Notes in the Margins: Study abroad, executive pay data and the lack of a tuition crisis

Anxiety over cost, harsher judgments on how colleges are run Six out of 10 Americans now say that colleges today operate more like a business, focused more on the bottom line than on the educational experience of students. Further, the number of people who feel this way has increased by 5 percentage points in the last year alone, and is up by 8 percentage points since 2007. (publicagenda.org)

The New 990: More Data, More Headaches Private colleges must now disclose far more about what they pay their chief executives, thanks to the first major changes in federal tax-reporting requirements for nonprofits in three decades. New details are available about a wide range of perks, like university-owned homes, as well as more information about how trustees set pay levels. (chronicle.com)

There is No College Cost Crisis There is no college cost crisis. That at least is the conclusion reached by the economists Robert B. Archibald and David H. Feldman in their new book, “Why Does College Cost So Much?” The causes of the increase in college costs (an increase that has not, they contend, put college “out of reach”) are external; colleges are responding, as they must, to changes they cannot ignore and still provide a quality product. (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)

Mac's policy debate team brought back Eight months after being told that their coach and event were being cut from Macalester College -- which has a 100-year debating tradition -- Mac's policy debaters are getting the green light to rejoin the team. (media.www.themacweekly.com)

Questionable Science Behind Academic Rankings A recent revelation that the works of one scholar put a little-known university into a top league table is embarrassing for the business of academic ratings. (feeds.nytimes.com)

The New 990: More Data, More Headaches Private colleges must now disclose far more about what they pay their chief executives, thanks to the first major changes in federal tax-reporting requirements for nonprofits in three decades. New details are available about a wide range of perks, like university-owned homes, as well as more information about how trustees set pay levels. (chronicle.com)

Recent study finds alcohol more dangerous than hard drugs The researchers evaluated substances including alcohol, cocaine, heroin and marijuana and ranked them based on how destructive they are to the individual taking them and to society as a whole. Some St. Thomas students weren’t surprised that the study deemed alcohol the most dangerous drug. (google.com)

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