I had a few personal and professional goals for “Lower Ed”. I surpassed almost all of them this week. This post is an update and a thank you for everyone who made that possible. First, some updates. I visited Trevor Noah at The Daily Show. It was International Women’s Day. Trevor gave me a chance toRead More ““Lower Ed” Lives”
Tag Archives: #LowerEd
Lower Ed, A Series: Part II
ITT Technical Institutes is gone, just like that. A summary: In the wake of devastating federal sanctions, officials from Carmel-based ITT Educational Services Inc. announced Tuesday that all ITT Technical Institute campuses will be closing. In late August, the U.S. Department of Education barred ITT from enrolling new students who depend on federal aid and required the company to warn current studentsRead More “Lower Ed, A Series: Part II”
Lower Ed: A Series
Twelve years ago I was working in a for-profit college. Seven years ago I was ashamed of having worked in a for-profit college because I was suddenly surrounded by real academics. Five years ago I started a dissertation that became, “Becoming Real Colleges in the Financialized Era of U.S. Higher Education: The Expansion and LegitimationRead More “Lower Ed: A Series”
The $20 Principle
I have written before about how $20 can change a student’s life. The $20 is slightly euphemistic but not entirely so. We talk a lot about big money in higher education but I know for a fact that it’s small money that can derail one’s educational ambitions. I was a student in a doctoral preparationRead More “The $20 Principle”
When is a Real College A Real College?
Does college promise you a job? That’s the gist of recent Borrower Repayment Defense Rule, covered today in the Washington Post by Jeffrey Selingo: A little-known rule called Borrower Defense to Repayment, which is making its way through the regulatory process in Washington, initially was aimed at cracking down on the fraudulent behavior of for-profit colleges.Read More “When is a Real College A Real College?”
On Sanders and HBCUs
When I spoke with the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign about recent political chatter about historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) I had three points I hoped someone important might listen to: Private and public HBCUs are not in competition with each other. The rhetoric from Hillary Clinton and Clinton surrogates suggesting that free tuition at publicRead More “On Sanders and HBCUs”
A Few Notes On Kelly Price and Honorary PhDs
This will be fast. Kelly Price is a powerhouse singer. Today, black Twitter announced that Kelly Price had graduated valedictorian with an honorary doctorate in philosophy. If you know anything about black Twitter you can imagine what ensued. It was jokes, comedy and shade. I was late because of the j-o-b. But here’s how myRead More “A Few Notes On Kelly Price and Honorary PhDs”
The Limits of Education Reform: A Road Paved With the “Best Intentions”?
There is one question that animates the sociology of education more than any other: how do we explain and predict the difference in outcomes among black and white students in the post Civil Rights era of greater equality of opportunity? Sure, we talk about Hispanic and Asian students but really they are often deployedRead More “The Limits of Education Reform: A Road Paved With the “Best Intentions”?”
Sportsball and For-Profit Legitimacy
My colleague Jon Becker sent me a story today about for-profit Grand Canyon’s (GCU) run in college sports. In it, Michael Reinrab, summarizes a recent GCU tournament run and the controversy around a for-profit college playing in a traditional not-for-profit sports league: Maybe that’s true, and maybe it isn’t, because what makes Grand Canyon suchRead More “Sportsball and For-Profit Legitimacy”
The Three Rs in 2015: Reading, ‘Riting and Researching
This is the obligatory end-of-year essay. In 2015, I finished a seven-year-long research project called my doctoral dissertation. The study analyzes why for-profit colleges were the singular form of higher education expansion in the late 20th and early 21st century in the U.S. Data are from: interviews with for-profit college executives, students enrolled in the fastest-growing sub-sectorRead More “The Three Rs in 2015: Reading, ‘Riting and Researching”