UTS chancellor Catherine Livingstone told universities they need to rely less on public funding. Picture: UA
The National Student Ombudsman (NSO) First Assistant Ombudsman Sarah Bendall has revealed details of the 220-or-so student complaints she has received in the first three weeks of operation.
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Professor O’Kane will lead ATEC from July. Picture: Cath Piltz
The chair of the Australian Universities Accord is to lead the yet-to-be-established Australian Tertiary Education Commission, Education Minister Jason Clare revealed on Wednesday night.
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The Future Builder award winners. Picture: UA
Researchers who developed coffee ground-infused concrete, a rust disease cure for wheat crops and an intellectual-disability friendly playground took home a Universities Australia Shaping Australia award on Tuesday night.
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CLARKSDALE, Miss., Feb. 25, 2025 — After receiving widespread condemnation for obtaining a temporary restraining order that forced Mississippi’s Clarksdale Press Register to take down an editorial critical of the city, Clarksdale’s Board of Mayor and Commissioners voted Monday to drop the lawsuit.
Last week, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression first called national attention to the plight of the Press Register after the city sued the small-town Coahoma County newspaper to force it to take down an editorial criticizing local officials. On Friday, FIRE agreed to defend the Press Register, its editor, and parent company in court to have the unconstitutional restraining order lifted.
“The implications of this case go beyond one Mississippi town censoring its paper of record,” said FIRE attorney David Rubin. “If the government can get a court order silencing mere questions about its decisions, the First Amendment rights of all Americans are in jeopardy.”
By Monday, Clarksdale’s Board had convened, voted not to continue with the lawsuit, and filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with the court. That means the city’s suit is over and with it the restraining order preventing the Press Register from publishing its editorial.
“While we are relieved the city has voted to drop its vindictive lawsuit, it doesn’t unring this bell,” Rubin said. “The Press Register is exploring its options to ensure that the city refrains from blatantly unconstitutional censorship in the future.”
The controversy began when the city of Clarksdale held an impromptu meeting on Feb. 4 to discuss sending a resolution asking the state legislature to let it levy a 2% tax on products like tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. By state law, cities must notify the media when they hold such irregular “special-called meetings,” but the Press Register did not receive any notice.
In response, the Press Register blasted the city in an editorial titled “Secrecy, Deception Erode Public Trust,” and questioned their motive for freezing out the press. “Have commissioners or the mayor gotten kick-back from the community?” the editorial asked. “Until Tuesday we had not heard of any. Maybe they just want a few nights in Jackson to lobby for this idea – at public expense.”
“For over a hundred years, the Press Register has served the people of Clarksdale by speaking the truth and printing the facts,” said Wyatt Emmerich, president of Emmerich Newspapers. “We didn’t earn the community’s trust by backing down to politicians, and we didn’t plan on starting now.”
Rather than taking their licks, the Clarksdale Board of Commissioners made a shocking move by voting to sue the Press Register, its editor and publisher Floyd Ingram, and its parent company Emmerich Newspapers for “libel.” Last Tuesday, Judge Martin granted ex parte – that is, without hearing from the Press Register – the city’s motion for a temporary restraining order to force it to take down the editorial.
By silencing the Press Register before they could even challenge Clarksdale’s claims, Judge Martin’s ruling represented a clear example of a “prior restraint,” a serious First Amendment violation. Before the government can force the removal of any speech, the First Amendment rightly demands a determination whether it fits into one of the limited categories of unprotected speech or otherwise withstands judicial scrutiny. Otherwise, the government has carte blanche to silence speech in the days, months, or even years it takes to get a final ruling that the speech was actually protected.
Judge Martin’s decision was even more surprising given that Clarksdale’s lawsuit had several obvious and fatal flaws. Most glaringly, the government itself cannot sue citizens for libel. As the Supreme Court reaffirmed in the landmark 1964 case New York Times v. Sullivan, “no court of last resort in this country has ever held, or even suggested, that prosecutions for libel on government have any place in the American system of jurisprudence.”
But even if the Clarksdale commissioners had sued in their personal capacities, Sullivan also established that public officials have to prove not just that a newspaper made an error, but that it did so with “actual malice,” defined as “knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false.” Clarksdale’s lawsuit didn’t even attempt to prove the Press Register editorial met that standard.
