Daniel Luzer
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Daniel Luzer is the web editor of the Washington Monthly and writes the magazine’s higher education blog, the College Guide. He previously worked as an editorial fellow at Mother Jones and as a research associate at the Alliance for Excellent Education.

His work has appeared in Mother Jones, Boldtype, the Ithaca Times, and the online version of the Columbia Journalism Review, among other publications.

Blog Entries by Daniel Luzer

The Interest Rate Debate: The Red Herring of College Costs?

(11) Comments | Posted April 30, 2012 | 12:42 PM

In the last few weeks President Barack Obama's plan to keep the interest rate on student loans at 3.4 percent (rather than allowing them double them in July, as the law currently requires) has become an important part of the American political discussion. It provoked considerable debate in Congress and...

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The Shopping Solution for Higher Ed

(3) Comments | Posted March 15, 2012 | 1:57 PM

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney once again offered a display of that extra special common touch he’s got. He doesn't care how much it costs to go to college. He really just isn't interested. He thinks it's a personal issue, not a matter of public policy. This is odd because,...

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Stop Worrying About Legacy Admissions

(40) Comments | Posted November 18, 2011 | 10:41 AM

Legacy preferences: the blight of the academic institutions of the Republic! That dammed practice of letting people in based on who their parents are. That elitism is shameful and un-American. Why are we still doing this?

So wonder many progressives, in a more or less annual rant that comes...

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SAT Scores Decline and that Doesn't Matter

(5) Comments | Posted September 23, 2011 | 4:29 PM

According to a recent report by the College Board, the organization that owns and administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test taken by high school students, the average American SAT score is falling. The average reading score dropped three points to 497. The average writing score dropped...

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Higher Education's Technology Problem

(11) Comments | Posted April 24, 2011 | 9:08 PM

Technology offers the tempting promise that it can make education more efficient and cheaper. Be careful what you wish for. Despite rapid advances in technology, somehow college just keeps getting more expensive. At what point do families cry stop and refuse...

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The Danger of the "Practical" University

(5) Comments | Posted March 24, 2011 | 5:45 PM

In terms of higher education, American policymakers must focus not just on educating people, but on educating people for specific jobs, so says the National Governors Association. Wow, that's shortsighted.

According to an article in Education Week:

Colleges and universities...
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A Lot of Stress, Not a Lot of Learning

Comments | Posted January 28, 2011 | 10:45 AM

The front page of The New York Times features a story about the stress levels of American college students. College freshmen are apparently just overmedicated, tightly-wound balls of tension and fear. But then, they're also not learning anything.

This disturbing stress information comes from the...

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What's Wrong with the Anti-Bullying Bill?

(4) Comments | Posted November 22, 2010 | 5:29 PM

In the aftermath of the suicide of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi in September, New Jersey's congressional representatives are working on a national anti-bullying bill. This is understandable and ordinarily the sort of thing for which the representatives might be...

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The Study Drug Problem

(4) Comments | Posted October 14, 2010 | 7:49 PM

College students take a lot of drugs. Surprise, right?

Only it’s apparently not the fun drugs people worry about anymore. Now it’s the stimulants students take to study that's the big new scandal in campus life.

Oh, Ritalin. Such an important part of college...

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College Is Like Real Estate

(2) Comments | Posted October 1, 2010 | 5:03 PM

College, despite its rapidly escalating price, is still totally worth it, right? This is certainly true in the aggregate but when making individual financial decisions college value becomes a little more troublesome.

The hell with prices, it's always pays off, say some. According to an editorial by Barry Glassner,...

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The Triumph of Student Loans

Comments | Posted September 10, 2010 | 5:06 PM

Student loan payments are a huge burden on many young professionals. Despite recent efforts to help reduce education debt, it’s hard for most people in the United States to remember how we got to this...

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