Short Takes
Growing up, Bryan Peña’s parents were guarded about their immigration status—they arrived from Guatemala when Peña was just a baby. But he is a vocal advocate, telling the Los Angeles Times, which profiled him and four other DACA recipients at a rally last month, “This is where I want to live. This is the only life I know.”
Three years ago, the University Innovation Alliance (UIA), which includes 11 universities across United States, set a goal to graduate an additional 68,000 undergraduates by 2025 with at least half of those students come from low-income families. Since 2014, the total number of undergraduate degrees awarded by UIA members has increased by 9.2 percent from 79,170 to 86,436.
The report found that while Pell eligibility does not necessarily increase or change the likelihood of a student choosing to go to college or not, relatively small additional grant aid at college entry substantially increases college completion and earnings.
Gloria Oduyoye, who was brought to the United States as a one-year-old, is in her final semester at William and Mary (VA) Law School, after earning her undergraduate dual degree in political science and music at Wesleyan College (GA). She is on track to become the first DACA recipient to graduate from law school in Virginia.
When University of Cincinnati College of Law School student Isabel Johnston discovered her undocumented status at age 15, she believed that effectively placed her dreams on hold, according to a profile of her in The News Record, UC’s student newspaper.
Tony Messenger of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch profiles Dreamer Areli Munoz-Reyes. This is the second in a series of posts on individual Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as young children, many of whom are under threat of deportation following the Trump administration’s decision last month to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy.
Since the Trump administration announced the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, there have been many stories about the accomplishments of these high-achieving young people. One such story is that of Tony Solis of Chicago, a Davidson College (NC) student profiled last month by The Washington Post.
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.