California Bans Legacy Admissions [ KQED ]

https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101907480/california-bans-legacy-admissions

Starting next fall, public and private universities in California will no longer be allowed to consider an applicant’s relationship to alumni or donors in admissions decisions. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill last month banning the practice, known as legacy admissions. “The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly,” Newsom said in a statement. We’ll examine what the California ban on legacy admissions could mean for students and for colleges across the country.

Guests:

Nanette Asimov , Higher Education Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Jessie Ryan, President, The Campaign for College Opportunity, a non-profit policy and research organization that advocates for Californians to attend and succeed in college.

Phil Ting, Assembly member representing California's 19th district encompassing parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties

Catharine Hill, managing director of the nonprofit Ithaka S+R and a former president of Vassar College

Billionaires Back a New ‘Anti-Woke’ University [ WSJ ]

The flava:

Billionaires frustrated with elite colleges are banding behind a fledgling school in Texas that boasts 92 students. 

Trader Jeff Yass, real-estate developer Harlan Crow and investor Len Blavatnik are among the high-profile people donating to the University of Austin, or UATX. The new school has raised roughly $200 million so far—including $35 million from Yass—a huge sum for a tiny school without any alumni to tap.

Crow, a major GOP donor, was an early backer. “Much of higher ed today seems to want to reject Western accomplishments and the accomplishments of Western civilizations in their entirety,” he said. “Many people think that’s a bad idea.” Crow said he expects UATX to encourage ideological diversity. . . . 

The article:

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/billionaires-back-a-new-anti-woke-university-fefd0c40

The one regret from high school that I still think about all these years later [ Lawson Wallace ]

Why many college students are forced to spend more on housing than tuition [ PBS NewsHour ]

What went wrong with federal student loans? [ Brookings Institution ]

The title:

What went wrong with federal student loans? 

The abstract:

At a time when the returns to college and graduate school are at historic highs, why do so many students struggle with their student loans? The increase in aggregate student debt and the struggles of today’s student loan borrowers can be traced to changes in federal policies intended to broaden access to federal aid and educational opportunities which increased enrollment and borrowing in higher-risk circumstances. Starting in the late 1990s, policymakers weakened regulations that had constrained institutions from enrolling aid-dependent students. This led to rising enrollment of relatively disadvantaged students, but the increase was primarily at poor-performing, low-value institutions whose students systematically failed to complete a degree, struggled to repay their loans, defaulted at high rates, and foundered in the job market. As these new borrowers experienced similarly poor outcomes, their loans piled up, loan performance deteriorated, and with it the finances of the federal program. The crisis illustrates the important role that educational institutions play in access to postsecondary education and student outcomes as well as the difficulty of using broadly-available loans to subsidize investments in education when there is so much heterogeneity in outcomes across institutions and programs and in the ability to repay of students. . . . 

The authors:

Adam Looney and Constantine Yannelis 

The report:

https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.38.3.209

or

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240829_TPC_Looney_WhatWentWrong_1.pdf

US Naval Academy trial over practice of considering race in admission process resumes Tuesday [ WJZ ]

Chief Justice Clarence Thomas? Some say it's time to require civics in college [ Associated Press ]

San Jose State launches new college to focus on tech, AI [ NBC Bay Area ]

Why a ruling against the Internet Archive threatens the future of America’s libraries [ MIT Technology Review ]

The flava:

I was raised in the 1980s and ’90s, and for my generation and generations before us, the public library was an equalizing force in every town, helping anyone move toward the American dream. In Chantilly, Virginia, where I grew up, it didn’t matter if you didn’t have a computer or your parents lacked infinite money for tutors—you could get a lifetime's education for free at the public library. A ruling from the US Second Circuit against the Internet Archive and in favor of publisher Hachette has just thrown that promise of equality into doubt by limiting libraries’ access to digital lending.

To understand why this is so important to the future of libraries, you first have to understand the dire state of library e-book lending. . . .  

The article:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/09/11/1103838/why-a-ruling-against-the-internet-archive-threatens-the-future-of-americas-libraries/

Historically Black colleges and universities fight to make up funding deficits [ CBS Mornings ]