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As the pandemic kept us all at home during the summer of 2021, I found myself reading things I might not normally have the time or inclination to read. Somehow, I came across a post on the Conversable Economist blog, which, as a chemist, is not on my reading list. The post , written by economist Timothy Taylor, is entitled, “Thomas Schelling: ‘A Person Cannot … Draw Up a List of Things That Would Never Occur to Him.’” As a chemistry professor at a small liberal arts college, I was immediately intrigued and eagerly climbed into this rabbit hole, because in my courses on general chemistry, there are many concepts that would never occur to my students, even after several lectures and homework assignments. But who is Thomas Schelling and why should I—we—care? Schelling won the 2005 Nobel Prize in economic sciences with Robert J. Aumann for “having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis.” He applied game theory to, among other topics, the

Colleges are under growing pressure to prove their “value” to students, parents, legislators, and others. The scrutiny can be uncomfortable, but more institutions are responding with serious efforts to measure and explain their value. This week’s episode of The Key, the last in a three-part series on value in higher education, examines the data and metrics we’re using now – and those we might use going forward – to gauge the value colleges and universities are providing to their students and other constituents. The conversations include Michael Itzkowitz, senior fellow in higher education at the center-left think tank Third Way; José Luis Cruz Rivera, president of Northern Arizona University and a member of the Postsecondary Value Commission; and Pamela Brown, vice president for institutional research and academic planning for the University of California president’s office. Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Editor Doug Lederman.  This episode was made possible by  Bill & Melin

Colleges and higher education organizations have joined President Biden’s new campaign against hunger. The president announced these commitments : By 2030, the University of California system will cut in half the proportion of its 280,000-person student body facing food insecurity—reducing the reported rate among undergraduates from 44 percent to 22 percent and among graduate students from 26 percent to 13 percent. The Association of American Medical Colleges and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education commit to organizing and hosting the first-ever Medical Education Summit on Nutrition in Practice in March 2023. Several leading health-sector organizations—the National Medical Association, National Hispanic Medical Association, Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, National Dental Association, Case Western University’s School of Dental Medicine, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, Children’s Oral Health Institute, National Association

The University of Minnesota will offer partial refunds for dining plans following student complaints about limited food options that administrators say happened as the result of a staffing shortage. Students complained about limited options, particularly a dearth of healthy choices, at the start of the semester. Now those who live in the residence halls will receive a refund “equivalent to 50 percent of their monthly dining charge for September,” the university said in a statement , noting that it would monitor the situation to determine if additional credits are needed. The local NBC affiliate, KARE 11, reported that the university is down 142 workers in dining services. As a result, students were fed items such as pizza and Lunchables, leading to complaints. Meal plans cost between $2,420 and $2,620 per semester, according to the university’s website . Higher education, like the private sector, has struggled to attract and retain employees since the onset of the pandemic, as

The University of Richmond has removed the name of T. C. Williams from its law school, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported . The T. C. Williams School of Law is now called the University of Richmond School of Law. Williams, who attended the institution from 1846 to 1849 when it was Richmond College, was a trustee and a benefactor whose gift helped establish the law school. He also owned 25 to 40 enslaved people in the mid-1800s, the newspaper reported. The removal of Williams’s name, which was approved by the Board of Trustees last week, follows university leaders’ decision to change the names of six campus buildings last March after a year of contentious discussions and debates about buildings named after controversial figures including slaveholders, eugenicists and supporters of white supremacy. “We recognize that some may be disappointed or disagree with this decision,” university president Kevin Hallock and the board wrote in a letter to the community. “We also recognize t

A new survey of 1,024 faculty members at 581 colleges and universities by education technology provider Cengage finds that 64 percent are happy in their current roles, but those who are not happy are considering leaving: some 26 percent are dissatisfied, and 70 percent of those not satisfied have considered changing jobs in the past six months. The top driver of dissatisfaction was feeling unsupported by one’s institution, followed by feeling undervalued or underpaid. “Almost all faculty say their role as an educator has changed, including how they’re spending their time each day as they manage multiple course modalities, meet new creative content demands and keep up with student communication needs,” Erin Joyner, senior vice president for product at Cengage, said in a statement. “Their connection with students—teaching, helping and mentoring them, is the greatest driver of satisfaction for faculty but they are continually pulled away from that because of competing priorities.” So

As employers grapple with economic constraints of the post-pandemic world and workers re-evaluate their expectations for flexibility, equity and respect in the workplace, higher education continues to lag in preparing the workforce’s rising generation. By fostering greater access to equitable and paid internships, higher education can be a force for change, helping break down barriers and better position students and employers for the future. Considering that enrollment in college is dropping—with higher education losing one million students in the last two years alone and steady year-over-year losses for more than a decade—we must have a frank exploration of how students perceive the value of a degree. At the same time, the global talent shortage is amplified by the growing skills gap. Employers are desperate for prepared, career-ready talent. Add in the national dialogue and heightened awareness of the need to build more inclusive workplaces and we’ve got not just a jobs problem,

