In this week's roundup:
Abortion laws can impact where students enroll, higher education employees are looking elsewhere for work, and monkeypox causes concern on campuses.
July 21-27
- Abortion laws are now a factor that college-bound students are considering when deciding which school to attend. Students have said that their college plans have changed since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
- The World Health Organization’s declaration of monkeypox as a global health emergency is causing concern on college campuses. Institutions including Georgetown University and the University of Texas at Austin have released statements urging the community not to panic.
- An increase in financial aid applications from high school seniors has reached pre-pandemic levels. Analysts warn that this increase does not translate to an increase in enrollment.
- A survey from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources found that over half of higher education employees are likely to seek a job elsewhere. The most common reasons were better pay, flexible hours and the opportunity to work remotely.
- The Association of American Medical Colleges has released new guidelines aimed at eliminating racism in medical school. The AAMC’s efforts come after the number of non-white medical school applicants rose about 50% last year.
- Portland State University will offer a tuition discount for students from federally recognized Native American tribes. The institution’s vice president of enrollment management calls the tuition discount “a small way to honor the legacy of Indigenous nations from across the country.”
- The Supreme Court will issue separate rulings for affirmative action cases brought forth by Harvard University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The cases were previously joined, but will now be argued and decided separately.
- Medical students at the University of Michigan walked out of their own white coat ceremony to protest the pro-life keynote speaker, Dr. Kristin Collier. Students had previously petitioned to cancel the speech and called Dr. Collier’s views on abortion “antithetical to the tenets of reproductive justice.”
- The University of California system plans to increase the number of in-state students by 33,000 by 2030. Part of the method to reach this goal includes cutting out-of-state and international enrollment.
- A survey from New America shows almost half of Americans think online education is of the same quality as in-person education. This is an increase from last year when one-third of Americans believed the two were about the same. Yet, about four of five Americans believe online education should cost less.
