Short Takes

Inside Higher Ed recently released the latest 2017 Survey of College and University Admissions Directors, which found that only 34 percent of colleges met new student enrollment targets this year by May 1. The 34 percent figure is down from 37 percent a year ago and 42 percent two years ago.

A new survey from GMAC shows that 73 percent of larger graduate business programs (201 or more class seats) report increased applications this year compared to 39 percent of the smallest programs (50 or fewer class seats). Participating programs received a combined 466,176 applications during the 2017 application cycle.

A new project housed at Georgetown University studies the condition of free speech in the United States today. Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and led by Sanford Ungar, veteran journalist and former president of Goucher College, the Free Speech Project will document and analyze incidents in higher education and civil society that challenge free speech.

Federal Student Aid, an office within the Department of Education, recently released new data on the characteristics of federal student aid recipients, including student loan borrowers by institutional type, age, debt size, and location; grant and loan disbursements by age and location; and direct loan disbursements by programs of study.

Between 2004 and 2009, over 1/3 of all college students transferred at least once, and that in the act of transferring, they lost around 43 percent of their previously accumulated credits on average, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

First amendment rights regarding freedom of speech on college campuses nationwide has sparked significant debate and media coverage in recent months. In response, the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges developed a set of guidelines intended to provide clarity on the role of institutions in upholding such freedoms.

The Wisconsin State Legislature has once again inserted a proposal from Governor Scott Walker to track the number of teaching hours that University of Wisconsin (UW) System professors spend in the classroom back into the state’s budget.

A recent news article by Matt Krupnick of the Hechinger Report focuses on the need for more tradespeople, occupations that are increasingly in high demand.

ACT’s Center for Equity in Learning recently released a report on working learners, Who Does Work Work For? Understanding Equity in Learner College and Career Success.

In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, president of LaGuardia Community College and ACE Board Member Gail O. Mellow offered her perspective on today’s college students. Namely, they aren’t who you think they are, and the higher education community could help remove barriers to their success by realizing that.

Equitable access to a higher education remains elusive. A recent New York Times article revealed that Black and Hispanic freshman are more underrepresented at the nation’s elite colleges today than they were 35 years ago.

Iowa’s public universities are presenting to the state’s Board of Regents Tuition Task Force this week on their five-year proposals for tuition pricing. The Tuition Task Force “was established to facilitate public discussion regarding the issue of tuition at Iowa’s public universities” and looks to foster collaborative solutions between the state’s legislators and public universities for minimizing tuition increases.