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The Department of Education announced Thursday that it will respond to “pervasive and widespread misconduct” by the Marinello Schools of Beauty by giving borrower-defense claims to everyone who took out loans to enroll in the schools from 2009 through their closure in February 2016. These 28,000 borrowers will receive loan discharges totaling approximately $238 million. Counting the Marinello loan discharges, the department has now approved more than $18.5 billion in loan discharges for more than 750,000 borrowers. Ad keywords:  administrators studentaid Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Trending:  Live Updates:  liveupdates0 from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/rSw5Qmc via IFTTT

Ohio State University is ending a program it started in 2017 , amid much fanfare, to give every new student an iPad, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Executive Vice President and Provost Melissa L. Gilliam announced the change in a universitywide email. She said that instead of students having their own iPads, the Office of Technology and Digital Innovation will give loaner devices to students who need them. The university had encouraged instructors to use iPads in their courses. Gilliam said Ohio State will take a “device-agnostic approach” by the beginning of fall semester. Gilliam said Ohio State’s “successful relationship with Apple will continue as we ensure instructional continuity.” Ohio State will also expand Adobe Creative Cloud access to all students in June as part of the new programming. In addition, the university is starting “virtual desktop services,” which will allow students to access specific software they need on any device from anywhere at no cost. Ad key...

The U.S. government is casting a skeptical eye on college policies that withhold academic transcripts and otherwise punish students because they owe the institutions money. This week’s episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed ’s news and analysis podcast, explores why some institutions have those policies and why consumer advocates think they’re pernicious, even though they’re a tiny piece of the $1.7 trillion student debt problem in American higher education. Martin Kurzweil, director of the institutional transformation program at Ithaka S+R, discusses research on what it calls “stranded credits,” which colleges sometimes hold hostage from former students, and a promising experiment that could offer a way out for students and colleges alike. Melanie Gottlieb, executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, explains why many higher ed officials oppose potential federal regulation to ban such policies, but she acknowledges the need...

The best scene in my favorite book as a child (which may explain my sense of humor—or lack thereof)—is the mad tea party in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland . It’s a series of epic skits that add up to the most wonderfully absurd passage in the English language. To wit, Alice is delighted when the Mad Hatter welcomes her to the party with a riddle: Why is a raven like a writing desk? She says she thinks she can figure it out. He circles back to her a few minutes later. Mad Hatter: Have you guessed the riddle yet? Alice: No, I give it up. What’s the answer? Mad Hatter: I haven’t the slightest idea. Or when the sleepy Dormouse slowly launches into a story of three sisters who live at the bottom of a well: Alice: What did they live on? Dormouse: They lived on treacle [molasses]. Alice: They couldn’t have done that. They’d have been ill. Dormouse: So they were. Very ill. But the topper is when the Mad Hatter checks his pocket watch and finds it’s broken. Apparently the March...

The U.S. government is casting a skeptical eye on college policies that withhold academic transcripts and otherwise punish students because they owe the institutions money. This week's episode of The Key explores why some institutions use those policies and why consumer advocates think they're pernicious, even though they're only a small fraction of the $1.7 trillion student debt problem in American higher education. Martin Kurzweil, director of the institutional transformation program at Ithaka S+R, discusses research on what it calls “stranded credits” that colleges sometimes hold hostage from former students and a promising experiment that could offer a way out for students and colleges alike. Melanie Gottlieb, executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, explains why many higher ed officials oppose potential federal regulation to ban such policies, but acknowledges the need for colleges to limit the kinds of d...

Morris Brown College has regained full accreditation after almost two decades. The Board of Trustees at the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, an accreditor based in Virginia, voted in favor of the move on Tuesday. The historically Black college, founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, lost its accreditation in 2002 after a former president and financial aid director were found to have misappropriated U.S. Department of Education funds. The college never closed but has struggled to keep up enrollment beyond a few dozen students and has since sold most of its Atlanta campus. The accreditation means Morris Brown students will now be able to receive federal financial aid and earn accredited degrees. “Many thought that this feat was impossible, but due to our strong faith in God, our hardworking and wonderful faculty and staff, the support of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, our dedicated alumni, and our resilient spirit, we were able to a...

The LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education organization has approved, by a board vote, a boycott of states that have passed legislation discriminating against gay and transgender individuals. The organization will not hold board or membership meetings in such states or conduct its Leadership Institute training in any state that targets LGBTQ+ people, according to a news release. LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education and its subsidiary organization, LGBTQ Leaders in Higher Education, will boycott states with laws that “discriminate against trans youth and their families; prohibit curriculum, speech, and library materials about gender identities and sexuality; or prohibit curriculum, speech, and library materials about racial discrimination as it exists now and historically.” States mentioned specifically include Florida and Texas, both of which have made national headlines recently. In Florida, the controversial bill that critics call “ Don’t Say Gay ” aims to limit discussion of LG...

