DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Given the contentious nature of legislation that is enacted into law and also in rules finalized by agencies in the executive branch of the federal government, a plausible subheading for many of these initiatives might be “The Attorneys, Accountants, and Public Relations Organizations Relief Act of (fill in the year).” The government has developed an effective means of guaranteeing life-time job opportunities in the private sector for individuals willing to engage in this form of employment. For example, the deadline for submitting comments on a proposed rule to amend regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 closed on September 12, 2022. More than 235,000 were submitted. Just think of how many staff in commercial firms were involved in generating these comments on behalf of special interest group clients. Next, the Department of Education will review this huge volume of correspondence before releasing a final set of regulations. A companion thought worth pondering is how many Department personnel will need to be engaged in what can be expected to be a highly time-consuming operation of reviewing those Title IX comments. Whatever the eventual outcome, it is likely that the courts will be kept busy as opponents seek to have findings overturned.

If matters on the litigation front ever seem to become too quiescent, immediate assistance always is just a short distance away. As an illustration, on August 24, 2022 President Biden announced that he would cancel up to $10,000 in student debt for borrowers making under $125,000 a year, with up to $20,000 in relief for Pell Grant recipients. The U.S. Department of Education on September 29, 2022 released its estimate of the costs of this plan, indicating that it will cost an average of $30 billion a year over the next decade. The Administration points out that debt relief is designed to help borrowers and families most in need as they prepare to resume student loan payments in January 2023, with nearly 90% of relief dollars going to those earning less than $75,000 per year. Not surprisingly, opposition already is underway as lawsuits against the proposal are being filed. Among the concerns are that student debt relief will harm a state’s economy by reducing taxes collected and increasing inflation. On a more personal level, some individuals feel aggrieved because they already have worked diligently to pay off their educational debt and do not qualify for financial assistance while others who originally elected not to go to college view it as a handout at the expense of taxpayers.

 Primary Sources Of Tenure Track Faculty Members

Institutions of higher education in the U.S. hire most of their tenure-track faculty members from the same handful of elite institutions, according to a study published in the journal Nature on July 21, 2022. The finding suggests that prestige is overvalued in hiring decisions and that academic researchers have little opportunity to obtain jobs at institutions considered more elite than the ones at which they were trained. Specifically, the study reveals that just 20% of PhD-granting institutions in the United States supplied 80% of tenure-track faculty members to institutions across the country between 2011 and 2020. No historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) or Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) were among that 20%. One in eight U.S.-trained tenure-track faculty members obtained their PhDs from just five elite schools: the University of California, Berkeley; Harvard University; the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; Stanford University; and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Exploring The Exodus From Higher Education

Enrollment in education after high school is falling significantly at a time when the economy is demanding more educated workers. It is important to understand why students are not attending or staying in college so that institutional leaders and policymakers can adopt policies and practices that meet more of the situations facing today’s students. HCM Strategists and Edge Research, on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, were partners in conducting an in-depth analysis of current and former students’ attitudes about pursuing education after high school to understand better what is influencing these           students’ perceptions and plans regarding post-high school education. Among the major findings is that although dollars and debt are significant barriers, multiple factors affect this audience’s ability and interest in obtaining a degree. Individuals express limited life satisfaction, and many note they could not manage the stress/challenges associated with college. Addressing financial burdens alone is not a solution.