University System News:
Valdosta Daily Times
Zachary: Exempt records can be released
Jim Zachary
Just because a record held by local government is considered exempt from the state’s Open Records Act does not mean that record cannot be released. To say it another way, even if the document is exempted from the Open Records Act, public officials can still release it. Last year, the state Supreme Court clearly said local government officials can release public records exempted from the Open Records Act, if they so choose. Georgia public records laws allow for certain documents to be withheld but do not require it. The state’s Open Records Act places no restrictions on elected and appointed officials who choose to be completely open and transparent. …When the Georgia Supreme Court issued that decision last year, it was because of a dispute between the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and Campaign for Accountability and a group known as the Consumer Credit Research Foundation. A lawsuit had been filed by the Consumer Credit Research Foundation. CCRF, which is funded by the payday lending industry to support academic research on consumer finance, was seeking to block an open records request filed by the Campaign for Accountability. The Campaign for Accountability was asking for correspondence between CCRF and a Kennesaw State University professor who had received CCRF research funding. Kennesaw State was ready to release the documents. CCRF then sued to block the release.
Tifton Gazette
ABAC faculty members honored with NACTA teaching awards
Three faculty members in the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources have been selected as recipients of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Teaching Award of Merit for the 2018-19 academic year at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. This year’s recipients are Dr. Frank Flanders, associate professor of agricultural education; Dr. George Lowerts, associate professor of forestry; and Dr. Erin Porter, assistant professor of agricultural engineering.
Greenhouse Grower
Horticulture Program Offers Lessons in Finding Jobs After Graduation
Posted by Brian Sparks
There tends to be a lot of talk about new members of the horticulture industry struggling to find jobs after graduates. However, for graduates of the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of Horticulture, most new alumni have job offers waiting for them, or they have been accepted into graduate school. According to a story on the UGA Department of Horticulture website, the department has long been committed to helping graduates find jobs or apply for graduate school.
WGAU Radio
UGA RECOGNIZES COMPANIES THAT HIRE ALUMS
By: Laura Bayne
The University of Georgia Career Center and Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations honored the top 25 employers of the Class of 2018 at the Buckhead Club in Atlanta. These employers hired 14% of Class of 2018 graduates who now have full-time jobs. According to UGA’s Career Outcomes Survey, the top 25 employers hired 757 graduates from the Class of 2018. The top 25 employers for the Class of 2018 (in alphabetical order) are: …Employers also benefit from the partnership between UGA and companies. Kevin Carmichael directs corporate university relations for NCR. “This recognition allows us to strengthen our partnerships on campus, highlight our amazing university recruitment team and further show how new hires, community partners and customers are part of our company story.” These companies hire UGA graduates because they know how well the university prepares students for their careers.
Madison.com
The most educated cities in the US
While the number of degree holders has risen in the U.S. overall, educational attainment also varies significantly by location.
Educational attainment in the U.S. is at a record high. As of 2017, 20 percent of adults over the age of 25 were bachelor’s degree holders, and an additional 12 percent of adults went beyond that to earn a graduate or professional degree. Nationwide, Americans have an average of 13.9 years of education, which equates to at least some college or an associate’s degree. As more people are achieving higher levels of education, the gap in earnings between the least and most educated people is also growing. The median annual earnings in the U.S. for adults over 25 is $40,069, but that number rises to $67,763 for bachelor’s degree holders and $98,369 for graduate/professional degree holders. By contrast, high school graduates earn $38,145 per year, and those who do not finish high school earn just $26,832 annually. With such a wide range in earning potential, education is now more important than ever. Atlanta is one of the South’s primary economic centers, with 13 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in this Georgia capital. Georgia State University, Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Georgia are just a few of the many higher education institutions located in this city. For the entrepreneurial-minded, Georgia Centers of Innovation (COI) also provides resources for fostering business innovation in the fields of aerospace, energy technology, information technology, logistics, and manufacturing.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lawrenceville to break ground on new performing arts center
By Karen Huppertz
Lawrenceville is inviting the public to join city leaders at 11 a.m. June 13 for a groundbreaking ceremony for the city’s new performing arts center at 175 North Clayton St. in downtown Lawrenceville. The $31 million, 50,000-square-foot arts center expansion will include a 500-plus-seat theatre, education space, office space and public space that will create a central gathering spot for the arts. …The expansion will help the city meet a goal to become a futuristic college town by bringing students into the city’s downtown from Georgia Gwinnett College’s Cinema and Media Arts program.
Patch
See How High Rents Are Near Top Georgia Universities
A new analysis from RentCafe shows where students living off-campus end up paying the most money. Here’s what they found for Georgia.