Finally, libel requires a false statement of fact. But the Press Register’s broadside against city officials was an opinion piece that expressed the opinion that there could be unsavory reasons for the city’s lack of candor. The only unique statement of fact expressed in the editorial — that Clarksdale failed to meet the legal obligation to inform the media of its meeting — was confirmed by the city itself in its legal filings.
“If asking whether a politician might be corrupt was libel, virtually every American would be bankrupt,” said FIRE attorney Josh Bleisch. “For good reason, courts have long held that political speech about government officials deserves the widest latitude and the strongest protection under the First Amendment. That’s true from the White House all the way down to your local councilman.”
Like many clumsy censorship attempts, Clarksdale’s lawsuit against the Press Register backfired spectacularly by outraging the public and making the editorial go viral. After FIRE’s advocacy, the small Mississippi town’s lawsuit received coverage from the New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, and CNN, and condemnation from national organizations like Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Other Mississippi newspapers have stepped up and published the editorial in their own pages to ensure its preservation.
“If the board had grumbled and gone about their day, this whole brouhaha wouldn’t have traveled far outside our town,” said Emmerich. “But when they tried to censor us, the eyes of the nation were on Clarksdale and millions heard about our editorial. Let this be a lesson: if you try to silence one voice in America, a hundred more will take up the call.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the most essential qualities of liberty. FIRE educates Americans about the importance of these inalienable rights, promotes a culture of respect for these rights, and provides the means to preserve them.
CONTACT:
Alex Griswold, Communications Campaign Manager, FIRE: 215-717-3473; [email protected]
AI is the latest buzzword in higher ed, but without a clear strategy and solid data, institutions risk overinvesting in additional products, platforms, and applications they can’t fully support or operationalize. Instead, take a step back and ask, “What’s the impact I want to achieve, and how can AI fit or support my broader goals?”
AI Jumpstart Kit
How to Build Toward IMPACT with AI in Higher Ed
Date: March 13, 2025
Time: 2:00 pm (Eastern) / 1:00 pm (Central)
In this webinar, AI Jumpstart Kit: How to Build Toward IMPACT with AI in Higher Ed, Collegis Education’s AVP of Analytics & Technology Solutions, Dan Antonson, and Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation, Wes Catlett-Miller, will guide attendees through an interactive discussion about how to approach key use cases with AI in higher education. We’ll whiteboard out what an AI-enabled institution can look like, how it all works, and live demo actual AI initiatives Collegis has deployed for its partners.
No clunky PowerPoint slides. Just a clear path for approaching AI enablement.
What you’ll walk away with
Who should attend:
Brett is a working professional with a packed schedule, balancing career growth with personal responsibilities. He knows that advancing in his field requires new skills and credentials, but he needs a program that fits his life, one that is flexible, aligned with his career and worth the investment. Brett is just one example of Modern Learner, a growing population of students who prioritize efficiency, affordability and real-world outcomes in their education.
Higher education has undergone a decade of transformation, from evolving enrollment patterns to advancements in technology and changing student expectations. As the landscape continues evolves, so do the behaviors and preferences of students like Brett—giving rise to the Modern Learner.
EducationDynamics’ latest report, “Engaging the Modern Learner: The 2025 Report on the Preferences and Behaviors Shaping Higher Ed,” examines these emerging trends. For over a decade, we have tracked student behavior and preferences, adapting our research to reflect the evolving higher education environment. Previously known as the Online College Students Report, this study has expanded in scope to provide a more comprehensive understanding of Modern Learners and their needs.
Explore the most significant changes over the past ten years, key findings from our research and actionable strategies to help higher education leaders challenge the status quo and drive innovative outcomes.
Student search, decision-making, and engagement behaviors have shifted significantly over the past decade. Strategies that once drove enrollment may no longer be as effective, requiring institutions to adapt. By examining these changes, we can identify emerging patterns that will shape the future of higher education.
With greater access to information through technology, prospective students are making decisions faster than ever before. As a result, Modern Learners expect rapid responses from institutions. In 2015, 43% of fully online learners said that they would enroll at the first school that contacted them. By 2025, the urgency has increased significantly, with nearly 75% of online learners indicating that they would enroll in the first school that admits them. This shift underscores the growing need for institutions to streamline their admissions processes, ensuring quick response times and efficient decision-making to remain competitive in enrolling Modern Learners.
Student search behavior is another trend that has faced a significant shift in recent years, with more students starting their search by focusing on schools rather than specific programs.
