Textbook publishers argue that their newest digital products should not even be called "textbooks." They are really software programs built to deliver a mix of text, videos, and homework assignments. But delivering them is just the beginning. No old-school textbook was able to be customized for each student in the classroom. The books never graded…

As students and alumni have crowded into campus career centers seeking help in their job searches, corporate recruiters have made themselves scarce. According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, these are common symptoms during the economic downturn. Of the 50 or so colleges and universities the group surveyed…

A follow-up study by officials of the Council for Aid to Education uncovered a major error in the Internal Revenue Service's 1987 corporate-contributions data. The new figures, representing contributions from 1986 to 1989, reflect a continued but less dramatic growth in corporate philanthropy. (MLW)

The Council for Aid to Education, citing 1989 data compiled by the Internal Revenue Service, reported that the nation's companies had given $6.16-billion to charitable causes in 1987 of which $2.6-billion went to education. Companies are continuing to direct an increasing share (10.5 percent up from 6 percent in 1987) of money to precollegiate…

Interviews with computer-company officials and a survey show that: despite higher education discounts, computer companies make money; colleges offer computer companies intellectual capital; students take hardware and software preferences with them into jobs; higher education influences computers built and sold; and higher education is a…

Private contributions to colleges and universities appear to have rebounded from changes in the tax laws and the crash on Wall Street. Both private and public institutions recorded healthy increases in total support, but the share of contributions going to public universities expanded more rapidly than that going to private institutions. (MLW)