A national collaborative of rural policy and advocacy organizations released their “2023 Rural Action Policy Report,” outlining specific investments, policy improvements, and regulatory reforms to provide the tools rural people need to succeed. The report highlights the ongoing challenges people in rural communities face, the numerous policy successes since the publication of the previous report in 2021, and recommends federal policies that will continue to improve the economy, infrastructure, and resources for these communities.

Open educational resources (OER) are openly licensed, no-cost educational materials, such as free online textbooks, that have been shown to have a variety of benefits for students and their learning.

As the title suggests, Making the Case for Open Educational Resources is designed to assist OER advocates in their work to craft persuasive presentations, publications, and arguments as they promote OER.

To better understand the factors accelerating CEO turnover in California and the ways in which this might be prevented in the future, ResearchEd collaborated with the Community College League of California (CCLC) to conduct one-on-one interviews, distribute surveys to CCC CEOs and Board of Trustee members, and conducted focus groups with these stakeholders from January to March 2022.

 To explore the role that community colleges play in supporting the vitality of rural communities, from October 2019 to December 2020 ACCT visited rural campuses and conducted interviews virtually and in person with over 500 individuals across five states.

Default does not impact all borrowers equally: students who have stopped out or who have completed some college credits but have not yet earned a degree or credential are especially at risk for default. Non-traditional age students, students of color, and low-income students are also at greater risk. Defaulting on a loan carries several adverse financial consequences, wage garnishment, property liens, credit score damage, and litigation from the loan servicer. In several states, professional licenses and driver’s licenses may be revoked. Analysis of data from Valencia College demonstrates that loan defaults and their harsh penalties are also associated with poorer academic outcomes.

The dawn of the twentieth century marked an era of progressivism in education. This period brought about some positive advancements in the way people thought about teacher preparation and pedagogy, but it also marks a period during which teachers lost autonomy in the classroom. During this period there were two types of progressive reformers, those who attempted to change pedagogical practices, and those who were interested in changing the organization and functions of institutions.

Community colleges provide an important entry point on the pathway to graduate and professional degree completion. Nearly 20 percent of 2016-17 master’s degree earners originally entered higher education in a community college, and nearly 12 percent earned an associate degree from a community college.

The Federal Work- Study program was initially created to provide an opportunity for these low-income students to offset costs while in school by working. Federal Work-Study participants are 3.2 percentage points more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than nonparticipants, and research shows that the outcomes for participants who are low income and/or attend public institutions are even better.

How much do live college mascots cost, and who is paying for them? A report in the Chronicle of Higher Education found that in the past five years public Division I universities have charged close to $10 billion in mandatory student fees in order to subsidize sports programs.

Last year’s collapse of the Corinthian Colleges made widely known what was already clear to many: the current post-secondary accreditation system is failing. Accreditation agency standards are neither rigorous nor consistent, and the entire process lacks transparency. Accreditors set standards for student achievement, and only institutions that meet these standards and maintain accreditation are eligible for the approximately $150 billion in student aid that is distributed by the federal government each year.

Few pieces of federal legislation have done more to open the doors of opportunity to millions of Americans than HEA. The law has benefitted generations of students who might not otherwise have afforded college. It has also benefitted our democracy and economy, providing the basis for a highly educated citizenry and workforce.