Tag: higher education
September 6, 2012 at 2:26 pmCategory:Uncategorized
Anyone paying any attention to the news in recent months already knew this to be the case, but it’s still sobering to see the data.
Example #1 – On Tuesday, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released this report documenting the way most states (including North Carolina) have been significantly reducing their commitment to K-12 education. According to the report: Read More…
August 17, 2012 at 11:23 amCategory:Uncategorized
Article IX, Section 9 of the North Carolina Constitution says the following:
“The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.”
Unfortunately, as this op-ed in today’s Raleigh News & Observer helps make plain, the requirement is quickly ceasing to have any real meaning as right-wing money bags like Board of Governors member Fred “Right Change” Eshelman do their worst to privatize higher education.
As the piece notes:
“Eshelman is essentially transferring a radical political ideology directly into the governing board of the university. That, of course, was what his appointment was intended to do.”
Let’s hope North Carolinians wake up to this effort to drag down our universities before there’s nothing left to save.
August 2, 2012 at 7:20 amCategory:Uncategorized
This morning’s Greensboro News & Record includes an editorial by Senator Kay Hagan about a promising bill that she’s co-sponsoring to rein in some abuses in the for-profit college industry.
The bill (“the Protecting Financial Aid for Students and Taxpayers Act”), which has been endorsed by the watchdogs at Consumers Union, would require all colleges and universities to pay for advertising, marketing and recruiting with non-taxpayer dollars. As Hagan’s piece explains, some private schools have been using abusive tactics (sometimes paid for with federal dollars) to recruit and ensnare young people.
It sounds like a promising start in an area that’s rife with abuse — a phenomenon that is, sadly, sure to get worse in North Carolina if conservatives plow ahead with their plans to divert millions in public dollars into private, for-profit schools.
July 24, 2012 at 10:08 amCategory:Uncategorized
Nationwide tuition debt now tops $1 trillion – surpassing credit card debt as the biggest source of unsecured debt for Americans.
That staggering figure has prompted the U.S. Education Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to team up to help students and their parents better understand the true cost of college.
On Monday, Secretary Arne Duncan unveiled a standardized ‘Shopping Sheet’ which breaks down the total estimated annual costs (tuition, fees, housing, books and supplies, transportation, and other expenses) as well as what options are available for repaying any loans a student takes out.
The Shopping Sheet comes as campuses in the UNC system will be raising tuition and fees an average of 8.8 percent for the 2012-13 school year.
“Students should know before they owe,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “But unfortunately, we have heard from so many student-loan borrowers who say that they simply did not understand what they signed up for. The Financial Aid Shopping Sheet gives students real numbers and a clear format that makes sense of a huge financial undertaking that too often is complex and confusing.”
The Education Department is hoping the easy to understand worksheet is adopted by colleges and universities nationwide as part of their financial aid award packages starting in the 2013-14 school year.
To download a pdf copy of the Shopping Sheet, click here.
July 19, 2012 at 11:42 amCategory:Uncategorized
North Carolina is far from the only state whose public colleges and universities are struggling with huge cuts in public funding. As this Reuters article explains, it’s a national phenomenon and one that is, in the eyes of anyone other than conservative ideologues devoted to dismantling our societal commitment to higher education, transforming things for the worse. As the article puts it:
“For generations, most college-bound Americans paid reasonable fees to attend publicly financed state universities.
But the bedrock of that system is fracturing as cash-strapped states slash funding Read More…