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Court delays Youngkin’s board picks – incoming governor to appoint trustees
A court set a 2026 trial in the dispute over Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s university board appointments, effectively blocking his contested slate and handing the seat-filling power to...
Shooting at Kentucky State... campus locked down after student killed
A fatal shooting at Kentucky State University left one student dead and another critically injured, authorities said; the suspected shooter — who is not a student — was arrested after the campus...
Small private college pauses operations: trustees cite financial and enrollment crisis
Martin University announced it will "pause operations" at the semester’s end, the private Indianapolis institution said, blaming steep enrollment declines and severe financial constraints. The...
Campus speech and discrimination collide: Berkeley suspension and Columbia claims process
Two high-profile moves this week highlighted campuses under political and legal pressure: the University of California, Berkeley suspended an electrical engineering lecturer without pay for...
Employers still back higher ed — but want hands-on, AI-ready graduates
A new AAC&U/Morning Consult poll found 70% of employers express high confidence in higher education and 73% say a college degree is worth it — results that contrast with broader public skepticism....
AI agents in higher ed... campuses pilot autonomous helpers and faculty guides
Colleges are piloting autonomous AI agents for student services and administrative tasks as vendors and campus labs push beyond chatbots, reporting early gains in workflow automation and student...
Justice Dept. ends disparate-impact probes: Title VI rules rewritten
The Justice Department announced it will stop investigating claims of systemic racism or sexism under a disparate-impact framework for Title VI enforcement, eliminating a decades-old method for...
Trump administration moves to end SAVE: borrowers face abrupt shift
The Education Department reached an agreement to formally end the Biden-era SAVE repayment policy, moving nearly eight million borrowers toward established “legal repayment plans” and denying...
Pell Grant funding gap widens: analysts project $6B–$11B annual shortfall
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reported the Pell Grant program could run a $6 billion to $11 billion annual shortfall over the next decade, driven in part by a recent congressional...
International enrollment slump... $1B hit to US college towns
New international-student data show a 17% drop in new enrollments this academic year — the largest non-pandemic decline in over a decade — and an analysis pegged the hit to local U.S. economies at...
EEOC opens Columbia claims process: $21M settlement moves to payouts
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opened a claims portal for current and former Columbia University employees after a July settlement that created a $21 million fund for those who say...
Guilford comes off probation: accreditors cite balanced budgets and cuts
Guilford College announced that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges removed the institution from probation after trustees and administrators presented evidence...
Martin University to pause operations: trustees cite financial collapse
Martin University, a private predominantly Black institution in Indianapolis, said it will “pause operations” at the end of the semester amid severe financial and enrollment challenges. Trustees...
Portland State refuses arbitrator reinstatement — union vows further action
An independent arbitrator ordered Portland State University to reinstate 10 nontenure-track faculty members laid off in June and to provide back pay, finding the university violated the...
UC Berkeley suspends lecturer for in-class political advocacy
The University of California, Berkeley suspended lecturer Peyrin Kao without pay for the spring semester after university leaders concluded he repeatedly made pro-Palestinian political remarks and...
FAFSA adds earnings flag: students alerted to low‑return colleges
The U.S. Department of Education added an earnings indicator to FAFSA that flags institutions whose graduates earn less than typical high-school graduates, displaying a “low earnings” disclosure...
Justice Dept. rule change: Disparate-impact investigations dropped
The Justice Department announced it will stop investigating claims of systemic racism or sexism under disparate-impact legal theory, formally narrowing civil-rights enforcement in higher...
Pell Grant funding gap widens: watchdogs flag long‑term shortfall
Two independent analyses released this week flagged a looming structural shortfall in the Pell Grant program after Congress provided one‑time funding in July. The Committee for a Responsible...
FAFSA adds earnings warning — tool flags low‑value colleges
The Department of Education rolled out an earnings indicator in the FAFSA submission summary that flags institutions where graduate earnings trail those of high‑school graduates. The new...
EEOC opens claims portal after Columbia settlement
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opened a claims process for current and former Columbia University employees following a $21 million settlement over allegations of antisemitic...