University Foundations: A Convenient Way to Bypass Oversight
As public institutions funded by taxpayers, state colleges and universities are limited in the kinds of commercial activity in which they can participate. This is particularly so when it comes…
No, the World Doesn’t Need More Humanities PhDs
In May, The Chronicle of Higher Education asked four academics from across the country to weigh in on the “adjunct crisis.” The results were predictable, with most of the blame directed at the usual…
UNC Faculty Teaching Loads Report Is Insufficient for Making Policy
Reliable information is a prerequisite for good management. How can you make intelligent decisions if you are basing them on shaky information? This has been an ongoing problem for the…
The State of Private Higher Ed in North Carolina
Private colleges and universities face challenges distinct from their public counterparts. For one, unlike public institutions, they are not the recipients of generous state funding. Instead, they rely heavily on…
Free College Is Just Another Middle-Class Entitlement
Tennessee legislators received a shock in 2012 when a study from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce predicted that by 2020, 55 percent of Tennessee jobs would require…
A Worrisome Trend for Higher Education: Declining Enrollments
A specter is haunting higher education—the specter of declining enrollments. University and college enrollment has fallen nearly 9 percent since 2011, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, and no one…
College Sports and Educational Opportunity: Exposing the (Half) Truth
Conventional wisdom and public perception hold that college sports provide educational opportunities for thousands of student-athletes who could not afford to attend college without them. The National Collegiate Athletic Association…
With Colleges Shifting to Adjuncts, Teaching Quality May Suffer
The number of part-time and nontenure faculty continues to rise on campus as university officials try to cut costs. So does their dissatisfaction over wages and benefits, which is stirring…
Proposed Bills Could Improve Teacher Quality in the Tar Heel State
Increasing teacher pay to improve teaching quality has grabbed media attention for months. But North Carolina’s General Assembly has been trying to figure out how to get better teachers into…
Reward Achievement: Give Credit for Advanced Placement
Using Advanced Placement (AP) courses to fulfill college requirements has long helped college students save both time and money. But there are varying opinions about the value of AP courses…