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    The date is fast approaching when students will receive their college acceptances from the most competitive colleges in the country. Most students have already heard from several colleges as all but the most competitive let students know much earlier than the beginning of April. Only 3% of the four-year colleges and universities in the United States accept fewer than 25% of their applicants and these schools enroll fewer than 4% of all new freshmen. This is a very small group of students and schools but the publicity surrounding these schools has lead many people to think that it is impossible to get into college and has resulted in great angst among students and parents about the college admissions process. On the other hand, 18% of the four-year institutions and all of the more than 1,000 community colleges in the U.S. are open admissions which means they have minimal admissions criteria and accept almost all students who apply if they have graduated from high school and complete all the required paperwork. Why do we have such misperceptions about getting into college? Too many people think that all schools are like the Ivies and the Little Ivies but that is far from true. There is a school for everyone and, in most cases, many schools that will be a good match for you. It is quite easy to predict your chances of getting in to a school as most schools accept all students who meet their stated criteria and have scores that are close to the school’s average scores. There are very few schools who have the luxury of turning away qualified students who meet their criteria. The very selective schools are able to fill their freshmen class many times over from their applicant pool while most others struggle to fill their class and find that they have to discount their tuition significantly to get the number of students that they need to operate in a financially viable way. The average discount rate at private four-year colleges is almost 50% meaning that on average students will pay only half of the published tuition
    6 years ago by @prophe
     
      USAcostApr2017Englishpayafford
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      The NCAA is an organization full of hypocrisies. It rakes in billions of dollars, but says there’s no money to pay the student-athletes. It works overtime to appease high-dollar corporate sponsors, but won’t let a star basketball player accept any perks. It routinely looks the other way when it comes to abuse scandals, and marginalizes its female athletes, all while running commercials focused on safety and equality.
      6 years ago by @prophe
       
        for-profitPhoenix_UniversityNCAAathleticsApr2017English
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        Khalsa University, established by disintegrating 125-year-old Khalsa College, is ready for its first full-fledged academic session a fortnight after Captain Amarinder Singh, who had vowed not to allow it, took over as the chief minister of Punjab. On February 17, 2016, Amarinder Singh had famously barged into the Khalsa College campus and declared that after becoming the CM, he would undo any attempts to set up Khalsa University on the 330 acres land of Khalsa College. However, though Amarinder has now become the CM, the Khalsa College management seems unruffled. Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) honorary secretary and Khalsa University Pro-Chancellor Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina said, “It will have no impact on us. Captain Amarinder Singh is a very wise man. These were all talks before the elections. Khalsa University is constituted by passing a Bill in Punjab Assembly in September 2016. I don’t think Captain Amarinder Singh will have any problem with it.” Asked if the university administration will try to clear air by meeting the new chief minster, Chhina said, “We don’t have to. There is no such issue to discuss.” Chhina had unsuccessfully contested the Amritsar Lok Sabha bypoll on a BJP ticket in February this year. Despite the fact that his daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s father Satyajit Singh Majithia has been the president of KCGC, former CM Parkash Singh Badal had avoided to establish Khalsa University during his first term of 2007 to 2012 due to huge protests against this move from different quarters of the Sikh community. Many Sikh bodies had claimed that Khalsa College was raised with the donation of community and should not be converted into a private university. KCGC then came up with an amended proposal to disintegrate Khalsa College to create a private university. Badal gave nod to the university only during the last Assembly session (in September 2017) of his 2012-2017 tenure as the chief minister amid protests from Congress and AAP. It did not give much time to university to start all
        6 years ago by @prophe
         
          IndiaApr2017EnglishPunjabopen
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          The University of Costa Rica (UCR) climbed 30 spots in the “QS World University Rankings” for the 2016-2017 period. The QS World University Rankings provides an index of the world’s leading higher education institutions, based on six performance indicators: Academic reputation, Employer reputation, Student-to-faculty ratio, Citations per faculty, International faculty ratio and international student ratio; In this way the ranking evaluates performance in four areas: research, teaching, employability and internationalization, each indicator carries a different weighting when calculating overall scores; in this last edition the ranking was expanded to feature 916 universities (25 more than in the previous year) in 81 countries, following assessment of more than 3,800 institutions. The academic institution was ranked in the previous edition in the range 501-510 and this year it appears in the range 471-480, within the best 500 universities in the world. When it comes to the QS World University Rankings by subject, the University of Costa Rica got its best scoring in Agriculture & Foresty earning a position in the range 201-250. Within the Latin America University Rankings, the UCR holds position 18; in these region the best ranked was the Buenos Aires University (Argentina) which is in position 85 of the global ranking, being the only Latin America University to make the top 100. Brazil’s Sao Paulo University (120), Mexico’s UNAM (128), Chile’s UC (147), Brazil’s Unicamp (191) and the University of Chile (200), are all within the best 200 universities in the world. The top spot was earned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for fifth consecutive year, followed by Stanford University which climbed one place, Harvard University is in the third position while it used to lead the ranking from 2004-2009, the University of Cambridge is holding the fourth place and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) completes the top 5. The University of Oxford, University College London, the Swiss Federal
          6 years ago by @prophe
           
            CostaRicaApr2017Englishrank
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            Are there no Indian universities with potential for competing with the best in the world? And if the answer is yes, then what’s holding them back from becoming truly world-class?” These and similar questions would be answered at the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) conference on Internationalisation of Higher Education 2017, being hosted at Symbiosis International University (SIU)’s Lavale Campus from April 8 to 10. The three-day conference would be inaugurated by Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar and attended by over 100 vice-chancellors from Indian universities, both public and private, besides senior academicians, policy advisors, educational agencies and university representatives from the US, Europe, Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Japan. The organisers said that through this conference they planned to present a policy paper to Javadekar on the roadmap to making Indian universities world-class. Amongst the prominent speakers at the conference include Prof Ellen Hazelkorn, policy advisor to Higher Education Authority (Ireland); Prof Philip Altbach, director, Center for International Higher Education (USA); Prof Bertil Andersson, president, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore); Prof Jamil Salmi, global tertiary education expert; besides UGC chairman Ved Prakash, D S Chauhan, president, AIU, D P Singh, director, NAAC. “Recently, the Indian government had announced that they will be selecting 10 public and 10 private universities to develop them into world-class universities and it is a very good decision. But what are the parameters that make a university world-class? Is research the core parameter, or does developing infrastructure suffice to make it amongst the best in the world? While the Indian government will work towards making these 20 universities world-class but how do others work towards making their varsities also amongst the best in the world. For this, we need to have dialogue and collaborations with world-class universities abroad. Hence we have organised this conferen
            6 years ago by @prophe
             
              IndiaApr2017Englishworld-class
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              6 years ago by @prophe
               
                EnglandApr2017Englishdropout
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                Autocrats dislike independent, internationally-oriented, autonomous universities free of corruption and hence, they attack them. In order to add the appearance of legitimacy to purely political actions, autocratic regimes use the law to advance their goals. That is why their favorite strategy is to work through the legislature and courts. This seems to be the case with the European University at St. Petersburg and the Central European University in Budapest, both currently being harassed by the ruling political regimes. The European University at St. Petersburg is a private university, founded in 1994 by the Committee for Real Estate Management of St. Petersburg City Government, St. Petersburg Institute for Economics and Mathematics at the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg branch of Sociology Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and St. Petersburg Association of Scholars with support from the MacArthur, Ford and Soros Foundations. Organizations funded by George Soros, through the Open Society Foundation, were expelled from Russia in 2015. This is no surprise, since authoritarian regimes fear democratic initiatives and do not share the idea of civil society that is promoted by George Soros. Russia’s Federal Agency for Supervision in Education and Science says that the university’s political science and sociology departments do not have a sufficient number of full-time faculty who do applied research, and that faculty on fixed-term employment contracts are not properly certified. Quite a few other minor violations, including missing a fitness center, are cited as well. While the university administration works on addressing these issues, the state agency continues its offensive. The European University at St. Petersburg has lost its state license and accreditation and may well lose its historic building, the Small Marble Palace. It turns out that the university installed new plastic windows in parts of the old building, and it goes against the city’s historical preservation ordinance. Russian Pr
                6 years ago by @prophe
                 
                  EuropeApr2017HungaryBudapestattackclosureEnglish
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                  The future of thousands of medical students may hang in the balance, as the Medical Council of India (MCI) has started taking action against private medical colleges. These colleges are believed to have illegally admitted students in Under Graduate Courses by ignoring the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). Students must pass this test before they can gain admission to any medical college. Keeping a tab on the admission process to ensure that all admissions were being done through clearing NEET, the MCI has recently issued a discharge notice of at least 36 students admitted in Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Medical Sciences, Manamai-Nellur, Tamil Nadu. The students did not appear for the NEET exam but still were given admission in the college. “Our monitoring committee is keeping a strict vigil on admissions in all the medical colleges. We haven’t yet found out the exact numbers of students who were admitted without appearing in NEET. But we are aware that there are several medical colleges who have provided back door admissions by ignoring the NEET exam. Such admissions will not be considered,” said Dr Jayshree Mehta, President, MCI. Similarly, the Dental Council of India (DCI) is also scrutinizing admissions in dental colleges. “It has come to our notice that in states such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh some dental colleges have taken students without NEET. We are under a process of scrutinizing the list of admissions. We will take appropriate action against the erring colleges once we find out the exact number of students admitted illegally,” said Dr A K Chandna, member, DCI. Through NEET, the government is aiming to bring in more transparency in the admission process and curb the practice of capitation fee charged by private colleges. Also, common counselling for admission to all Undergraduate and Postgraduate Courses (Diploma/MD/ MS/DM/M.Ch.) in all medical educational institutions on the basis of merit list of the NEET has been introduced by the Union Health Ministry to curb malpractices
                  6 years ago by @prophe
                   
                    IndiaEnglishApr2017illegaladmissionmedical
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                    Finishing an engineering project does not require knowledge but money. At least that’s the case in a few colleges in the city. Most of the students have been found resorting to buying readymade projects from small firms who are into this business full-time. These firms also help in getting research papers published for students. Some of these firms have even taken the route of e-commerce and have displayed the projects on their website in detail according to the technology it is based on, its price along with pictures, abstracts and research papers. Engineering students are expected to put the concepts that they learn into practice twice in their four-year long course –once in the third year as a mini project for 50 marks and again in their final year for 200 marks. However, majority of the students buy readymade projects which can cost anywhere between Rs 2,500 to Rs 50,000 depending on the technology, components used and complexity of the project. When contacted, JNTU-Hyderabad registrar, Dr N Yadaiah, said, “The university cannot ensure that at each and every affiliated college, students are genuinely doing the projects. The colleges also share this responsibility and should take required measures for it.” Private colleges in cahoots with project vendors While the university says that the onus is on private colleges, unfortunately these colleges are also involved with students in making a mockery of engineering education for earning a quick buck. A senior professor of a well-known engineering college said, “In many private engineering colleges, the teachers and Heads of Department provide business to firms selling engineering projects. They take commission on the cost that the students pay to such firms for buying projects. Not just this, but some college managements too are involved in this business by setting tie-ups with firms selling engineering projects. When the time comes for external evaluation, even invigilators are handled by the college management. It does not usually happen that some student i
                    6 years ago by @prophe
                     
                      IndiaEnglishApr2017corruptionillegalhyderabad
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                      Are you in search of the cheapest private university in Nigeria? If it is so, this article is written exactly for you. Read on! Even if you have lack of money, ignorance isn't the way out. Education is very important not only for your self-satisfaction and self-respect, but also for finding well-paid job that will bring you pleasure and money. What are the terms of studying in private university in Nigeria? A great number of people choose for their studies private universities because the admission is much easier if to compare with state or federal universities. Nigeria private universities can welcome you if your score received during Unified Tertiary Matriculation Exam is below minimum. If you want to enter some state or federal university, the needed minimum number of scores shouldn't be below 200. IMPORTANT! Bear in mind that not all Nigeria most cheap private universities can function on a legal basis under the confirmation of Nigerian Universities Commission. Read more: https://www.naij.com/1095881-cheapest-private-university-nigeria.html
                      6 years ago by @prophe
                       
