This article reports on Wachovia Bank's move in freezing the accounts of nearly 1,000 colleges that invest through Commonfund, leaving them unable to reach billions of dollars they depend on for salaries, construction, and debt payments. The move could cause other ripples, as Moody's Investors Service announced it would review the credit impact of…

Who needs college credit when one can have a makeshift diploma from a superstar professor? One such example is David Wiley who taught an online course at Utah State University recently and let anyone fully participate, even if they were not enrolled. The unofficial students paid no tuition and got no formal credit, but they did end up with…

Dozens of colleges and universities, including some of the country's wealthiest institutions, are facing a sharp rise in interest payments on a whopping mound of debt. About a third of the nearly 300 private institutions rated by Moody's Investors Service are financing more than half their debt with variable-rate bonds, some of whose rates have…

Briefly describes a beginning composition course at the University of Toledo in which students, if they pass, receive five hours of credit toward their degree. (RB)

This study sought to examine and comprehensively describe transfer students who have earned a two-year technical or occupational Associate in Science (AS) degree at the community college and entered the university to pursue the Bachelor of Science in Applied Science (BSAS). The BSAS degree is a specialized baccalaureate degree program created…

As parents and students struggle with increasing college costs, one issue receiving considerable attention over the past several years has been the rising price of textbooks. The question of whether a relationship exists between textbook pricing and the overall cost of college has attracted notice from consumer interest groups and, subsequently,…

This newsletter highlights research results on the Mobility of Transfer Students (MTS), a branch of research conducted under the auspices of the Student Transitions Project (STP). In this annual study, students enrolled in the Fall of 2007 in BC colleges, university colleges, and institutes were followed into calendar year 2008 to identify those…

Information on the divergence between student numbers and delivery hours for the period 2002 to 2007 is provided in this technical paper. The change in hours from one year to the next is decomposed into three effects, one of which is "hours inflation", whereby nominal hours increase over time for the same unit of competency or module.…

The purpose of this study was to gather more information about the influence of beginning higher education at a two-year college versus beginning at a four-year college on a student's educational achievement. The three outcomes of interest were: (1) whether a student remains continuously enrolled throughout college; (2) total number of college…

What does it cost to provide a bachelor's-level education? This question arises with increasing frequency and urgency as pressure mounts on policymakers and education leaders to increase the education attainment level in the United States, to "Double the Numbers" in some cases. At the same time, the two traditional sources of…

This article discusses how to help struggling students in high school. The author describes the Early College High School Initiative which challenges minority and low-income youths to earn one to two years of college credits while in high school. The program is part of a nationwide effort to bridge the gap between secondary and postsecondary…

2010 sees the end of the process of establishing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Although not all countries may have achieved all the objectives, many are those countries and universities who have implemented many of the targets set. Within the Bologna Process, there have been many developments such as: European Credit Transfer and…

The author discusses fundamental misunderstandings about Advanced Placement (AP)courses, which are intended to provide high-school students with an academic college experience, typically at the level of an introductory college course. Popular misconceptions include: (1) AP is about memorization and does not require students to think critically;…

This article reports findings from an impact study of a 2-year postsecondary academic program offered in state prisons. Outcomes examined for participants during their 1st year of participation include performance on a standardized test of critical thinking skills, credit acquisition, achievement motivation, educational aspirations, personal…

Prior research has demonstrated gaps in the academic success of college student subgroups defined by race/ethnicity, income, and gender. We studied trends over time in the success of students in these subgroups in particular first-year college courses: English Composition I, College Algebra, social science courses, and Biology. The study is based…