We are back to weekly updates, folks! So, without further ado….
Hurricane Ida shut down many schools in New Orleans and continues to make its way through the United States, nearly 600 students have been left in Afghanistan and Pennsylvania is a mini case study for enrollment trends in the coming years.
August 26 - September 1
- While many community members are excited to be back on campus, reality has begun to sink in for many that a return to even semi-normalcy is highly unlikely. This realization comes as many institutions do not plan to provide quarantine and isolation housing this year, which was a key mitigation tool last year.
- The Education Department announced that it will “offer loan forgiveness” to over 115,000 students who had attended the now-defunct ITT Technical Institute as far back as March 31, 2008.
- When it comes to mergers, new research from Ithaka S+R shows that changes in demand for different programs are often the main culprit for the desire to merge. Researchers recommend careful intersectional consideration and planning for how mergers could affect the community.
- According to the Government Accountability Office, more than 5% of colleges that received federal relief funding were given more than they should have been. The Education Department has worked to resolve their internal systems to prevent this from happening.
- Bowdoin College announced an increase to its minimum wage earlier than expected, to reward employees who have stayed and entice new workers to join them.
- Around 600 students from the American University of Afghanistan were told to “go home” after waiting for evacuation on August 29.
- Several colleges and universities in Louisiana closed following Hurricane Ida.
- Working to build on the progress made with youth voter turnout last year, voter registration organizations across campuses are gearing up to get students to participate.
- Colleges facing sexual misconduct cases can once again consider statements made outside of a hearing. Ridding Title IX of that Trump-era rule, the change will be put in place when the Biden administration works on new overall Title IX regulations.
- Students at the University of Nebraska are calling for the removal of a Phi Gama Delta (Fiji) fraternity, following an alleged sexual assault perpetrated by a member.
- Pennsylvania, with plentiful undergraduate-only colleges and universities, is a mini case study for what’s to come as the number of graduating high school seniors decreases in the coming years.
- Transfer rates dropped steeply over the 2020-2021 academic year — almost three times more than the year before.