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                        After clearing the way to set up a private self-financed university at Pune, the state government is set to seek the legislative nod for four more private universities. The state cabinet has cleared the decks for DSK School of Design, Symbiosis University (for skill development), Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT) in Pune and Sanjay Ghodawat University (SGU) in Kolhapur, and will soon present the bill for Symbiosis University in the state legislature. All these institutes are likely to start functioning in the upcoming academic year. This includes Dr Vishwanath Karad MIT World Peace University at Kothrud in Pune which was approved in the legislative Assembly and is now waiting for the approval from legislative council. The universities can accommodate from 600 to 1,000 students each. Around three years after the government paved the way for private universities by enacting the Maharashtra Self-financed Universities Act, 2013, six such institutes have been established in the state. The recent move signals the government’s inclination to provide space for private entities in the education sector as they would provide additional opportunities to the students. State education minister Vinod Tawde said that the approvals for the five universities were pending since the tenure of the previous government. “The process for issuing a letter of intent [to the promoters of private universities] is quite stringent. We scrutinised the proposals and approved universities which had something unique to offer to the students,” he said. According to sources, the proposed DSK School of Design will offer courses in animation, arts and fine arts, whereas Symbiosis University will be a skill development institute. Similarly, SGU in Kolhapur has proposed to offer regular engineering courses while VIT will focus on programmes on alternate energy sources. An official from the state’s higher and technical education department said that the government is pushing for private investment in education as it feels that Maha
                        6 years ago by @prophe
                         
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                          Internationally, more students than ever are attending college. Between 2000 and 2014, the number of students in higher education globally more than doubled to 207 million, according to a paper (pdf) published by UNESCO, together with the International Institute for Educational Planning and the Global Education Monitoring Report. As government universities struggle to accommodate the swelling ranks of students, private colleges are burgeoning. The report found that enrolments in private colleges and universities account for 30% of all global enrolments. However, these private for-profit higher education institutions have been heavily criticized in some countries. In the US, a 2012 report found that some private institutions have higher than average tuition rates, recruit aggressively, have low student retention rates, high rates of loan default, and offer little job placement assistance. Reporting by ProPublica found that some private universities also employ deceptive marketing techniques with recruiters making false claims. As for-profit education companies face growing scrutiny and tightening regulation at home, many have looked overseas, particularly to Latin America, for growth. In 2015, over 60% of students in Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru were enrolled in private institutions, and over 80% in Chile and Paraguay. “The government has had no choice but to work with the private sector,” Fernando Iunes, global head of investment banking for Brazil’s Itaú BBA, told the New York Times (paywall). “It cannot meet the demand on its own.” Attending a private university is less common in Asia, where private enrollments make up 36% on student enrolments on average. But their popularity is growing in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, according to the UNESCO report. US firm Laureate Education, which operates 70 institutions in 25 countries with more than 1 million students enrolled, is one company profiting from the global dearth of public universities. Th
                          6 years ago by @prophe
                           
                            WorldApr2017risegrowthenrolmentEnglish
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                            Local President of the Private Universities Association of Ghana (PUSAG) at the All Nations University College in Koforidua, Eastern Region has made a call on government to make them enjoy subventions as they also pay taxes. Addressing a gathering of the college’s management and the media to report on the performance of the College at the recent PUSAG,Ebenezer Appiah-Kubi lamented how private universities have to compete with public universities in the area of recruitment and retention of highly qualified faculty. “There is the non-ubiquitous lack of finances for expansion, research, inadequate infrastructure among others,” he noted, adding that “libraries are ill-resourced and laboratories are also acute”. He pointed out that the recent salary increment for government workers makes compensation packages in public universities more attractive than what most private universities can afford. “In well-endowed countries, [private] universities receive funding from a variety of sources including government agencies such as sponsorship, falls into contract, corporate agreement, gift endowment and royalties". However, he said, private universities in Ghana do not have access to these funding sources and have to rely mainly on internally generated funds (IGFs) and loans that attract abnormally high interest rates from banks. He said public universities, on the other hand, are subsidised by government and “we think it is good and natural for government to assist us”. “We think private universities should not be deprived of government intervention such as GETFund, state scholarship and research grants and even subsidize for infrastructure expansion.” All Nations University College was awarded overall best in the just-ended PUSAG Games held at Cape Coast in the Central Region after its students took medals in volleyball, football, athletics, among others. The Registrar, Andrian Ion, commended students for the laurels won.
                            6 years ago by @prophe
                             
                              GhanaApr2017EnglishsupportAfrica
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                              PESHAWAR: The district administration on Friday sealed 40 private educational institutions, mostly schools, in the upscale University Town locality of Peshawar over the nonconforming use of residential buildings. Around 140 nonconforming commercial entities have so far been sealed in the weeklong operation in the area in compliance with the orders of the Peshawar High Court. Though a case of the contempt petition is pending with the PHC for not implementing its earlier orders to stop commercial activities in the University Town, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly recently amended the relevant law and allowed commercial activities there for five years. However, the legislation needs the notification of the relevant rules for enforcement. Few years ago, the high court had declared the carrying out of commercial activities in residential areas of Hayatabad Township and University Town illegal. The judgment was upheld by the Supreme Court. In 2015, the high court again issued directives in that respect over the petitions filed by some local residents. Nazim says action taken in line with high court orders Few months ago, they again moved the court and filed contempt of court petition saying the said judgment had not been implemented. The commercial buildings sealed by the district administration, include educational institutions, health care centres, guesthouses, beauty parlours, hotels, banks, shops etc. The closed offices also include around 30 government offices. “The sealed educational institutions will remain closed until further orders in light of the court’s directions,” an official in the district administration told Dawn. He said the court’s orders to seal commercial buildings in University Town were still valid even after legislation by the provincial assembly in that respect. “We have yet to receive any instruction from high-ups on the changes to the law about commercial activity in residential areas,” he said. The official said hearing into the contempt of court petition over nonconforming use
                              6 years ago by @prophe
                               
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                                The private sector has been called upon to support efforts to create skills and capacity in Africa to contribute to Africa’s transformation and economic growth. At the recent fourth World Bank’s Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, or PASET, forum in Nairobi, the World Bank Group’s Vice-President for Human Development Keith Hansen said the private sector should expand its support for skills-building in Africa, with both resources and technology. The forum was organised by the World Bank and the Kenyan government from 5-7 April. It was attended by 19 African countries, including education and higher education ministers, and key partners such as South Korea, China, Brazil and Malaysia, which share knowledge and technical assistance with PASET's African members. “Links between education and industry are crucial, and Germany, Singapore, Korea and China all offer know-how around forging these links,” said Hansen. Private sector firms that attended included Microsoft, the State Grid Corporation of China and Philips. According to Hansen, PASET reflects two key World Bank Group priorities: “Our commitment to Africa, and to investing in people.” Human capital The World Bank invests in people because it is the right thing to do, and because people are an often untapped engine of inclusive economic growth, he said. Human capital is integral to ending poverty, explaining up to two-thirds of income differences between countries across the world. “To strengthen human capital in Africa, we need to achieve the right skills mix for young people. It is fantastic to see partners and governments converge around PASET, because there is no smarter shortcut to a bright future than education – when it is high-quality and relevant.” He noted that a critical mass of expertise and institutions that drive scientific and technological advancement in key sectors such as agriculture, energy, manufacturing, construction, ICTs and health also help sustain economic growth and boost resilience. “
                                6 years ago by @prophe
                                 
                                  World_BankApr2017EnglishAfricaWorld
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                                  The acting Vice-Chancellor, Elizade University, Ilara -Mokin , Ondo State, Professor Theophileus Oyeyemi Fadayemi , has appealed to the Federal Government to allow private universities to benefit from the Tertiary Education Trust (TET Fund) grants . Fadayemi made the appeal made at a press conference which was held at the university campus on Friday in preparation for the school’s 1st convocation ceremony. The VC said such intervention from the Federal Government would help in manpower development in private universities across the country. While noting that Education Trust Fund was set up by the Federal Government to assist the development of the Nigerian Higher Education System, decried a situation whereby it is only government-owned universities are allowed to accessed the funds “We appealed to the Federal Government to allow private universities to benefit from TETfUND which has been restricted to Federal universities. The private universities that are ready to go into research should be able to have access to TETfUND. “We have all the capacity here at Elizade University in terms of our commitment .What we are asking for is that they should give us access to TETFUND. ” Fadayemi said a total of 35 out of 64 students that was admitted as first set of students of the university on January 6,2013 ,will be graduating at the convocation. He said that five students had first class honours while 17 and 13 had second class upper division, second class lower division respectively. The VC also said all courses the school runs are fully accredited. “The 17 programmes presented for NUC ‘s accreditation with all the 17 having full accreditation status. ” he said.
                                  6 years ago by @prophe
                                   
                                    AfricaNigeriaApr2017Englishsupportgovernmentfund
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                                    Jaipur, Apr 20: A group of Kashmiri students at a private university in Rajasthan were on Wednesday allegedly called “terrorists” and beaten up by locals, upset over soldiers being targeted by stone-throwers in the strife-torn border state. The assault is the latest incident of violence against Kashmiris studying at Chittorgarh’s Mewar University, which has around 500 students from Jammu and Kashmir. “Six of us were assaulted in three separate attacks that took place at the same time in the market. The attacks seemed coordinated,” said Bahar Ahmed Giri, a student of pharmacy. Though no one suffered serious injuries, students are upset with the university administration for failing to protect them and have demanded the arrest of the offenders. They were beaten up for no reason, Giri said. “They hurled abuses, called us terrorists and said we throw stones at the army. They told us to go back to Kashmir and threatened that they won’t let us study here,” he said. Police have registered an FIR against two unknown people for causing hurt but gave a different version of events. Two Kashmiri students had an argument with two motorcycle-borne men in the market over giving way, local station house officer Dinesh said. “The two men hit the students and the students, too, retaliated,” he said. The university, too, backed police’s version. “A little scuffle happened between the students and the outsiders. There is nothing serious,” university director Harish Gurnani said. The locals even reached the hospital where students were being treated and abused them in the presence of police, Waseem Khan, who studies computer science, said. “Police did not do anything. They say that the locals did not harm us. Will they act when the locals kill one or two of us?” he said. In March 2016, four Kashmiri students were beaten up over rumours of beef being cooked in the university hostel. The following month, some Kashmiri students got into a scuffle with another group over India’s loss to West Indies in the T20 cricket world cup. Sixteen K
                                    6 years ago by @prophe
                                     
                                      IndiaJaipurApr2017Englishviolencebeat
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                                      The Department of English at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) organises its Inter-University Students’ Conference and Cultural Competition for the third time. The two-day event began today at the ULAB auditorium commemorating the 200th death anniversary of British novelist Jane Austen and will end tomorrow, April 22, 2017, according to a release. The event is featuring students’ paper presentations on the first day and cultural competition on the second day. Students from 14 public and private universities, including Dhaka University, North South University, BRAC University, East West University, and ULAB, are participating in the event. Professor Fakrul Alam of Dhaka University, Professor Kamaluddin Ahmed of Chittagong University and Professor Mobasshera Khanam of National University were the judges of the academic papers on the first day of the event. Renowned actress Suborna Mustafa and Professor Sudip Chakraborty of Theatre and Performance Studies department of Dhaka University will be the judges of the cultural competition to be held on the second day of the event. Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Chowdhury of Dhaka University attended the opening ceremony of the programme as the chief guest, while the Country Director of British Council Barbara Wickham will be attending the closing ceremony as the chief guest, the release read.
                                      6 years ago by @prophe
                                       
                                        BangladeshEnglishApr2017culturestudent
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                                        The national tone of public criticism of higher education has sharpened recently. Many in both the public and private sectors are questioning the cost of higher education, and others are questioning its value. We are being exposed through all forms of media to predominantly negative stories about higher education. As one whose life was transformed by my collegiate experience, and now as a college president, I am a bold and proud apologist for higher education, its value and its necessity to the future of our country and the global economy. With deference to a 2017 report from the Association of Governing Boards entitled “The Business of Higher Education,” I share some facts about the economic benefits of higher education. A generation ago, a high school graduate earned 77 percent of what a college graduate earned. Today, for millennials, high school graduates will earn 66 percent of their college graduate neighbors. Over a lifetime, that is well over $1 million in additional earning for the college graduate, making the financial value proposition a good one. However, beyond earning potential, the recent study cited other equally important benefits for college graduates: “Higher education…efficiently creates human capital that improves communities and contributes to the economic well-being of the nation over the course of graduates’ entire lives. College graduates enjoy better health, longer lives, and greater degrees of individual and professional satisfaction. … They also use the skills learned in college to foster democracy and human rights, as well as to accelerate technological advancement.” We have witnessed recent debate within the West Virginia state legislature, as well as in many other state legislatures, concerning appropriations for public higher education. I am a supporter of both a robust public and private higher education sector, and recognize through empirical research, that investing public funds in all types of education is prudent and wise. I offer food for thought concerning the value
                                        6 years ago by @prophe
                                         
