Tag: Higher

  • Higher Ed’s Troubles Are Affecting Its Workforce: The Key

    Higher Ed’s Troubles Are Affecting Its Workforce: The Key

    As colleges across the country cut staff, implement hiring freezes and slash budgets, fewer people could see higher education as a long-term career path, according to Kevin McClure, a professor of higher education and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

    In a recent episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, McClure told IHE editor in chief Sara Custer that in the current environment, demoralization is high among faculty and staff. “It’s just really difficult to do good work. There’s a significant amount of uncertainty, there is stress, there is trauma that people are still living through from COVID and the great resignation … and there is no doubt that the workforce in higher education is struggling,” he said.

    “It’s not the case that across the board every institution is in this scenario …but every single institution is being cautious right now, and there is enough uncertainty and enough question about multiple revenue streams coming into institutions that there are cascading effects for working conditions.”

    McClure said he’s concerned institutions are not doing a good enough job of articulating their values. This, he said, is what colleges should “double down” on to combat the demoralization he’s observed in current employees and to show future talent “what they’re all about.”

    “In the current environment, I think we have seen some backsliding, some backtracking, some revisions of our websites—all of these signposts suggesting to people who work here that the things we stand for are actually maybe flexible and can be modified as the political winds blow.”

    Listen to the full episode of The Key.

    Source link

  • Risk-Sharing: Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” — Implications for UK Higher Education

    Risk-Sharing: Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” — Implications for UK Higher Education

    • By Peter Ainsworth, a consultant and writer on higher education finance, known for advocating structural reform that aligns university incentives with real-world graduate outcomes.

    Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” may sound absurd to British ears, but beneath the “very stable genius’s” promotional gloss lies a legislative change designed to reset the relationship between the US Higher Education sector and the state. The bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives on 22 May 2025, includes the Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Act (SSTSA) – which, if passed by the Senate, would be the world’s first statutory implementation of institutional risk-sharing in student loans.

    Historically, in both the US and UK, universities have been financially rewarded for their enrollment of students rather than for the practical benefits delivered to their customers. Success arises out of customer acquisition rather than service value-add. Students take out government-backed loans to pay tuition; institutions receive the money upfront regardless of whether or not their degrees lead to economic success. The result is a moral hazard: an incentive (payment) structure for universities that is not aligned with the employability gain that students want and taxpayers need. Systematically falling graduate premiums on both sides of the Atlantic reflect the impact of insulating universities from the employment risk their students face in a rapidly changing economy.

    The American reform seeks to realign incentives to better align risks and objectives. It introduces an Earnings-to-Price Ratio (EPR):

    EPR = (Median Value-Added Earnings) / (Median Total Price)

    Institutions with low EPRs – indicating poor graduate earnings relative to costs – will face a financial penalty in the form of an invoice from the US Treasury to cover the estimated student loan losses for the relevant cohort. If the Senate passes the reform, US universities will have a powerful incentive to transform their offer to ensure meaningful real-world earnings gains for their students.

    The SSTSA is an advance on the existing Cohort Default Rate (CDR) system, which merely threatened to deny access to federal loans to students of institutions with very high default rates. But there was no direct financial risk. Congress deemed it ineffective and so now proposes something more market-oriented.

    Meanwhile, the UK is two steps behind, only now looking to implement a version of the CDR model which the US is already moving away from. A recent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) paper proposes regulating universities based on early-career graduate earnings proxies – like the CDR it is recognising the importance of career earnings outcomes but measuring them indirectly and using regulatory sanction rather than financial cost as the stick. The IFS proposes to use earnings in a three- to five-year window post-graduation to drive regulatory response. Like the CDR’s reliance on a technical definition of default, this short, near-term window will create heavily biased statistics, diminishing the value of professions with delayed earnings trajectories such as medicine and academia.

    Further, the IFS proposes to exclude from consideration graduates with very low earnings. This favours institutions whose graduates earn just below an arbitrary threshold level. They also rely on UK tax data which omits emigrants, undervaluing universities that succeed in preparing graduates for global careers.

    As Friedrich Hayek argued, complex systems cannot be centrally managed through proxies and aggregated metrics. Graduate career trajectories are dynamic, diverse, and unpredictable — precisely the kind of outcomes that defy simple measurement. Accepting that lifetime earnings are the relevant metric leads inevitably to the conclusion that no bureaucratic proxy will suffice.

    There is a cleaner alternative. Universities could be required to issue the loans themselves, something that Buckingham, for example, already does on a small scale. Where needed, to support cash flow, the government could lend to institutions rather than students. This would internalise the financial risk: institutions would have a direct, long-term stake in the earnings success of their graduates. Universities could be freed to set fees and loan terms based on the economic value they expect to deliver and would be incentivised to provide ongoing support — career services, retraining, alumni engagement — to minimise loan defaults over the full life of the loan.