Recent data reveals that 58% of respondents begin their search by considering schools first. This trend is even more pronounced among online learners, where approximately 60% prioritize finding a school before narrowing down their program options. Following school, the next most common search is subject area, with students increasingly exploring broader categories before selecting a specific program.
Given this shift, higher education marketing strategies need to reflect an approach that encompasses both promotion of programs and the institution itself. As prospective students often initiate their search with a school-focused mindset, schools must position their brand clearly to effectively engage and capture early interest, which will guide students towards relevant programs as they progress through the enrollment funnel.
The adoption of AI tools, such as website chatbots and on-demand engagement platforms, has grown steadily over the past decade. Recent data highlights notable increases in the use of chatbots. In 2015, only about 15% of online learners engaged with website chatbots or live chat agents. Now, in 2025, that number has more than doubled, reaching 30% of fully online students.
Moreover, students increasingly turn to AI tools like Search Generative Experience (SGE) for answers to critical questions about schools and their offerings, with 37% of Modern Learners using AI for information gathering. As students refine their consideration sets, AI-driven engagement tools provide timely and relevant information, making them a key touchpoint in the decision-making process. The growing reliance on these platforms calls for institutions to employ the use of informative and accessible AI tools to offer students seamless support throughout their research and decision-making processes.
It’s no secret that in the past decade, online education has not only gained traction but has become the preferred education modality for a growing population of students. In 2015, only 32% of fully online students believed their online education was better than their previous classroom study. However, that number has more than doubled for today’s respondents. 71% of online learners express a preference for online higher education experiences when compared to classroom education, indicating a fundamental change in student expectations and satisfaction with digital learning environments.
At EducationDynamics, our research continually seeks to understand the evolving needs of students. Through years of research and emerging insights from our 2025 survey, a clear picture of the Modern Learner has emerged—one defined by a focus on flexibility, career, and a desire for personalized education experiences. Modern Learners are not only looking to complete a degree, they also aim to shape their own learning journeys in ways that align with their personal and professional goals.
Despite their diverse backgrounds, Modern Learners share several key expectations. They prioritize affordability, flexible learning formats and responsive support. If their needs aren’t met, they will quickly seek alternative options. This shift in expectations means that institutions need to rethink how they attract, engage and support students. Meeting the Modern Learner where they are is no longer optional; it is essential for long-term success.
A strong institutional brand plays a crucial role in the student decision-making process. As students begin their search with a school-focused mindset, a well-established reputation can be the deciding factor in where they apply. In fact, reputation ranked as the third most influential factor in application decisions, cited by 31% of students overall and 51% of traditional undergraduates, in our 2025 survey. To remain competitive, institutions must build a credible and respected brand that not only attracts prospective students but also reinforces trust and long-term value throughout their educational journey.
While cost is a significant consideration for Modern Learners, affordability alone doesn’t drive enrollment decisions. A well-rounded value proposition plays an equally important role. Our research shows that 46% of students cite tuition cost as a critical factor, but other factors like program relevance to careers, flexibility, and reputation also weigh heavily in their decision-making process.
Supporting students with financial literacy is crucial, as 38% of students identify it as a helpful resource during the enrollment process. By clearly communicating both affordability and long-term value such as career outcomes, program flexibility and personalized support, schools can resonate with the priorities of cost-conscious, value-driven Modern Learners.
For Modern Learners, education is a direct pathway to career advancement. Regardless of age or background, they share a strong motivation to upskill quickly and gain credentials that lead to tangible career outcomes. This focus on career alignment is evident, with 20% of Modern Learners citing a program’s relevance to their career as a determining factor in their enrollment decision.
The Modern Learner Survey reveals that 76% of students feel their institution clearly outlines potential career paths related to their program. While this is positive, gaps remain. Traditional undergraduates are the most informed, with 84% receiving clear career guidance, compared to 73% of non-traditional students and 77% of graduate students. These gaps highlight the need for institutions to consistently communicate career values across all Modern Learner segments, ensuring they understand how their education supports their professional goals.
Flexibility is no longer an educational preference; it is a necessity for Modern Learners. As today’s students move away from traditional classroom modalities and increasingly seek flexible environments, institutions must invest in program models that accommodate careers and family commitments.
