To make it easier for students to earn college credits in online courses, government regulation of such classes should be streamlined across state boundaries and better consumer protection rules enacted, a national commission said Thursday... read more >

An unusual new study of the effects of faculty unionization on public universities—rather than on just faculty members themselves—reaches the controversial conclusion that such institutions generally become more efficient and effective when their professors form collective-bargaining units. read more >

Michigan’s public institutions scrambled to approve new faculty contracts before March 28, when the state’s right-to-work law goes into effect. In the rush to ratify a contract two years in the making, faculty members at Grand Rapids Community College have accepted a deal that freezes their pay for two years and grants raises based on their performance only. read more >

A system developed by a joint venture between Harvard and M.I.T. uses artificial intelligence to assess student papers and short written answers, freeing instructors for other tasks. Could this be the beginning of online assessment tools for something other than multiple choice tests? read more >

Another report has concluded that the financial model for higher education is broken. The difference this time is that the report calls on both state lawmakers and campuses to share in the burden of fixing the problems. read more >

Lacking formal bargaining rights, the Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association waged a campaign of escalating direct action in fall 2012, after a dean tried to cancel a benefit. Their "campaign of annoyance" was soon successful. Photo: MGAA. read more >

As states prepare their budgets for the coming year, they face the challenge of reinvesting in public higher education systems after years of damaging cuts. read more >

The State University of New York’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday endorsed an ambitious vision for how SUNY might use prior-learning assessment, competency-based programs, and massive open online courses to help students finish their degrees in less time, for less money. read more >

Supporters of newly proposed legislation in California hope to reduce the number of students shut out of key courses by forging an unprecedented partnership between traditional public colleges and online-education upstarts. But on Wednesday specific details of how the deal would work were hard to pin down. read more >

A powerful California lawmaker wants public college students who are shut out of popular courses to attend low-cost online alternatives – including those offered by for-profit companies – and he plans to encourage the state’s public institutions to grant credit for those classes. read more >

Median salaries for tenure-track faculty members at four-year colleges and universities were up 2.1 percent in 2012 -- matching the rate of inflation for the year, according to a study being released today by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. read more >

The world of higher education seems poised to enter a period of stark change: the onset of mass online education. Awash with excitement over this development, too many pundits are failing to discuss the cultural and ecological problems that the Internet revolution exacerbates. read more >

State and local financing for higher education declined 7 percent in fiscal 2012, to $81.2 billion, according to the annual report of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, and per-student support dropped 9 percent from the previous year, to $5,896, in constant dollars, the lowest level in at least 25 years. read more >

Online education may have arrived at the upper echelons of higher education, but it's not going to make elite colleges any cheaper to attend. read more >

The U. of Maryland at College Park has some 3,000 non-tenure-track faculty members, including more than 700 part-time instructors and about 1,800 research faculty members, according to a report the campus's University Senate is scheduled to consider this week. The report calls for giving them more pay, job security, respect, and clout. read more >

With only days remaining till steep federal spending cuts take effect, colleges and students are bracing for painful reductions in research, student-aid, and job-training programs. Some researchers say federal grant making has slowed already, as the science agencies prepare for tighter budgets. read more >

Low-cost online courses could allow a more-diverse group of students to try college, but a new study suggests that such courses could also widen achievement gaps among students in different demographic groups. read more >

How can a nonprofit organization that gives away courses bring in enough revenue to at least cover its costs? read more >

Looming budget cuts would end financial aid for thousands of students and force the U.S. Department of Education to slice payments to contractors that administer the federal student-aid programs, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told members of Congress on Thursday. read more >

Interest rates are at historic lows and everyone—homeowners, corporations, and even state and local governments—are refinancing their debts. Refinancing allows the borrower to replace his or her existing debt with a new loan with lower interest rates and better terms. This means that borrowers can lower their monthly payments, which frees up income for purchases and creates ripple effects throughout the entire economy. There is one critical group, however, that is getting left behind in the refinancing boom: students and families who take out loans to pay for higher education. read more >