Member News

The Editorial Board writes:  Today, Sweet Briar College formally inaugurates Meredith Woo as its 13th president.  This, of course, was a day that wasn’t supposed to happen. If Sweet Briar’s board — the old board, that is — had its way, the women’s college in Amherst County would have closed in 2015 and the expansive 3,250-acre campus today would be . . . well, who knows? Not a college, that’s for sure. A determined band of alumnae had something to say about that. So did the courts — the will of the college’s founder specified the college was to be a “perpetual memorial” to her daughter. That was a key legal detail that stood in the way of the board’s attempt to close the school.

College students are back in classes across central Ohio.  Better print those syllabi and scope out your favorite corner of the library. Time to get used to waiting in line for the shower and accept that the price tag of that required textbook really does have that many digits.  Amid the feverish mix of exams, advising sessions, student organization meetings and group projects, could there be room for potted plants, sharing warm notes or community service?  Absolutely, says Otterbein University.

Brown University has promised to eliminate all loans from its undergraduate financial aid packages through a new initiative that would replace loans with grants that don’t need to be repaid. Brown on Wednesday kicked off a $120-million effort to raise money specifically for this project, a direct response to the challenges faced by middle-class parents who face difficult choices about where their children will attend college.

Blackburn College (IL) unveiled a new program Tuesday that will enable qualifying Macoupin County students to attend the college free of charge. The new program, called Macoupin Promise, is open to students from any high school in Macoupin County as long as they meet the school’s normal admission requirements, participate in the school’s work program and their family’s household income is less than $60,000.

York College (PA) is part of a new consortium of 19 colleges and universities that aims to come up with cost-saving ideas to lower the expense of higher education.  The Lower Cost Models for Independent Colleges Consortium, formed in January, features members from small, independent colleges with a high percentage of students with a greater financial need, said a consultant helping the new consortium, Janet Holmgren, the former president of California’s Mills College.