Much of the discussion in political circles with regard to the state of the American economy, and the benefits of policy reform, has to do with social mobility. The great goal of economic reform among progressives and even conservatives seems to be a state where Americans might be able to...

On Friday morning a week ago a 20-year-old Newtown, Connecticut man murdered his mother and then drove her car to a local school, Sandy Hook Elementary. He forced his way into the building, killed 20 first graders and six adults, and then committed suicide. He did this with several guns...

A common theme in discussions about college admissions is a worry about the selectivity of elite colleges. More specifically, many critics are bothered by the fact that it appears that the bar for admissions to America’s fanciest institutions is much higher for Asian high school students than for other applicants.

Is college getting unaffordable? By all reasonable takes on personal finance the answer seems obvious: yes, it is. But some scholars think we've got this all wrong and we just need to think of college prices as an "investment." Nice try.

A report recently published by the Institute for Higher...

What if vocational certificates are the future of higher education?

The certificate story is the latest topic in "higher education's future" news. Maybe in the future most people won't study in college for four years at all; they'll just get some quick and inexpensive certificates that indicate their qualifications...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...