USG NEWS:
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/health/2014-07-24/ricardo-azziz-says-size-helps-gru-compete?v=1406255036
Ricardo Azziz says size helps GRU compete
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
Bigger is better, and that is why the consolidation that Georgia Regents University underwent is really part of a larger trend, President Ricardo Azziz said. Speaking Thursday to the Augusta West Rotary Club, Azziz said the merger, which officially went through in January 2013, was one of five in the past 30 years that consolidated a health sciences university with a broader-based institution – but it won’t be the last.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.jbhe.com
Let’s Create a National Endowment for HBCUs
by Richard F. America
Today, there are about 100 colleges and universities in the United States known as HBCUs. These historically Black colleges and universities have struggled to find permanent financial resources and most cannot compete on equal terms with many predominantly White institutions. As a result, some of the HBCUs are marginal operations, barely able to remain accredited. And even the strongest HBCUs have competitive disadvantages. Most HBCUs are in the South. All endure financial stress. That is because of long-standing and unjust patterns of adverse financial and budget decisions.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/07/25/lets-differentiate-between-competency-and-mastery-higher-ed-essay#sthash.b3uTjhZB.dpbs
Competency vs. Mastery
By John F. Ebersole
“Competency-based” education appears to be this year’s answer to America’s higher education challenges, judging from this week’s news in Washington. Unlike MOOCs (last year’s solution), there is, refreshingly, greater emphasis on the validation of learning. Yet, all may not be as represented.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/edge-and-center#sthash.HQLA1H8m.dpbs
The Edge and the Center
By Joshua Kim
It seems like just yesterday when every campus IT department was on the verge of eliminating that last rogue departmental server. IT services would be centralized, virtualized, and rationalized. Duplication of hardware and system administration would be eliminated. Greater scale would enable total campus IT costs to come down, as central IT brought in functions and services that were once provided by atomized campuses, schools, or departments. …But while much of our higher ed technology industrial complex was busy centralizing, virtualizing, and rationalizing, something interesting in the world of technology was starting to emerge. The edge started to eat the center. Gradually, and then suddenly, it became both cheaper and easier to rent cloud based services from servers to storage than it was to provide and support the same services locally.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/5-dirty-words-admissions-offices-should-embrace/38769?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
5 ‘Dirty Words’ Admissions Offices Should Embrace
by Erick Hoover
Chicago — Brian Wm. Niles didn’t cuss, but still a few people winced.
At the ACT’s annual Enrollment Planners Conference here on Thursday, Mr. Niles, founder of Target X, recommended five “dirty words” colleges should use regularly. (Squeamish romantics fond of quaint words like “learning,” be warned.) Customer. Many people who work at colleges dislike the word, preferring to call students “students.” But as more Americans question the value of higher education, Mr. Niles said, institutions must think more like businesses, with customers to please, customer-service to enhance: “It gives you a sense that you have a responsibility to them.” Colleges exist to serve students, he insisted, and not the reverse. It’s worth noting the terms used every day in admissions offices include “inquires,” “prospects,” and “suspects.”
Education News
www.jbhe.com
More Than 4 Million Black Students Are Enrolled in Higher Education
More Than 4 Million Black Students Are Enrolled in Higher Education
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education offers preliminary data on enrollments in higher education and the number of degrees earned by students during the 2012-13 academic year. According to the report, there were 4,082,004 Black or African American students enrolled in Title IV institutions in the United States. Blacks made up 14.4 percent of all students at these educational institutions. Title IV institutions are any educational entity that is eligible to participate in federal student financial aid programs.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/25/2-christian-colleges-win-title-ix-exemptions-give-them-right-expel-transgender#sthash.EV4YFh1z.dpbs
The Right to Expel
By Scott Jaschik
When word spread this month that George Fox University had received an exemption to Title IX, allowing it to discriminate against a transgender student by denying him the housing he requested, many advocates for transgender students were stunned. Federal regulations under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 do in fact require the Education Department to exempt colleges from rules that violate their religious beliefs. During the debate, George Fox officials noted that they were objecting to a housing request only, and that they haven’t kicked the student out of the university. But now the Education Department has confirmed that it has since awarded two more exemptions to Title IX to Christian colleges that want to discriminate against transgender students.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/education-dept-identifies-new-areas-for-recognition-of-same-sex-marriage/82667?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Education Dept. Identifies New Areas for Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage
by Andy Thomaon
The U.S. Department of Education issued new guidance on Thursday clarifying that it will recognize same-sex marriages for the purpose of providing in-state tuition to spouses of armed-service members, and determining eligibility for Parent PLUS loans and income-driven repayment of student loans.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/25/community-college-presidents-leaked-email-shows-plan-trade-political-support-state#sthash.exIhbfnf.dpbs
$20 Million Question
By Charlie Tyson
A careless email has cost one community college president $20 million, and potentially saved Illinois taxpayers that same amount. The state of Illinois will not release capital funds previously appropriated to the College of DuPage after an email written by Robert Breuder, the college’s president, fueled charges that the institution was needlessly chasing public dollars.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/25/us-house-votes-change-college-tax-breaks-boost-student-loan-counseling#sthash.eXbeLmQG.dpbs
House Overhauls Tax Breaks
By Michael Stratford
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved an overhaul of higher education tax breaks and passed legislation changing how federal student loan counseling works. The tax measure, which is part of the House Republicans’ overall effort to make changes to the tax code, contains some provisions that colleges and universities strongly support.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/25/senate-hearing-aimed-states-role-college-affordability-indiana-attorney-general#sthash.H7GVJKcN.dpbs
Who’s Responsible?
By Charlie Tyson
WASHINGTON – Testifying at a Thursday Senate hearing on how states could promote college affordability, Lisa Madigan, the attorney general of Illinois, told senators that the federal government wasn’t doing enough for student borrowers. But it was hard to find agreement on whether to focus on that issue, state appropriations for higher education, for-profit colleges or issues such as health care policy as senators and higher education experts considered how federal and state governments could work together to reduce college costs.