University Business
Degrees do pay off, and this state university system is proof
The collective ROI for 70,000 students is $60 billion more than if they had settled solely for high school diplomas
By: Chris Burt
Indeed, as a new website proclaims, Georgia Degrees Pay. For students and families interested in attending the University of Georgia system but are concerned about value, they can simply click on that link and get a clear, fact-filled breakdown of the earnings potential of graduates. The site, along with a report from Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia piggybacks on another critical national study done last year by Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce, that shows return on investment is better when students pursue a postsecondary education path than when they don’t. The proof is in the stepladder of numbers released by the Selig Center between levels of attainment and the potential improvements in payouts over their careers:
Albany Herald
UGA places 10th in national ranking of public universities
By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service
The University of Georgia is ranked 10th on a new list of top public colleges and universities in the country. The list, released by the rankings platform Niche this week, rates more than 500 schools based on academic, admissions, financial, and student life data from the U.S. Department of Education. UGA scored high marks for academics, value, diversity and athletics.
The Telegraph
Q&A: Georgia College president Cathy Cox talks goals, past and remembering Sandra Deal
By Micah Johnston
Almost a year into her tenure at Georgia College and State University, university president Cathy Cox’s new strategic plan is taking form. Cox, the former dean of Mercer’s law school and Georgia secretary of state, says the university has plans to focus on skills for Georgia’s workforce and teach students underrated skills they need to succeed in jobs. In a conversation with the Telegraph in her Milledgeville office, Cox talked about these goals, her own education’s impact and the life of the late Sandra Deal. The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
You’ve been at GCSU for less than a year. What were your first impressions here? What stood out to you?
Until you get here, you don’t necessarily feel and see exactly what the school’s reputation means on the ground. Until you really understand the culture here, it’s hard to really appreciate that.
Ledger-Enquirer
How you can help the University System of Georgia hire Columbus State’s next president
By Mark Rice
The public will have several ways to share opinions in helping the University System of Georgia Board of Regents’ selection committee determine who will be the next president of Columbus State University. Ann Yates, a managing director at ZRG Partners, the consulting firm hired for the search efforts, explained the process during an Aug. 19 committee meeting in CSU’s Cunningham Center. The committee will conduct listening sessions with faculty, staff, students and local residents in which committee members can hear what those stakeholders say are the qualities they’d want the next CSU president to exemplify, Yates said. The committee will collect public opinions from an online survey on a dedicated page on CSU’s website. Also on the page, folks will be able to nominate candidates, Yates said.
41WMGT
GCSU receives NEH grant for summer institute at Andalusia
Georgia College and State University is continuing to teach about author Flannery O’Connor’s legacy.
by Brick Nelson
Georgia College and State University is continuing to teach about author Flannery O’Connor’s legacy. The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the university a $235,000 grant to go toward the Andalusia Institute. Executive Director of Andalusia Institute, Irene Burgess, says the institute will help scholars learn teaching strategies on the life and works of the college’s most famous alum.
The City Menus
Speech therapy recipient returns as graduate student clinician
By Sam Gentry
When Emily Ferreira ’21 was still nonverbal at age 2, medical and speech professionals rallied around her family to help the toddler. The team eventually included speech-language pathologists (SLP) at the University of West Georgia. Today, Ferreira has come full circle and is a UWG College of Education (COE) graduate student clinician working at the school’s Comprehensive Community Clinic (CCC).
The Red & Black
PHOTOS: UGA students visit Engagement Fair
Katie Tucker
Nearly two hundred campus organizations filled the Tate Student Center Tuesday evening to advertise their clubs at the Engagement Fair. In addition to promoting engagement opportunities, the event also has free food and events for students.
Athens CEO
UGA Program Provides Training and Education for School Accounting Personnel
Margaret Blanchard
When Cindi Dean moved into a managerial position in the finance department at the Rabun County Board of Education four years ago, she saw that some school-level bookkeepers could benefit from extended training. She found just the thing in the School Financial Accounting Personnel certificate program, a recently launched training opportunity from the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Dean, who completed the program along with nine colleagues in late April, said the training has made a difference in her daily duties as director of business operations and human resources.
