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A.I. governance and integrity in K–12 and higher ed
A U.S. Senate education hearing on Tuesday pressed state and district leaders to adopt guardrails for AI in schools while maintaining “human judgment” in classrooms, with witnesses calling for...
Federal student aid changes tighten graduate borrowing—nurses target the cap
Federal student loan borrowing limits take effect July 1 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, capping Grad PLUS borrowing at $100,000 for graduate degrees and $200,000 for professional degrees....
State-level graduate financing ramps up after Grad PLUS exits
Minnesota launched SELF Grad Loan, a state low-interest graduate program created after federal Grad PLUS loans were eliminated and other federal graduate loan caps tightened ahead of July 1. The...
Education Dept civil rights and special education enforcement shifts to DOJ and HHS
The U.S. Department of Education is moving key civil rights enforcement and special education responsibilities to other federal agencies as part of the Trump administration’s broader restructuring...
Student lending and admissions policy: England considers GCSE English threshold for loans
Ministers in England are considering a national threshold that would require passing GCSE English to access government-backed tuition and maintenance loans through the Student Loans Company. The...
Campus governance turmoil and athletics leadership at Michigan State
Michigan State University men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo publicly criticized board tensions that preceded the departure of President Kevin Guskiewicz and athletic director leadership changes....
Academic infrastructure competition: data centers become a research recruiting lever
Higher education researchers and administrators are facing a new competitive constraint as universities race to build AI-ready computing capacity. A new analysis frames the “data center” as the...
Cybersecurity: Canvas hack shows wider exposure to higher-ed systems
Higher education institutions are dealing with the fallout of a broader Canvas targeting campaign. Reporting says ShinyHunters—the cybercrime group behind last month’s Canvas hack—may have gained...
Institutional transitions: St. John’s College consolidates presidencies amid enrollment pressure
St. John’s College voted to consolidate its separate campus presidencies in Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, folding the roles into one collegewide presidency. The governing board...
Direct admissions and testing policy rollback: Columbia reinstates SAT/ACT for 2027–28
Columbia University will reinstate SAT or ACT requirements for undergraduate applicants beginning with the 2027–28 admissions cycle, reversing an extended test-optional stance. The university said...
AI governance and export controls reshape who can access frontier models
The U.S. government moved to restrict foreign access to Anthropic’s frontier AI models Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after cybersecurity researchers identified a jailbreak path tied to guardrails....
U.S. shifts special education and school civil-rights enforcement away from ED
The U.S. Department of Education began outsourcing parts of special education oversight and civil rights enforcement to other federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human...
K-12 accountability and funding waivers expand state control under ESSA
Indiana received a broad waiver from U.S. Department of Education school accountability and federal funding requirements, allowing the state to alter federal performance ratings for high schools...
DOJ investigation targets LGBTQ+ curriculum practices at dozens of districts
The U.S. Department of Justice opened civil rights compliance reviews into how 43 school districts in three states teach about sexuality and gender identity, including whether parents are given...
Higher-ed admissions tests return to prominence as colleges adjust policies
Columbia University will require SAT or ACT scores for first-year undergraduate applicants beginning fall 2027, after a multi-year faculty review concluded test scores remain “a useful indicator”...
Major institutional restructuring and leadership transitions hit campus governance
St. John’s College consolidated its separate campus presidencies into a single collegewide role after the governing board voted to streamline leadership across Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe,...
Cybersecurity: Canvas-related intrusion exposes higher-ed data risk
A cybersecurity incident tied to the ShinyHunters group appears to have expanded beyond an initial breach report, with Canvas hackers gaining access to human resources and financial management...
Enrollment pressure drives major workforce and operations cuts in schools that feed higher-ed
U.S. public-school systems issued layoff warnings to thousands of employees as enrollment declines collide with rising labor and material costs and the expiration of pandemic-era federal aid. The...
Data center and compute infrastructure becomes a strategic battleground for AI research universities
A growing share of AI-capable research universities are treating data center capacity as the new differentiator for faculty recruitment, graduate enrollment, sponsored research growth, and...
Student activism escalates tensions around AI-linked corporate partnerships
Hundreds of Stanford students walked out of the 2026 commencement ceremony as Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivered the keynote address, with organizers citing dissatisfaction that extended beyond AI...