Quick Takes
Education Leaders Look to House for Funding Help
College lobbyists and union officials are hoping that lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives will come through with emergency funds to fend off budget cuts and to close a multi-billion shortfall in the Pell Grant Program, now that Senate leaders have made clear that they won't back such efforts in their own supplemental spending bill. Reuters reported that Sen. Tom Harkin had agreed to abandon an effort to add $23 billion to the Senate legislation to help states avoid layoffs of teachers and college instructors, saying he had been unable to solicit necessary Republican support for the amendment. The Hill reported that House Democrats will include in their version of the emergency spending bill not only that money, but also $5.7 billion to plug a projected shortfall in the Pell Grant Program for the 2011 fiscal year. The supplemental spending legislation is supposed to fund short-term defense needs and emergencies such as weather-related catastrophes, and if the education-related spending stays in the House bill over likely objections from budget hawks, it would need to be reconciled with a Senate bill that lacks the funds.
NCAA Singles Out 'Nontraditional' High School Courses as Ineligible
The National Collegiate Athletic Association on Tuesday identified two providers of online and correspondence secondary school courses as failing to meet the standards of a new rule aimed at ensuring the academic quality of "nontraditional" courses used to meet the association's academic eligibility requirements. The NCAA described the two programs, Brigham Young University's BYU Independent Study and American School, as among the most heavily used by athletes seeking alternative means of meeting the NCAA's core curriculum standards. The rule under which the two programs were decertified sets minimum requirements for contact between instructors and students, among other factors.
Judge Lifts Ban on Publishing Article on Wyoming College
A Wyoming judge on Tuesday lifted a ban on The Wyoming Tribune Eagle publishing an article about a report on the president of Laramie County Community College and his actions during a student trip to Costa Rica. The college won an injunction last week, claiming that federal privacy protection laws would be violated by printing material based on the report that the newspaper received. The judge said that there was no evidence to back up that claim. The newspaper is expected to publish its article as early as today.
Louisville 2-Year College Teams Up With Online Course Provider
Jefferson Community and Technical College has agreed to award full academic credit for courses taken through StraighterLine, an online course provider, the company announced Tuesday. Under the arrangement, students who take one of nine general education courses from StraighterLine can apply those courses for credit toward their associate degrees at the two-year institution in Louisville. The college says on its page on StraighterLine's Web site that a student who takes all nine of the courses that StraighterLine offers, transfers them to Jefferson, and ultimately gets a four-year degree from one of Kentucky's public universities could spend thousands of dollars less than if he or she enrolled at the four-year institution upfront. "We share with StraighterLine the belief that reducing cost as a barrier is a critical element to provide all qualified individuals an opportunity to earn a college degree," Tony Newberry, the college's president, said in a news release about the arrangement. Jefferson Community and Technical College joins several other institutions as partners of StraighterLine; some of those arrangements have been controversial, with critics questioning the quality of StraighterLine's $99 courses.
Students Still Like Printed Textbooks
Many experts are predicting that students are about to embrace e-books as a preferred form of textbooks. But a newly released survey from the National Association of College Stores -- conducted last fall, before the arrival of the iPad -- suggests that the shift had not happened by that point. Rather it found that 74 percent of students preferred printed textbooks and that a slight majority wouldn't consider a digital version. The survey is based on data from 19 campuses nationwide.
Phoenix's Parent Company Settles Shareholder Lawsuit
The parent company of the University of Phoenix announced in a federal filing Tuesday that it had settled a lawsuit in which a group of shareholders accused its directors of breaching their fiduciary duties and of backdating stock options. The Apollo Group said it had agreed to adopt some governance reforms related to employee compensation and to pay nearly $1 million to cover the plaintiffs' legal fees as part of the settlement.