    Such a model also addresses bigger challenges facing the higher education sector. Edward Peck, the new Chair of the Office for Students, recently argued that AI is making traditional assessment ineffective and universities must move from testing what students know to what they can do. Meanwhile, Diana Beech and André Spicer, writing for HEPI, have highlighted that universities now employ an average of 17.6 staff solely to handle regulatory compliance and warned that regulation is “multiplying and becoming less predictable.” In this context, risk-sharing offers a route back to institutional autonomy: tying funding to real-world success rather than the IFS’s proposal for even more bureaucratic box-ticking.

    Finally, political and fiscal realities support this innovation. A shift to institutionally issued loans would remove the student loan portfolio from the government’s balance sheet, reducing annual write-downs by around £15bn per annum – a present value of around £300bn. That would go a long way to address the various fiscal challenges faced by the Labour government. With less bureaucratic interference, more strategic freedom, and appropriate incentives, the sector should be able to make student loans pay, ensuring a sustainable and prosperous future, and letting British universities blow past their American rivals like nobody’s seen before.

    Source link

  • The Higher Education Inquirer’s Dramatic Rise in Viewership

    The Higher Education Inquirer’s Dramatic Rise in Viewership

    The Higher Education Inquirer has experienced a dramatic surge in readership in recent months, defying the odds in a media ecosystem dominated by corporate influence, algorithmic manipulation, and declining public trust. Without the benefit of advertising dollars, search engine optimization tactics, or institutional backing, the Inquirer has built an expanding audience on the strength of its investigative rigor, academic credibility, and fearless confrontation of power in higher education.

    The Inquirer’s success lies in its refusal to chase headlines or appease stakeholders. Instead, it examines the underlying systems that have shaped the American higher education crisis—escalating student debt, the exploitation of adjunct faculty, administrative overreach, the encroachment of private equity, and the weakening of regulatory oversight. Its reporting draws directly from primary source documents: internal university records, SEC filings, FOIA requests, and government data from the U.S. Department of Education, Department of Veterans Affairs, and other public institutions. Readers trust the Higher Education Inquirer not simply because it is independent, but because it is evidence-based and relentlessly honest.

    This journalistic integrity has attracted a diverse and influential group of contributors whose work amplifies the publication’s reach and credibility. Among them is David Halperin, an attorney, journalist, and watchdog who has long held the for-profit college industry accountable. Halperin’s sharp investigative writing has helped shape federal policy, inform regulatory action, and expose the inner workings of a powerful, often unregulated sector of higher education.

    Other essential contributors include Henry Giroux, whose writing connects neoliberalism, authoritarianism, and education policy; Bryan Alexander, who offers foresight into technological and demographic changes shaping the future of academia; and Michael Hainline, who combines investigative rigor with grassroots activism. Together, these voices reflect a commitment to intellectual diversity grounded in a shared mission: to make sense of a higher education system in crisis, and to imagine alternatives.

    HEI’s timing could not be more significant. As student loan debt hits historic levels, public confidence in higher education erodes, and international students reassess their futures in the United States, people are seeking answers—and not from the usual pundits or PR firms. They’re turning to sources like the Inquirer that offer clarity, accountability, and a refusal to look away from injustice.

    With more than 700 articles and videos in its growing archive, the Inquirer has become a vital resource for researchers, journalists, educators, and activists alike. And unlike many mainstream outlets, it remains open-access, free of paywalls and advertising clutter. It encourages participation from readers through anonymous tips, public commentary, and shared research, building a collaborative community that extends beyond the screen.

    Last week, more than 30,000 readers visited the site—a significant number for an independent, ad-free platform. But more than numbers, this growth signals a shift in how people consume and value journalism. It shows that there is a real appetite for media that holds power accountable, that prioritizes substance over spectacle, and that dares to tell the truth even when it’s inconvenient.

    The Higher Education Inquirer is not chasing influence—it’s earning it. Through fearless reporting, scholarly insight, and a commitment to justice, it has become a trusted voice in the fight to reclaim higher education as a public good. And with its core group of contributors continuing to inform and inspire, the Inquirer is poised to grow even further, serving as a beacon for those who believe that education—and journalism—should serve the people, not the powerful.

    Source link

  • RFK Jr. Falsely Claims New Vax Board Member Works at GWU

    RFK Jr. Falsely Claims New Vax Board Member Works at GWU

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, falsely said he named a doctor from George Washington University to a federal vaccine advisory board, reported News 4, the NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C. 

    Last Monday, Kennedy, who denies that vaccines are safe and effective and whose department has previously cited fake studies to support parts of its public health agenda, fired all 17 members of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. By Wednesday, he posted on X that he had “repopulated” it with eight new members.

    “The slate includes highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians,” he wrote. “All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.”

    One of them, according to Kennedy, is Michael A. Ross, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University, with a career spanning clinical medicine, research and public health policy.

    But a GWU spokesperson told News 4 that Ross hasn’t taught there in eight years; a VCU spokesperson also said Ross hasn’t taught there for four years. Instead, Ross is listed as an operating partner for the private equity fund Havencrest, and his company bio says he “serves on the boards of multiple private healthcare companies.”

    Kennedy’s post on X made no mention of Ross’s current involvement with the company.



