New reform measures won’t solve the problem of tuition rates In March of 2010, Congress passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), a collection of efforts meant to improve access to college. The bill is perhaps best known for ending subsidies to private student lenders. At the bill’s signing, President Obama praised the … Read more
The decades-long decline of single-sex higher education In 1960, a college-bound female eager to attend a single-sex school enjoyed a selection of 200 all-women’s colleges from which to choose. Fifty years later, the same applicant would find only 60 such schools, even as the number of colleges in America has grown exponentially. The decline in … Read more
The struggle over curricular reform, at Harvard and beyond What is the purpose of a college education? Over the past decade, Harvard and other American colleges have grappled with various curricular reforms, which at their core which reflect different answers to this question. The humanities, thought to be impractical for professional careers and incompatible with … Read more
Failure to pass the DREAM Act highlights partisan gridlock In the polarized world of American politics, bipartisan support is hard to come by. So when the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act came to the Senate floor in mid-September, one might have expected the bill to pass overwhelmingly. After all, the measure … Read more