APLU In The News

When the American economy plummeted in 2008, higher education found itself an easy target for state lawmakers who had to slash budgets. Headlines like “A Bad Budget” and “Dwindling Funding” became commonplace even as enrollment numbers skyrocketed and entire buckets of state funding vanished, Inside Higher Ed reports.

“Americans love to grouse about the rising cost of college. But consider this: The average in-state student at a public university now pays only $2,480 a year in net tuition and fees,” USA Today reports.

“Despite the public perception that college costs are soaring, new national data shows tuition at many of the nation’s colleges and universities has been flat or declining,” the Washington Post reports.

Over sharp objections from Democrats, House Republicans narrowly passed legislation Thursday that higher education groups say would undermine public colleges’ ability to protect free speech on campus and ensure student safety, Inside Higher Ed reports.

The Education Department is assuring schools and students that its financial aid process will be fixed after a botched overhaul led some colleges to say they were seeing decreased enrollments.

The Education Department announced on Wednesday that availability of the federal student aid application form would be delayed for a second year in a row, after months of last-ditch troubleshooting and contingency planning failed to fully fix significant problems with last year’s revised application.

In Inside Higher Ed’s new annual Student Voice survey with Generation Lab, 5,025 two- and four-year respondents weigh in on what institutional actions would most promote their academic success. 

The House Education and Workforce Committee moved legislation forward on Wednesday that would cement Oct. 1 as the official deadline for launching the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, this year and in perpetuity.

The House Agriculture Committee approved a Republican-led farm bill early Friday morning that reflected divisions on agriculture’s role in responding to climate change. The vote — 33-21, largely along party lines — came as the panel adopted a handful of noncontroversial amendments but rejected a Democratic-led effort to preserve conservation programs’ focus on farming practices…