Here are some new resources and news for the field of higher education.
Female, Minority Students Took AP Computer Science in Record Numbers Female, black and Latino students took Advanced Placement computer science courses in record numbers, and rural student participation surged this year, as the College Board attracted more students to an introductory course designed to expand who has access to sought-after tech skills. (USA Today)
Study Outlines Challenges for Low-Income Working Students Low-income undergraduates who work are less likely than their higher-income counterparts to obtain a bachelor’s degree, and they are disproportionately women, Latino, Black and first-generation college students. (Diverse: Issues In Higher Education)
Dual Enrollment Is Increasing College-Going Behavior, but Only for Some Students State policy and dual-credit program limitations make it difficult for students from underserved backgrounds to access the opportunity. (Education Dive)
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published data highlighting comparisons across states in nine postsecondary categories including educational attainment level, graduation rates, and enrollment. The data show that the share of minority enrollment is largest in Hawaii and California, where students of color make up 75 percent and 63 percent of total enrollment, respectively. The interactive data was collected from a number of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, and the U.S. Department of Education.
From Nursing Apprenticeships to Bachelor’s Degrees Apprenticeships may be the most effective way to encourage more nurses to pursue bachelor’s degrees in nursing, according to a new report released today by New America. (Inside Higher Ed)
Institutions Actively Help Military Members and Veterans Earn College Degrees While many institutions around the United States have developed programs for active-duty military and veterans to earn their degrees by providing them with flexible education options, University Without Walls at UMass Amherst has become a national model. (Diverse: Issues in Higher Education)
Trump administration kicks off next round of higher ed rulemaking Advocacy Group Challenges Accuracy of Proposal to Eliminate ‘Gainful Employment’ Rule A student advocacy group is challenging Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ plan to eliminate the Obama-era “gainful employment” rule, accusing the Trump administration of violating a federal requirement that agencies publish accurate and reliable information.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) introduced a bill that would create incentives for colleges and universities to operate teacher prep programs tailored to serve English-language learners. The Reaching English Language Learners Act would create grants for higher education institutions under Title II of the Higher Education Act. Those grants would be used to produce teachers qualified to identify ELLs, help these students achieve English proficiency and boost their academic outcomes. The bill is co-sponsored by eight Democrats in the Senate. Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) introduced its companion, H.R.4838 (115), in the House earlier this year, with bipartisan support.
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 1635, the bipartisan Empowering Students through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act Sponsored by Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), the legislation will improve financial aid counseling for students receiving a Pell Grant or a federal loan.
7 Things You Need Before You Fill Out the 2019-20 FAFSA® Form If you need financial aid to help you pay for college, you must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form. The 2019-20 FAFSA form will be available on Oct. 1, 2018. You should fill it out as soon as possible on or after Oct. 1 at the official government site, fafsa.gov. It’ll be easier to complete the FAFSA form if you gather what you need ahead of time.
Second Round of Higher Education Negotiated Rulemaking The Education Department formally began its second round of rewriting federal regulations governing higher education. Department officials will hold a daylong hearing to accept public feedback on their plans to conduct rulemaking on revisions to federal rules on topics that include college accreditation, nontraditional education providers and religious schools. This batch of rulemaking is largely aimed at promoting “greater access for students to high-quality, innovative programs,” the Trump administration has said.
NV – “15 to Finish” Initiative at State’s Community Colleges Encouraging Full-time Enrollment About 73 percent of students enrolled in Nevada community colleges are part time, compared to 61 percent of community college students nationwide, according to a report presented at the Regents’ Community College Committee meeting. (ThisisReno)
Illinois now leads the nation in bachelor’s degree completion rates among community college students who transfer to four-year colleges. With the latest cohort (students who entered a community college in 2010), Illinois is not only the national leader but it also exceeds the national average by a noticeable margin. In fact, 53.8% of Illinois community college students who transferred to a four-year college completed a bachelor’s degree within six years. As shown in Figure 1, this bachelor’s degree completion rate was 11.6 percentage points higher than the national average of 42.2%.
NV Foster Youth Granted College Tuition Waiver The program will allow students to register for credit without paying certain fees, similar to the waiver available to members of the Nevada National Guard. This approval makes Nevada the 29th state to provide tuition assistance for foster youth. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Study: 1 in 5 College Students Has Weighed Suicide One in five college students reported thoughts of suicide in the previous year, according to a study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which is associated with Harvard Medical School. (Inside Higher Ed)
Nobel-Snubbed Female Physicist Wins $3M Prize Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a Northern Irish astrophysicist who discovered radio pulsars in 1967, when she was a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, was snubbed when her male collaborators received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1974 for that work. She was recently awarded a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for her discovery, and has announced that she’s donating the nearly $3 million award to fund female, underrepresented minority and refugee students become physics researchers.
New Website Offers Comparative Shopping Data for Prospective IL College Students The state is rolling out an ambitious new centralized data portal for prospective Illinois college students that compiles information on graduation rates, costs, student debt and, for the first time, potential career earnings of graduates of the state’s two- and four-year institutions. (Chicago Tribune)
College Students Predicted to Fall By More Than 15 Percent After The Year 2025 Nathan Grawe, an economist at Carleton College in Minnesota, predicts that the college-going population will drop by 15 percent between 2025 and 2029 and continue to decline by another percentage point or two thereafter. (Hechinger Report)