When deciding where to apply, 31% of Modern Learners cited flexible course schedules as a key factor. This need is particularly evident among graduate students, who are more likely to be balancing family and work responsibilities. While 53% of respondents do not have children under 18 at home, a notable portion are managing family commitments in addition to their studies. Among fully online students, the number of children at home has increased by 15%, reinforcing the growing demand for learning models that complement busy schedules.
AI and social media play an increasingly important role in shaping student decisions. Social media is no longer merely an avenue for entertainment; it has evolved into a tool for student engagement and research throughout the entire decision-making process. With students interacting across multiple platforms daily, schools must harness these channels to stay visible and relevant as students progress through the consideration phase. To successfully leverage social media, marketing teams should prioritize creating dynamic, visually engaging experiences, particularly through video content, which resonates strongly with Modern Learners.
At the same time, AI enhances this by personalizing interactions and providing real-time insights into student preferences, helping institutions refine their marketing strategies. With the rise of generative AI tools, nearly 70% of Modern Learners now use AI in some capacity, including AI chatbots like ChatGPT, to assist their search for school information. Approximately 37% use these tools specifically to gather information about schools, with tuition fees (57%), course offerings (51%), and admission requirements (43%) being the most sought-after details. This highlights the opportunity for schools to integrate AI into their marketing strategies to provide comprehensive, accessible information that supports prospective students with their enrollment decision.
As the needs and expectations of students continue to evolve, it’s important for institutions to adapt in ways that truly serve and support Modern Learners. Here are actionable steps to create a personalized, student-centered experience that fosters trust and drives success.
In this evolving landscape, Modern Learners are placing greater emphasis on career relevance, affordability, and flexibility, demanding more from their education than ever before. The findings from the Modern Learner Survey underscore the importance of aligning educational programs with career paths, improving financial transparency, and providing tailored support to meet diverse needs. The time is now for higher education leaders to challenge outdated enrollment strategies that no longer resonate with today’s highly discerning, cost-conscious, and value-focused students.
To navigate these changes effectively, institutions must adopt innovative, data-driven strategies that speak directly to the Modern Learner’s priorities. For a deeper dive into these insights and actionable recommendations, explore the full “Engaging the Modern Learner” report today.
Several colleges and universities are pausing admissions to some graduate programs, reducing class sizes or rescinding offers to students in an effort to cut costs amid uncertainty in federal funding.
The disruption to graduate school admissions is the latest cost-cutting move for colleges. After the National Institutes of Health proposed cutting reimbursements for costs related to research, several colleges and universities said they would pause hiring and cut spending, Inside Higher Ed previously reported. (A federal judge has blocked the NIH plan from taking effect for now.)
In recent days, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Pennsylvania and several other institutions have stopped doctoral admissions, at least temporarily. Some colleges are pausing admissions to some programs such as in the biomedical sciences, Stat News reported. At others, the pause is universitywide. The University of Southern California and Vanderbilt University temporarily paused graduate student admissions, though both universities later said that they’d ended the pause.
A University of Pittsburgh spokesperson told WESA, a local NPR station, that the university “temporarily paused additional Ph.D. offers of admission until the impacts of that [NIH] cap were better understood … the University is in the process of completing that analysis and expects to be in a position to resume offers soon.”
Meanwhile, the University of Pennsylvania is planning to cut graduate admissions rates, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported, citing an email from the interim dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Jeffrey Kallberg, who wrote that the cuts were a “necessary cost-saving measure” to adjust to the NIH proposal.
“This is not a step any of us wanted to take,” Kallberg wrote, according to the Daily Penn. “We recognize that graduate students are central to the intellectual life of our school—as researchers, teachers, collaborators, and future scholars. However, we must ensure that we can continue to provide strong support for those students currently in our programs and sustain the school’s core teaching and research activities.”
Tom Kimbis, executive director of the National Postdoctoral Association, wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed that academic institutions reliant on federal funding “are being forced to make tough decisions to support these researchers in a difficult environment.”
“The decisions in Washington to pause or cease funding for science and research is impacting early-career researchers across a wide range of disciplines,” Kimbis added. “Slowing or stopping their work, on topics from cancer and Alzheimer’s research to social science issues, hurts Americans in all 50 states.”
In the last week, some faculty began tracking the reductions in the biomedical sciences via a shared spreadsheet that includes verified cuts and unverified decisions based on word of mouth and internal emails. Faculty on social media said the cuts will have long-term ramifications for sciences as fewer students enter the field. On TikTok, several students who had applied to grad school shared their dismay at how the funding cuts meant they might have to say goodbye to their career plans and research.
