Todd Sollar, a laid-off autoworker from Ohio who is studying for an associate degree in engineering at Sinclair Community College, in Dayton, OH, went to Capitol Hill to help educate lawmakers about the importance of including support for community colleges in the economic-stimulus bill. Mr. Sollar came to Washington with Sinclair's president, and…

In a daylong meeting broadcast online this month, David B. Ashley, the president of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, was repeatedly grilled, and then publicly demoted, during a contentious gathering of the university system's Board of Regents. The dressing-down followed months of public disputes over the conduct of Mr. Ashley's wife and…

A life-and-death battle is going on over public access to federally financed research--life for taxpayers and many scientists, and death for publishers. Or so each side claims. That battle, whose outcome will affect many university researchers, kicked into high gear on Capitol Hill on September 11, as the combatants debated the merits of a bill…

The topic of higher-education financing--particularly as it relates to the price of college and access for low-income and middle-income students--has been front-and-center with policy makers and opinion leaders and will undoubtedly remain so with the Obama administration and Congress. Recent discussion has focused on the role of university…

Colleges have deployed various tactics over the years to deter illegal file sharing, usually of commercial music and movies, by their students. This month, the U.S. Department of Education will begin crafting regulations that specify strategies, a prospect that is making some campus officials wonder if plans they have already invested in will pass…

Figuring out how to pay for college is a common challenge for many students across the country. But in Pennsylvania, where tuition at public two- and four-year institutions is among the highest in the country, state officials are revisiting a topic that has long frustrated students and officials alike. This article reports that with the meltdown…

The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education is seeking help from Congress, and has asked two key members of Congress to hold hearings to determine if the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights has shirked its responsibility to enforce higher-education desegregation agreements. In particular, leaders are worried that…

U.S. Supreme Court justices struggled in a lively debate with how to balance the competing interests of the entertainment industry and developers of file-sharing technology. Some justices sharply questioned whether it was fair to hold inventors of a distribution technology liable for copyright infringement, while others suggested that it was wrong…

The House Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education heard testimony about both the positive aspects of intercollegiate sports and overcommercialization and corruption. The information gave legislators little sense of the federal government's role in overseeing college sports. (MSE)

Salient issues in higher education policymaking and recent changes in appropriations levels are highlighted for each state and for the federal government. Also identified are the upcoming congressional agenda, hearings, regulations, new reports, and studies under consideration. (MSE)

The House Postsecondary Education Subcommittee called hearings to give higher education officials a chance to respond to accusations that colleges are greedy and spend as much as they can. Program duplication, tax breaks for parents, tuition increases, and a call for college audits are discussed. (MLW)