    Source link

  • Higher Ed Must Recommit to Its Enlightenment Roots (opinion)

    Higher Ed Must Recommit to Its Enlightenment Roots (opinion)

    American higher education is on its back foot. As part of the Trump administration’s broader project of regime consolidation, universities are facing new and shockingly direct threats to their independence and academic freedom. And in the past few months, we’ve seen that reality start to sink in. Sometimes there is no more compromise to be had and the only way to stand on principle is to forthrightly say no. In the process, the academic community can reclaim fundamental values that had been eroding well before the present crisis.

    This campaign to assert government control is bad for the academy, but it’s even worse for liberal democracy. Despite the political challenges facing higher ed, or rather, in light of those challenges, it’s critical that scholars, academic leaders and students reclaim what seems to have been forgotten —that the modern university is a living legacy of Enlightenment-era liberalism, the tradition that champions political liberty, constitutional constraints on power, freedom of thought and evidence-based reasoning.

    Founding-era academic leaders understood, in concrete terms, that universities were cornerstone institutions of the fledgling American experiment. They took it as their duty to educate not royal subjects but politically free, self-governing citizens capable of managing complex matters of private, commercial and public life. They believed that liberty and intellectual agency were inextricably linked.

    As Benjamin Rush, a prominent signer of the Declaration of Independence and founder of Dickinson College, observed, “Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor universal.” In other words, right from the start, the ethos of American universities was bound up with the American ideal of liberal democracy.

    To be clear, I am not suggesting that only liberal perspectives should be taught in institutions of higher learning. Far from it. Among liberalism’s most distinctive strengths is that it creates space for its own critics. But while individual scholars may explore and promote alternatives to constitutionally constrained liberal democracy, the institution itself must assertively defend the liberal rules of the game that make those critiques possible in the first place.

    In other words, if universities are to have a future as cornerstone institutions of a free society, they must assert their role as caretakers of the liberal democratic project. My point is not that it would be nice if universities were to play this role. As my co-author Bradley Jackson and I have argued, “The future of higher education and the future of the liberal order are inextricably bound to one another. As goes one, so goes the other.”

    As I take stock of the past decade, a few moments stick in my mind as emblematic of the current state in which higher education now finds itself. The first was in 2015, when a professor of mass media at the University of Missouri famously called for “some muscle” to prevent a student photojournalist from exercising his First Amendment rights to cover a public demonstration on the campus quad. At least one other Mizzou staff member assisted in the effort to intimidate the journalist.

    The 2017 episode at Middlebury College, when students organized to shout down invited speaker Charles Murray, was another. Like so many others, I was shocked and angry that outsiders saw it as an opportunity to engage in political violence. But what broke my heart was the fact that students carefully prepared for the event not by marshaling their best arguments to counter Murray, but by crafting prescripted chants designed to shut down the open exchange of ideas. As a professor and provost, I cringed as I considered what these incidents said about the profession to which I was so passionately dedicated. And wasn’t it obvious that attacks on intellectual freedom would always, one way or another, end up harming the marginalized and those fighting for social justice? Somehow, we had lost the plot.

    Perhaps the most cringe-inducing episode before this year’s events was in December 2023, when the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania were summoned before a congressional committee to face allegations of antisemitism for not shutting down protests opposing Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. I winced not just at the Inquisition-style interrogation and the lawyerly responses the witnesses offered. I cringed because, in their attempts to invoke First Amendment freedoms as their rationale, the presidents of three of our most prestigious institutions had zero credibility. Their allegiance to First Amendment principles read like an unconvincing foxhole conversion.

    My point is not to relitigate these incidents. Rather, it is to suggest a pattern —and to provide context for why universities are so vulnerable to the Trump administration and state legislatures seeking to compel ideological compliance. When academic leaders, professors and students disregard the academy’s liberal foundations, we no longer have ground to stand upon when illiberal forces come to tear it all down. The weaponization of federal funding, deportation of students and scholars engaged in protected political speech, bans on “divisive concepts,” and threats of consent decrees— legal settlements that would place universities under long-term federal control—effectively strip universities of governance autonomy and set dangerous precedents for political interference in academic institutions.

    Now faced with a truly existential crisis, many institutions are starting to fight back. Harvard has dug in its heels in the face of previously unthinkable threats, turning to the courts to protect its rights—fighting not just its blacklisting from federal research grants, but a flagrantly lawless attack on its tax-exempt status and an equally illegal attempt to revoke its certification to enroll international students on visas. In a response to the government through its lawyers, Harvard made clear its refusal to cave in no uncertain terms: “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”

    Harvard isn’t the only institution finding its courage. Georgetown University, when menaced by the interim federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C., correctly asserted, as a matter of both speech and religious freedom (as a Jesuit university), its right to determine its own faculty and curriculum. It’s not a matter of abstract principle. A member of Georgetown’s own faculty has been targeted for abduction and meritless deportation. Princeton University, as well, has aggressively pushed back.

