While U.S. voters delivered a significant change in the 2024 federal elections, they opted for steady leadership at the state level. No state board of education shifted in partisan control, and only five seats saw a shift in political party out of 27 races that were contested in the general election. This policy update looks at the results of…

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the most difficult semester in generations on college campuses across the United States. With that semester now wrapping up, public colleges and universities are facing costs that already dwarf the $7.6 billion in federal stimulus funds that are on their way to these institutions. Absent dramatic new action from…

Community colleges offer an important pathway to the middle class. However, many students fall off the path along the way; almost half of students drop out and only 38% complete a degree within eight years, according to an analysis by Preston Cooper of the American Enterprise Institute. These statistics are even worse for at-risk, minority and…

This paper examines the debate in the U.S. Senate over the reasons why state governments have decreased funding for higher education. One side believes that federal mandates on states to pay for Medicaid have forced them to reduce spending on higher education. The other side believes that states unwisely reduced taxes, which decreased their…

A large majority of full-time students pursuing bachelor's degrees at four-year colleges and universities in the United States attend public universities. The struggle, therefore, to improve educational attainment and reduce the marked disparities in outcomes that lead to greater inequalities of all kinds will take place mainly within our nation's…

This article documents a trip that was made by students from the University of Akron's College of Business to visit Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and the second richest man in the world at his Global Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. Every year, Buffett invites a select number of schools to Omaha to visit with him and tour…

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining records in all 23 Ohio community colleges in an investigation of mismanagement of college funds and use of public money to make campaign contributions. The controversy emerged from the records of Southern State Community College's former president. (MSE)

Higher education scholars are familiar with the close relationship between American higher education and the federal government after World War II. The G.I. Bill and Cold War concerns for maintaining the nation's technological advantage made the federal government the major benefactor of postsecondary growth. The seismic shifts of that era,…

"Forum Focus" was a semi-annual magazine of the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) that featured articles on the role of business and higher education on significant issues affecting the P-16 education system. The magazine typically focused on themes featured at the most recently held semi-annual Forum meeting at the time of…

The Subcommittee conducted an oversight hearing on Section 529 College Savings Plans, State-sponsored investments that are designed to encourage families to save money for their children's college education. Section 529 refers to the Internal Revenue Code section that authorizes and confers special tax treatment on these entities. Section 529…

On July 28, 2006, a panel of experts briefed members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the putative benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in elementary and secondary education. Four experts presented written statements to the Commissioners that assessed the social science literature on this issue. They also addressed whether or not…