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                                          Over the years I have seen many retirement plans ruined, simply because substantial amounts of investment dollars, originally allocated for retirement, were used to pay for college education. This selfless act of support can create a long-term problem for the retiree. However, it is not the act of paying for the education that is at issue but rather how and when you choose to pay is what needs to be explored. First, let's take a look at general college costs; according to collegedata.com the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2016–2017 school year was $9,650 for state residents at public colleges, $24,930 for out-of-state residents attending public universities and for those in private colleges the average was a whopping $33,480 a year. Add to that room and board, books and supplies, ancillary living expenses and possible travel costs needed for either the student or family members throughout a school year, and you have a hefty draw down of savings. –– ADVERTISEMENT –– Read: How to get into an Ivy League school — by someone who got into 6 of them For many, that lump sum draw down, each year over four years — potentially four plus years — will create significant, irreplaceable, long-term loss of reserves needed to support your future, ongoing monthly retirement income. To avoid diminishing your retirement savings or general investment accounts, be creative; explore the various options that may be available to pay for college. With that said, here are a few suggestions intended to help support higher education needs and at the same time designed to help keep your retirement savings intact: • Plan to have your child apply for scholarships. Discuss with your child, early on, what is required to be granted a scholarship. Visit with a school counselor to get information on the qualifying rules and learn what types of scholarships and student aid may be available. Remember; it is cheaper to pay for a summer tutor to help your child strengthen a subject they are weak in, than it is to forfeit a
                                          6 years ago by @prophe
                                           
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                                            A recent development in New York State, called the Excelsior Scholarship, will make state schools free to attend for residents of the state. This is completely unfair for many reasons, as any college that is funded by the state of New York will now have free education for most people living in the state. This, of course, does come with some restrictions, the first being that the amount of money that your family brings in every year must be under $100,000 (this is expected to go up to $125,000 in three years) to qualify for free education. The median household income in New York State is just under $61,000 in 2016. This would mean that most people living in the state will qualify for this “Excelsior Scholarship.” Family income is not the only requirement to receive free tuition to a SUNY school—there are numerous others. There is a responsibility to cover all costs outside of tuition, including room and board and meal plans. The only part that gets paid for under this scholarship is the tuition to attend the school. To receive this scholarship, the student must attend the school as a full-time student and average 30 credits a year. In addition to that, the student must maintain a certain GPA that the state deems to be “successful” to keep the scholarship. The student is also not allowed to be an employee of the state during the period they are attending college and receiving the Excelsior Scholarship. After graduation, any student who received the Excelsior Scholarship must remain in the state for the same number of years that they attended the college. This means that if one goes for a four-year degree and receives this scholarship, one must plan on his/her first job being in state for at least four years. If the student leaves the state, he/she are required to pay the tuition he/she had received for free. I know that because of the free tuition, going to a SUNY school is pretty alluring. A lot of people I have spoken to are already considering switching over to a SUNY school from their private institution, b
                                            6 years ago by @prophe
                                             
                                              Apr2017USAEnglishFree_tuitioncost
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                                              Separate studies into how the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) operates and what cost-savings can be found amid dropping enrollments could have significant implications for our own Lock Haven University. The PASSHE board has hired the nonprofit National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) of Boulder, Colo., for a maximum cost of $400,000, to assess the system and its 14 state-run universities, including Lock Haven. The state Senate this week ordered a similar study that tasks the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to finalize a review by Dec. 1. Combined enrollment at the 14 schools — Lock Haven, Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester universities — has dropped by 12 percent to nearly 105,000 since peaking in 2010. As a result, some things have to give. The already deficit-ridden state government cannot afford to give the state system the additional $61 million it is requesting to maintain programs and facilities. At the same time, PASSHE says it’s operating on state funding levels that mirror 1999. Whether two studies are needed is another question, though state Sen. Dave Argall, R-Schuylkill County, who sponsored the resolution calling for the Senate study, said he considers it necessary to do an outside study of the system because “there are always some concerns when a system studies itself as to how independent, no matter how hard they try, their study may be.” In its nearly 50 years of studying higher education, the nonprofit NCHEMS has recommended public universities closing or merging in other states due to falling enrollment, rising costs, reduced state funding and duplication of services and degree programs, the nonprofit’s vice president Patrick Kelly told The (Allentown) Morning Call newspaper (www.mcall.com) this week. But politics, he said, often trumps recommendations and schools stay open. “The reality is the mergers, conso
                                              6 years ago by @prophe
                                               
                                                Apr2017Pennsylvania_state_systemEnglishUSA
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                                                The state has 11 of the schools, and a hearing is scheduled for Monday on a bill requiring annual reviews of them by the State Board of Education. AUGUSTA — A new report finds students at for-profit colleges in Maine carry much heavier debt loads than those at public and private nonprofit colleges in the state. The non-partisan Center for Responsible Lending says the debt burden falls on low-income, female and minority students who disproportionately enroll at Maine for-profit schools. About 75 percent of students at such institutions take on student loans, compared with 66 percent and 41 percent, respectively, at private and public institutions. Meanwhile, 76 percent of students are women and 8 percent are African-American. The report found 60 percent of students received federal Pell Grants, which are awarded to those with low incomes. “One of the things we see consistently across the board: Students who attend for-profit colleges are burdened more by debt,” said Whitney Barkley-Denney, legislative policy counsel for the nonprofit organization. Maine’s student borrowing figures closely track national data. In the 2011-2012 school year, 73 percent of students at for-profit colleges took out loans, according to the Brookings Institution. Career Education Colleges and Universities, the for-profit higher education sector’s primary trade association, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Several for-profit schools have been the subject of state and federal investigations in recent years and faced lawsuits alleging deception in advertising and recruiting tactics. The industry has declined since rising from 650,000 students in 2000 to 2.5 million students in 2010, and several have closed down, leaving students with debt. In January, federal officials said hundreds of programs at for-profit colleges are at risk of losing federal funding unless their graduates start earning better wages. However, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said she would take another look at the so-called “gainful employment” federal r
                                                6 years ago by @prophe
                                                 
                                                  Maine_USAfor-profitstudent_debtApr2017English
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                                                  It was big news when outstanding student loan debt surpassed credit card debt and then later exceeded $1 trillion for the first time. That shocking statistic keeps climbing, with no sign of slowing down: Americans now have more than $1.4 trillion in unpaid education debt, according to the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, college-bound kids and their families try to avoid going into debt by heeding advice like "save more," "apply for scholarships" or "go to a cheaper school." Of course, none of those address the major issue of rising costs that have far outpaced wage growth. It's smart to avoid student loan debt if you can, because those loans affect your credit and your financial future. (You can see how much by checking your free credit scores on Credit.com.) However, strategically choosing a school isn't quite as straightforward as comparing tuition and fees. One thing you can do is check out an institution's net price calculator, which should be on its website, to see how much a student like you would pay after grants and scholarships. Another thing you can do is look at how much student loan debt recent grads ended up with. (You can read more about options for repaying your student loans here.) Where Is Student Loan Debt the Lowest? The response to that question is a little trickier to figure out, but organizations like The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) have compiled such data to help. According to their Project on Student Debt, 68% of 2015 bachelor's degree recipients graduated with student loan debt. The average was $30,100 per borrower. TICAS put together their project based on student loan debt figures from the "Common Data Set," a survey of colleges used by college-guide publishers. The colleges voluntarily self report their data, which presents problems. "Colleges that accurately calculate and report each year's debt figures rightfully complain that other colleges may have students with higher average debt but fail to update their figures, under-report actual debt levels, or never re
                                                  6 years ago by @prophe
                                                   
                                                    Apr2017USAstudent_debtStudent_loanEnglishstatistics
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                                                    Pack your bags, Mules. Colby College is promising that, beginning in the fall, every student will be able to study abroad, regardless of income, under a new program made possible by a $25 million gift from a wealthy alumnus. Colby, home to 1,800 students in Waterville, Maine, says it is the first liberal arts college in the country to eliminate the financial barriers to international travel, to ensure that every student gains experience overseas during their undergraduate years. The program, announced Wednesday, will allow students at Colby — whose mascot is the Mule — to travel for work, study-abroad programs, internships, or research. David A. Greene, the private school’s president, said the goal is to make international education accessible to students whose parents may not have connections to internships in foreign corporations or be able to afford an airline ticket and a Eurail pass for a summer of sightseeing in European capitals. The program, which is being funded by Andrew Davis, an investor who graduated from Colby in 1985, will pay for airfare, housing, meals, and stipends to allow students to take unpaid internships, a luxury often available only to higher-income families. “What we’re trying to do is make sure these experiences are universal when students come to Colby, no matter your ability to pay or your own personal network,” Greene said. Currently, 70 percent of Colby students study abroad. Still, the fact that the benefit is being offered to students at an elite New England college like Colby underscores how study-abroad experiences are still out of reach for most college students. Nationally, only 10 percent of American undergraduates, including community college students, study overseas by the time they graduate, according to the Institute of International Education. Mark Farmer, director of higher education and public policy at the Association of International Educators, said it was encouraging to see a private donor at Colby support study-abroad efforts at a time when
                                                    6 years ago by @prophe
                                                     
                                                      overseas_studyabroadUSAdonationgiftApr2017EnglishMaine
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                                                      If you are thinking about attending college and are tempted to take advantage of New York State’s new “free tuition” program, you may want to pay very close attention to the facts. First, students who opt for the state plan will be subject to a number of burdensome restrictions. They will be required to maintain 30 credit hours a year, earn a grade point average sufficient for on-time graduation, and agree to live and work in New York upon graduation for as many as four years. Failure to maintain 30 credits will make the student ineligible for future payments, and failure to reside in the state will convert the grant into a loan (and the terms of such loans have not been determined yet). By Gary A. Olson If you are thinking about attending college and are tempted to take advantage of New York State’s new “free tuition” program, you may want to pay very close attention to the facts. First, students who opt for the state plan will be subject to a number of burdensome restrictions. They will be required to maintain 30 credit hours a year, earn a grade point average sufficient for on-time graduation, and agree to live and work in New York upon graduation for as many as four years. Failure to maintain 30 credits will make the student ineligible for future payments, and failure to reside in the state will convert the grant into a loan (and the terms of such loans have not been determined yet). Advertisement What’s more, the state has made no guarantee that every eligible student will in fact receive this benefit. The state has allocated funding for only about 3 percent of the eligible population of college students. This means that most eligible students will not receive the benefit. And, of course, state college fees and room and board expenses are notoriously expensive and are not covered by the new grant. An old adage sums it up concisely: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Or perhaps I was thinking of another familiar saying, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” In
                                                      6 years ago by @prophe
                                                       
                                                        Free_tuitionrethinkUSAEnglishApr2017
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                                                        Americans are often expected to have some level of higher education before they enter the workforce. These political leaders are asking: Shouldn’t government help them along? CHICAGO—A surge of innovation in states and cities is building momentum for what could become a seismic shift in American education. Just as the country came to expect in the decades around World War II that young people would finish at least 12 years of school, more local governments are now working to ensure that students complete at least 14 years. With that change, political leaders in both parties are increasingly acknowledging that if society routinely expects students to obtain at least two years of schooling past high school, government has a responsibility to provide it for them cost-free. That impulse animates the statewide tuition-free community-college program pioneered under Republican Governor Bill Haslam in Tennessee and replicated under Democratic Governor Kate Brown in Oregon; Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Star Scholarship, which funds two years of community college for students who complete high school with a B average; and the legislation Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed into law providing tuition-free access to two- and four-year public colleges in New York for families earning up to $125,000. The Campaign for Free College Tuition, an organization promoting this movement, expects representatives from up to 18 states to join their conference next month in Denver. Ben Cannon, executive director of the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission, speaks for many devising these initiatives when he insists: “As a state, we generally acknowledge and understand that a high-school education is not enough, and [tuition-free community college] represents an attempt to extend that [public-education] entitlement to 14 years.”
                                                        6 years ago by @prophe
                                                         
