In this week’s roundup:
Student athletes can now make money off of their own name, image and likeness, more calls for a double Pell Grant emerge and the new Department of Education budget is making its way through the House of Representatives.
June 31 - July 14
- As of July 1, student athletes from all three NCAA divisions can monetize their name, image and likeness as part of an interim policy. Some schools are already empowering their students with classes and tools.
- First-year persistence rates -- the number of incoming students who continue into their second year -- dropped to 73.9% last fall, their lowest level since 2012.
- Higher education groups and individuals have signed an open letter to U.S. News & World Report asking to drop standardized test scores from the U.S. News rankings -- citing the pandemic and that “the assessments were already a flawed metric.”
- The number of open seats at colleges and universities across the country decreased significantly from this time last year -- from 775 to the current 535 institutions, as logged by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
- Nikole Hannah-Jones accepted a tenured position at Howard University. The founder of the 1619 Project at The New York Times, Hannah-Jones will teach aspiring journalists at Howard, after a long back and forth with UNC-Chapel Hill regarding whether or not she would be tenured.
- Twenty-four higher education groups have come together to form The Double Pell Alliance, and they seek to urge lawmakers to support the doubling of the Pell Grant in the next year.
- This Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee is expected to mark up an initial funding plan for education programs funded by the government. Many expect it to be in line with President Biden’s budget, which includes “substantial increases to student financial aid and science research.”
- The Department of Education made the decision to waive verification requirements for much of the information federal aid applicants provide during the 2021-2022 enrollment cycle. What does this mean, exactly? It means that fewer lower-income students will need to jump through hoops to prove their financial situation.
ICYMI: Check out our two special blog installments for this month: The Lede: Highlights and The HBCU Roundup!
