In this week’s roundup:
The federal student loan moratorium has been extended, colleges and universities gear up for another pandemic-dampened fall semester and some institutions are raising their tuition to counteract the financial toll of the pandemic.
July 15 - 28
- A federal judge overturned part of a Trump-era Title IX rule which said that “when colleges judged a report of sexual violence, they could not consider statements made by parties or witnesses who did not subject themselves to cross-examination in a hearing.” The rule is now under examination at the U.S. Department of Education.
- Like nearly all other institutions, colleges and universities were affected financially by the pandemic, leading some public universities to raise their tuition.
- Meanwhile, many institutions’ endowments are reported to have had the strongest performance since 1986, according to Bloomberg.
- Intel is expanding its AI program with community colleges. Partnering with Dell, the pair offer courses for students, training sessions for faculty and the technology behind it all.
- Following recent CDC guidance, colleges and universities are rethinking their masking guidance for the upcoming academic year.
- At the same time, several higher education organizations have called for state lawmakers to remove mandates prohibiting COVID-19 mitigation measures like masking.
- Vaccination requirements are also on the minds of leaders in higher ed, along with concerns about fake COVID-19 vaccine cards allowing community members to falsely claim they are vaccinated.
- Other students are suing their college or university over vaccine mandates.
- The U.S. Department of Education announced that it will continue and expand the Second Chance Pell program, which allows incarcerated students to pursue a degree.
- The most recent numbers from FairTest show that over two thirds of colleges won’t require SAT/ ACT scores “for at least some students” in fall 2022.
- Experts fear for the pandemic damage done to already struggling Native students who had barriers in their way to logging on for high school classes, let alone getting prepared for college.
- Good news for federal student loan borrowers: the federal moratorium on repayment has been extended through Jan. 31, 2022.
- Also related to student loans, the Education Department got rid of a Trump-era policy which gave loan managers more of a shield from state regulation.
ICYMI: Check out our two special blog installments for this month: The Lede: Highlights and The HBCU Roundup!