                                                          community_collegeFree_tuitionUSAEnglishApr2017
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                                                          More than 20% of higher education courses run by Thai universities fail to meet required standards, according to the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). According to Isara News Agency, the OAG recently...
                                                          6 years ago by @prophe
                                                           
                                                            auditfailThailandEnglishApr2017
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                                                            Educators have called on the government to pay more attention to research as only 10 Thai universities made it on the Times Higher Education top 300 Asia University Rankings this year, and six out of the universities' rankings slipped from last year.
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                                                              ThailandrankfailEnglishApr2017
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                                                              You can now study Mechatronics (a combination of mechanical and electrical engineering) at the private TeamLease University in Baroda. ITM Skills Academy now has a year-long postgraduate programme in Aadhar housing finance. Liberal Arts subjects are compulsory if you’re doing a BTech or BBA at the Great Lakes International University, Sri City. Free to frame their own course structures and syllabi, private universities are thinking out of the box, offering courses and combinations that are based on today’s industry needs rather than on templates set in the 1990s. This means niche specialisations, tie-ups with industry for apprenticeships and updated subject pairings. “Interacting with Indian engineers abroad, I learned that they cannot socialise and adapt to different cultures as well as they should be able to, because there is a huge gap in their knowledge of cultural binders such as art and films and often a lack of ability to communicate as well,” says Parag Diwan, founder and chancellor of GLIU. “So we have made it compulsory for tech and management students to take at least eight courses in liberal arts subjects such as art appreciation and film appreciation throughout the four-year course tenure.” There’s a realisation that the ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t work anymore, says educational entrepreneur Sudhanshu Sinhal, founder of the Sinhal coaching classes. “Students too want their learning experience to fit their lifestyle; it must be relevant, collaborative, personalised, engaging, and accessible.” For private universities, this kind of innovation on campus is easier because they are not governed by authorities that resist change, adds Dhiraj Mathur, partner (Education) at PwC India. “They also have better interaction with industry and are funded well, so they are able to provide personalised, tailor-made courses — at a cost, of course.” For students who can afford it, this is good news. Parth Shah, 23, for instance, says he picked mechatronics at TeamLease because he was excited by the c
                                                              6 years ago by @prophe
                                                               