    Nor is the resistance limited to elite universities. As students are disappeared for speech displeasing the government, and as Trump’s overt censorship demands mount, smaller private colleges and state institutions have been sounding the alarm. In the process, they aren’t just defending their own self-interest, they are rallying civil society to resist incipient authoritarianism. Charles Murray’s work provides a compelling example of how the tit-for-tat cycle of illiberal escalation unfolds. At the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, the office of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the removal of supposed “DEI” works. While The Bell Curve survived the purge, a pointed critique of Murray’s most controversial book did not.

    The irony is hard to ignore. Upon entry into the Naval Academy, midshipmen swear an oath to defend the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Shouldn’t we trust America’s future military leaders to exercise the very freedoms we’re asking them to defend with their lives? (Most of the books that were initially removed have since been returned to the Naval Academy’s shelves.)

    Fortunately for civilian institutions, the courts are proving up to the task in pushing back. Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk was freed after several weeks in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, having been targeted for co-authoring an op-ed critical of the war in Gaza. That such a thing would happen in the United States is an unthinkable attack on free speech at its very core. Öztürk was incarcerated and threatened with expulsion not for protests, which can devolve into physical conflict and rule breaking, but simply for writing an opinion the government decided it disliked.

    No liberal education—no liberal society—can endure under such a menacing shadow of state retaliation and suppression. We shouldn’t lose sight of the longer term, and the need to recommit ourselves to first principles. We must reinforce the principle of academic freedom as the constitutional order that governs a functioning university. Further, as we welcome new students and colleagues into the academy, we can’t leave it to chance that liberal values that privilege openness, curiosity, ingenuity and intellectual humility will take hold. We must be deliberate in our efforts to cultivate those values.

    But an important, though less obvious, recommendation is one that won’t be easy to follow in a moment when our impulse is to defend the academy at all cost. Simply put, we must own our mistakes. If we are to refortify the liberal foundations of American higher education, we must proactively name the failures that have contributed to a permission structure that now accommodates illiberal and authoritarian reactionary forces. In some cases, that will mean replacing leaders who have tarnished their credibility with those who can better meet the moment.

    To be clear, in owning our mistakes, we will not be currying favor with political elites on either side of the aisle. We will be speaking to and rebuilding trust with the public who support institutions of higher learning through their taxes and tuition payments. And we will be speaking to our own campus communities who seek principled leadership.

    Taking full responsibility for the course correction will be good for the academy, as it will reset the path by which colleges and universities become sites of intellectual openness, challenge and discovery. But it will also be good for the future of our country. It will offer an example of how, after shifting away from its liberal foundations, a cornerstone institution of the American experiment can once again find its bearings, re-establish its independence and assertively take the lead in fortifying, in its most urgent hour, our system of constitutionally constrained liberal democracy.

    Emily Chamlee-Wright is president of the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University and was previously provost and dean at Washington College.

    Source link

  • Three Questions for Tulane’s Ashley Francis

    Three Questions for Tulane’s Ashley Francis

    Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business recently launched its first fully online M.B.A. program, marking a significant step in expanding its offerings for working professionals. As assistant dean at the Stewart Center for Professional and Executive Education, Ashley Francis plays a pivotal role in shaping and overseeing these programs. With a background in online learning and program development, she brings deep expertise in designing market-competitive programs that maintain Tulane’s unique academic experience.

    I wanted to sit down with Ashley to learn more about the strategy behind launching an online M.B.A. at Tulane’s Freeman School of Business, how the program distinguishes itself in a competitive landscape and what universities should consider when developing online offerings.

    Q: Why did Tulane’s Freeman School of Business decide to launch an online M.B.A. and how did you approach designing a program that stands out in an increasingly competitive market?

    A: Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business launched its online M.B.A. program as part of a comprehensive strategy complementing the school’s portfolio of programs directed towards working professionals and meeting students where they are. It was conceptualized in response to both an evolving institutional culture and a clear demand for accessible, high-quality business education.

    The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated this momentum. With support from Dean Paulo Goes and our partnership with AllCampus, Tulane’s Freeman School of Business was able to build a rigorous and forward-thinking program.

    What sets Freeman’s online M.B.A. apart is its commitment to academic excellence, flexibility and support. The curriculum is designed specifically for working professionals, offering the same tenured faculty who teach on campus—a rarity among online programs, which often rely on adjunct instructors. The program underwent a rigorous four-month development process to ensure that our curricula offered engaging, culturally rich courses. We specifically structured a program with reduced credits to help lower cost and time to completion.

    The Freeman School’s online M.B.A. program is not only competitive but it’s also deeply student-centric. We offer unique, customized career support and access to tutoring services that not many other programs offer. While being competitive in the market was a top priority, ultimately the onus was on us to create a program that truly benefited students.

    Q: When selecting an online program management partner, what key factors did Tulane’s Freeman School of Business consider? Why was working with an OPM important to you?

    A: We went into the OPM selection process knowing the values and capabilities of working with an OPM and that this partnership style would set our online M.B.A. up for the most success. At their best, OPMs are sophisticated, passionate and willing to invest in the success of the program. At the same time, my previous experiences with OPMs had left me feeling wary and cautious when choosing our partner.

