University System News:
www.ledger-enquirer.com
Auburn, UGA listed among safest colleges in U.S.A.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article159955314.html
BY LARRY GIERER
Auburn University and the University of Georgia have made a list of the 100 safest colleges in the nation. Also making the list compiled for 2017 by the National Council For Home Safety and Security was Georgia Southern University. Auburn was ranked No. 52, Georgia Southern No. 82 and the University of Georgia No. 100.
www.goldenisles.news
College continues to grow stronger every year
The good news keeps coming out of College of Coastal Georgia. As the college makes its transition from President Greg Aloia to interim president Margaret Amstutz, it is also home to a professor who has received a high honor from the state. Colleen Knight, an assistant professor of chemistry at CCGA, is a Governor’s Teaching Fellow this year, which essentially means she is among the 15 best college faculty members in Georgia. That goes for public and private institutions, of which there are many. …Every year, it seems CCGA continues to add new programs, develop resources to help students succeed in the modern job market and expand its enrollment. Every time a new announcement is made, it comes as music to our ears. We want CCGA to prosper and grow as much as anyone because we know how meaningful a robust and bustling college campus can be to a community. Colleges have a way of injecting young, energetic people into a community who bring with them new ideas that can have big impacts. As CCGA grows, so will the energy and impact its students, faculty and staff have on Brunswick.
www.growinggeorgia.com
One School’s Effort to Make a Difference in Ag Literacy
Growing America Staff
Colleges are no longer focused solely on educating their students, they are also making a big push to help improve Ag Literacy. Here’s one school’s story about their program, Destination Ag.
www.wrdw.com
Augusta University set to have campus carry law forums
Folks who have questions pertaining to the new campus carry law, which is also known as House Bill 280, have the opportunity to learn all about it. The dates and times for Augusta University’s campus carry forums have been set:
www.ajc.com
UGA student missing after being thrown from raft in Wyoming
Steve Burns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Authorities in Wyoming are searching for a University of Georgia student who went missing after he was thrown from a raft on the Snake River, Channel 2 Action News reported. Oliver Woodward, 21, was last seen Tuesday evening in the river canyon, south of Hoback Junction, Teton County sheriff’s Sgt. Lloyd Funk said.
www.ajc.com
Search for missing UGA student now a recovery effort
Steve Burns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Officials in Wyoming have scaled back the search for a University of Georgia student who went missing after he was thrown from a raft on the Snake River on the Fourth of July. “It is with a heavy heart that we move to the next stage of this event,” Teton County sheriff’s Sgt. Lloyd Funk said in a statement. …While officials have scaled back the search for Woodward, missing person fliers will still be handed out, and river users will be asked to observe diligently, according to the sheriff’s office.
www.savannahnow.com
Financial report shows Georgia Southern athletics with surplus for 2016
By Nathan Deen
A USA Today database cataloging financial reports released Thursday for 230 NCAA Division I athletic programs revealed Georgia Southern finished with a surplus of more than $1.2 million in revenue, while Savannah State accrued more than $1.8 million in debt for 2016.
Higher Education News:
www.forbes.com
The Student Loan Default Crisis Is Being Caused By Promises Of Debt Forgiveness
Jeffrey Dorfman , CONTRIBUTOR
Scare stories about the rapid rise in student loan debt are about as common as sob stories about sympathetic people with enormous student loan debt but little in the way of job or earning prospects. While both story clichés are probably good for garnering clicks, neither is representative of the real world of student loan debt. In fact, almost all students are using student loans responsibly, their loan balances are not that high, and they can easily afford to pay. The student loan crisis is really being caused by strategic action, not financial burden. The rate of borrowers who are in default or more than 90 days past due is approaching 40% and total student loan debt is around $1.4 trillion, making it sound like this is a problem of out-of-control ballooning debt. However, the average student loan balance for students in default is only $16,381 according to a recent report by Demos, virtually identical to the $15,654 balance for people paying on their student loans. The oft-highlighted stories of the humanities major with a six-figure loan balance is not a good description of the situation.
www.usatoday.com
Millions of student loans could be headed for a shakeup in coming months
Roger Yu , USA TODAY
… Her loans — and those of millions of other students — could be in for a big shakeup in the coming months as President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress set out to remake the complex business, potentially eliminating benefits and protections that borrowers like Minor depend on. Lobbyists for private lenders and loan servicing companies are emboldened by the Trump administration, which reflexively disdains regulations and favors market-based solutions. Alarmed by Trump’s agenda, consumer advocates and student groups also are gearing up to fight any efforts to change the government’s role and student debtors’ rights.
www.chronicle.com
One Activist Has Hundreds of Colleges Under the Gun to Fix Their Websites
http://www.chronicle.com/article/One-Activist-Has-Hundreds-of/240551?cid=wcontentlist_hp_latest
By Peter Schmidt
One Activist Has Hundreds of Colleges Under the Gun to Fix Their Websites By Peter Schmidt
After the 2016 presidential election, Marcie Lipsitt looked up the alma maters of Donald J. Trump’s chief advisers and persuaded the Education Department to investigate them for illegally having websites inaccessible to people with disabilities. At the height of this year’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, she similarly triggered federal scrutiny of colleges represented in the “Sweet Sixteen” regional semifinals. Morgan State University became one of her targets because she had met one of its blind students in Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Ms. Lipsitt, a veteran disability-rights activist from Franklin, Mich., says she regards virtually any college as an easy target, because nearly all have web pages inaccessible to people who are blind or deaf, or who have motor or cognitive disabilities.