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NAICU Daily News Update - September 7, 2012

Pell Spending Levels Off
Inside Higher Ed, September 7, 2012

The federal government spent $2.2 billion less on Pell Grants in the most recent fiscal year (which ended on July 1) compared to the previous year, according to newly released preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Education. One reason for that could be more students attending college part time, because part-time enrollment status reduces Pell award amounts. Experts said another probable cause for the decrease in expenditures is the elimination of the year-round, or summer, Pell Grant.

Student Aid Is a Recurring Theme as Obama Outlines Plans for a Second Term
Chronicle of Higher Education, September 7, 2012

In his 38-minute speech on Thursday night, President Obama told an arena brimming to its legal capacity here that "no family should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don't have the money." Mr. Obama listed as one of his achievements the end of the federal bank-based lending program, a move he said converted wasteful taxpayer subsidies of commercial banks into savings for students.

Retirement, Unions and Status: a Survey of Campus HR Officers
Inside Higher Ed, September 7, 2012

While nearly 6 in 10 human resources administrators say they are in the "inner circle of advisers" for their presidents, just 43 percent are official members of the president's cabinet at their colleges and universities, suggesting there is a ways to go in achieving the status that many of them seek in higher education. That is one of the findings of Inside Higher Ed's first-ever Survey of College and University Human Resources Officers, released today in advance of the annual meeting of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.

The Debt-Free College Degree
Bloomberg Businessweek, September 6, 2012

When she was six, Elaine Klaiklung emigrated from Thailand to the U.S. with her mother, a single parent who earns $20,000 a year. Klaiklung, now a college senior, is a member of what will be the third class at Davidson College to graduate debt-free, and part of the school's ongoing experiment in how to solve the student loan mess by eliminating it. Davidson is not the only school to remove student loans from its financial aid packages. In 2001, Princeton University became the first to replace loans with grants.

What Shall We Do? Higher Education's Existential Crisis - Opinion Piece
Huffington Post, September 6, 2012

Nancy Cantor, Chancellor and President, Syracuse University, writes: From one looking-glass reflection we look like a run-away train and from another we look like a magic bullet for what ails society. So, what shall we do' If we want first and foremost to fix the run-away train, then what we should do is figure out a very clear recipe for what each institution in our diverse landscape of higher education is best suited to do (cheaply) and which students are ready made to be educated there.