Recently, a legislative proposal aimed at improving graduation rates at the University of North Carolina system’s 16 institutions was nixed due to vehement opposition from university leaders. In its place … Continue reading “The Higher Education Establishment’s Self-Interest Goes Unchecked—Again”
Many experts believe that the United States is facing a student loan crisis. Total student loan debt now exceeds $1.3 billion—more than total credit card debt for the country. And … Continue reading “States Should Work to Ameliorate Bad Federal Student Loan Policies”
Back in 2003, Thomas Benton—“the pseudonym of an assistant professor of English at a Midwestern liberal arts college”—wrote a brutally honest article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about graduate … Continue reading “The Academic Job Market Is Tottering, But Nobody’s Telling Graduate Students”
Small classes and programs are often praised for offering students more personal attention and one-on-one time with professors. But when programs are too small, students and universities suffer. Students find … Continue reading “Online Course Exchanges: Models of Efficiency”
The North Carolina General Assembly’s recently released budget for 2016-17 increases University of North Carolina System appropriations by $168 million, $31 million of which will be dedicated to fund projected … Continue reading “NC’s Latest Higher Ed Budget: More Spending, Less Saving”
Last month, former NC State football player Eric Leak made headlines for giving an unnamed UNC athlete “improper benefits,” in violation of the North Carolina Uniform Athlete Agents Act (UAAA). … Continue reading “Enriching the NCAA Through State Law”
Because of protectionist regulations, North Carolina’s range of higher education choices is not as wide as it should be. But it’s not just the Tar Heel State that gums up the works with excessive red tape. North Carolina schools that want to offer their online courses to out-of-state students have had to navigate burdensome approval processes. In many cases, schools have decided it’s just not worth the considerable expense in terms of both time and money—thereby limiting options for students seeking online alternatives. But now there is a better way. The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) is an agreement among member states that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of online education.
In the last few years, the rights of students in North Carolina universities have received some significant new protections. It is important that state legislators and educators continue to do so, for such rights—pertaining to free speech and due process of punitive proceedings—have been under assault on college campuses nationwide in recent years.
The North Carolina Cooperative Extension has strayed from its original agricultural mission.