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Higher Education News

World & Nation
Literary reading in America has declined by 10 percent since 1982, with an even steeper decline among young adults ages 18 to 24—a staggering 28 percent, according to a recent survey.

The National Endowment for the Arts’ survey, Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, notes that these declines, which have tripled in the last decade, result in a loss of 20 million potential readers.

“The decline in reading among every segment of the adult population reflects a general collapse in advanced literacy,” said National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia. “To lose this human capacity… impoverishes both cultural and civic life.” You can read the report at www.nea.gov/pub/ ReadingAtRisk.pdf.

The overall income of Americans fell for two consecutive years for the first time in modern history, according to a New York Times analysis of IRS statistics.

The Times cited a reduction in jobs and wages in higher-paying industries as well as the stock market tumble as reasons why the average individual income fell 9.2 percent between 2000 and 2002, after population growth and inflation were adjusted for.

Meanwhile, CEOs are enjoying an increase in their average salaries. At surveyed companies listed on the S&P 500, CEOs’ salaries grew 22 percent in 2003. Read more at www.thecorporatelibrary.com.

State high school exit exams are now required by 20
states, and five more will require them by 2009. States are reporting pass rates of 65 to 85 percent for first-time test-takers. However, a recent survey by the Center on Education Policy has found that Blacks, Hispanics, low-income, disabled, and English-language learners are in some cases more than twice as likely to fail the exit exams.

The tests may also be linked to increased dropout rates and more students pursuing GEDs instead of regular diplomas. Currently, 52 percent of all public school students live in states that require them to pass an exit exam to graduate.

Faculty & Staff
Technology in the classroom makes courses more convenient for students, but most of them say technology has little impact on learning, according to a recent survey of students by the Educause Center for Applied Research.

Almost half of the students surveyed said the biggest benefit of information technology was the ability to check grades online. Only 12.7 percent said improved learning was the biggest benefit.

About 40 percent of students said they preferred moderate use of information technology (IT) in the classroom, and about 30 percent said they wanted courses that used IT extensively. Only 2.2 percent said they wanted entirely online courses.

Students did like course management systems, such as Blackboard or WebCT, with 76 percent saying their experience was positive or very positive. The most common course management system was the online syllabus. You can find more research on higher ed IT at www.educause.edu/ecar/.

Professional News
The increase in college tuition during the 1990s
outpaced growth in grants, scholarships, and other non-loan sources of financial aid at American colleges and universities, according to the report, “Paying for College,” released by the Department of Education. The report looked at full-time dependent undergraduates whose families paid for the cost of college. Forty-five percent took out loans in 2000, compared with 30 percent in 1990. For the complete report, visit http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/2004075.pdf.

The federal government issued new regulations this summer that will most likely curtail educational travel to Cuba. The new rules stipulate that students must be full-time students at the institution offering the program, and that the program must last at least 10 weeks. Because the majority of academic programs to Cuba are short-term and most colleges depend on students from other institutions to attend their trips, few if any of the institutions meet the new requirements.

Growth in loans compared with grants in student aid, 1970-03.

Source: The College Board. 2003. Trends in Student Aid. New York: author.