Blog:  Just Visiting It's Never Too Late to Realize You're a Writer Guest Post by Eizabeth Wardle   For many people, writing is painful. The idea of writing is painful. Their memories of being taught to write in school are painful. Writing is something other people do, people who just know how to write, people who are not them. Those of us who teach and study writing for a living know that this just isn’t true, that writing is a skill developed through practice, not something we’re born with.  And yet, somehow, the misconceptions about writing remain widespread. And those misconceptions are harmful--to the people who hold them, and to those with whom they interact: to employees they supervise and whose writing they mock; to students whose writing is evaluated through high-stake tests they design; to children whose parents dismissively tell them “you just aren’t good at this.” Our ideas have consequences in the world. And in this case, our bad ideas about writing h

Blog:  Higher Ed Gamma The cliché is right: Timing is everything in life, especially financially.  Economic success often hinges on when you were born. If you were born in 1905 or 1910, you entered the labor force during the Great Depression.  Born around 1990?  Well, you exited college just as the Great Recession struck with lasting consequences for your life prospects – delaying marriage, childbearing, home buying, and your rise up the career ladder. And if you decided to become an academic historian, well…. A shocking statistic that recently spread across the Twittersphere tells that unhappy story: “27% of 2017 history PhDs had a tenure track job four years later vs. 54% for 2013 PhDs - yikes (and note how much selection bias is likely present in who finishes - imagine what the % of entering students [with Tenure Track] job stats would look like)” Certainly, the 2020-2021 jobs market was especially depressed, given the pandemic-driven lockdowns and administrators’ terro

Less than half of Hispanic students said they were excited about the start of the semester, according to a recent survey of nearly 1,000 Hispanic students at Hispanic-serving institutions. Hispanic-serving institutions are those with at least 25 percent Hispanic enrollment. More than 2 million are enrolled at the 451 HSIs identified by the Education Department in 2020. The survey was conducted by EdSights in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month. One in four of the students said they felt "nervous or overwhelmed" by the start of the semester.     Ad keywords:  studentaffairs studentsuccess Editorial Tags:  Live Updates Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Website Headline:  How Hispanic Students Feel About Semester's Start Trending:  Trending text:  How Hispanic Students Feel About Semester's Start Live Updates: 

Blog:  Confessions of a Community College Dean   A few years ago, Kevin Carey proposed a new way to fund community colleges.  I responded with a “ no, thanks .”  This week, he tried again .   Much better.   He divides the proposal into three parts: short-term training, undergraduate degrees, and graduate degrees.  For short-term training, he proposes using the ‘gainful employment’ guidelines to ensure that students only enroll in programs that offer a realistic shot at paying off.  Of course, that presupposes really good data, which is a stretch at this point, but the basic idea makes sense.  There have been too many boondoggles with short-term training.   I’d add some qualifiers.  In the data, it’s important to distinguish students who already have degrees from students who do not.  A fair number of students in certificate or training programs already have undergraduate degrees; they’re trying to change careers.  Those students are in a different place educationally t

The Pacific Legal Foundation is suing to block the Biden administration’s debt-relief plan. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a U.S. district court, alleges that the plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loans for eligible Americans violates federal law as well as the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers provisions. This is the first lawsuit to challenge the plan, though more challenges are expected. “Nothing about loan cancellation is lawful or appropriate,” the lawsuit says . “In an end-run around Congress, the administration threatens to enact a profound and transformational policy that will have untold economic impacts. The administration’s lawless action should be stopped immediately.” The foundation also has filed a temporary restraining order to prevent the program from going into effect. The department is expected to open the application for debt relief in early October. The nonprofit legal organization is representing Frank Garrison, one of its lawyers, in the suit

Stratford University, a for-profit institution, announced Friday that it would close by the end of this week, providing little notice to students and blaming the Department of Education for the decertification of Stratford’s accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. InsideNova reported that students were made aware of the coming closure two weeks ago, with promises of an 18-month teach-out to help them complete pending degree programs. But leadership reneged on that promise, informing students last week that Stratford would close later this week. InsideNova reported that 800 of Stratford’s roughly 2,000 students are now in limbo. Headquartered in Virginia, Stratford has three U.S. campuses as well as another in India. ACICS lost its federal recognition in August after years of scrutiny for accrediting failing institutions—some of which defrauded students—and was frequently a target of for-profit education critics and both the Obama and Biden ad

Higher education is failing students with mental health needs. Demands for mental health resources were already climbing before the COVID-19 pandemic, and students now are reporting heightened stress, anxiety and depression as a result of the health crisis and the isolation, grief and economic uncertainty that it has caused. Eating disorders and disordered eating, already most common among young adults, remain an issue for college students , and a 2020 survey by the Centers for Disease Control showed that about 25 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 had seriously considered suicide. Even as leaders in higher education acknowledge the mounting mental health issues among students and allocate more resources to student well-being, colleges and universities don’t have an effective model for providing sufficient mental health services. Instead, they tend to use outdated managed-care approaches that limit the number of sessions in a one-size-fits-all approach. With the dem