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Education Dept. opens accreditation overhaul: public comment sought
The U.S. Department of Education has launched a formal request for information to revise its accreditation handbook, asking stakeholders for concrete ideas to reduce bureaucratic burdens and boost...
House education panel advances financial-aid transparency: net-price tool and standard award letters
The House Education and Workforce Committee voted to advance two bipartisan bills that would force federal action on college price transparency. Lawmakers advanced the Student Financial Clarity...
College costs climb 3.6% — HEPI flags sustained inflationary pressure
The Higher Education Price Index rose 3.6% in fiscal 2025, according to the Commonfund Institute’s HEPI release, extending a multi-year period of elevated cost pressures for colleges and...
Emporia State’s outgoing president donates $1.4M — aftermath of contested faculty cuts
Ken Hush, who became Emporia State University president in 2021 and is retiring this month, announced a roughly $1.4 million gift to the university—the equivalent of his last four years of salary....
Harvard FXB director to step down — center to refocus amid scrutiny over Palestine program
Mary Bassett will step down as director of Harvard’s François‑Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights on Jan. 9, 2026, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health announced. Dean...
Pacific and Willamette signal merger: two Oregon colleges plan to create a larger private university
Pacific University and Willamette University signed a letter of intent to negotiate a merger that would create the largest private university in Oregon, provisionally called the University of the...
Education Department reissues mental‑health grants: 65 awards follow earlier cancellations
The U.S. Department of Education announced 65 new grant awards—totaling more than $208 million—to bolster school mental‑health services and training for future school psychologists after a...
International‑student slump costs local economies — nearly $1B hit and thousands of jobs lost
A 17% year‑over‑year drop in new international student enrollment translated into a nearly $1 billion hit to U.S. GDP and the loss of roughly 7,300 jobs, according to recent economic impact...
Without affirmative action, elites prioritize economic diversity — Pell enrollment climbs
Several of the nation’s most selective colleges are reporting record or rising enrollments of low‑income students after the Supreme Court’s ban on race‑conscious admissions, with institutions...
EEOC opens claims portal in $21M Columbia settlement — largest antisemitism payout to date
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opened a claims process for current and former Columbia University employees covered by a July settlement addressing alleged antisemitic...
Willamette and Pacific to merge — Would form Oregon’s largest private university
Willamette University and Pacific University signed a letter of intent to negotiate a definitive merger that would create Oregon’s largest private institution, provisionally branded the University...
Education Department launches RFI on accreditation handbook — Seeks public input
The U.S. Department of Education issued a request for information to solicit public comment on rewriting the accreditation handbook as part of the Trump administration’s push to “reform and...
Pell Grant gap widens — Watchdog says program faces $6B–$11B annual shortfall
An analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warns the Pell Grant program faces a structural financing gap that could reach $6 billion to $11 billion each year over the next...
International enrollments drop... campuses lose money and students worry
U.S. colleges reported a 17% decline in new international student enrollment this year, a fall that economists estimate shaved nearly $1 billion from local economies and cost thousands of jobs in...
Classroom rules tighten: Berkeley suspends lecturer — Texas Tech logs course content
Universities continued to tighten oversight of classroom speech and curriculum after UC Berkeley suspended a lecturer in the electrical engineering and computer science department for...
EEOC opens Columbia claims portal — $21M settlement for antisemitism harassment
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opened its claims process for current and former Columbia University employees covered by a $21 million settlement resolving allegations of...
Guilford comes off probation — Cuts, donations stabilise finances
Guilford College’s accreditor removed the institution from probation after college leaders presented evidence of balanced budgets, expense reductions and a surge in unrestricted fundraising....
Martin University to pause operations — HBCU cites enrollment and finances
Martin University, an Indianapolis private nonprofit and the state’s only predominantly Black institution, announced it will “pause operations” at the end of the semester amid severe enrollment...
UW system sets new review metric — Small programs face faster elimination
The University of Wisconsin system is preparing to adopt a new early‑warning metric that flags undergraduate programs averaging 15 or fewer juniors and seniors for review, a change that could put...
Kentucky State shooting — Student killed, campus in lockdown
A shooting at a residence hall on Kentucky State University’s Frankfort campus left one student dead and another critically injured; police arrested a suspect who was not a student, and campus...