A new leader took the helm of the University of North Carolina system during a tumultuous time. In the midst of a global pandemic, Peter Hans was elected UNC system president on June 19, 2020 and assumed the role in August. The position was previously held by interim president Bill Roper, who stepped in after … Continue reading “A Conversation with UNC System President Peter Hans”
Over 20 percent of college students come from lower-income families, according to Inside Higher Ed. These students face the worst effects of school closings due to the pandemic—whether they’re in high school or college now. Elementary school students may be even worse off. Yale economist Fabrizio Zilibotti co-authored a study that found: Pandemic-related school closures … Continue reading “Did You Know? The Students Hurt Most by School Closings”
It’s no secret that higher ed reformers have struggled to offer a compelling alternative to free college and loan forgiveness offered from the left. This failure is partially because conservatives and libertarians are usually on the defensive about higher ed policy. In response to that problem, the American Enterprise Institute organized a panel discussion titled … Continue reading “What Policies Are Conservatives Actually For in Higher Education?”
As a public institution, it’s vital that the University of North Carolina system is transparent with how it spends its money. As a form of accountability, the system is required by state law to provide publicly accessible financial data. In fiscal year 2020, the UNC system spent $9.7 billion, a total that excludes expenditures by … Continue reading “Did You Know? How the UNC System Spends $10 Billion”
The loss of public trust in universities that has risen to front page news did not suddenly emerge in 2020. In 2018 the non-partisan Gallup organization found that, for the first time, less than half of Americans have “a lot of confidence” in higher education. Even more pointedly, Gallup reported that “No other institution has … Continue reading “Why Liberal Arts Colleges Are Failing and How to Revive Them”
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts within the higher education policy space were projecting that four-year colleges could face a loss of up to 20 percent in fall enrollment. While these predictions never materialized, the political infatuation with college enrollment figures is not a new phenomenon. Barack Obama proclaimed the orthodox view of … Continue reading “Reassessing the College Wage Premium Payoff”
Editor’s note: This is part of a series of articles. Part II is here. The political left has proven itself to be amazingly incompetent when it comes to governing. Examples abound of nations, states, and cities—even those with tremendous wealth, resources, and other advantages—reduced to nightmare zones of poverty, violence, and corruption. Think of Venezuela, … Continue reading “The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Movement: Tyranny Through Subverting Language”
Bring back civics, urge those disaffected with the United States’ educational system. They have a point. Of the many things wrong with America’s schools, the warped view of American history, politics, and culture they teach might be at the top of the list. Part of the problem is that, according to a 2019 survey by the … Continue reading “Put America Back in American Foreign Policy Curricula”
Few things are more discouraging than seeing one’s hard work go to waste—a set-back with which many transfer students are familiar. All too often, transfer students must retake courses because their credits are not accepted at the new institution. This usually happens either because the new college doesn’t accept a course (known as “credit loss”), … Continue reading “UNC Transfer Students Will No Longer Miss Out on Hard-Earned Credit”
According to one recent estimate, American colleges in the last few years, in a period of extraordinary enrollment decline, have added 70 million square feet of new instruction and research facilities on their campuses. That is more space than in 10 Pentagons, the largest office facility in the U.S. Yet enrollments for fall 2020 had … Continue reading “The Edifice Complex Is a Threat to University Budgets”