Alex FriedrichWith legislators pressing them for budget-cut scenarios this week, officials from the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) have been using an interesting (and familiar) tactic that injects a little drama — necessarily or unnecessarily? — into the proceedings . So what are they doing? When explaining how a 15-20-percent Read more →
MPR News Intelligence on higher education
Archives for February 2011
After I posted about the book Why Does College Cost So Much? yesterday, I got a note from Rand Park, director of corporate relations for the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. He pointed me to a 2003 article from The New Yorker. It focuses on a phenomenon, mentioned in the book, that is Read more →
Donna Shalala: UW-Madison needs new business model We are at a crossroads in 2011 with regard to UW-Madison and the University of Wisconsin System. It’s always uncomfortable to argue that the System’s flagship institution deserves special treatment. It’s not an argument that says UW-Madison is better; rather, it’s an argument that UW-Madison is different. (Wisconsin Read more →
Legislators got a little animated during the House higher-ed committee’s meeting this afternoon. Several pressed Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) officials on several budget-related issues. Here are the highlights — and what got them going: Enrollment. Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona) warned MnSCU) system CFO Laura King that enrollment increases caused by people seeking more Read more →
This sounds cool. How many other colleges and universities have this sort of thing? Winona State University introduces Winona State Mobile, a mobile application for iPhone and iPod Touch. The application allows users to search campus maps, locate WSU buses, take a virtual tour of campus, stay up to date with WSU news, search faculty Read more →
I’ve been posting about the various legislative hearings on the higher education portion of Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget. Time and again, the implicit question I hear is: Why is college so expensive? Why is the cost of it rising faster than inflation? Critics tend to point to bloated administration, luxurious student amenities, and overpaid, underworked Read more →
For-profit education shorts: 0, Lobbyists: 1 Steve Eisman, the short-seller who put himself on the map during the credit crisis, may have suffered a major setback in his campaign against for-profit higher education last week when the House voted resoundingly to strip funding for tough new regulations on the industry. Or did he? (CNN) Collective Bargaining Read more →
Not a huge discussion day for the Senate higher education committee. First off, it unanimously confirmed Sheila Wright, director of the state Office of Higher Education. Before she was confirmed, Wright played up her small-town roots. She told committee members that when people ask what her hometown is, she usually says: I come from I-95 Read more →