A survey conducted by Inside Higher Ed shows that the Affordable Care Act affects health care plans for faculty and staff at universities. Many schools have implemented wellness programs that incentivize or coerce healthy behavior. Pennsylvania State University announced a program, rejected by faculty, that included monthly surcharges for tobacco users and those who do not get an annual physical. Institutions across the country have also begun to cap adjunct professors’ teaching hours at 30 per week to avoid the ACA’s employer mandate. Roughly 68 percent of respondents were very concerned or moderately concerned about retiree health care costs, and only 25 percent of respondents said they strongly agreed that employees had sufficient understanding of retirement issues
The White House hosted a group of university presidents last week to discuss undermatching, the phenomenon wherein high-achieving, low-income students do not apply to selective schools to which they would likely be admitted, Inside Higher Ed reported. The meeting collected information for President Barack Obama’s education agenda and directed voluntary efforts on the part of higher education institutions. The Obama administration’s current agenda includes a plan to develop a federal ratings system, which would eventually be tied to federal funding. The administration intends to complete a draft of evaluation metrics for the controversial plan by this time next year, Education secretary Arne Duncan said on Wednesday.
Private foundations’ historic control on higher education has grown, meaning that the wealthiest portion of the population wields an ever-more disproportionate influence over policy and reform, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. This may have consequences for democracy in the United States, especially given that wealth distribution is increasingly unequal. New York University hosted a panel discussion on these trends Friday. The event, titled “Private Dollars for Public Purposes: Are Foundations Setting the Agenda for Higher-Education Reform?,” examined the influence of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lumina Foundation. These giants and similar programs could be misdirecting public reform efforts for higher education with grant programs that focus on prescriptive solutions.