    For the new online M.B.A. program, we ended up going with AllCampus, and they’ve absolutely met my high expectations. Tulane’s Freeman School of Business was seeking a true partner—one that would collaborate deeply, offer full transparency and share in the school’s mission for success and AllCampus has embraced those values fully.

    My advice to other higher education leaders considering working with an OPM would be to build a relationship framed around mutual commitment and trust, with a shared goal of creating a standout program. Having a hands-on partnership allowed us to move quickly and tactfully when launching a high-quality program.

    Q: Tulane University is deeply connected to the culture and identity of New Orleans. How does the online M.B.A. program incorporate that sense of place and community for students logging in from around the country?

    A: Tulane’s Freeman online M.B.A. is infused with the spirit of New Orleans, bringing the city’s vibrancy and community-driven ethos into the virtual classroom. One of the core pillars of the program is “bringing the joy of New Orleans” to students—wherever they are. Rather than creating a hypercompetitive environment, the Freeman School fosters a sense of belonging and cultural richness, helping students feel the NOLA experience even if they never set foot on campus.

    This is accomplished through course design, community engagement strategies and faculty involvement that reflect our university’s values and strengths. Our courses embed the city’s ethos and leverage our expertise in energy, supply chain, brand management and entrepreneurial resilience. Tulane’s brand affinity, loyal alumni network and supportive student services—such as a dedicated career management center and a financial aid adviser—all contribute to building a connected environment. The result is a program that not only educates but also inspires a lifelong connection to the Tulane community and the unique culture of New Orleans.

    Source link

  • Senate Outlines Plans for Endowment Tax Hike

    Senate Outlines Plans for Endowment Tax Hike

    The Senate Committee on Finance is proposing to raise the endowment tax on private colleges and universities, but not to the extent the recently passed bill in the House calls for, according to a draft plan released Monday.

    The less dramatic excise tax tops out at 8 percent for the wealthiest institutions, compared to 21 percent in the House plan, but the Senate’s proposal keeps the House’s tiered rate structure, with some colleges paying more depending on the value of their endowment per student. The current rate for affected institutions is 1.4 percent.

    Institutional lobbyists and college presidents have warned that the sharp increase in the House plan would hurt their ability to provide need-based aid and be debilitating for some low-income students. Although the Senate’s iteration offers some relief, it’s not as much as they hoped for.

    “The Senate version of the so-called endowment tax is better, but it’s still bad and harmful tax policy,” said Steven Bloom, assistant vice president of government relations​​ at the American Council on Education. “They’re going to take money that would likely have been devoted to financial aid and research and other academic purposes on campus, and they’re going to send it to Washington, where it’s used largely for purposes unrelated to higher education.”

    The Senate committee’s plan, like the House proposal, also still exempts religious colleges and requires colleges to take international students out of the total roll call when calculating the endowment’s value per student. If passed, this stipulation would increase the tax rate significantly for institutions like Columbia University that have 20 percent or more foreign students.

    The finance committee legislation, which also includes cuts to Medicaid that could put pressure on states’ budgets, is part of a broader package of bills that would make significant changes to higher education policy and cut spending and taxes in order to pay for President Donald Trump’s priorities, which include increased deportations and tax cuts for the wealthy. The House version of the reconciliation bill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by a one-vote margin last month. Senators are aiming to pass their version by July 4 and only need 51 votes thanks to the reconciliation process, as opposed to the traditional 60 votes.

    Unlike the House proposal, colleges that don’t accept federal financial aid would be exempt from the tax entirely. Hillsdale College president Larry Arnn blasted the House plan in an op-ed last month as an attack on the institution’s independence. (Hillsdale doesn’t participate in the federal financial aid system.)

    “The resources entrusted to Hillsdale College are not drawn from the public treasury,” Arnn wrote. “They are given freely by those who believe in our mission. To tax these gifts is to tax philanthropy itself—to burden those who would lift burdens. It is to weaken those who do good precisely because they are free to do it. It weakens them and strengthens the federal government, reversing the order intended by our Founders.”

    Hillsdale wasn’t the only college that pushed back on the rate increase. In recent weeks, private institutions big and small have pitched their own alternatives to Congress.

    Some of the largest and wealthiest research institutions that would be affected by the tax—such as Harvard, Stanford and Princeton Universities—pledged to spend 5 percent of their endowment’s value annually in exchange for a much lower 2.4 percent endowment tax rate, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bloom agreed that if the tax is to increase, he would like to see some kind of incentive introduced, like financial aid spending thresholds, to mitigate the tax rate.

    “They’ve created no incentive for schools to behave in ways that we believe that they would want schools to behave,” he said.

    Other institutions suggested that the tax rate should be based on what percentage of endowment revenue an institution spends each year on student financial aid or how many students enrolled come from a low-income background and receive the federal Pell Grant.

    A coalition of 24 smaller institutions, including Grinnell and Davidson Colleges, which would be hit hardest by the House endowment tax, proposed adjusting the excise rate based on the number of students enrolled. Colleges with fewer than 5,000 students have a different economic model than an institution with 30,000, they said.

