higher education news stories on Newser

Today's College Is More Like Kindergarten

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:09:16 CDT

In 1961, college students spent 16 hours in class each week and another 24 hours studying, making college the equivalent of a full-time job. Today, just 27 hours are spent in class and studying—or the same amount of time, the Washington Post points out, as the typical five-year-old spends...

Get College Degree, Live 9 Years Longer

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:52:45 CDT

Sure, college costs a lot of money and you won’t necessarily get a job after you graduate, but good news! At least you'll live longer in your loan-induced poverty, because higher education is linked to longer life. An annual report from the CDC shows that those who obtain a bachelor’s...

More People With PhDs Going on Food Stamps

Kevin Spak — Sun, 13 May 2012 06:21:48 CDT

Melissa Bruninga Matteau has a PhD in medieval history, and a job as an adjunct professor, but she's still relying on food stamps and Medicaid to get by. "I am not a welfare queen," she tells the Chronicle of Higher Education . But with take home pay of only $900 a...

Student Loan Rate Hike Is Overhyped

Kevin Spak — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:33:58 CDT

Congress is up in arms over how to keep rates on Stafford student loans from doubling in July, but Mark Kantrowitz and Lynn Shaughgnessy have a question: Who cares? "The partisan posturing is a distraction from far more pressing issues that face students," the college experts write in the New...

Your Major Is Hard? Pay More Tuition

Dustin Lushing — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:04:05 CDT

The tougher your major in college is, the more tuition you could have to fork over. More and more public universities are billing a higher tuition to students who major in math, business, and science programs. The schools' rationale is that it's more expensive to teach these specialties, and that...

More Women 'Marrying Down'

Neal Colgrass — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 16:33:45 CDT

Kate Middleton's rags-to-riches marriage may seem weirdly anachronistic to future generations, the Daily Mail reports. According to a British study, women are not only more likely to get a higher education , they're less likely to "marry up" and more likely to "marry down." Brides born in 1958 had a 38%...

Santorum: Calif. Schools Don't Teach US History

Neal Colgrass — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:55:05 CDT

Rick Santorum continued his verbal assault on higher education today by accusing California universities of failing to "even teach an American history course." The GOP candidate slammed UC universities during a speech in Wisconsin, Mediaite reports, saying that "I think it's seven or eight" schools that neglect US history: "Just...

GOP Candidates Stupidly Diss College Education

John Johnson — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:39:22 CST

Republicans are coming across as education bashers on the campaign trail, a sentiment that columnists on both the left (Paul Krugman) and right (Michael Medved) express frustrations with today: Medved, Wall Street Journal : He warns that the "angry, populist tone" of the campaign is alienating the GOP from college graduates,...

Santorum's College 'Snob' Zinger Backfires

Polly Davis Doig — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:16:00 CST

Labeling President Obama as an elitist is a tried and true way of resonating with an electorate that doesn't give a fig about the price of arugula at Whole Foods , but lambasting him as a "snob" for his efforts to get Americans a college education is falling flat for Rick...