                                                                specializationsIndiaApr2017English
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                                                                “Interacting with Indian engineers abroad, I learned that they cannot socialise and adapt to different cultures as well as they should be able to, because there is a huge gap in their knowledge of cultural binders such as art and films and often a lack of ability to communicate as well,” says Parag Diwan, founder and chancellor of GLIU. “So we have made it compulsory for tech and management students to take at least eight courses in liberal arts subjects such as art appreciation and film appreciation throughout the four-year course tenure.” There’s a realisation that the ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t work anymore, says educational entrepreneur Sudhanshu Sinhal, founder of the Sinhal coaching classes. “Students too want their learning experience to fit their lifestyle; it must be relevant, collaborative, personalised, engaging, and accessible.” For private universities, this kind of innovation on campus is easier because they are not governed by authorities that resist change, adds Dhiraj Mathur, partner (Education) at PwC India. “They also have better interaction with industry and are funded well, so they are able to provide personalised, tailor-made courses — at a cost, of course.” For students who can afford it, this is good news. Parth Shah, 23, for instance, says he picked mechatronics at TeamLease because he was excited by the content and wants a career in automation engineering. “I like the fact that the university has an industry-first approach to teaching,” he adds. “You can opt to work as an apprentice through the entire duration of the course. I opted for a six-month long internship in place of Semester 5, where I applied what I had learned in my first four semesters.”
                                                                6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                 
                                                                  IndiaKashmiribeatviolenceEnglishApr2017
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                                                                  CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has decided to scrap the contentious Khalsa University Act that the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government had passed in September last year, just before assembly elections. The Act allowed Khalsa College Charitable Society, run by Satyajit Singh Majithia, father-in-law of former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal, to carve out a private university from the land belonging to the 125-year-old Khalsa College in Amritsar. The decision was taken at Wednesday's cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh. . . This is Amarinder's third big decision overturning the previous government's pronouncements. He had first cancelled permits to a number of private bus companies, including those owned by Sukhbir. He had also removed halqa in-charges and ordered a third-party probe into the alleged Rs 12,000-crore foodgrain scam. . . According to Wednesday's cabinet note, the government will repeal the Act through an ordinance. The note cited four reasons for not letting a private university come up on the land including "damage to character and loss of heritage status of 125-year-old institution". . . "The Khalsa University (Repeal) Ordinance, 2017 aims to repeal the Khalas University Act, 2016 with a view to protect the heritage character of Khalsa College, Amritsar. The Khalsa College, Amritsar has over a period of time become a significant icon of Khalsa heritage and the decision for the university taken in 2016 is likely to shadow and damage its character and pristine glory," the note states. .
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                                                                    Lynn University will hold the ground breaking for its $35 million student center on Thursday, April 20. The 65,000-square-foot project will be the largest ever undertaken by the non-profit university in Boca Raton. The ceremony will start at 11 a.m. at 3601 N. Military Trail. The event is by invitation only. Lynn University received a $15 million challenge grant for the project from Christine E. Lynn, who owns a local insurance business. It has named the student center after her.
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                                                                      USAFloridabuilldingdonationgiftApr2017English
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                                                                      OSKALOOSA — William Penn University, like many other private colleges in the state, continues to find unique ways to attract Iowa students. They’ve invested in their curriculum, made the programs more flexible with daytime, evening and nontraditional classes and focused on developing the campus culture to be a meaningful, purposeful experience. To celebrate William Penn University’s legacy of educational opportunities, they’re offering a new scholarship to Iowa high school seniors enrolling in traditional coursework at the Oskaloosa campus. If eligible, the student will pay $5,000 or less for tuition for the 2017-18 school year.
                                                                      6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                       
                                                                        Apr2017affordUSAIowaEnglish
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                                                                        HARRISBURG – This may be a growing trend in Pennsylvania: private colleges and universities are doing something to bring back students and families scared away by the sky-high cost of higher education. In some cases, tuition plus room and board can cost $50,000, $60,000, even $70,000 a year. As a result, enrollment is down. “Sticker shock is an issue. In fact, some research suggests 60 percent of parents and students will rule out a school based on just the price,” said Don Francis of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania. To get students back on campus, private schools are either slashing or freezing tuition. Immaculata University near Philadelphia is reducing tuition from $34,400 to $26,500 a year. At LaSalle, tuition is down from $40,400 to $28,800, and Rosemont College on the Main Line reduced tuition to $18,500 from $31,500. Rosemont also knocked $1,900 off room and board. Other schools like Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Manor College, Wilson College in Chambersburg, and the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology have decided to freeze tuition. It appears to be working. Many of the schools report enrollment numbers are going up. After Rosemont cut tuition and room and board, applications soared by 64 percent and actual enrollment jumped by nearly 15 percent. The AICUP also launched the “Just Apply” campaign. The message: students just don’t know what the college will offer unless they apply. “Many students will discover if they apply to private institutions that institution will cost maybe less, maybe the same, and maybe slightly more than a public institution,” Francis said.
                                                                        6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                         
                                                                          tuition_discountenrolmentPennsylvaniaaffordcostUSAEnglishApr2017
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                                                                          While very few people study poetry or classics to get rich, studying the humanities has a big financial payoff at a surprising array of colleges, a new analysis of college grads’ earnings has found. Of course, students who major in engineering, economics, business or computer science at the best schools tend to have the highest financial return on their tuition investments, according to new salary data collected by PayScale.com. But liberal arts and other humanities majors at 16 schools have, on average, earned at least $500,000 more than they paid for school and the typical earnings of someone who did not attend college, PayScale said. Humanities majors at 245 colleges have typically earned at least $200,000 more than they spent on college within 20 years of graduation, PayScale found. Leading the pack: Yale. PayScale estimates that Yalies who receive financial aid pay a total of only about $80,000 for their four-year degrees. And, on average, people whose education stopped at high school earn about $30,000 a year. Yale humanities majors report earning about $80,000 a year, on average. So 20 years out, Yalies have earned a total of about $1.6 million, which puts them a total of $812,000 ahead of high-school grads - even after subtracting the cost of school. Making these numbers even more impressive: they’re only for students who finished their education with a bachelor’s. They don’t count, for example, history majors who went on to earn law degrees or M.B.As. Ivy League colleges, which offer generous aid and thus have low costs for middle class families, tend to have among the highest “return on investment” for humanities and many other majors, PayScale found. But many more accessible colleges also paid off well: Wabash College, a private men’s college in Crawfordsville, Ind. that accepts 61% of applicants, ranked in the top 20 for financial return for a humanities degree. After 20 years, the typical Wabash humanities grad had earned a financial return of about $500,000. San Jose State University, had one
                                                                          6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                           
                                                                            liberal_artspaycostUSAApr2017English
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                                                                            How much would you say it costs to attend a top private college like Dartmouth or Pomona for one year? I’m guessing that the first number that pops into your mind is quite large, like $60,000. For most Americans, that’s the wrong answer — and it’s wrong by a lot. The list-price tuition at these college does indeed run so high, but just a small slice of the population pays the list price. Typically, only families earning at least $200,000 a year fail to qualify for financial aid. For families with middle-class incomes, highly selective colleges are much, much less expensive. The widespread misimpression about the cost of college causes real damage. It leads many middle-class and lower-income families to believe, incorrectly, that college is unaffordable. When they respond by discouraging their child from attending or finishing college, they hurt the child’s long-term economic prospects. Today, a new online calculator is launching, and it’s designed to combat misimpression with fact. It’s also highly useful, for families up and down the income spectrum. The calculator is a joint effort of 15 colleges, including Dartmouth, Pomona, Columbia, Williams, Wellesley, Rice and Colorado College. You use it anonymously, and you answer about six quick questions about your finances, such as your annual income and home ownership status. With just a minute or two of work, you can get an estimate of how much college will really cost. As an example, I entered data for what would be a pretty normal American family: a homeowner with $75,000 in income and some savings. I selected Rice as the college. The calculator estimated that this family would have to spend $18,500 a year while receiving a $42,900 scholarship. That cost is still significant, and I wish our country made college less expensive. But for the great majority of students, a Rice education is still worth a lot more than $18,500 a year. College graduates are much more likely to be employed, to earn more and to be happy and healthy than non-graduates, and much of th
                                                                            6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                             
                                                                              costaffordUSAEnglishApr2017
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                                                                              For too many Americans, the rising costs of college are putting higher education out of reach. This comes at a time when a postsecondary degree is almost mandatory for earning a middle-class living. In New York alone, 70% of jobs require a college degree, but only about 46% of adult New Yorkers have one. We must close that gap. Last week, Gov. Cuomo made history when he signed into law a first-in-the-nation policy to cover tuition at all public colleges and universities in the state. In allowing students from families making up to $125,000 a year to attend SUNY and CUNY two- and four-year schools tuition-free, the Excelsior Scholarship promises to transform the lives of thousands of students and countless more potential students. Historically, such groundbreaking programs face initial criticism. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was resistance to compulsory education. In the 1960s, the American Medical Association warned that Medicaid would destroy quality health care.
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                                                                                NYFree_tuitionstudent_aidUSAApr2017English
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                                                                                Student debt is a personal challenge for more than 44 million Americans, but a lucrative business opportunity to the firms that manage the more than $1 trillion now outstanding. With a delinquency rate currently exceeding 11 percent, some see student loans as a major risk to the U.S. economy, one rivaling the mortgage loan market that crashed in 2007. There has also been widespread concern about the effects of college debt on the lives of individual students “what authorities describe as systematic mistreatment of borrowers.” Because these loans are guaranteed or are made directly by the federal government, the U.S. Department of Education is responsible for managing this complex system and balancing the competing interests of the various stakeholders. Last week, Education Secretary Elizabeth DeVos took action to reverse the course she inherited from the prior administration. In 2015, President Obama announced his Student Aid Bill of Rights, which aimed both to create a more efficient loan management system and to “reduce student loan defaults and encourage borrower success.” In recognizing the needs of borrowers, it sought to more fairly balance the interests of individual borrowers with those of the federal government and those doing business managing the debt under government contract. Two policy directives from the Obama administration’s Department of Education, which Bloomberg News described as directing the Federal Student Aid office to “do more to help borrowers manage, or even discharge, their debt,” were cancelled. The Obama administration sought to balance the interests of those taking out student loans and the business interests of the private firms contracted to service and collect these debts. Ideally, by taking borrowers’ interests into account, the amount of unpaid debt would be decreased, as would the cost to the federal government, and the harmful effect of predatory practices could be lessened. In her memo to the FSA, Secretary DeVos showed that efficient repayment was the singular goal of her
                                                                                6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                 
                                                                                  Department_of_EducationObamaDonald_TrumpStudent_loanstudent_debtUSAApr2017English
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                                                                                  Private colleges across New York state are calculating their next steps in light of the state’s new Excelsior Scholarship program, which will provide free tuition for low- and middle-income families at public colleges but private college leaders warn could have devastating effects on their institutions. “The fundamental landscape of higher education in New York state just changed,” said St. Bonaventure University interim President Dr. Andrew Roth. “We’ll have to think about how exactly we respond to do that.” The plan has been a talking point for leaders of the state’s 150 private colleges since Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced it in January, and is now a reality after its passage with the state budget earlier this month. Private college presidents, including those of local institutions, say the program could hurt their enrollment by attracting more students to public schools with the promise of free tuition. They say weakening of private colleges, often the focal point of small towns throughout the state, could have economic consequences. Free tuition even has some schools re-examining private colleges’ long-standing high-tuition, high-aid model — the practice of charging a high list price while also providing a large discount through financial aid. “Certainly the idea of free tuition is such a powerful sound bite,” said Houghton College President Dr. Shirley Mullen. “I think it does pose a threat, at least in the short run, for the well being of these institutions.” Privates preferred TAP increase The Excelsior Scholarship program will make SUNY and CUNY schools tuition-free this fall for students whose families earn less than $100,000. That number will rise to $125,000 in 2019. However, there are several requirements, including that students remain full-time with at least 30 credits a year and maintain a minimum grade point average. Students will also have to live and work in New York for as many years as they received free tuition, or the scholarship becomes a loan. “I have to commend the gover
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                                                                                    Free_tuitionprivateUSAEnglishApr2017
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                                                                                    States could save money and increase college-graduation rates by providing modest financial incentives for students to choose private colleges over comparable public ones, according to a report released this week. The conclusion, which was quickly disputed by a group representing public colleges, comes at a time when a growing number of states are providing the opposite incentives. This week New York became the first state to offer free tuition at both two- and four-year public colleges for middle-class families. Other states are considering similar moves, prompting widespread concern that enrollments could plunge at some tuition-dependent private colleges that recruit heavily from their states. The report was prepared for the Council of Independent Colleges as part of its efforts to promote the value of the liberal arts and independent colleges. The report was distributed this week to all of the council’s members, to provide talking points when they make the case for financial support from state lawmakers, especially in states where free public-college tuition is on the agenda. It’s hardly surprising that the council, which represents more than 700 nonprofit independent colleges, would promote a report based on the argument that costs per degree are lower and graduation rates higher at private institutions. But the report’s authors, both of whom work at public universities, say it is based on a comprehensive analysis of federal data and state-specific simulations in 24 states. In all but two of those states, the proposed shift would save money, the researchers concluded. The findings were dismissed by Barmak Nassirian, director of federal relations and policy analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. "I empathize with their plight, and I don’t begrudge them their moment in the sun, if that’s what their report is, but there are lots of problems with it," he said in an interview on Thursday. "They’re trying to make the counterintuitive case that expensive schools are cheaper t
                                                                                    6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                     
                                                                                      costtuition_assistancetuitiontuition_discountUSAEnglishApr2017
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                                                                                      Girls who finished year 12 at a private school are most likely to go to university, as the gap between independent, Catholic and government school students who go on to higher education widens to its highest level in recent years. Private school students were nearly 15 per cent more likely to go to university in 2016 than students at Catholic schools, and nearly 24 per cent more likely than government school students, according to a new report by the Australian National University on what NSW secondary students go on to do after leaving school. The growing gap can be attributed to the number of Catholic students going to university falling significantly from 62.5 per cent in 2015 to 53.9 per cent in 2016. At the same time, the number of private school students going to university grew from 64.3 per cent to 68.7 per cent.
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                                                                                        AustraliaSydneygirlschoolEnglishApr2017
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                                                                                        New York's private colleges and universities don't know what to expect under the state's free tuition program for students attending public colleges. New York’s freshly signed free public tuition program puts the squeeze on many of the state’s weakest private colleges and universities. Private college presidents know it. But most aren’t yet sure what to do about it. Those presidents reacted with a mix of dismay, confusion, criticism and, in some cases, resolve in the days after New York leaders struck a deal to start a tuition-free public college program this fall. The creation of a program in New York caps a winding and unexpected path for the free-college idea, which New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed early this year after it appeared to have died with Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. Cuomo held a ceremonial bill signing for the program Wednesday, which Clinton attended. The program, called the Excelsior Scholarship, will allow New York residents from families earning up to $125,000 per year to attend the state’s public community colleges and four-year colleges without paying tuition. It will go into effect this fall for students who are newly enrolling at institutions in the State University of New York and City University of New York systems and who come from families with incomes of up to $100,000 per year. The income limit will jump to $110,000 in fall 2018 and $125,000 in 2019. Cuomo’s office estimates that about 940,000 families in the state will be eligible at that point. The program poses a significant challenge for New York’s many small private institutions, which suddenly find themselves facing a new kind of competition and increasing inter-sector warfare in the state. The pressure will be highest on tuition-dependent colleges and universities that already compete for students in part by heavily discounting their tuition and that draw most of their students from inside the state. More prestigious colleges and universities, which pull in more students from out of state and are more selecti
                                                                                        6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                         
                                                                                          Apr2017Free_tuitiontuitionprivateNYUSAEnglish
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                                                                                          As financial difficulties take their toll, more mergers like that between UCL and the Institute of Education look inevitable – or will private equity firms step in? hen academics at the Institute of Education were told that they would be merging with University College London, they were assured it would boost their profile. The IoE was already ranked as world-leading in education. But in a climate of squeezed research funding and highly competitive student recruitment, the merger was seen as a sensible move by many in the sector, who felt that smaller institutions might be at risk. The alliance crowned UCL as the biggest university in London, with more than 35,000 students, and the largest postgraduate institution in Britain. But two years on, angry educationists say they are underpaid and undervalued in their new institution. Last month John Yandell, president of the IoE branch of the University and College Union, delivered a petition signed by 1,000 staff and students to UCL’s provost, Michael Arthur, calling for a rise in London weighting to match their UCL counterparts – IoE academics claim they are paid £600 less. He believes members struggle to cope with the high rent, mortgage and travel costs of living in the capital. But he isn’t optimistic about their chances of being heard. With some modern universities suffering declines of up to 25% in student numbers, experts say an increase in university mergers is inevitable. “The main driver will be that some institutions will become financially unsustainable – if they aren’t already,” says Prof Roger Brown, former vice-chancellor of Southampton Solent University. Glynne Stanfield, head of the international higher education practice at law firm Eversheds, who has advised on several university mergers, says lower-ranking institutions that are not meeting student-number targets may well look for a partner. But he argues another likely scenario is that struggling universities may be taken over by private sector players waiting in the wings. “Would the private s
                                                                                          6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                           
                                                                                            mergerUKEnglishApr2017IoEUCL
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                                                                                            JINAN, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) piloted a program in Shandong Province by sending cadres to occupy senior positions in private universities to overhaul weak party building and ideological work. Unlike public universities, private schools generally do not have Party chiefs at the core of management, or any strong Party organizations. In the first part of the program, five cadres were assigned to head Party committees of Qilu Institute of Technology, Qingdao University of Technology and three other schools, according to the higher education commission under the CPC Shandong provincial committee. The cadres, all former Party chiefs or deputy chiefs in public universities, are to serve four years in their new posts. A second batch will be sent later this year, and all 40 private universities in the province will have Party chiefs by 2018. The authorities said the priority of these cadres was to improve party building and ideological and political work in private higher learning institutions. About 368,000 students study in Shandong's private universities. Huang Qi, deputy director of the higher education commission of CPC Shandong provincial committee, said the measure aimed to introduce the successful experience of public universities in party building and ideological and political work to private ones. He said unignorable problems existed in private universities' ideological education: there were not enough Party cells; supervision of the Party was sometimes loose; and ideological education remained weak. China's central leadership heightened the importance of college student political education in a high-profile meeting last year. The leadership pointed out that higher education must be guided by Marxism, and the Party's policies in education must be fully carried out. Students should be educated to be aware of the development trends of China and the world at large and should develop firm beliefs and confidence in communist ideals and socialism with Chinese character
                                                                                            6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                             
                                                                                              ChinaEnglishApr2017politics