New York State attorney general Letitia James announced Wednesday that she has secured student debt relief for thousands of New York borrowers whose federal loans were allegedly mismanaged by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. In an agreement with the Office of the Attorney General, PHEAA is required to audit thousands of accounts to identify errors that may have caused borrowers to miss out on benefits, such as income-driven repayment plans or debt forgiveness for eligible borrowers under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. PHEAA, which operates as FedLoan Servicing and American Education Services, will correct errors identified in borrowers’ accounts and provide monetary relief as restitution for some borrowers as appropriate. More than 300,000 borrowers are eligible to have their accounts reviewed for free and are encouraged to request an audit. This agreement resolves an earlier lawsuit brought against the student loan servicer over allegations that ...

A recent piece by University of Virginia senior Emma Camp describing her experience of feeling silenced in campus conversations about controversial issues created a bit of a firestorm. Conservatives saw confirmation of their concerns about cancel culture on college campuses. Liberals saw hypocrisy in Camp’s simultaneous desire for open, free debate and her frustration at negative responses from those who disagreed with her views. As a philosophy professor who has spent the past 15 years helping students navigate controversial conversations in the classroom, I saw a false dichotomy that commonly derails campus speech discussions. The belief seems to be that either students must feel free to speak their minds without concern for the impact of their statements, or students are silenced by chilling environments that only allow views that match progressive orthodoxy. Since 2017, I have taught a course that focuses on building skills for dialogue across difference. In this class, we ...

Universities, too often seen as elitist, have lost touch with the American people. This was the warning from Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, speaking earlier this month on a panel at the ASU+GSV Summit , the San Diego ed-tech event co-organized by his institution. Crow said there was a groundswell of “negative energy” toward universities, and things had gotten so bad “that the Congress of the United States is now taxing all the large university endowments” to send a clear message that universities need to do more to convince the public of their value. The problem, said Crow, was that universities had “failed at the job of communicating” their social impact. And the consequences were extremely grim: “If we don’t figure out how to communicate, this gap between the general public and the universities is going to accelerate until we get torches at the door. That’s possible. Torches at the door are now in the realm of possibility.” A large part of the blame for t...

This week’s episode of the Pulse podcast features a discussion with Michelle Weise, vice chancellor for strategy and innovation at National University. In a conversation with the host of The Pulse, Rodney B. Murray of the University of the Sciences, Weise explores a wide range of issues related to online education, working learners and skills development. Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Trending:  Live Updates:  liveupdates0 from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/Bga3YZ7 via IFTTT

The Education Department on Tuesday added 73 colleges to the Second Chance Pell Experiment , which allows incarcerated people to receive Pell Grants. The department also announced changes to policies to help incarcerated individuals with defaulted loans, including “affirming that incarcerated individuals qualify for a fresh start, which returns borrowers with defaulted loans to repayment in good standing and allows them to access programs like the Second Chance Pell Experiment.” The Second Chance Pell Experiment was established in 2015 to provide Pell Grants to incarcerated individuals to allow them to participate in postsecondary education programs. To date, students have earned over 7,000 credentials. Today’s announcement brings to 200 the number of colleges that are in the program. Ad keywords:  administrators studentaid Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice news...

Student Defense, the Project on Predatory Student Lending and the National Consumer Law Center have filed a lawsuit against Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and the Department of Education on behalf of student loan borrowers with unresolved borrower defense to repayment claims. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, alleges the department has for six years ignored its responsibility to issue a decision on a group borrower-defense application submitted by the Massachusetts attorney general in May 2016 on behalf of eligible former students of the now-defunct Kaplan Career Institute. The Education Department, which has granted more borrower-defense discharges than any other administration, declined to comment on pending litigation. Ad keywords:  administrators studentaid Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Trending:  ...

Harvard University has pledged $100 million to make amends for its historical ties to slavery, the university announced Tuesday. The money will establish an endowed Legacy of Slavery Fund to research and redress Harvard’s “extensive entanglements with slavery,” President Lawrence Bacow wrote in a message to the community. The announcement came with the release of a 100-page report, more than two years in the making, by a committee of Harvard professors appointed by Bacow to expose Harvard’s links to slavery. “The truth is that slavery played a significant part in our institutional history,” Bacow wrote. “Enslaved people worked on our campus supporting our students, faculty, and staff, including several Harvard presidents. The labor of enslaved people both far and near enriched numerous donors and, ultimately, the institution.” Harvard is the latest U.S. university to publicly acknowledge and move to rectify its involvement with slavery, joining such institutions as Brown an...

Blog:  Higher Ed Gamma Perhaps you read a recent article in the noted linguist John McWhorter’s newsletter entitled “ College Became the Default. Let’s Rethink That .”  A  genuine public intellectual , McWhorter is a progressive contrarian and an intellectual provocateur who writes for the public in ordinary language and whose opinions are utterly unpredictable. As an outpouring of  letters to the  Times  makes clear, his views do not conform to the current progressive orthodoxy that young people need four years further education post-high school.  He strongly endorses the argument made by Bard College president Leon Botstein in his 1997 collection of essays,  Jefferson’s Children , that the American system of education requires a radical overhaul. Botstein’s book made a host of provocative arguments: That high schools were “ out of sync ” with the more rapid maturation of today’s adolescents. That high school’s hothouse environmen...