Connect Savannah
Georgia Soars to $4.4 Billion in spending from film and TV industry, with major local contributions
SAVANNAH FILM ALLIANCE SEES GROWTH LOCALLY
By Kareem McMichael
It was another record-setting year for revenue generated by Georgia-made film and television productions. Governor Brian Kemp announced in August that film and television industry productions spent $4.4 billion in Georgia during the fiscal year 2022. …The crew base has grown significantly locally, as well. SCAD, Georgia Film Academy, Savannah Technical College – Savannah Film Academy, Savannah State Univ., and Georgia Southern Univ. are schools with film and media programs that helps equips students with different skills needed to work in the industry. The Savannah Regional Film Commission also offers several free training opportunities throughout the year such as a production assistant training course. “Working on films has changed me because it opened my mind to doing things I never thought I’d do though I dreamed about it, now I am in the industry doing it. I am glad and we are lucky that we get to work on these great projects in Georgia. I am happy and I cannot see myself doing anything else. It opens the world for a lot of creative people to grow,” said Patrick Tennerson, who is happy that film opportunities are being provided in Georgia. Tennerson is a graduate of the Georgia Film Academy and has worked in several different departments on various sets including the live-action “Lady and the Tramp,” the upcoming “The Color Purple” musical (December 2023), “Black Panther,” and more.
13WMAZ
‘Joy of discovery’: Digging up Georgia’s past at GCSU
Even after 20 years, they’re still discovering new fossils, like a partial skull of a juvenile mammoth this past summer.
Author: Jessica Cha
When you think of the state of Georgia, prehistoric fossils don’t really come to mind. However, experts at Georgia College say creatures like mammoths used to roam our backyards long ago. Al Mead, biology professor and paleontologist at Georgia College, says that their institution has the largest collection of mammoth and great bison bones in all of Georgia. …Mead has worked at Georgia College for over 20 years. He says Clark Quarry– a campus 3 hours south in Brunswick, Georgia– was discovered in 2001. It’s where most of these giants roamed. “Two boys were trying to catch frogs and salamanders to feed to their turtle and they pulled a bone out of the canal,” he says. “[University of] Georgia got a hold of me. I immediately recognized that they had bison, they had mammoth and we started digging,” he said. Mead says their collection has over 1,000 specimens cataloged and they have 3,000 – 4,000 more waiting to be worked on. …He says even after 2 decades, they’re still discovering new fossils, like a partial skull of a giant bison this past summer with students from the college of Coastal Georgia.
Patch
In 1993, Marguerite McCoy graduated from Georgia Southern University with a bachelor’s in food service management with an emphasis in hospitality administration. She would soon take her talents to San Francisco to attend culinary school. This led to a tour in Europe running bakeries in Germany for the United States Army. She would transition from using ovens for wheat to using them for clay. McCoy moved back to her hometown of Statesboro, Georgia, with her husband to take care of her family. Once back home, she returned to her alma mater as a teacher’s assistant to instruct students how to use the newly acquired kilns. Over time, the idea of changing career paths grew stronger. “It was fun to help teach the students how to use the kilns,” she said. “I thought it was time I did what I wanted to do. I want to teach ceramics on the university level and share my passion with students about ceramics.” After more than 20 years of working in the food and hospitality industry, McCoy is a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) student and on pace to become a Double Eagle. Her work is currently featured in “Outlook: An MFA Showcase.” “Outlook: An MFA Showcase” is an exhibition of work by current MFA students at Georgia Southern that is open now through Sept. 9 at the Fine Arts Gallery in Fine Arts Hall on the Armstrong Campus in Savannah.
Albany Herald
UGA completes Phase 2 of STEM Research Complex
From staff reports
The University of Georgia held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the second phase of the Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (I-STEM) Research Complex recently. The 101,000-square-foot, $64 million I-STEM Research Building 2, which was funded by a combination of university and state funds, will support collaborative research in chemistry, engineering and other scientific disciplines.