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                                                                                              Universities are caught in a privatization trap that they built themselves and that will be difficult to take apart, argues Christopher Newfield. This country’s public universities face the Trump administration in a weakened condition. That is partly because they have suffered years of state funding cuts and still aren’t back to pre-2008 levels. But it’s also because they have long embraced a private-funding model that doesn’t work and whose weaknesses Trump and his people can exploit. A painful example is the proposed 18 percent cut to the National Institutes of Health, which Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has contended would not hurt research, as it would mostly focus on cutting back on overhead expenses to universities. An 18 percent budget slash sounds catastrophic -- until you remember that companies take these kinds of hits and survive. So do American families, where illness or job loss lead to cuts far greater than that. The same goes for public universities: few have not had a cut on that scale sometime in the past 25 years, and still fewer have admitted that such losses hurt educational quality. Since universities survived the financial crisis with little damage -- that they have disclosed -- what would keep the citizenry awake at night about an 18 percent cut for medical research? Research directors reply that it would be terrible indeed: National Science Foundation Director France Cordova, for example, has said the proposed cuts endanger the economy, since “half of our present GDP is due to investments in science and technology.” Researchers have noted that the current funding austerity already appears in the form of the declining average success rate for grant applications, which has been cut nearly in half since 2001, from 27 percent to 16 percent. Four in five applications go unfunded, with presumably valuable results to medical knowledge possibly lost. Such arguments might work if voters thought science needed public funding to get to the public. But the unfortunate fact is that
                                                                                              6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                               
                                                                                                Donald_Trumpprivatizationresearch_grantUSAEnglishApr2017
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                                                                                                Private universities and colleges have an important role in the massive expansion of higher education in India in the last two decades. According to latest official statistics, there are 777 universities in India. Of these around 261 are private universities. Among the 38498 colleges, more than 77% are in the private sector. They cater to 67% of the total higher education enrolment in the country. However, not enough discussions are happening in the country about the status and role, especially the social impact, of these institutions. Recently, Pritam Singh, former director of the prestigious public business school Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, made an important observation about the state of private business schools in India: While certain private institutes have managed to break away from the stereotypes attached and emerged as quality Institutes, there are still several problems plaguing the private sector today. The most important one is that owners of private colleges consider them to be businesses rather than educational institutes. More importance is put on infrastructure rather than research work and the quality of faculty is bad. Quality faculty is not willing to take up such jobs because such institutes don’t pay well or give their teachers autonomy and freedom for research. Similarly, eminent Indian journalist T.J.S George had recently brought the pathetic state of certain private professional institutions in the country into public attention through his weekly column in the Indian Express. He questioned not only the commercialisation of education but also the institutional culture in private institutions by citing a recent incident happened in South India in which the chairman of an engineering college was hacked to death by a gang armed with sickles. This brutal incident was the culmination of a long-running gang war. George raised a very pertinent question in his column: what have people of this kind got to do with colleges of engineering and stuff? In India, the majority of private
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                                                                                                  IndiamixParadoxesApr2017English
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                                                                                                  Purdue University’s plan to buy for-profit Kaplan University to expand its reach is the latest twist on an old idea: boost enrollment by attracting students online.
                                                                                                  6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                    USAonlineEnglishApr2017for-profit
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                                                                                                    Granting autonomy to colleges will ensure that the public good that is higher education, will become a private business. ‘Autonomy’ is the new buzzword echoing in the halls of higher education today. The word conveys high and cherished ideals like independence, freedom, self-reliance, self-determination – all of which are now being invoked, by various authorities, inside and outside the government, to rationalise and justify the newfound urgency with which a select few colleges are being ‘invited’ to ‘apply’ for autonomy. Why then has this become controversial? For one, the University Grants Commission (UGC) in its ‘Guidelines for Autonomous Colleges During the XII Plan‘ (2012) had stipulated that only colleges that were awarded a least a B-Grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), three times, over at least ten years could be considered for autonomy. It had also stipulated that the staff of the college should be ‘involved in the thinking and planning processes from the very beginning’. None of this has happened, but ‘autonomy’ has now become a juggernaut, barrelling on, unstoppably. The ‘autonomy’ that is being planned will benefit only the various private trusts that now ‘manage’ the colleges in question – not the faculty, nor the non-teaching staff, nor the students, and certainly not their parents. The terms of autonomy are such that the administrative and financial powers and control of the private trusts will subsequently increase dramatically, de facto, and possibly de jure. The checks and balances that exist by virtue of being affiliated to the university will gradually disappear completely. For instance, faculty service conditions: these are supposed to remain unchanged but, in real terms, the obligation of the trusts to honour these conditions is greatly reduced ‘post-autonomously’. Why? Because the current financial and administrative accountability of the college trusts to the university authorities will disappear completely with ‘autonomy’, and consequently, so will employ
                                                                                                    6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                     
                                                                                                      autonomyEnglishApr2017IndiaUniversity_Grants_Commission
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                                                                                                      NEW DELHI: As many as 122 private engineering colleges have opted for "progressive closure" since last year. Most of these colleges are in Maharasthra, Gujarat and Haryana. If a college goes for "progressive closure" in an academic year, it means the institution cannot admit students anymore. However, the students of the previous batches continue their studies till the completion of their courses. According to statistics available with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the country's technical education regulator, 23 engineering colleges in Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Jalgaon and Kohlapur and other areas of Maharashtra closed down during the 2016-17 session. "Failing to survive, private engineering colleges either seek progressive closure to ultimately shut down or turn into polytechnic or science and art colleges. "Since the best lot of students takes admission in prestigious colleges like IITs and NITs and other centrally funded institutions, others left in the fray settle for private colleges. The low number of enrolments make it difficult for institutions to survive," a senior AICTE official said. Fifteen engineering colleges in Gujarat, seven in Telangana, 11 in Karnataka, 12 in Uttar Pradesh, six in Punjab, 11 in Rajasthan and 13 in Haryana closed down during the period. Only one technical college from the national capital opted for closure.
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                                                                                                        IndiaNew_DelhiclosureengineeringApr2017English
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                                                                                                        6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                         
                                                                                                          NYNew_YorkUSAApr2017EnglishFree_tuition
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                                                                                                          JAIPUR: The technical education sector in the state is facing a bleak future with large number of faculty positions in the government aided engineering colleges remaining vacant which adversely affecting the quality of education in these colleges. In nine engineering colleges, out of 1,080 sanctioned posts of teaching facility, only 590 are now in existence. This means 46% of the total sanctioned post of teaching faculty is vacant. Similar, is the case with non-teaching staff. Out of the total sanctioned post of 1096 non-teaching staff, only 658 are now working while over 40 % of the sanctioned posts are lying vacant. These nine Engineering colleges in consideration are the Government Engineering College Ajmer; Government Women's Engineering College Ajmer; Government engineering college Bikaner; CET Bikaner; Government Engineering college Jhalawar; MLVT Bhilwara; MLVT Bhilwara; Government Engineering college Banswara ; Government Engineering college Bharatpur and RTU Kota. These government aided engineering colleges are generally the next preference of students after the high profile IITs and NITs as students prefer government aided colleges over private ones. The reason for this is the presence of experienced faculty. However things are not looking good for these colleges either with students preferring to migrate to reputed private colleges in the South due to the lethargy of the college administration and the government inability to put the functioning of these colleges in order. Sources in the Higher education department said these government aided engineering colleges are autonomous bodies. Each college had a board of governors and the principal of the college is the member secretary. Secretary technical education is also a member of the board of governors. He said the government role is limited to providing land, building and other infrastructure and the day today administration like faculty positions are to be decided by the college administration. They have to find money for new appointment similar to th
                                                                                                          6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                            IndiaRajasthanJaipurEnglishApr2017shortagefaculty
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                                                                                                            Purdue University held its first classes on its Indiana campus in 1874 and was ranked as the sixtieth best undergraduate university and twentieth best public university in US News and World Report’s most recent list. The University particularly excels in science and engineering, supplying a substantial number of NASA’s past astronauts, including Neil Armstrong. Kaplan University began offering online courses in 2003 as part of The Washington Post Company’s growing education division. Kaplan was started as a test prep company in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan. When The Washington Post was making more money than it knew what to do with, it purchased Kaplan in 1984 and grew it to an education empire that included brick and mortar campuses, an online university, international schools, and test preparation materials. By 2010, Kaplan was doing $2.9 billion in revenue, but then the landscape dramatically changed for for-profit education companies as they became accused of aggressive sales techniques and poor educational quality. Donald Graham, the Post Company’s CEO, defended for-profit institutions in his 2010 letter to shareholders, by arguing that its student population was more likely to face challenges because Kaplan was providing access to at-risk student populations, but that adjusting for these risk factors, for-profit schools were often better than their non-profit counterparts. Whether or not he was right, it became clear as time passed that he had lost the war. After the Graham sold the namesake newspaper to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the name of the company owning Kaplan changed to The Graham Holdings Company. The deal allows Purdue to create a separate, online university with little investment in technology and infrastructure. The University will pay Graham Holdings $1 initially, but up to 12.5% of the university’s revenues. The deal also involves 32,000 students compared to the 40,000 currently enrolled at Purdue. After the deal closes, only The University of Maryland would have more online students among publi
                                                                                                            6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                              buyUSAfor-profitIndiana_public-privatepublic-private_partnershipApr2017English
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                                                                                                              A private Catholic university in Kansas is planning to offer a support group for its LGBTQ students, using a model implemented at Notre Dame. WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Newman University, a private Catholic school in Wichita, plans to offer a group next year to support its LGBTQ students while continuing to emphasize Catholic teaching that condones sex only in marriage between a man and a woman. In response to growing interest among students to recognize the school's diversity, the university formed a committee to plan the LGBTQ group. The committee met over the summer and fall of 2016 and used a model used at Notre Dame, The Wichita Eagle reported (http://bit.ly/2oR44Ux ). The group's formation was spurred in part by a speech by Ruben Lerma at a public forum, where he discussed being gay on the Newman campus. He said he attended Newman because it offered him a full scholarship, even though he was concerned about being "that gay student." Lerma recounted overhearing Newman students saying gay people should go to hell and legalizing gay marriage would make gays want to marry animals. "I'm not the only gay person here, I'm not going to be the only gay person here, there will be more," Lerma remembers saying. "If for their sake, if not mine, you should make it more amiable, make the environment better." Lerma's speech came as interest in recognizing diversity was growing. The university has restarted the Black Student Union, added a club to support Asian students and hired a diversity coordinator last year. Newman's mission has always included concern for the dignity of all students, said spokesman Clark Shafer, but the events in 2016 raised awareness of the need to make LGBTQ students feel more welcome. Before making the "Pastoral Plan" public, Newman contacted important alumnus and donor, who approved how the group upheld the school's Catholic values, Shafer said. "The University exhorts all to hear and live the Church's teaching that 'the deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of mar
                                                                                                              6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                Apr2017USAEnglishKansas
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                                                                                                                CHENNAI: After a prolonged delay caused by the state government and the search committees appointed by it, now it is the turn of the Tamil Nadu governor to sit on the files pertaining to appointment of vice chancellors to three premier universities. University of Madras, Anna University and Madurai Kamaraj University . Files relating to Madras and Anna varsities have been pending in Raj Bhavan for close to a month and that of Kamaraj varsity for a week. Incidentally , nine out of 13 varsities in the state do not have full time registrars and eight of them do not have controllers of examinations. "The ball is in the governor's court," a government official said. The posts of VCs have been lying vacant in the three varsities for more than a year.While the appointments of varsity heads were mired in controversies relating to payment of bribes in the past few years, the Raj Bhavan's inaction is not helping the varsities either. Incidentally , governor C Vidyasagar Rao, who is also chancellor of all state varsities, appointed SFelix as vice-chancellor of Tamil Nadu Fisheries University 10 days ago. In the absence of VCs, the institutions are run by convener committees led by the higher education secretary . It is a fivemember panel in the Universi ty of Madras since April 21. Because of the absence of a VC, the University of Madras put off annual convocations last year, affecting higher studies of students. There was an attempt in the university to hold convocation with degrees signed by the convener committee chairman, but it was dropped following objections.The institution, insiders say , faces its worst financial crisis and is plagued by irregularities as pointed out by the government's own local audit for the year 2015-16. Much of the decision-making in the varsities involves research projects and degrees for which a board of research studies led by a VC is the backbone."Now, all research related decisions are either pending or taken on ad hoc basis," Prof G Ravindran, general secretary of Madras University Teache
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                                                                                                                  IndiachennaiEnglishApr2017appointmentUniversity_Grants_Commission
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                                                                                                                  How do you turn a for-profit college into a not-for-profit? Partner with a public university—and pay $50 million for the privilege. That’s basically what happened on Thursday, in a financial deal between the for-profit Kaplan higher-education chain and Purdue University, the flagship Indiana college run by Mitch Daniels, the state’s former governor. The arrangement may help Kaplan parent Graham Holdings Inc. shed the for-profit education sector’s tarnished reputation. Purdue—paying Graham only a symbolic $1—immediately enters the ranks of public universities expanding their reach with online degrees targeting older Americans—many of them minorities—who are unable to attend traditional schools. “We thought it would be a bad idea for us to build this on our own,” said Daniels, Purdue’s president. “We’ve seen a lot of schools throw a lot of money at online education without much result.” Under the contract, Graham will transfer Kaplan University’s online programs, as well as its 15 campuses and learning centers—with 32,000 students—to the Purdue-related non-for-profit. Kaplan will then operate them and guarantee that Purdue’s venture, for five years, receive at least $10 million a year from its revenues after expenses. After that payment, Kaplan is entitled to reimbursement for its own cost of providing services, plus a fee equal to 12.5 percent of the Purdue affiliate’s revenues. Kaplan Higher Education reported $617 in revenue last year and almost $67 million in operating income. Kaplan was once the crown jewel of Washington Post Co., as its fast-growing colleges helped support its financially struggling newspaper. In 2013, the company sold the Post to Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and then changed the name of the company to Graham Holdings, after the Washington family that had long controlled the paper. Donald Graham, then the Post Co. chief executive officer, is still the Graham Holdings chairman. For-profit colleges including Kaplan have seen their fortunes dim amid scrutiny from Congress and state
                                                                                                                  6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                    Kaplanfor-profitpublic-privatepublic-private_partnershipApr2017EnglishUSA
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                                                                                                                    A private North Carolina college is calling on faculty and staff to sign and live in accordance with a document that opposes same-sex marriage and abortion. One faculty member says she and eight of her colleagues have refused to sign it and are leaving. MONTREAT, N.C. (AP) — A private North Carolina Christian college is insisting that its faculty and staff sign a document that opposes same-sex marriage and abortion. One faculty member says she and eight of her colleagues have refused to sign it and are leaving the school. News media outlets report that part of Montreat College's "Community Life Covenant" expects those who work there to affirm "the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman" and the "worth of every human being from conception to death." Covenant opponents blame the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which contributed $100,000 to the college's scholarship fund last month. The fund is led by Franklin Graham, a Montreat College alumnus and an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage and abortion. The association has denied any role in the covenant, however. School spokesman Adam Caress told The Charlotte Observer in an email that only two faculty members — one of its 39 full-time faculty and one of its 142 adjunct faculty — have cited the school's "core documents," including the covenant, as the reason they will not return to the school after this semester. Caress said Montreat College spent the past 2 1/2 years "reviewing and revising" those core documents in a "transparent and deliberative process" that included 13 "listening sessions," during which the school heard and responded to the concerns of faculty, staff, and alumni. Corrie Greene, an English teacher at the school who also directs its writing center, said the document doesn't just pertain to what faculty do and say in the classroom and on campus. She is among the nine faculty members who said they won't be returning. "It says we must affirm and uphold the college's specific spiritual stances in our full 24 hour/seven-day-a
                                                                                                                    6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                      North_CarolinaUSAApr2017English
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                                                                                                                      Financial aid crucial to admitting low-income students Standing at the center of Union College’s campus last week, senior Andrew Guyatte recalled the moment he was accepted. It wasn’t a sure thing for Guyatte, and a lot rode on how much financial support the college would offer. “I wanted somewhere that was affordable to go; that was the main goal,” said Guyatte, who is part of the college’s Academic Opportunity Program, AOP, which targets financially-needy students who likely would not make it to Union without extra financial and academic support. “I knew I had the extracurriculars and grades to get in, but the money part was concerning ... If I didn’t get financial aid I wouldn’t be able to attend,” he said. When Guyatte, a Capital Region native, received his Union acceptance letter four years ago, it came with one condition and one big promise: Join the AOP program, commit to a five-week summer program before school starts and Union will cover tuition, room and board and books. Few of Guyatte’s classmates, especially outside of the roughly 120 AOP students across all years, come from families eligible for Pell grants – federal aid that goes to students like Guyatte from families that earn less than $50,000 a year – or even close. The median family income of a Union College student is $152,600, and two-thirds of students come from families in the top 20 percent of the income scale, according to a New York Times analysis of a study by The Equality of Opportunity Project, a collaboration of Stanford and Harvard researchers, released earlier this year. Just under 15 percent of Union students this year receive Pell grants, a widely-used proxy for socioeconomic status. The numbers are even starker at Skidmore: 13 percent of its student body this year received Pell grants. The college’s median family income topped $208,000 and 72 percent of the students come from families in the top 20 percent of income, according to the Times analysis. And Skidmore is the 38th of 38 colleges in the nation with more students fro
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                                                                                                                        FinancialApr2017equalUSAEnglish
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                                                                                                                        As the State System of Higher Education examines its operations and mulls its future, a Harrisburg-based think tank has issued a report that is part tribute and part warning.
                                                                                                                        6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                          state_systemUSAEnglishApr2017
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                                                                                                                          A private college in Minnesota has denied the request of a student to create a rifle club because it goes against the school and its partner church's stance on gun control.
                                                                                                                          6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                            USAchurchApr2017English
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                                                                                                                            HYDERABAD: Continuing their protest against private colleges, hundreds of junior doctors and postgraduate students, on Friday, took out rallies in front of Gandhi, Osmania, and Pulse hospitals demanding that the government strikes off the fee hike proposal floated by private medical colleges. The protesters claimed that hiking the fee would go that hiking the fee would go against the government's motto of providing free and quality education to everyone. "If I pay about Rs30 lakh for a PG seat, obviously I will try to and recover that money by heavily charging the common more for providing treatment.So, in the long run, this move will only affect the common public," said Dr Kaushik, representative of PG medical aspirants. He urged the government to de-recognise these colleges if they can't operate by charging the current fee. While a final decision on the contentious issue is likely to be taken within the next two or three days, doctors and medical students fear that the move will have an adverse impact on poor students, in case Rsthe government bows under the pressure' of private hospitals. "The protests will continue till the government rejects the proposal of the private colleges," said Dr G Srinivas, president, Telangana Sta te Junior Doctors Association. The proposal drafted by private medical college managements seeks a three-fold increase in the fee for convenor quota seats. There are about 350 such seats in 700 private medical colleges in the state that are filled by the state government on merit basis. Until last year, the convenor quote fee was Rs3.2 lakh per annum.In case of a hike, this will be revised to Rs9-12 lakh annually . College managements, meanwhile, maintained that they cannot run colleges on the current fee owing to increasing costs.
