Features
Supporting First-Generation and Low-Income Students at the University of Florida
First launched in 2006, the Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars Program supports nearly 1,250 undergraduates annually and will soon surpass the 2,000 alumni milestone. For the first-generation and low-income students in the program, early estimates indicate that they are 44 percent more likely to graduate in four years and 47 percent more likely to complete in six years compared to their peers.
As We Remember Katrina and Recovery, Don’t Neglect Higher Education’s Role
As we reflect on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we will no doubt read and hear stories of rescue and rebuilding and the people who made a difference. When we do, we must also recall the way the higher education community pulled together to save and restore a critical element of the Gulf Coast’s infrastructure—its wide array of colleges and universities.
How to Navigate the Credentialing Maze
The stunning increase in the number and variety of credentials available in this country—college degrees, educational certificates, industry credentials, licensures, and most recently micro-credentials, such as digital badges—seems like a positive thing. However, the complex and fragmented nature of the credentialing marketplace is having the opposite effect—mass confusion.
ISU President Steven Leath: Prioritize Agricultural Research
By 2050, the world population is projected to increase by roughly one third, creating one of the greatest conundrums in history: How to produce as much food in the next 35 years as we have produced in the previous several thousand. Iowa State President Steven Leath writes about his institution’s role in addressing this challenge, and the need to make agricultural research a national priority.
FAFSA Simplification: Harder Than It Seems
Making it easy for students and families to apply for federal student aid is a little like the Holy Grail—universally sought for its extraordinary value, but never found. And the search likely will intensify as Congress works to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, writes Terry Hartle. At issue is the FAFSA, the form that students and families must fill out to get federal student aid.
Fighting Food Insecurity on Campus
College and university administrators and leaders around the country increasingly are realizing that undergraduate students are among the millions of Americans who experience food insecurity, or a lack of resources to obtain nutritional food. Chris Nellum looks at what we can do about the problem, which has grown significantly in the years since the Great Recession.
DMU President Angela Franklin: An Unconventional Journey
Higher education leaders from around the country gathered last week in Arlington, Virginia to discuss the progress of ACE’s Moving the Needle initiative, which is working toward the goal of women holding 50 percent of college and university presidencies by 2030. In this post, Des Moines University President Angela Franklin talks about the importance of women leaders sharing their personal stories.
Mapping New Pathways for Native Youth
While 208,838 American Indian and Alaska Native students were enrolled in college in 2012—a 17 percent increase from 2004—46 percent are first-generation and low-income, a population that often struggles with college completion. As the White House gears up for the first Tribal Youth Gathering, Christine Nelson looks at efforts to expand higher education opportunities for these students.
Opening Cuba and the World to Webster University Students
On Dec. 17, 2014, President Obama announced that he was restoring full diplomatic relations with Cuba, a historic decision that is ending over 50 years of frozen relations. Higher education has been one of the main beneficiaries of these early efforts. Beth Stroble, president of Webster University in Missouri, explores the future for continued cooperation between U.S. and Cuban institutions.
How to Explode a Myth: Reshaping the Conversation About the Liberal Arts
Higher education leaders are living and leading in the context of increased public scrutiny, demands for greater public accountability, and a “new normal” of constrained resources. Educational leaders must redouble our efforts to clarify the essential components of a high-quality college degree and provide evidence on that oft-repeated and anxiety-generated question: Is college really worth it?
Joint and Dual Degree Programs Gain Steam Worldwide
ACE’s Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement’s 2014 report, Mapping International Joint and Dual Degrees: U.S. Program Profiles and Perspectives explores the landscape of such programs in the United States, including characteristics and policies, academic focus areas, partner locations and programmatic challenges, and their role in broader institutional strategy and planning.
Will Performance-Based Funding Further Disadvantage Disadvantaged Students?
Performance-based funding (PBF) is becoming increasingly popular as an accountability tool to reward higher education institutions for specific student outcomes. Despite its popularity, however, a substantial body of empirical evidence shows PBF can have troubling and unintended impacts. With this in mind, Lyle McKinney and Linda Serra Hagedorn look at the Texas Student Success Points Model.