Explaining the High Cost of College
The most striking fact about American colleges and universities over the last fifty years is how rapidly the cost of attending has risen. A good perspective on the college cost…
Did You Know? The Higher Education Profile of North Carolina Business Leaders
Is having a college degree a critical dimension in becoming a business leader for those running North Carolina’s largest corporations? We have analyzed that question as part of a broader…
Don’t Cancel Rigor
The Chronicle of Higher Education has just published the latest assault on academic standards, Jordynn Jack and Viji Sathy’s “It’s Time to Cancel the Word ‘Rigor’.” Jack teaches rhetoric and…
How Open Are North Carolina Schools to Free Speech?
Free speech is under attack in the United States today. Even Big Tech is censoring content: sites like Twitter and Facebook censor speech that is deemed anti-diversity, anti-racist, or even…
Universities and Meritocracy
We take it for granted that people are free to use their abilities as they choose, and as a result, society as a whole benefits from their work and innovations.…
Sheep No More: the Alumni Rise
In my nearly 15 years as a higher education journalist and analyst, I have, unfortunately, witnessed too few victories for the reform movement. In that time, and certainly for several…
Why Is the AAUP Investigating UNC?
On September 29, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) announced that it is investigating what it calls “egregious violations of principles of academic governance and persistent structural racism in…
Building a “Robust Free Expression Culture on Campus”
Many college campuses aren’t as hospitable to open inquiry and free expression as they should be. However, there is reason for hope. Numerous individuals and organizations across the country have…
Did You Know? Americans’ Views of College Professors
Americans’ trust in higher education is wavering. Back in 2018, a Pew Research Center survey found that about 61 percent of Americans think that the higher education system is going…
Making a College Degree More Valuable the Wrong Way
It’s old news by now that the wage premium attached to a college degree largely depends on the field of study. Engineering and health care, for example, are far more…