APLU Morning News Scan: August 13, 2013

The Washington Post: Tuition Makes Up Less Than Half of What College Costs Some Students As Bills Climb Quickly
The Salt Lake Tribune: Sequestration Cuts Millions From University Research Dollars
The Chronicle of Higher Education: Researchers Explore Factors Behind Mismatched College Choices
IVN.us: 60 Percent of Community College Students Transfer, Attain Bachelor Degrees
NOLA News: Louisiana House Speaker Calls on Universities To Draw Up Higher Education Funding Plan
The Times and Democrat/Associated Press: Higher Education: From Recession's Wake, Innovation in Learning Blooms
The Chronicle of Higher Education: Economists Accuse Private Colleges of ‘Gaming’ Federal Aid Policies
The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Professor Is Famous. Is That Worth the Controversy?
Visual.ly: INFOGRAPHIC: The Importance of A College Degree
Diverse: OPINION: HBCU Closures: A Reversible Trend?

APLU Morning News Scan: August 12, 2013

Inside Higher Ed:  Student Loan Lifestyles
Diverse:  Indiana University Looks to Increase Online Education
University Business:  Over 60 Percent of Students Transferring From A Two-Year College Go On To Complete Four-Year Degrees
Boston Globe:  State Ties Community College Funding To Students’ Improvement
Inside Higher Ed:  ‘Majoring in a Professor’
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:  MU Expecting Fewer Freshmen This Fall
Diverse:  University of North Carolina System Schools Facing Layoffs
The Chronicle of Higher Education:  Tech Savvy Is Essential to Student Affairs, Survey Finds
Inside Higher Ed:  Merit Furloughs: Nevada Faculty Question Bonuses Before Ending Furloughs
The Chronicle of Higher Education:  Education Department Approves Competency-Based Program at Capella U.
Cleveland Business:  Area Campus Leadership Departures Reflect U.S. Trends
USA Today:  States Embracing Electronic High School Transcripts
The Washington Post:  In Four Books, Four Different Visions for Fixing Higher Education
NBC News:  BLOG: Students Work More As College Costs Soar

APLU Makes Recommendations for Reauthorization of Higher Education Act

On Friday, APLU submitted its recommendations for the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.  The 14 page document focuses on a wide array of issues, including ways to improve both access and completion through federal aid programs and other efforts; greater transparency and accountability measures for institutions; and an expanded study abroad program.  To view the full set of recommendations CLICK HERE.

CLOSE THE INNOVATION DEFICIT

The following open letter was sent today from 165 university presidents and chancellors.  Additional university leaders are lending their support for this critical effort at www.innovationdeficit.org 

Dear President Obama & Members of the 113th Congress:

Our nation’s role as the world’s innovation leader is in serious jeopardy.  The combination of eroding federal investments in research and higher education, additional cuts due to sequestration, and the enormous resources other nations are pouring into these areas is creating a new kind of deficit for the United States: an innovation deficit.  Closing this innovation deficit—the widening gap between needed and actual investments—must be a national imperative.  

Ignoring the innovation deficit will have serious consequences: a less prepared, less highly skilled U.S. workforce, fewer U.S.-based scientific and technological breakthroughs, fewer U.S.-based patents, and fewer U.S. start-ups, products, and jobs.  These impacts may not be immediately obvious because the education and research that lead to advances do not happen overnight.  But the consequences are inevitable if we do not reverse course.

The path for resolving appropriations, the debt limit, and a potential long-term budget agreement this fall is unclear.  What should be clear is that the answer to our nation’s fiscal woes must include sustained strategic federal investments in research and student financial aid to close the innovation deficit and bolster our nation’s economic and national security for decades to come.

Read the rest of the letter here...

Inside APLU: Public Universities' International Focus

A discussion with Tag Demment, APLU's head of International Programs about the efforts his department is undertaking to advance key partnerships between U.S. public universities and other nations, particularly in Africa.