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                                                                                                                              Governor Cuomo gave a press release on April 8 announcing the new Excelsior Program, which would offer free tuition to all New York State universities (SUNY) and colleges (CUNY) for low-income residents. The recently approved program makes New York the first state to offer free tuition in any form. Cuomo argued, “Today, college is what high school was—it should always be an option even if you can’t afford it. The Excelsior Scholarship will make college accessible to thousands of working and middle class students and shows the difference that government can make.” The press release announces a newly approved budget for education that offers “a record $7.5 billion in total support for higher education, a $448 million, or 6.3 percent, increase over last year.” In addition to a free tuition, the funding will go towards increased resources for TAP, ‘Get On Your Feet’ Loan Forgiveness Program, and an $8 million allocation for open education resources for SUNY and CUNY students. The Higher Education Service Corporation (HESC) states the requirements plainly on its website. “If you are a NYS resident whose family household adjusted gross income does not exceed $100,000 for the 2017-18 academic year and you complete 30 credits per year, you will be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY college tuition free.” In future years the cap for family income will increase. The following year will include families with a gross income of up to $110,000. From 2019 and beyond a family earning up to $125,000 can qualify. Students already enrolled in a SUNY or CUNY institution can also benefit from the new program. The intention behind the additional funding, according to its press release, is to work towards “alleviating crushing burden of student debt and placing more New Yorkers on path to financial security.” Of families who meet the economic standards, 80% are calculated to qualify for the program. Students who meet the monetary requirements must be consistently on track to graduate in four years with a passing grade point aver
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                                                                                                                                Indiana public higher education institution eyes for-profit online provider’s technological expertise A for-profit online university will be converted into a “non-profit, public-benefit” organisation under the terms of its acquisition by a US public university. Kaplan University – which is owned by Kaplan Inc, a subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company – is to be purchased by Purdue University, a statement from the Indiana-based institution confirmed on 27 April. Under the sale’s conditions, Purdue University will take on Kaplan University’s 32,000 students, 3,000 staff and 15 campuses and learning centres. KU will become a new non-profit university, connected to Purdue and bearing a version of its name. A corporate filing by Graham Holdings Company stated that the transfer of assets would create a “new, non-profit, public-benefit corporation affiliated with Purdue…[which] will operate as a new Indiana public university…focused on expanding access to education for non-traditional adult learners”. Mitch Daniels, Purdue’s president, said that KU's expertise in delivering online education had been attractive. “None of us knows how fast or in what direction online higher education will evolve, but we know that its role will grow, and we intend that Purdue be positioned to be a leader as that happens,” he said. “A careful analysis made it clear that we are very ill-equipped to build the necessary capabilities ourselves, and that the smart course would be to acquire them if we could. We were able to find exactly what we were looking for.” The new institution, which will consist of the seven schools and colleges comprising KU – save for the School of Professional and Continuing Education – will have its own institutional accreditation and will be governed by its own board of trustees, which will “fully control” its functions. Purdue, which will appoint the members to the board of trustees, will provide “key non-academic operations support” to the new university for an initial 30 years, with a buyout option after
                                                                                                                                6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                  Kaplanfor-profitpublic-privatepublic-private_partnershipnon-profitApr2017EnglishUSA
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                                                                                                                                  With a surprise deal to acquire the for-profit Kaplan University, announced on Thursday, Purdue University has leapfrogged into the thick of the competitive online-education market. Purdue plans to oversee the institution as a new piece of its public-university system — a free-standing arm that will cater to working adults and other nontraditional students. The purchase, conceived and executed in just five and a half months, puts Purdue in position to become a major force in an online landscape increasingly dominated by nonprofit institutions. Until now, said Purdue’s president, Mitch Daniels, the university "has basically been a spectator to this growth" in distance education, with just a few online graduate programs. Mr. Daniels, a former Republican governor of Indiana, described the acquisition as adding a "third dimension" to Purdue, along with its research-rich flagship in West Lafayette, Ind., and its regional campuses. For Kaplan and its parent company, Graham Holdings, the deal offers a potentially profitable exit strategy for an operation that has seen its bottom line battered for several years by falling enrollments. (Kaplan now has 32,000 students.) The contrast between the typical Purdue student and the military veterans, lower-income students, and members of minority groups who make up much of the enrollment at the open-access Kaplan is "stark," said Mr. Daniels. But he said the university has a responsibility to serve such students. Millions of Americans have some or no college credits, and Purdue can’t fulfill its land-grant mission "while ignoring a need so plainly in sight," he noted while unveiling the deal at a Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday. The potential financial upsides were also clearly a factor. In an interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Daniels said it was "too soon" to talk about revenue projections. "We have hope and reason for hope" that Purdue’s new acquisition will do well, he said, alluding to the fast pace of online growth at other nonprofit institutions, like Western Gover
                                                                                                                                  6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                    Kaplannon-profitfor-profitpublic-privatepublic-private_partnershipbuyUSAIndianaEnglishApr2017
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                                                                                                                                    The students framed their enrollment in a for-profit as having stemmed from a desire to gain confidence, reach their potential, take charge of their lives, and shed social labels associated with a lack of a college degree. ----- What leads more than 7 percent of the nation’s college students to enroll at for-profit institutions? Much of the discussion of higher education’ proprietary sector assumes that its member schools enroll students who are academically marginal and lack other options. That’s far too simplistic, a new study concludes. The study’s authors are two scholars from the University of Pittsburgh: Linda DeAngelo, an assistant professor of higher education, and Molly M. McClelland, a doctoral student in administrative and policy studies there. They based their analysis on extensive interviews with 19 students who had attended two-year, for-profit colleges before enrolling in a private, four-year, urban college. The students ranged in age from 20 to 60 and were diverse in terms of their race, ethnicity, gender, and major. Contrary to common stereotypes, the two researchers say, their subjects generally saw their experience with a for-profit college as positive, and said little that traced their decision to enroll in it to poor academic performance in high school. Generally, they framed their enrollment in a for-profit as having stemmed from a desire to gain confidence, reach their potential, take charge of their lives, and shed social labels associated with a lack of a college degree. In keeping with standard research protocol, the researchers name neither their subjects nor the private college where the study took place. They caution that their study’s results might have been skewed by its focus on students who were successful enough to move on to a four-year institution. The researchers also stress that their findings should not be perceived as an endorsement of the for-profit sector, which continues to have low graduation rates and includes colleges that leave students heavily indebted and faci
                                                                                                                                    6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                                     
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                                                                                                                                      Purdue University in Indiana announced plans Thursday to start a new online school by acquiring for-profit Kaplan University, one of the top destinations for military students and veterans. The unlikely relationship between a public land-grant university and a for-profit school stems from “mutual interests and goals” and a shared desire to expand access to education, according to the terms of the agreement between Purdue and Kaplan’s parent company, Graham Holdings. “None of us knows how fast or in what direction online higher education will evolve, but we know its role will grow, and we intend that Purdue be positioned to be a leader as that happens,” Purdue President Mitch Daniels said in a statement. “A careful analysis made it clear that we are very ill-equipped to build the necessary capabilities ourselves, and that the smart course would be to acquire them if we could. We were able to find exactly what we were looking for.” According to information provided by Purdue, the university’s feasibility studies indicated it would take 36 months to create a single degree program and much longer to create an online school of the magnitude it is acquiring with Kaplan. With Kaplan comes 32,000 students, 3,000 employees and 15 campuses and learning centers throughout the Midwest and East Coast that will fall under Purdue when the acquisition becomes official. The process could take several months, according to Kaplan Inc. spokesman Mark Harrad, as the U.S. Department of Education, state agencies and the institutions’ accreditor agencies still need to sign off. A Military Times analysis of fiscal year 2015 federal data show Kaplan Higher Education Corp. was the 11th most popular destination for active-duty service members using tuition assistance benefits and the 18th most popular school for Post-9/11 GI Bill users. That corporation consisted of Kaplan University, which Purdue acquired, as well as several smaller schools that are no longer part of the company and weren't part of the deal. But Kaplan University acc
                                                                                                                                      6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                                       
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                                                                                                                                        A University of the Ozarks campaign to raise $55 million kicked off its public phase Friday, with endowed scholarships one of three funding priorities for the private, Presbyterian-affiliated school in Clarksville. This story is only available from the Arkansas Online archives. Stories can be purchased individually for $2.95. Click here to search for this story in the archives.
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                                                                                                                                          Rectors of three private universities in Armenia are accused of issuing false diplomas to foreign nationals, said Armenian National Security Service spokesman Samson Galstyan, APA reported citing Novosti Armenia. Of the three cases initiated, two have already been sent to court, noted Galstyan. “The investigation was carried out in an accelerated manner. In the third case, the investigation is nearing completion,” he said. Earlier it was reported that as a result of the large-scale investigative activities undertaken by Armenia’s National Security Service, cases of providing diplomas formed on the basis of false grounds by different private universities of Armenia have been uncovered. False diplomas have been issued not only to Armenian citizens, but also to foreign citizens, particularly to dozens of citizens from Iran, U.S., Georgia, Russia, Uzbekistan and Israel resulting to the risks of new violations of law and other adverse effects. As the source reports charges have been filed against the three rectors of the private universities for bribery and power abuse by an employee of a trading or other organization.
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                                                                                                                                            Traverse City — A local education nonprofit has sealed a deal to purchase a northwest Michigan elementary school, but operation-related details are still unclear and officials aren’t publicly discussing options.
                                                                                                                                            6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                                             
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                                                                                                                                              “It’s time for a new approach to building better relationships with policymakers. We need legislators from outside regent communities to be on the task force.” --------------------- OWA CITY — With state support for higher education floundering, and more tuition increases looming, several lawmakers say they support and would be involved in a Board of Regents-led task force focused on future tuition-setting practices and rates. During its April meeting last week in Council Bluffs, board members pitched the idea of forming a task force with “a wide representation of regent constituencies” that could meet this summer to have a discussion about tuition at the public universities. Outgoing board President Bruce Rastetter said the collaboration could address state priorities and help students and families plan. “The board has tried very hard in the last five years to get out in front to let legislators and parents know what our tuition increase would be if we get a certain amount of state support,” Rastetter said. “Clearly that went off the rails this year because of the Iowa economy. But there was also a difference in how Iowa funds education and how the regents system has been funded.” Board spokesman Josh Lehman said this week his office is developing a framework for such a group. At the meeting, Rastetter said that Iowa “really needs a holistic approach to whether it can afford all the education that it has — the pre-K-12, the community college system, the Iowa Tuition Grant program, and properly funding the regents.” Propelling the idea was a rough legislative session brought on by lower-than-expected state revenue growth. Lawmakers delivered body blows to the public universities — cutting $20.8 million from their base general education funding for the current year and further reducing base state appropriations in 2018. The cuts prompted regents last week to signal another tuition increase for fall — on top of the already approved 2 percent rise for resident undergraduates. Later this summer, the board cou
                                                                                                                                              6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                                               
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                                                                                                                                                Gov. Andrew Cuomo just took the first step in creating accessible college education statewide. On April 12, Cuomo signed legislation that will enact the first-in-the-nation Excelsior Scholarship program that will provide tuition-free college for both SUNY and CUNY institutions to middle-class families and those who might not have been able to afford it beforehand. Under this plan, families making under $125,000 yearly will qualify for tuition-free college, meaning that nearly 80 percent, or more than 940,000 families with college-aged children will be eligible. The plan, proposed by Cuomo back in January, has caught the attention and approval of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sanders commended Cuomo for his efforts toward creating easily accessible higher education. “Every American, regardless of income, must have the right to a higher education,” Sanders said. “I congratulate Gov. Cuomo and New York State for helping to lead the nation in that direction.” A driving force behind the plan lies in the estimation of 3.5 million jobs in New York State requiring an associate’s degree or higher by the year 2024. The Excelsior Scholarship program will be implemented in phases over the next three years. Beginning in the fall of 2017, families making under $100,000 will be given the opportunity to apply to the program. Within the next year, the cap will be raised to $110,000 and to $125,000 in subsequent years. Despite its seemingly beneficial attributes, the governor’s plan has been met with skepticism. While the plan claims that 940,000 families would be eligible, the amount of families who would receive the benefits would be significantly less. According to The New York Times, the plan will not cover as many families as the governor hopes it will. By the time the plan is fully enacted in 2019, director of State Operations Jim Malatras believes it will only cover 200,000 families rather than the approximate million that had been originally estimated
                                                                                                                                                6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                                                 
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                                                                                                                                                  In a move that has raised eyebrows with higher education experts, a well-regarded public university has forged a deal with a for-profit college. Purdue University announced Thursday that it has paid $1 up front to acquire assets from Kaplan University in an attempt to expand its offerings in online education targeted toward adult learners. Purdue President Mitch Daniels said at a Board of Trustees meeting Thursday that the Indiana university wants to be a leader as online education continues to grow, but that it wasn’t capable of doing that on its own. “Today’s agreement moves us from a standing start to a leading position,” Daniels said in a statement. Purdue will turn Kaplan into a yet-to-be-named new public university that will, for the time being, continue offering the same set of academic programs. Kaplan’s 3,000 employees will be transferred, as will its 32,000 students. Purdue says it will take over the academic side of the operation, while Kaplan will continue non-academic services, including marketing and student recruitment. The new university will be self-sufficient and run off of tuition revenue and fundraising. Students will pay Kaplan's existing tuition and fees, although Purdue said Indiana students may receive an in-state discount. Trouble-Plagued Industry While Kaplan has one of the stronger names in for-profit education, the industry has faced years of declining enrollment, heightened regulations, legal battles, and broad criticism for loading students up with debt and providing meaningless degrees. At Kaplan itself, enrollment fell 22% in 2016 and its revenue is down 40% from 2014, according to an annual report from Graham Holdings, which owns Kaplan. As David Halperin, a policy analyst who writes about for-profit colleges, points out in a piece on Huffington Post, Kaplan has been investigated by or settled cases -- some for more than $1 million -- with attorneys general in Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, as well as with the U.S. Departments of Education and Just
                                                                                                                                                  6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                    for-profitnon-profitbuypublic-privatepublic-private_partnershipEnglishUSAIndianaApr2017
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                                                                                                                                                    About 2,000 Kentucky students are eligible for debt relief after getting loans to take online classes through the for-profit Corinthian Colleges Inc., Attorney General Andy Beshear announced Thursday. In Kentucky, the company solicited students under the name Everest College and Everest University. Corinthian also marketed its WyoTech career training program throughout the state. Beshear’s office is notifying eligible students by letter of the cancellation of the federal student loans they used to attend Corinthian schools. Students whose federal loans are canceled will not have to make further payments on the loan and any payments made by the student will be refunded. “As attorney general, my mission is to protect Kentucky’s families from consumer fraud, especially the ongoing deception by for-profit colleges like Corinthian,” Beshear said. “We must do everything in our power to ensure eligible Kentucky students get all the debt relief from fraudulent Corinthian loans.” Federal and state investigators examined Corinthian’s job placement rates, alleging that the company falsified those rates between 2010 and 2014. Currently, Corinthian is not allowed to enroll students and is only remaining open to “teach out” current students. Beshear’s letter will go to Kentucky students who fall within the U.S. Department of Education’s findings of fraud concerning Corinthian, and who are eligible for a special “streamlined” process to discharge their federal student loans. Any student, however, who attended Corinthian Colleges or any other school and believes the school lied about job prospects, the transferability of credits or other issues may apply to have his or her federal student loans discharged using the Department of Education’s universal discharge application at https://borrowerdischarge.ed.gov. More information is available at https://studentaid.ed.gov/borrower-defense. Beshear said Kentucky and states across the country are keeping pressure on the federal government to honor their commitment to help student
                                                                                                                                                    6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      for-profitdebtrelieffinancial_aidCorinthian_CollegesApr2017USAKentucky_English
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                                                                                                                                                      Turkey – Yeditepe University, a leading private university in Istanbul, Turkey, has received awards for all of its nine entries in ISIF’17 (the 2017 Istanbul International Inventions Fair), becoming the only institution to have all its entries honoured among all the institutions from all over the world that participated in the fair. As a testimony to Yeditepe’s commitment to innovation and inventiveness, the awards also showcased its already well-known image: a university with strong relations with the industry and the community. In addition to regular awards, Yeditepe was also honoured by TPE’s Best National Patent award for one of its entries. The Istanbul International Inventions Fair is an internationally renowned annual event hosted by TPE (Turkish Patent and Trademark Office) with international support from WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), EPO (European Patent Office), and IFIA (International Federation of Inventors’ Association). A total of 389 patents of industrial and academic institutions from North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East had been submitted to ISIF’17 that took place in March 2017 at Istanbul WOW Convention Center. The entries were judged by a panel of international jurors. Yeditepe University is one of the largest and most reputable private universities in Turkey, known for its strong programmes in engineering, social sciences and education, arts and sciences, law, dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, health sciences, fine arts, architecture, and, business and commerce. Offering most of its programmes in English at both undergraduate and graduate levels, Yeditepe also attracts a large number of international students from all over the world as well as Turkish students from all regions of Turkey, resulting in a quite diverse body of students.
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                                                                                                                                                        Cardinal not wanted after his role in handling sex abuse allegations Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York since 2009, will speak at the University of St. Thomas' May commencement ceremony despite student calls for the university to reconsider. Students say they are concerned about Dolan's role in handling sexual abuse allegations when he was archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee in the early 2000s. A petition calling for the private Montrose university to cancel the speech brought more than 100 signaturesin the last several days, and four students Thursday afternoon distributed leaflets from the heart of campus with photos of Dolan's face, media coverage of allegations against him and a link to an online petition. "Send it to everyone you know," said Victoria Villarreal, a senior studying communications, as she passed a flier to a woman. "I did," she responded. University President Robert Ivany said Thursday morning that he does not believe the criticism reflects general opinion on the 3,300-student campus. The university's governing board of directors selected Dolan to speak two years ago in a unanimous decision, he said. The university announced last week that he would speak at commencement. Before assuming his current role in New York, Dolan served as archbishop of Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009. Under his leadership, abusive priests were paid up to $20,000 for agreeing to be removed from the clergy. "Was it a payoff, was it a settlement, was it an impetus - I wouldn't say that, nor would I say it was a normal practice, but it was done," he said in a 2012 deposition about the payments. The payments, he said, were to help accused priests transition out of their positions and get medical insurance. Ordained as a priest in 1976, Dolan has served in Missouri, Washington, D.C., and Rome. He had a prominent role in President Donald Trump's inauguration, leading the nation in prayer from the Capitol moments before Trump took office. He was appoint
                                                                                                                                                        6 years ago by @prophe
                                                                                                                                                         
