Amy Walter, national editor of The Cook Political Report and a frequent news commentator. Indeed, 7 in 10 seniors who graduated from public and nonprofit colleges in 2013 had student loan debt, with an average of $28,400 per borrower, according to The Institute for College Access & Success’s Project on Student Debt. “Each candidate is going to have to an answer for that,” Walter said.