By Kathleen Sturgeon
Students enrolling at some of the top universities in the U.S. end up paying vastly different amounts for rent if they choose to live off-campus, according to an analysis from RentCafe. Two universities in Georgia were included in the RentCafe analysis. The analysis identified average rent prices within a 1-mile radius of U.S. News & World Report’s top-100 ranked universities. RentCafe compared the average rent near each university campus with the average rent in the college’s city. Tuition at eight of the 10 universities with the highest nearby rents identified by RentCafe was $50,000 or higher. Only half of the 10 universities with the lowest nearby rents had tuition that was $50,000 or higher. Here’s how Georgia universities ranked for rents within a 1-mile radius: University of Georgia: city average rent – $1,396, in state tuition – $11,830 Georgia Institute of Technology: city average rent – $1,435, in state tuition – $12,424
Equities.com
Scuttlebiz: State salaries can push the envy envelope
Augusta Chronicle
Want to know the quickest way to tempt a virtuous person into committing a cardinal sin? Have them take a look at the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts’ salary database. It just might have them speeding down the envy expressway faster than Kyle Busch at the Daytona 500. The state government’s financial accountability site, better known as “Open Georgia,” is an online database that — among other things — gives taxpayers a peek at state employee salaries. The site piques public interest because, well, let’s face it — we’re all nosy when it comes to what other people earn. Which is probably why the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and Macon Telegraph newspapers recently published a list of the 20 highest-paid people employed by Georgia’s “State Agencies, Boards, Authorities and Commissions” during the 2018 fiscal year. To satiate your nosiness, I’m going to pull the top 10 from that list right now:
Hypepotamus
PARKA SOLUTIONS WANTS TO MAKE RIDE HAILING, E-SCOOTERS MORE PROFITABLE… WITH ADVERTISING
By Holly Beilin
While personal car ownership has not, and may never, completely fade, today’s consumers have a menu of transportation options: ride hailing, ride sharing, and micro-mobility vehicles like e-scooters and dockless bikes. Ride hailing apps (Uber, Lyft) and micro-mobility (Bird, Lime, Jump) have ascended rapidly, with the former marking two of the buzziest IPOs of this year and the latter becoming the fastest U.S. companies ever to reach billion-dollar valuations. But the irony behind those splashy headlines is the truth that, at least for now, both ride hailing and e-scooter companies actually lose money on each ride. Sneh Parmar has a plan to change that, by taking a page from how some of the biggest tech companies make their money: advertising revenue. Parmar, a recent graduate of Georgia Tech, made these observations while working on a startup concept centered around payments in parking garages. He quickly widened the scope of his research, and out of that pivot came Parka Solutions, the first native advertising platform for digital transportation providers.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Proposed trade pact produces a split in Georgia agriculture
By Tamar Hallerman
Blueberries were considered a lucrative bet when Jerome Crosby began planting them on his farm in Willacoochee about 15 years ago. Then the Mexican competition arrived. Prices at local grocery stores plunged as Crosby and his American counterparts were forced to compete with the surge of low-priced produce from below the border .“They’ve forced us to an unprofitable level,” he said. Crosby and other Southeastern produce farmers blame Mexico’s low labor costs and less stringent regulations for what they see as unfair competition. So they saw an opportunity when President Donald Trump announced plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. …Some in the produce industry have been circulating a recent University of Georgia study that estimated the state could lose nearly $1 billion in annual economic output and more than 8,000 jobs “unless something occurs to slow down the increase in low-priced Mexican imports of blueberries and vegetables.” The study warned that if current trends continue, they would lead to “truly breathtaking income losses,” particularly in agriculture-heavy rural counties. In the case of Clinch and Echols counties in South Georgia, it predicted economic damage could be on the scale of the Great Depression. Produce growers’ opposition to USMCA has put them on the opposite sides of influential business and farm groups such as the American Farm Bureau Federation and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. One of the deal’s top salesmen has been Perdue, who recently authored an op-ed in The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer eviscerating the UGA study.
Higher Education News:
Forbes
The New College Enrollment Numbers, Explained
Derek Newton, Contributor
The newest college enrollment figures are out, covering spring 2019. The headline will be that enrollment overall is down 1.4% from last year. Like most headlines though, that’s not the real story. Or it is at least not the entire story because the dip in higher education scholars is driven by downturns in just two sectors – community colleges and four-year, for-profit colleges. The other college sectors are doing just fine, thank you very much. But among community colleges and the for-profits, the enrollment numbers are not good and catastrophic, respectively. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, (NSCRC) which published the report, enrollments at two-year and community colleges were down 3.4% spring over spring. Over a more reliable two-year timeline, community college enrollment is down about 5% across both spring and fall cohorts.
Inside Higher Ed
Six Figures in Debt for a Master’s Degree
New data from Education Department put spotlight on high borrowing for some graduate programs. But experts are skeptical more information on students alone will move the needle on enrollment decisions.
By Andrew Kreighbaum
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is betting big on transparency as a solution for high student debt burdens. New data on program-level borrowing that the Education Department released last month through the College Scorecard shed light on how student debt works and what fields have the highest loan volumes. However, many higher education experts remain skeptical that putting more information into the hands of the public will affect enrollment decisions or tuition prices, especially for the graduate programs where borrowers take out the most loan debt. That’s in part because there’s little evidence students themselves will use the data, they said, and because price isn’t the only factor for students who are choosing a graduate program. The release of the student borrowing numbers is the first step in the administration’s plans to beef up program-level information on the Scorecard, a consumer tool launched by the Obama administration.
