Cooper Union has announced a plan to keep undergraduate tuition free, amid its financial troubles (and it's a plan that, uh, doesn't involve selling its fancy building): Charge graduate students tuition. more ›

Baruch College's afternoon classes (after 3 p.m.) are cancelled because the City University Board of Trustees is voting on tuitions hikes—$300/year for five years—and CUNY officials are concerned about another clash between protesting students and campus police. Still, students are taking the time to rally at 4 p.m., to criticize last week's chaotic confrontation as well as the hikes, "They make tuition increases over the summer knowing many students are not on campus, they continue to increase tuition, while cutting, resources (closing libraries, writing centers, etc), they have public meetings where students and faculty are denied admittance, then are beaten for attempting to peacefully assemble and have a voice." more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Student loans will account for more than $1 trillion worth of debt this year, amazingly set to surpass credit card debt. But there is a presidential candidate who is brave enough to free you from all this debt by never allowing you to get federal assistance to go to school in the first place: Dr. Ron Paul. "Just think of all this willingness to want to help every student get a college education," Paul said on NBC's Meet the Press. more ›

Now, more than ever, college is crazy expensive and the U.S. Department of Education has created a website that will make parents of prospective college students faint. more ›

Spring means that flowers bloom, little forest animals have sex, and colleges slap the Bud Lights out of our nation's 22 year olds' hands and tell them to get a job. Each year we're bombarded with coverage on how terrible it is to be young, educated and full of endless vitality. Last year, the American Dream for this demographic was declared dead. This year, they're dancing on its grave from their parents' couch: 85% of grads are expected to move back into their childhood homes, the Post reports. more ›

more ›

Today, timed with the NY State Commission on Higher Education's release of a report about higher education, the NY Times reports Governor Paterson will ask "the Legislature to create a low-cost student loan program to make New York more competitive with other states." The report outlines concerns about the SUNY and CUNY schools maintaining quality with insufficient funds--the two systems have more than 600,000 students over 87 campuses. You can read the whole report (PDF) here. more ›

The Chronicle of Higher Education released its annual salary survey of the heads of educational institutions and the value of a college education is evidenced in the paychecks being cashed by institutions' presidents. More than a dozen heads of private universities took home more than $1 million during the 2005-06 school year. According to the New York Post, the dean of higher earning was Donald Ross, who took home $5.7 million--most in deferred compensation after... more ›

As we mentioned, City Councilman Charles Barron held his press conference yesterday to announce his candidacy for the 2009 Brooklyn Borough Presidency. He told the crowds that his platform included affordable housing, health care accessibility, more jobs, standing up to developers who use eminent domain, ending mayor control of schools and more would help everyone. "Am I going to be a borough president for all the people? Absolutely. But I'm letting y'all know now, I'm taking care of black folk. Unapologetically." more ›

Congratulations to everyone graduating this month! As NYU's commencement was today, with speaker jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, we decided to list the many NYC commencement speakers, with help from The Chronicle of Higher Education (if we've missed any or gotten it wrong, let us know in comments): more ›

The executive director of Columbia's undergraduate financial aid office was suspended after the school - and NY State attorney general's office - found "questionable financial ties" to student loan company Student Loan Xpress. David Charlow sits on an advisory board for the company (as do two officials from UT Austin and USC who are also under investigation), and received stock options as compensation. more ›

Chronicle of Higher Education, once a year we turn to you to find out what kind of crazy compensation the executives of our nations educational institutions are making (every year they make a bit more!). And this year you haven’t let us down. Of course since we don’t subscribe to the Chronicle we have to depend on those who do to let us know who is making what. Good thing then that there is a Daily News recap. more ›