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Section: Blogs/Opinion

Can Online Courses Replace Traditional College?

For much of their modern existance, distance-education courses have suffered from an image problem. In the 1970s and 1980s, they were seen as cheap knockoffs of on-campus offerings, hawked on late-night television by the likes of Sally Struthers, who asked viewers, “Do you want to make more money? Sure, we all do,” in commercials for […]

October 6, 2016

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Support Military Families

If this election season has taught us anything, it’s that America is a nation divided. But one area where we can find common ground is the commitment to the men and women who serve our country in uniform and their families. Preserving efforts to advance not only veterans, but military families and spouses, is a […]

October 4, 2016

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Understanding the Multiple Crises in Student Debt

“There’s a lot of talk about the student-debt crisis, and I’m going to tell you that I don’t think there really is a student-debt crisis,” said Debbie Cochrane, the vice president at The Institute for College Access and Success. “What there are are multiple student-debt crises.” And though the federal government and the private sector […]

September 30, 2016

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Profit Motive and Education May Not Mix

We’re believers in free enterprise and the right to start a business, make a product and generate a profit by selling it for more than it costs to produce. But I wonder if some important elements of life simply aren’t suitable for producing a profit. Consider these four: Education: I started thinking about this question […]

September 29, 2016

Do Voters Care About Education?

Even for those following the 2016 campaigns closely, the odds are that they haven’t seen a lot of attention devoted to education. The Harvard Political Review has observed that candidates “on both sides of the aisle, have ignored a plethora of worthy discussions” and that “the most glaring example is … education policy.” The Huffington […]

September 27, 2016

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The Benefits of Hiring a Veteran

Today, there is a critical shortage of qualified workers. Worker shortages, as well as skill gaps and low unemployment rates, are making it very difficult to recruit talent. Additionally, finding the right mix of intelligence, talent, work ethic, and cultural fit in an employee is no easy task. Employers are struggling to find just the […]

September 23, 2016

ITT Executives, Blame Yourselves

Don’t cry for ITT. Judging from all the accusations that have been made against the ITT in recent years, its leaders have only themselves to blame for the company’s collapse. Unsurprisingly, ITT officials and other apologists for the company, such as the editorial writers at The Wall St. Journal, don’t like that explanation. They would […]

September 22, 2016

Wounded Warriors Is Turning Things Around

From The Florida Times-Union It’s been several months since the Wounded Warrior Project was rocked by troubling issues regarding questionable spending and a lack of accountability. But there are encouraging indications that the Jacksonville-based nonprofit is turning things around. After forcing out top executives linked to the controversy, Wounded Warrior has brought in as CEO […]

September 20, 2016

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Closing For-Profits Could Hurt More than Help

NEVER MIND that the higher education plans of tens of thousands of students will be disrupted. Or that 8,000 people will lose their jobs. Or that American taxpayers could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in forgiven student loans. What is apparently of most importance to the Obama administration is its […]

September 16, 2016

Cynthia Tucker: Capitalism and Education Don’t Mix

The news left tens of thousands of students stunned: Just as the fall semester was starting, ITT Technical Institute, one of the nation’s largest chains of for-profit colleges, shut down all its campuses, stranding some would-be graduates a few months shy of a diploma. As wrenching as the closure is, though, it should have happened […]

September 15, 2016

Bill Clinton Earned Millions from For-Profit Company

Laureate Education is the world’s largest for-profit college operator, a behemoth that enrolls more than 1 million students, online and on campus, at 87 schools across 28 different countries. And, as the Washington Post recounts in a long feature this week, the company paid former President Bill Clinton some $17.6 million over five years to […]

September 13, 2016

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ITT and the Crisis in For-Profit Education

The rapid decline of the ITT for profit-college may represent a pivotal moment in modern history, as seen in rising challenges to predatory capitalism. ITT is in deep trouble, subject to numerous lawsuits, from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Consumer Finance and Protection Bureau (CFPB) for defrauding students. The con that is for-profit education […]

September 9, 2016

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Why Student Debt Matters

WASHINGTON (AP) — THE ISSUE: More Americans are getting buried by student debt — causing delays in home ownership, limiting how much people can save and leaving taxpayers at risk as many loans go unpaid. The statistics look daunting. Student debt now totals around $1.26 trillion. This amounts to a stunning 350 percent increase since […]

September 8, 2016

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ITT Crackdown Long Overdue

ITT Technical Institute’s tagline is “Education for the Future.” The for-profit chain’s future is in trouble, and it’s about time. The U.S. Department of Education announced last week it was banning the school’s parent, ITT Educational Services, from enrolling new students who rely on federal loans and grants. The government is acting on concerns raised […]

September 7, 2016

What Do Adult Students Want from College?

Each year, legions of adult learners – that is, students who are 25 years old or older – take a first or second chance at higher education. This growing demographic tends to be ambitious, capable, and eager to learn. But until now, there was no large-scale ranking of colleges that cater to the group. On […]

September 1, 2016

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How to Increase MOOC Completion Rate

St. George’s University has increased the pass rate of students in its public health massive open online course by more than 400%, and nearly five times the national completion rate for similar distance learning modules. The course uses flipped classroom models, peer review and industrial infusion to make lessons more engaging and enriched for students. […]

August 30, 2016

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Increased Oversight of ITT and the Impact on Students

In recent years, ITT Educational Services, Inc. (ITT) has increasingly been the subject of state and federal investigations and this year it has twice been found out of compliance with its accreditor’s standards. Over time, ITT’s decisions have put its students and millions of dollars in taxpayer funded federal student aid at risk. In response, […]

August 26, 2016

U.S. Army Combat Veteran Reports On Business Built On Urban Farming.

After 20 years of travails and a 10-year-long war, literature’s most celebrated veteran, Odysseus, finally returns to his homeland to find he does not recognize it—or himself—at all. As he sets foot upon home soil, noble Odysseus “awoke from his sleep, having been away so long that he did not know his fatherland again”. Read […]

August 25, 2016

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