Dartmouth will offer tuition-free education to a group of Haitian students whose studies were put on hold by the recent earthquake in their country, College President Jim Yong Kim announced in a press conference Monday. The students will likely be hosted by families in the Upper Valley community, Kim said. The project is a response to requests made by Paul Farmer and former U.S. President Bill Clinton to continue the education of Haiti's future leaders, Kim said. The service to Haitian students comes as the latest addition to Dartmouth's Haiti Response, a joint effort by the College, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Partners in Health, which Kim founded with Farmer. Dartmouth's fundraising campaign has collected approximately $190,000 in donations for Haiti and 20 DHMC physicians and nurses have spent time in Haiti offering medical assistance.
Families of prospective college students are inadequately informed about how to pay for college, Inside Higher Ed reported Tuesday. Parents often lack the information needed to make intelligent investment choices, causing them to take out large, risky loans, according to a report released by MassINC, a Massachusetts-based think tank. Various governmental "529" plans claim to offer tax advantages to families burdened by the costs incurred by college, but families are unable to compare plans easily, Inside Higher Ed reported. Increased transparency about college costs, graduation rates and post-graduation outcomes among borrowers would allow families to make informed decisions, the report said.
First Nations University, Canada's only aboriginal-run university, is set to close next month after the Canadian government decided to cut funding to the school, The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday. Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl announced Monday the government's plan to cancel its $7.3 million annual contribution to the University, in part because of the University's involvement in various financial and management scandals over the past five years. The school, which has an enrollment of 750 students, will be unable to continue operating without the federal and provincial grants that make up more than half of its revenue, The Globe and Mail reported.
