Living-learning communities combine curricular, co-curricular, and residential components of college life. They are a relatively new variation on the residential education that has been part of the undergraduate experience at America's independent colleges and universities for centuries. Research suggests that living-learning communities have a…

Independent colleges and universities are cautious adopters of online education for undergraduate students. These institutions seek to balance a tradition of student-focused pedagogy in face-to-face settings and faculty wariness of online courses against the promise of lower instructional costs, changing student expectations, and the potential for…

This paper identifies approaches, challenges, and best practices related to planning and designing today's academic library learning spaces. As part of the Project Information Literacy (PIL) Practitioner Series, qualitative data is presented from 49 interviews conducted with a sample of academic librarians, architects, and library consultants.…

Postsecondary institutions are under increasing scrutiny to provide evidence of student learning. Despite efforts to increase the number and frequency of assessments of student learning, many colleges and universities need help to make good use of assessment results for the improvement of teaching and learning. To address this need, in February…

An estimated 46 million adults have some college education but have not completed their degrees. For many, especially those who have accumulated several years' worth of credits, the inability to finish college remains a frustration. If the United States is to achieve its ambitious education attainment goals, many more adults with such experience…

A baccalaureate degree is essential to success in the contemporary United States. The degree offers improved economic security and the development of capabilities such as critical thinking, effective communication, quantitative reasoning, creativity, problem solving, personal and social responsibility, and social and cultural capital. Failure to…

Because of their commitment to the voluntary measurement and improvement of student learning outcomes, colleges and universities that are members of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) have been at the forefront of the national shift from teacher-centered to student-centered learning. The institutions participating in the CIC Degree…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Illinois. Descriptive statistics are presented for Illinois and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…

To say the American economy is in a precarious mode would be the understatement of the century. Banks have foundered, American industry is looking for federal bailouts, and belts are tightening everywhere. Not surprisingly, higher education officials at private institutions are wondering which students will be able to afford ever-escalating…

In the first decade of the 21st century, the nation, the states, and colleges and universities began to grapple with the challenges of globalization, changing demography, the implications of the digital era, and of a less expansive public sector. Although not a transformative period for higher education, the decade saw significant innovations in…

Relations between the public and private sectors of higher education are discussed. In the first chapter, John W. Gardner provides a historical perspective to the recent conflict in some states between public and private colleges and universities. In addition to discussing the pluralism and diversity that have characterized U.S. colleges and…

This E.D. TAB presents selected findings about the price of attendance and the types and amounts of financial aid received by in-state undergraduates enrolled in public 2-year, public 4-year, and private not-for-profit 4-year institutions during the 2003-04 academic year in 12 selected states. It is based on the undergraduate data in the 2003-04…

Results of a study concerning the relationships between state policies and private college enrollments, enrollment demographics, and finance are presented. After considering national enrollment trends in the independent sector, attention is directed to the impacts on private colleges of state fiscal policies, including aid to private colleges and…

Comments made by 11 governors concerning higher education in their "State of the State" addresses to state legislatures are presented. Statements include those of Terry Branstad, Carroll Campbell, Robert Casey, Steve Cowper, Mario Cuomo, Edward DiPrete, George Mickelson, Rose Mofford, Stan Stephens, James Thompson, and John Waihee. (MSE)

The National Association of State Scholarship and Grant Programs/National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs conference on student aid is reported. Following the conference agenda and lists of registrants and conference speakers, the following papers are presented: (1) "Reinterpretation of Hansen's Census Data" (John B. Lee); (2)…