New York Times
4 Years of College, $0 in Debt: How Some Countries Make Higher Education Affordable
By Lara Takenaga
Morehouse College’s 2019 graduates don’t have to worry about crushing student debt, since the billionaire investor Robert F. Smith pledged last week to pay it all off. Neither do graduates of colleges in countries that offer affordable tuition and generous stipends. As young adults wrestle with student debt in the United States, where it has reached $1.5 trillion, many recent graduates in some countries are debt free. When we asked people around the world what they paid for their higher education and how they financed it, we received nearly 800 responses from more than 40 countries.
CNBC
To get a bigger paycheck after college, start working now
Annie Nova
There’s good news for the many people who are in college and working too: they’re likely to pick up a larger paycheck after graduation than their peers who didn’t work. That’s the finding from a new study published by the Education and Employment Research Center at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations. Students who worked a part-time or full-time job while in college had average earnings up to $20,000 higher than those who didn’t work throughout school. The earnings premium started at graduation and persisted throughout the up to 15 years the people were observed. “Colleges and universities need to think seriously about how to make it easier for working students to incorporate these two parts of their lives,” said Daniel Douglas, senior researcher at the Rutgers Education and Employment Research Center.
Fast Company
Rethinking the cost of college education
Students are entering the workforce with extremely high debt. How can this be remedied?
By Fadl Al Tarzi–Minutes
It’s no secret that obtaining a college degree today is dangerously, illogically expensive. But a quick look at just how expensive it’s become still succeeds in producing a shock. According to U.S. News, for example, tuition to attend New York’s Columbia University this year cost students $59,430–not counting room and board, food, or books. The University of Virginia? $45,066. Granted, these are two of the most expensive private and public universities in the U.S., respectively. But even the average per-year price to attend a public four-year institution–$23,890 out of state–is staggering. Over four years, it costs students $104,480 to obtain a degree. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s a 174.48% increase over the average tuition price 20 years ago.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
How University Labs Landed on the Front Lines of the Fight With China
By Lindsay Ellis and Nell Gluckman
The email sparked panic. “Effective immediately, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine is temporarily halting the appointment of visiting scientists,” wrote a medical-school administrator to the neurology department last fall. Researchers who saw it felt they knew what it was really about: China. The country wasn’t named, but excerpts of the message rippled through Chinese social media, newspapers, and websites. The implications were devastating: Here was one of the most prominent medical schools in the United States, banning scientists from a crucial research partner out of a fear that they would steal ideas or — worse — that they could be spies. Johns Hopkins administrators were dismayed for a more immediate reason. The email was inaccurate, announcing a policy that didn’t exist, a spokeswoman for the medical school told The Chronicle. “The whole thing was a nightmare for us.” But this “nightmare” did not come out of the blue. It was easy for some to believe the Hopkins email was a real policy change as tensions mounted between the two countries. Reports of sensitive information ending up in China had appeared in the news earlier in the year. Government agencies and elected officials had warned university leaders that they needed to act. An international science research partnership that had grown stronger over 40 years suddenly seemed to be decaying, and the Hopkins email felt like a natural next phase of that decay.
Inside Higher Ed
Report on State of Postsecondary Education in Prisons
By Paul Fain
A new report from Ithaka S+R attempts to survey the landscape for postsecondary education in prisons. As did another recently released paper, the report describes a “watershed moment” for prison-based college programs, noting many challenges and precautions amid bipartisan support for expanding such programs. Several members of the U.S. Congress and the Trump administration have said they support dropping a ban on incarcerated students receiving federal Pell Grants. “Unique challenges aside, many of the issues important to improving postsecondary educational attainment across American higher education are also relevant to improving outcomes for incarcerated students,” Catharine Bond Hill, managing director of Ithaka S+R, a nonprofit research group, said in a written statement. “What should be the balance between a liberal education and coursework more directly focused on jobs? How can we relax the difficulties of transferring credits earned in one program to another in order to improve graduation rates and time to graduation? What role should technology play in scaling higher education at lower cost? What role should the for-profit sector play? All of these issues are important to both improving outcomes for students generally and for students in prison working toward a postsecondary degree.”
Climate Depot
By: Marc Morano – Climate Depot
A White House initiative to scrutinize climate science appears to be making headway. Will Happer, the senior director for emerging technologies at the National Security Council, met with President Trump earlier this month to brief him on the plan, according to two sources. The initiative is expected to highlight uncertainties in climate research and downplay the threat of global warming to national security. Happer, an emeritus physics professor at Princeton University, has said that the world is experiencing a carbon dioxide “drought” and that the planet would benefit from burning more fossil fuels. The shape of the plan is unclear, though it’s expected to question scientific elements of the National Climate Assessment, three people with knowledge of the plan told E&E News. In recent weeks, Happer has discussed his ideas with people associated with think tanks that reject established climate science, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the CO2 Coalition, which Happer founded. The project could produce a working white paper in as soon as three months after it begins, according to one of the planners. Much of it will draw from existing work of its potential participants. Those in talks to participate in the initiative include John Christy of the University of Alabama, Huntsville, and Judith Curry, former head of the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department at the Georgia Institute of Technology.