Bachelor’s Degrees Aren’t Cool Anymore

Robert Kelchen of the University of Tennessee, writing in the Chronicle of Higher Education recently, described the most dire problem facing higher education today: “The list of institutions trimming academic…

Standardized tests are a vital tool for policymakers working to ensure fairness in college admissions and drive student success. In practice, these assessments serve two critical purposes: they allow universities…

On 27 April, the University of North Carolina (UNC) System’s Board of Governors approved a pilot program to begin offering three-year, 90-credit degrees as early as fall 2027. The decision…

It was once common to suggest people who lose their blue-collar jobs should “learn to code.” This is no longer very good advice, if it ever was, since coding is…

A college campus should be one of the least lonely places in America. Students pack lecture halls, dormitories, dining halls, football games, and coffee shops every day. There are clubs,…

It is a running joke with my repeat students that “it depends” is the phrase most likely to set me off during a classroom discussion.  Don’t get me wrong, I…

Fans of the classic, North Carolina-set sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show, immediately recognize the exclamation “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” The character Gomer Pyle frequently and humorously utters this expression. Many may…

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have gotten a lot of attention over the past decade. In these pages, we’ve often lamented that universities’ focus on superficial measures of diversity undermines merit…