In this week's roundup:
Institutions are cutting ties with Russia and providing aid to Ukrainian students, public opinion of higher education is more positive, and parents of Temple students take matters into their own hands.
March 10-16
- More Americans believe that the economic value of a college degree has increased, according to the latest Winston Poll for the American Council on Education. Although it is a relatively small increase (27% in July 2018 to 36% in February 2022), advocates of higher education find the results encouraging.
- Stanford University is the latest institution to cut ties with Russia by terminating a $1.65 million agreement for business-related courses. The agreement was supposed to continue until the end of 2023.
- The University of California, Berkeley has been granted a reprieve and will no longer have to restrict enrollment for its fall 2022 class. Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation that decouples the application of an environmental law to student enrollment.
- A recent study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that areas with public colleges were more resilient than areas without. Researchers hypothesized that public colleges receiving state funding provide stability in the areas they are located.
- Lincoln Christian University in Illinois is shifting its focus to graduate education by cutting funding for undergraduate programs. The shift in focus comes after a decade of declining undergraduate enrollment.
- The University of Chicago will provide full-tuition scholarships for students who are affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Chicago President Paul Alivisatos also plans to expand college-readiness programs for students impacted by the invasion in Ukraine.
- Parents of Temple University students decided to hire private security after an increase in violence on or near Temple’s main campus in Philadelphia. What started as one concerned parent turned into a fundraising project to hire security to patrol the campus area six nights per week.
- Senator Patty Murray is calling for the pause on student loan repayment to be extended until at least 2023. Murray says this will give the Education Department time to fix a system that Murray calls “broken.”
- PepsiCo will now offer frontline employees a debt-free college degree program through Guild Education. The program will cover all tuition, books and other fees for frontline employees.
- A new initiative is aiming to help rural North Carolina community colleges. The Rural College Leaders Program is designed to close equity gaps and improve student outcomes.
