Universities Weblog

The Associated Press is reporting that a shooting Sunday evening on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas has left two students there dead.

University police Lt. Rhonda Swindle identified the dead as Ryan Henderson, 18, and Chavares Block, 19. Martrevis Norman of Blytheville, Arkansas, was also shot . He was treated at a local hospital and released.

CNN reported today that classes on the campus were cancelled. The University of Central Arkansas has about 12,500 students. The campus has installed a emergency system of text messages and emails in response to the Virginia Tech tragedy and authorities are saying that systems worked well.

Police have two suspects in custody and are still looking for two others.

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It's become a common story: local community college enrollment has reached a new all time high. Where? It really doesn't matter. Many places. Maybe most places. But it this particular case the story I'm looking at is in the Buffalo News…

Enrollment is at record highs in community colleges around Western New York – roughly 40,000 students.

Cost is a major factor. Tuition at four year institutions is on the rise. in many places, community colleges offer an affordable alternative to the first two years of University education. How affordable? In the case of Western New York the community colleges will cost you about cost you just over $6,000 a year, compared to almost $24,000 at a state-run four year institution.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Keith Binns

There's no denying the correlation. People are who poor are also less likely to have a college degree. People who are poor are less likely to have parents who have a college degree. There is a negative correlation between poverty and education.

Without an education it's hard to break out of poverty. Social mobility in our society depends on skills and credentials that are usually obtained through higher education.

So why don't poor people simply go to college and get better jobs so that they can stop being poor?

If you've never lived with, in, near, or around poverty that question sounds incredibly rhetorical. It's not rhetorical. And there are obvious answers – obvious to anyone who's looked poverty in America in the face…

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Marty Nemko wrote a piece for the Chronicle of Higher Education that's worth reading as you consider what you want out of college.

The piece is a little depressing, but it contains some sage advice. Point number one: large research universities are not the place to go if you're looking for quality instruction and a strong student support system. The big land grant universities make their money from research and see students as more of a liability than an asset. If you're in the bottom half of your high school class in GPA or in ACT/SAT scores, there's a good changes (better than 50%) that you won't finish on schedule – or at all…

The piece looks in some detail at the problems with higher education. They're problems you can avoid if you know what you're looking for in a school. It also makes some recommendations that could improve the quality of higher education. Sadly, policy makers will probably never implement them.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Tomaz Levstek

Education in Tennessee seems to be constantly on the chopping block. The revenue stream in Tennessee is less predictable than in most states because there is no state income tax – just an outrageous sales tax.

The Pacer, an independent paper at UT-Martin, carried a story back in late September that quoted UT President John Petersen:

"Education and higher education were protected for a long time, and the hole got deep enough that they (the governor and the legislature) couldn't do that, and we ended up with about a 4.1 percent cut across the state, which for us at the University of Tennessee is a little bit over $22 million," Petersen said.

the Pacer piece said that Petersen and the UT Board of Trustees were trying to balance rising costs, budget cuts and tuition increases. UT upped tuition by 6 percent for 2008-09.

Now a piece this week in the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the $22 million figure has been reduced to about $17 million. But statewide revenue is still running over $100 million short of budget needs, the size of the cuts could eventually grow…

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Bill Manning

The Chronicle of Higher Ed is among news sources that covered the announcement last week from the Department of Education concerning the financial aid application process.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced this evening, as part of an address at Harvard University, that she had been able to whittle the main federal financial-aid application, known as the Fafsa, from 120 questions in six pages down to just 27 questions.

Congress urged Spellings in August to simplify the form. One Department of Ed official suggested back in July that the form could be reduced to just nine questions.

Inside Higher Ed also ran an informative piece on the smaller FAFSA last week.

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University Business ran a story today about Texas A&M's program offering free tuition to incoming freshmen who are residents of Texas.

The program is need based. Freshmen whose families make less than $60,000 a year are eligible for the free tuition offer. In-state tuition at Texas A&M is just under $8,000 a year. Recipients can still apply for other forms of financial aid to cover living expenses at the university.

Texas A&M estimates about 80 percent of its students receive some type of financial aid.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Günay Mutlu