Accepting graduate students, particularly for Ph.D. programs and in the biomedical sciences, requires universities to make a long-term financial commitment, which is more difficult now that the NIH has stopped making new grant awards and is aiming to cut funds. Colleges receive billions from the NIH to support research. If the proposed rate cuts move forward, institutions say they would have to shut down some labs and lay off employees.
“University research and scholarship operate on a time scale of years and decades,” the Rutgers AAUP-AFT chapter wrote in a letter to New Jersey senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim. “Higher education would become impossible in the face of capricious and arbitrary withholding of funding, elimination of entire areas of grant support for critical scientific research, and cancellation of long-held contracts.”
They went on to warn that the threat to funding would diminish the country’s strength as a research superpower. “The best scientists, the best scholars, and the best students will make the rational decision to take their talents elsewhere. Once lost, the historic excellence of United States universities, including world-leading institutions in New Jersey, both public and private, will not be easily regained.”
Each year, Achieving the Dream lifts up at least one community college in its network for adopting practices and strategies leading to a student-focused culture, notable increases in student outcomes and a reduction of equity gaps.
To be eligible for the Leah Meyer Austin Award, an institution must demonstrate four-year improvement of at least three percentage points in the IPEDS on-time completion for the level of associated credential awarded, or have been selected as one of the top 150 colleges in the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The achievements of this year’s honorees—Chattanooga State Community College in Tennessee and Southwestern Oregon Community College—show how a holistic approach to student success that exists through the institution can result in whole-college transformation.
Setting the bar: In evaluating applicants, ATD considers gateway metrics, including leading indicators (early momentum metrics) and lagging indicators (completion or transfer), with substantial improvement of three percentage points or more over three years.
Equity metrics may highlight data such as the equity gap improvement between part-time and full-time student outcomes or between Pell-eligible and non-Pell-eligible students. Substantial improvement means closing or narrowing equity gaps over three years by at least two percentage points.
The following data demonstrate not just what Chattanooga State Community College and Southwestern Oregon Community College did to earn their honor, but also ways that other institutions can tell their own data stories.
Chattanooga State Community College actions and results: The Vision 2027 strategic plan has inspired a shift from 15-week to seven-week terms, more personalized academic advising, strengthened commitments to basic needs assistance and wraparound support services, and implementation of an affordable course materials program.
Southwestern Oregon Community College actions and results: This rural institution’s recent efforts have included engaging and supporting its community’s adult and part-time learner populations, such as by creating targeted student orientations, evaluating community practices and its portfolio of academic and workforce programs, meeting the special financial needs of first-generation adult learners, and improving online services (40 percent of Southwestern’s overall student body are online learners).
More information on both winners can be found here. In a March 31 webinar, Achieving the Dream will feature both winners.
Is your institution or department tracking new KPIs related to student success, or using data in a new way? Tell us about it.
A federal judge temporarily barred Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive student data on Monday, after the American Federation of Teachers sued over privacy concerns.
The judge, Deborah Boardman of the District Court of Maryland, said the federal government had not provided convincing evidence that DOGE needed the information to achieve its goals. Last week, in a separate case brought by the University of California Student Association against the Education Department, a different judge declined to bar DOGE from accessing student data, saying the plaintiffs hadn’t shown any harm done. But Boardman, a Biden appointee, argued that DOGE staff being given access was enough to merit the injunction.
Education Department staff and student advocates raised concerns about DOGE employees’ access to student loan and financial aid data, which includes troves of uniquely sensitive, personally identifiable information. The injunction prevents the office from executing what Musk has referred to as an “audit” of the student loan system for at least two weeks while the lawsuit is ongoing, as well as from accessing financial aid data.
“We brought this case to uphold people’s privacy, because when people give their financial and other personal information to the federal government—namely to secure financial aid for their kids to go to college, or to get a student loan—they expect that data to be protected,” AFT president Randi Weingarten wrote in a statement.
The court-ordered stoppage is the latest in a string of injunctions issued against Musk and the Trump administration in recent weeks, as lawsuits pile up against the administration’s attempts to swiftly upend the federal bureaucracy. On Friday, a federal judge blocked Trump from enforcing large parts of his executive order against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.