    Grinnell president Anne Harris, who spent part of the last week educating lawmakers about the harm of the increased endowment tax, said Monday evening that the Senate plan still disproportionately burdens smaller institutions. She noted that her institution will likely still face the maximum 8 percent tax.

    “I deeply appreciate all the work that’s gone on and clearly all the consideration that has informed what we’re seeing this afternoon, but having said that, the current proposal still disproportionately burdens small colleges,” Harris said. “You’re going to find a school like Grinnell College with 1,700 students, a small college in a rural setting, bearing a much greater burden of this tax than a research institution in a large city.”

    She could only speculate that senators stuck with a tiered structure for simplicity, but added that “the simple fix” would be to make a stipulation that places all small private colleges in the lowest bracket and maintain the current 1.4 percent tax rate.

    Harris is hopeful that there will still be further opportunities for compromise and said she will continue to advocate for small liberal arts institutions like her own. But in the meantime, her executive team will also continue to plan out all the possible scenarios to figure out the best course of action to protect student aid if the bill passes as it currently stands.

    “All responsible options that provide the most money for financial aid and mission fulfillment are on the table as part of our scenario planning with the board,” she said.

    Source link

  • Don’t Fall for Trump’s Trade School Trojan Horse (opinion)

    Don’t Fall for Trump’s Trade School Trojan Horse (opinion)

    In one of his all-too-frequent rants on Truth Social last month, President Trump posted, “I am considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land.” It’s a transparent and cynical ploy: pit one segment of the education community against another—rich Harvard versus poor “trade schools”—and watch the divisions take hold. But make no mistake: This strategy only works if institutions, elite or otherwise, fall for the bait.

    We’re not sure what the president means by “trade schools” but suspect he’s referring to the nation’s 1,000-plus community and technical colleges— institutions that educate about a third of all U.S. undergraduates. We’ve both spent our careers making the case for greater investment in these colleges, including through the Project on Workforce, the cross-Harvard initiative we helped found six years ago to forge better pathways between education and good jobs.

    (And for the record: Trump’s accusation that Harvard is “very antisemitic” rings hollow coming from the man who hosted a Holocaust-denying white nationalist at Mar-a-Lago. It’s certainly unrecognizable to us—two Jews who, between us, have spent more than 40 years as Harvard students, staff and faculty.)

    If Trump actually cared about funding “trade schools,” he would start by telling congressional leaders to strip the provision in his so-called Big Beautiful Bill that raises the credit-hour threshold for Pell Grant eligibility. Community colleges serve the bulk of low-income students, and most of them have to work while in school. This proposed change proffered by the House, which was not included in the Senate version of the reconciliation bill, could cut off aid for 400,000 students a year and force many to drop out.

    But the threat isn’t just in proposed legislation: Community colleges are already the targets of Trump’s politically motivated grant cancellations. For example, just last month, his administration revoked awards from six Tech Hubs, created by bipartisan legislation to boost innovation, job creation and national security. These included projects in Alabama, where a community college would expand biotech training; in Idaho, where a community college planned to train aerospace workers; and in Vermont, where a community college was preparing a new semiconductor workforce.

    And the cuts don’t stop there. If the president was really serious about supporting the U.S. skilled technical workforce, he would expand, not gut, programs like the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education initiative, which has provided $1.5 billion to more than 500 community and technical colleges to develop cutting-edge training in fields like advanced manufacturing and robotics. Instead, his budget proposes cutting NSF by 55 percent, including deep reductions to education and workforce programs. The president’s budget also proposes eliminating all Perkins Act funding for community colleges (approximately $400 million), limiting the funding to middle and high schools and thereby cutting off a key source of federal support for technical training beyond secondary school.

    If by “trade schools” Trump means education for trades jobs, his hostility toward immigrants undermines the very students he claims to support. Eight percent of community college students are not U.S. citizens, with much higher shares on some campuses. They are just as vital to America’s future as the researchers in Harvard’s labs. In 2024, immigrants made up more than 30 percent of construction trades workers and 20 percent of U.S. manufacturing workers. Closing America’s doors won’t just harm colleges: It will weaken our ability to build, make and compete.

    Last week, we joined more than 12,000 Harvard alumni in signing an amicus brief to pledge our commitment to defend not only Harvard but the broader higher education enterprise from the Trump administration’s bullying attacks. Over the past month, we also spoke with community college leaders from around the country whose work we profiled in our 2023 book, America’s Hidden Economic Engines. Without exception, these leaders expressed deep concern, understanding that if Harvard, with all of its resources, could be forced to bend to the will of a tyrannical government, what chance would less resourced institutions have to defend academic freedom and maintain independence from governmental intrusion?

    If elite universities and community and technical colleges stand together, we can defend not just education, but democracy itself. Challenging as it will be for Harvard to weather this unprecedented assault on its independence, and that of higher education, it has no choice but to stand firm. Unlike many more vulnerable victims of Trump’s bullying—immigrants, civil servants, USAID grantees, the trans community—Harvard has the resources to fight back. Ultimately its rights, along with the rights of others targeted, will likely be vindicated by the courts. But in the interim, a lot of needless damage will be done to the lives of affected people and institutions. Most Americans may not speak often of such abstractions as academic freedom, due process and the fate of democracy. But they know a bully when they see one.