SaportaReport
Georgia State University plans demolition of Downtown parking deck
By John Ruch
Georgia State University (GSU) plans to demolish an aging parking deck marked for redevelopment in a campus master plan. GSU did not respond to questions about the demolition of Parking Deck Y at 60 Peachtree Center Ave. A University System of Georgia Board of Regents decision favoring the demolition was approved by Gov. Brian Kemp in an Aug. 29 executive order. The order says the Board of Regents determined that Deck Y “can no longer be advantageously used… and should be removed.” The order calls for the demolition to be done as “expeditiously as possible.” The approximately four-story deck dates to 1964, according to Fulton County property records.
Gainesville Times
This planned student housing project near UNG’s Gainesville campus is no more
Jeff Gill
Plans for a 560-bedroom student housing complex near the University of North Georgia’s Gainesville campus have fallen through. DeKalb County-based Mallory & Evans “was unable to construct a viable economic model to meet the university’s ambitions … and elected to forego further engagement,” said the firm’s lawyer, Jonathan Beard, in an email. Mallory & Evans “continues to stand ready to assist UNG at all times with any initiative that is fruitful to both parties,” he added. In a statement about the project, UNG said it “continues to explore opportunities with private developers to create student housing” on the property.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Opinion: Taxpayers have long funded ‘someone else’s education’
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Matthew Boedy is president of the Georgia conference of the American Association of University Professors. He is an associate professor at the University of North Georgia. In this guest column, Boedy discusses the misinformation and misdirection in the debate over President Joe Biden’s plan to erase some student loan debt.
By Matthew Boedy
Soon after President Joe Biden announced his plan to address the student loan debt crisis last week, an interesting talking point surfaced in response. I saw it in many tweets and also in a reply on my Facebook wall from my aunt who is a retired elementary school teacher: We shouldn’t be paying for someone else’s education.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Completion Boost for 2-Year Students Who Take (Some) Online Courses
Black, Hispanic and low-income community college students who take up to half their courses online increase their odds of completing degrees, a working paper finds. Fully online learners are less likely to earn a credential.
By Susan D’Agostino
A longtime higher ed paradox is this: community colleges open doors to educational opportunities, particularly for underrepresented, low-income or underprepared students, but most students who enter these institutions do not earn degrees. Past studies have produced sometimes-conflicting results on whether online coursework helps community college students progress toward degrees. Many of those studies, however, have not distinguished between students who pursue one or two online classes and those who take all their courses online. A new working paper from the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Florida suggests that Black, Hispanic and low-income community college students who take some, but not all, of their courses online increase their likelihood of completing an associate or bachelor’s degree. The online-course-percentage sweet spot for degree completion falls somewhere between “more than zero” but “less than one-quarter.” Also, among all community college students, those who pursued online courses exclusively were less likely to earn associate or bachelor’s degrees than their peers who enrolled in some in-person classes.
The Daily Yonder
For Some Top Colleges ‘Rural Students’ Are Coming into Focus
Admissions officers at Yale and Purdue are innovating ways to identify, encourage, and admit more rural students. They’re learning some important lessons along the way.
by Lane Wendell Fischer
On a March morning a little over four years ago, Clayton Land rushed into his high school to share the news with his favorite teacher, Mr. Sayre. Clayton had just been accepted into Yale University. Beaming with excitement, Mr. Sayre sent out an email to all of the faculty and staff of Anderson County High School in Kentucky. The news spread so fast that by the end of the first period every person in the building learned of Land’s accomplishment. “Everyone was coming up to me in the hallways between classes, my teachers were all saying stuff, hugging me, being excited,” said Land, who graduated from Yale University in May. “Truly one of the best days of my life.” Getting into Yale, a university with a less than 5% acceptance rate, is no small feat for anyone. But for Land, who grew up in the rural unincorporated community of Alton, Kentucky, it seemed he accomplished the impossible. …When Clayton came to campus he expected to only meet people from places like New York City and Houston and Miami, but he found he wasn’t the only rural student on Yale’s campus. In recent years, the term “rural” has become a buzzword within the college admissions community, including selective universities like Yale where strategic rural recruitment efforts are picking up traction.
Inside Higher Ed
A Market Solution to Teacher Shortages Raises Alarms
For-profit “alternate route” teacher-preparation programs are gaining popularity. Some say they’re key to ending teacher shortages; others fear quality and retention will suffer.
