Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of higher education knows that “college completion rates” and “data-driven solutions” have become more important than ever before in public debates and media coverage. National and state-level policymakers, along with college presidents, are paying closer attention to these issues – or at the very least, they are pledging to [...]
When Princeton University announced in 2001 that it would replace all student loans with grants, a chain reaction was set in action, slowly but surely. Students weren’t so much being enticed to choose Princeton—an attractive enough option on its own—as they were being lured away from Princeton’s nearest competitors. It wasn’t just that Princeton had [...]
“We’re walking, we’re walking…”: Anyone who has been through the rigors of a multi-college campus tour knows that Bonnie Hunt must have modeled her character in the movie Dave by shadowing a college campus tour guide. The backwards-walking, über-perky tour guide that can rattle off anecdotes that date to the 1800s has reached the level [...]
There is a plethora of news stories emerging right now about colleges – particularly elite schools – and the trouble they’re having making their fall 2009 class. The focus is typically on yield — the percentage of admitted students who enroll at an institution. Why yield? Because this metric has long been considered the bellwether [...]