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                                                                                                                                                          For-profit universities in the US have a record of aggressive marketing practices, poor completion rates, and producing graduates with uncertain job prospects and high levels of debt. So why would Purdue University, a state university in Indiana founded in 1869, buy Kaplan University, a for-profit institution with a record of federal investigations and lawsuits from former students? Purdue is eager to offer online education, and acquiring Kaplan was cheaper that building a new system form scratch, Purdue president Mitch Daniels said in a statement. The school doesn’t have to pay anything upfront, and “will enter into a long-term transition and support agreement, with a buy-out option after year six,” according to a FAQ page. For-profit universities in the US have a record of aggressive marketing practices, poor completion rates, and producing graduates with uncertain job prospects and high levels of debt. So why would Purdue University, a state university in Indiana founded in 1869, buy Kaplan University, a for-profit institution with a record of federal investigations and lawsuits from former students? Purdue is eager to offer online education, and acquiring Kaplan was cheaper that building a new system form scratch, Purdue president Mitch Daniels said in a statement. The school doesn’t have to pay anything upfront, and “will enter into a long-term transition and support agreement, with a buy-out option after year six,” according to a FAQ page. Public universities have been forced to become more entrepreneurial as states have dramatically cut funding. It’s no surprise that Daniels, the former Republican governor of Indiana who slashed the state’s higher-ed budget, would be pushing Purdue to find new sources of revenue. Still, it’s an unexpected turn in American higher education, with a market-driven disruptor swallowed by the stodgy old incumbents. But it may be that the for-profit executives just misread the market signals: Students, it seems, didn’t just want convenient education; they also wanted it to be p
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