By Liam Knox
With public schools facing a dearth of teachers and traditional teacher-training programs struggling to reverse a long-declining enrollment trend, for-profit companies offering “alternative certification programs” are rising to fill states’ needs. Enrollment in for-profit alternative teacher-certification programs grew by 48,000 students nationally, or 283 percent, from 2010–11 to 2018–19, according to a 2022 study jointly conducted by the left-leaning think tank the Center for American Progress and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). Meanwhile, both traditional degree programs and nonprofit alternative-certification pathways saw a decline in enrollment over the same period. For-profit companies and their advocates say they are offering students—who are often nontraditional teaching candidates, including adults switching careers—a quick, affordable path to the classroom, while giving their state and district partners an innovative, market-based solution to the shortages wracking their schools.
Inside Higher Ed
Study Examines How Colleges Borrow During Times of Crisis
By Josh Moody
How colleges use debt during times of crisis varies greatly depending on institutional characteristics, according to a new report from Ithaka S+R funded by the TIAA Institute. The study, released Wednesday, found that while historically Black colleges and universities tend to borrow less than non-HBCUs—a pattern that has remained relatively constant—HBCUs “became significantly more leveraged than non-HBCUs” after the Great Recession of 2008. One explanation for this was that HBCUs borrowed to weather financial hardships, rather than for capital projects such as campus residence halls. Likewise, public institutions were more likely than private ones to increase debt levels during the recession, which the authors suggest can be attributed to declining state support amid an economic downturn.
Higher Ed Dive
Will Biden’s debt cancellation jump-start talks to rewrite federal student aid policy?
A comprehensive rework of the Higher Education Act hasn’t taken place since 2008. It probably won’t happen now, either, but are smaller changes possible?
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Senior Reporter
Higher education associations have praised President Joe Biden’s federal student loan debt cancellation, with caveats: Much more needs to be done. We must act to modernize the federal student loan program. Loan relief without proposals for systemic reform is incomplete. Biden aimed to fulfill a campaign-trail promise when he announced last week that the federal government will cancel up to $10,000 for individuals earning as much as $125,000 a year and up to $20,000 for those who received federal Pell Grants. His administration also proposed changes designed to make income-based repayment programs — which use borrowers’ salaries to determine their monthly payments — more affordable. Yet as the higher ed associations alluded, Biden took a one-time step. The same student loan system that ultimately pressed the president to issue debt forgiveness remains intact.
Inside Higher Ed
OPINION – Beneath the Student Loan Crisis, There’s an ROI Crisis
The reality is college doesn’t pay off for many graduates—and until we’re more transparent about that, the student loan crisis will be a recurrent one, Chris Keaveney writes.
By Chris Keaveney
Consider, really consider, the numbers: one in seven Americans is still paying on their college loans that now total about $1.6 trillion. Recent graduates who borrowed money for college each owed an average of nearly $29,000 before they landed their first full-time job. The sheer amount of outstanding student loans is staggering, so it’s a no-brainer to say that the debt forgiveness announced by the Biden administration last week could be life-changing to many of the approximately 45 million Americans who are still paying off college. But this debate over forgiving student debt—How much? For whom? And should we do it at all?—hides a more systemic problem: there is a vast misalignment between what many students pay to attend college and the salaries they earn after graduation. Too many students are failing to consider the return on their education investment when they choose a college or a degree program; this, coupled with the relative ease of borrowing for both students and parents, has resulted in student loan debt more than tripling since 2006. Colleges and universities are at least partially to blame for this disconnect.
Higher Ed Dive
DHS details response to HBCU bomb threats but says ‘much more’ needs to be done
Natalie Schwartz, Editor
Dive Brief:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that it remains committed to using its resources to ensure historically Black colleges and universities have the tools they need to respond to bomb threats made against their institutions. DHS listed several recent steps it has taken to assist HBCUs and predominantly Black institutions, which together have been the target of 68 bomb threats this year. They include providing bomb threat response training and implementing grant programs to improve security at nonprofit organizations. For instance, the department’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, has developed resources specifically for universities and will host seven training events at five HBCU locations in the coming months to share more information on these assets.