    Rachel Lipson, a co-founder of the Harvard Project on Workforce, was a senior adviser on workforce at the CHIPS Program Office at the U.S. Department of Commerce. She recently returned to Harvard Kennedy School as a research fellow.

    Robert Schwartz is a professor of practice emeritus at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Before joining the Harvard faculty in 1996, he had a long career in education and government.

    Source link

  • Federal Funding Uncertainty Halts Construction Projects

    Federal Funding Uncertainty Halts Construction Projects

    Earlier this year the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees approved the design of a $228 million research facility that would expand UNC’s work on virology, vaccine development and other areas. But now that project is suddenly on hold.

    UNC Chapel Hill is one of several major research universities pausing construction plans due to financial uncertainty provoked by the Trump administration’s efforts to cap federal research funding reimbursement rates.

    In recent months multiple federal agencies have announced plans to cap research reimbursement rates at 15 percent. (While such rates typically hover just under 30 percent, some institutions have negotiated reimbursement rates upward of 50 percent.) Though court challenges have halted the rate cuts for now, the uncertainty has prompted some institutions to pause certain construction projects—particularly research labs and related facilities.

    Institutions pausing or slowing plans to build new projects include some of the nation’s wealthiest private universities: Yale, Johns Hopkins and Washington U in St. Louis, which posted endowments of $41.4 billion, $13 billion and $11.9 billion, respectively, in the last fiscal year, according to a recent study of endowments. (UNC Chapel Hill is among the nation’s wealthiest public institutions, with a $5.7 billion endowment.)

    In some cases, construction on other facilities, like a new residence hall at UNC Chapel Hill, is moving forward while projects such as research labs have been halted.

    Projects on Hold

    Yale has paused construction on 10 planned projects, according to The New Haven Register.

    “We’re riding out a bad period,” Alexandra Daum, Yale’s associate vice president for New Haven affairs and university properties, said at a local Chamber of Commerce event earlier this month.

    One of those projects is the planned conversion of a street into a pedestrian and cyclist-only plaza, which officials decided in February to delay, Daum told The New Haven Independent, another local news outlet. Yale has not identified the other nine projects it plans to put off.

    Daum pointed to uncertainty about federal funding as the reason for the pause.

    “Like many, Yale is tracking federal funding closely and anticipating there will be impact to projects in the planning pipeline,” Daum wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed. “We don’t know how much of an impact federal decisions will have on these projects, so we are being prudent.”

    Construction on projects already underway will reportedly continue.

    Johns Hopkins University announced a similar decision in early June. Administrators wrote in a message to campus that the university has experienced “a steady stream of research grant terminations, suspensions, and delays” that created uncertainty, particularly when coupled with the proposals for lower research reimbursement rates. The rate caps could deal the university a loss of more than $300 million a year in federal research funding, officials wrote.

    JHU is taking a number of measures to handle budget concerns, including a staff hiring freeze, as well as pulling back on planned construction projects.

    “Prudence dictates cutting back our ambitions in the near term, and we have decided to reduce our capital construction and renovation plans by approximately 10-20%,” officials wrote. “Final decisions on these reductions will be made over the summer in consultation with the divisions, with an emphasis on continuing mission-critical projects, essential deferred maintenance, and projects that are already far along in the permitting, demolition, and construction process.”

    JHU did not identify what specific projects might be pushed back.

    Washington University halted construction of a new arts and sciences building in April; work was expected to begin earlier this year, according to a news release from last fall.

    WashU officials also cited federal funding concerns.

    “We regret that it’s necessary to take these actions, but in our current climate, it is simply not prudent to continue with these projects as scheduled,” Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said in a news release. “We are always careful stewards of the university’s resources, but at this time, given the uncertainty around federal research funding and other potential government actions, we have to take a careful look at every aspect of our operations. We hope that once we have a clearer sense of the financial picture, we may be able to revisit some of these investments.”

    UNC Chapel Hill offered similar reasons for halting construction on the research lab.

    “Due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding federal research funding, the University has paused plans for the Translational Research Building. We are currently evaluating our research infrastructure, including our research facilities, and will continue to monitor funding trends. Scenario planning is underway to help us remain prepared for future opportunities,” a UNC Chapel Hill spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed in an emailed statement.

    However, the university is moving forward with some projects, including a $93 million residence hall.

    In neighboring Virginia, Republican governor Glenn Youngkin rejected $600 million in funding requests for 10 planned renovation and expansion projects at public universities last month, The Virginia Mercury reported. In a letter to state legislators, Youngkin cited economic uncertainty.

    “I am optimistic about Virginia’s longer-term prospects for Fiscal Year 2027 and Fiscal Year 2028, and beyond, but there are some short-term risks as President Trump resets both fiscal spending in Washington and trade policies that require us to be prudent and not spend all of the projected surplus before we bank it,” Youngkin wrote to state lawmakers in May.

