Picking up the thread on the Higher Education Act (H.R. 4137), this bill actually addresses a lot of different things beyond the Pell grant situation, which I discussed last week. So to pick at the bill piecemeal, let’s take a look at the loan issue.

We all know that student loan debt is a big concern. Checking out a USA Today article called “Young People Struggle to Deal with the Kiss of Debt,” it looks like students on average were carrying around over $14,000 of debt as of 2006; (more…)

Good morning campers! Let’s get right to it:

The Washington Post reports that college demographics are on the brink of change, with an overall decrease in applicants (sighs of relief from parents of tweens everywhere) and, in particular, a decrease in the most common college population: white kids. The article notes that there should be an increase in Hispanic applicants, but not necessarily students. The article quotes ACE president David Ward noting that Hispanic families are often reluctant to borrow the astronomical sums of money required to send a child to a four-year college.

Universities, of course, not so excited about this trend. Not only will they have fewer students beating down their doors, but they may have to start using their endowments for funding if parents won’t cough up. (more…)

Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the renewal of the Higher Education Act. The bill (H.R. 4137 for those of you keeping track) seeks to help students gain access to financial aid (such as raising the Pell grant to $9000 and making it available year round) and address a variety of concerns surrounding lending as well as other college issues.

Government bills are kind of fascinating creatures to study. Consider the idea of raising the Pell grant to $9,000. Sounds great, doesn’t it? (more…)

He may have lost the 2000 presidential election, but Al Gore definitely won for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Throughout the film, the former veep highlights various environmental lowlights with a bevy of facts and eye-opening images. Though many experts dispute the severity of global warming, there’s no doubt the dialogue has spawned government agencies, corporations, and universities across the country to ’sharpen their gaze’ when it comes to the environment. (more…)

Today’s post is brought to you by guest blogger Amye Cole:

So, what does it take to be one of the “green colleges,” anyway? There’s no shortage of buzzwords about different ways to approach global warming–green building, green initiative, offsetting the carbon footprint, etc. Many colleges are taking steps towards going green, and there are too many green universities to list. However, the following four green colleges and universities are a bit more creative in their approach.

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Much has been made of the rising costs of higher education. I know; I’m one of the ones making a fuss. But John Lombardi over at Higher Ed News had a post that put some things into perspective. In “Pricing the Product,” he points out that colleges charge only one price to cover a variety of degree programs with different costs. For instance, a biology degree program generally does not equal an English degree in cost. (more…)

Apparently, choosing a president is best done in secret. At least if you’re a university in North Carolina.

I’m basically linking to this post for the title. I love it when bloggers interpret literally the advice to include relevant information in your headline.

Weblogg-ed offers a fascinating post on the concept of the ‘Distributed University.’ I suspect there are some logistical barriers in the way of students and profs worldwide seeking one another out, but what a thought-provoking idea. Here’s the post that inspired them.

You may have won the first round, Blackboard… but watch out! Europe is sneaking up on you.