Stanford Drops Tuition for Lower-Income Students

Introduces plan to control tuition costs

(AP) - President Barack Obama today called for an overhaul of the higher education financial aid system, warning that colleges and universities that fail to control spiraling tuition costs could lose federal funds. Speaking to students at the University of Michigan, Obama said he was "putting colleges on notice" that the era of unabated tuition hikes is over. "You can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down," Obama said on the final stop of a three-day post-State of the Union trip to promote components of his economic agenda. More»

Oversubscribed schools aim to accommodate unusual schedules

(NEWSER) - College students are famous for burning the midnight oil; now, professors are joining them. A "handful of colleges" throughout the US are offering late-night classes for their students—particularly those with kids or late shifts at work, USA Today reports. Leading the way are community colleges where enrollment is outpacing capacity. The odd hours allow classes to use campus space that’s filled throughout the day. More»

But US schools clean up

(NEWSER) - Hang your head in shame, Crimson alums: After eight years on top, Harvard sank to a lowly second on the Times Higher Education ’s list of the world’s top 400 universities. Harvard was displaced by the California Institute of Technology (aka Caltech), thanks to its “consistent results across the indicators and a steep rise in research funding,” the Times wrote. More»

Harvard, Princeton top universities list

(NEWSER) - US News and World Report has released its latest college rankings, and it’s full of the usual suspects, with Harvard, Princeton, and Yale topping the list; not much has changed since last year . Among liberal arts colleges , Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore lead the pack. The magazine also presents its best universities in the world : The UK is on top, with Cambridge at No. 1, followed by Harvard and Yale (don’t ask us why Yale beats Princeton worldwide but not nationally). More»

College presidents predict big increase in education via the web

(NEWSER) - Online education will be booming over the next decade, according to a new Pew survey of college presidents. Some highlights, as noted by Today's Digital Life :

• Half of the presidents surveyed say most undergrads will take at least some classes online in 10 years, up from the current estimate of 15%.
• 62% say more than half of textbooks will be digital in 10 years.