    Some of those planned projects were research-oriented, though many were not.

    The Outlook

    While a few universities have publicly walked back big projects, that doesn’t appear to be happening en masse, experts say. Planned construction is still happening at many colleges.

    “Projects, generally, are moving ahead. There are some larger projects that have been paused. The ones that have been stopped tend to be research-focused projects,” said Chris Purdy, director of higher education at SmithGroup, a design and planning firm that works in the sector.

    Other buildings, particularly those that are student-focused or in high-growth areas such as health sciences and STEM, are also moving ahead, he noted. Purdy pointed out that research labs and related facilities are often highly specialized and therefore the most expensive to build.

    “They’re primed to be under the most scrutiny just because they’re very expensive buildings,” Purdy said.

    He noted that SmithGroup continues to see requests for proposals for campus construction and is optimistic that colleges won’t back off of planned projects throughout the rest of the year. But looking ahead to next summer, or fiscal year 2027, Purdy is less sure about where things will stand, noting the looming economic uncertainty for many institutions.

    “At that point they’re going to have a different outlook on funding for capital projects,” Purdy said.

    Source link

  • USC Course Connects Students and Shelter Dogs for Exercise

    USC Course Connects Students and Shelter Dogs for Exercise

    Some colleges and universities use therapy dogs to help students destress or address homesickness. The University of South Carolina employs shelter dogs for students to engage with as a form of exercise.

    The Canine Fitness and Connection course invites about 25 students each semester to volunteer at a local animal shelter, giving them exposure to working with dogs while encouraging them to live healthy and active lives.

    What’s the need: A 2023 survey by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse found that 57 percent of students named getting more exercise as a top health-related goal, while 43 percent cited spending more time outside. About half of respondents indicated their physical health and wellness impact their ability to focus, learn and do well in school at least somewhat.

    At USC, the physical activities program strives to offer unique courses that match student interests, said director Gary Nave. In the past, courses have included Zumba and Quidditch, but as trends change, student interest wanes, requiring more creative programs.

    In 2022, Nave was researching physical education offerings at other universities and came across Auburn University’s Puppy Play course, which was offered from about 2014 to 2017.

    “We know that interacting with animals has benefits and it makes a difference in your stress and your anxiety, and I think a lot of our physical activity classes help do that,” Nave said, so pairing the two seemed natural.

    Walking clubs have also grown in popularity among young people as Gen Z seeks to both make friends and stay active.

    How it works: USC partners with Final Victory Animal Rescue in West Columbia (roughly four miles from campus) to offer the course, which has two sections with a total enrollment of about 25.

    Students who enroll often have some level of experience with dogs and are looking to connect with animals while living in college housing, or to learn how to better care for their pets. For others less familiar with dogs, the course is an opportunity to step out of their comfort zone.

    Prior to class time, students are assigned a reading or video to watch, and the instructor delivers a brief 15-minute lecture at the start of their meeting.

    The remainder of the 90-minute class is devoted to animal care, including dog walking, grooming and feeding, plus kennel cleaning.

    “They do a lot of other stuff, because there’s more to taking care of a dog than just walking it,” Nave said. “If that was the case, then there’s no responsibility, everybody would want a dog, right?”

    Students submit their step count to the instructor as part of their participation grade, often tracked by a pedometer app or similar smartphone or smartwatch technology.

    Throughout the term, students learn about canine behavior, how to use a slip lead, the benefits of walking with dogs and the importance of community service, among other topics.

    At the end of the term, students complete a project in which they take the dogs out of the shelter for a day to practice handling them on their own. After the excursion, students provide feedback to shelter staff about the dog’s temperament and behavior so staff can create the best match for the dog’s permanent home.

    Students also take pictures and videos, which are shared as promotional material for the shelter, helping increase the visibility of dogs up for adoption.

    The impact: Since the program launched in spring 2022, student interest has been strong, with end-of-term feedback revealing how much participants enjoyed the opportunity to work with dogs.

    More Pup Perspectives

    Several colleges and universities have recognized the positive impact dogs can have on student well-being and engagement.

    “This semester, I was able to do something I love, while at the same time learning skills that I could apply to my everyday life,” one student wrote. “I highly, highly recommend taking this class any chance you get.”

    Former students have even elected to foster or adopt animals they cared for during the course, according to the USC website.

    Assignment data shows an impact on students’ physical activity as well, with participants walking an average of 2.5 miles over 90 minutes, clocking 7,000 steps during the week.

    The course also connects students with a philanthropic organization and professional instructors with extensive experience raising and handling dogs, exposing them to new perspectives, Nave said.

    “It’s worth experimenting to see if this class could be beneficial for your students,” Nave said.

    DIY: For institutions looking to model the course, Nave advises starting with a student survey to gauge interest. “If they don’t want it, there’s no sense in offering it.” Then identify a local animal shelter willing to serve as a host and partner for the course.

    Another consideration is risk management. Working with animals can pose a safety risk for students, so identifying whether the course requires a waiver or other documentation to lessen liability is key, Nave said.

    Source link