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Resources for institutions to better understand and implement the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act.
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This mini-Web site offers guidance on implementing key elements of the new Higher Education Act.
Private Colleges and the Economic Downturn
Private colleges respond to the economic crisis:

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Top Stories
Education Department Prepares for Switch to 100% Direct Lending
Chronicle of Higher Education News Blog
July 9, 2009
On Wednesday the department began sending letters to colleges outlining steps it is taking to ease the switch to direct lending. Congress is set to decide on the president’s proposal this month. But yesterday, on the e-mail list of FinAid, an independent financial-aid Web site, several financial-aid officers said the Education Department's letters present the president's proposal as a done deal.
Department of Education Takes Steps to Ease Schools' Transition into Direct Lending
NASFAA Web Site
July 9, 2009
One such step is the establishment of accounts to enable schools to send and receive Direct Loan records and reports electronically through the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system. A Department official made it clear that the establishment of these electronic accounts does not obligate any school to move into the Direct Loan program now, but if schools choose to transition, the account will already be established. 
The Case of the Disappearing Liberal Arts College
Inside Higher Ed - Opinion Piece
July 9, 2009
Fundamentally, the future of the liberal arts college is uncertain. The traditional residential liberal arts college offering a coherent educational program based firmly in arts and science fields and offering a shared intellectual experience to all of its students may be dying out. Or the liberal arts college may gradually be evolving into a new, more up-to-date form.
Other News
Flu scare at Dickinson College
Carlisle, Pa., Sentinel
July 9, 2009
Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth (CTY) program at Dickinson College was temporarily suspended today after about 40 of the 485 participants showed signs of the flu. The suspension—an early termination of the first of two CTY sessions planned at the college this summer—is a precautionary measure intended to prevent further spread of the viral illness according to a joint press release from Dickinson and Johns Hopkins.
Hofstra's Ambitions Confront the Economy
Chronicle of Higher Education
July 9, 2009
The economic crisis is wreaking havoc on colleges of all types and sizes. But to institutions trying to improve their academic profiles, like Hofstra University, the recession is causing the worst headaches. For them, tight credit markets, tapped-out donors, and squeezed budgets are threatening a backward slide no one expected.
Endowments take a hit, but students won’t notice much difference
Daily News, Chicago
July 8, 2009
While endowments at universities across the city are taking a beating as investment markets continue to slide, most schools are making only minor changes in response, financial officers say. Nationwide, most universities have watched their endowments slide by 25 percent or more in the last year, but the fallout is varying widely from school to school. (Regional emphasis)
Greensboro College president retires
Business Journal, Charlotte, N.C.
July 7, 2009
Craven Williams has retired as president of Greensboro College in the midst of that school's struggle to right itself in a financial crisis that has caused layoffs and salary cuts. An interim leadership team at the college will assume the president's immediate duties in preparation for the fall semester. A search committee will form to find a permanent successor for the 1,100 student private school.
Colleges creating summer jobs for students in tight times
USA Today
July 7, 2009
St. John's University in Minnesota created 80 full-time student jobs, most of them involving physical labor such as clearing trails or painting dorm rooms. The College of Wooster in Ohio has hired more than 200 students - almost triple the number it usually employs in summer - to do chores such as planting vegetables and washing windows. Officials at both colleges say the similarities are coincidental. But their motives are the same: to keep students from dropping out or transferring to a less expensive school.

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About the items posted on the NAICU site: News items, features, and opinion pieces posted on this site from sources outside NAICU do not necessarily reflect the position of the association and its members. Rather, this content reflects the diversity of issues and opinions that are shaping American higher education.
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