A new law mandates that universities all have a "net price calculator" located on their websites by Oct. 29, according to USA Today. The measure, part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, outlines the net price calculator as a way for current and prospective students and their families to estimate the total cost for a given college, according to USA Today. The net price calculators will not include private scholarships and grants, but they will account for whether a student is living on campus, how many hours of courses they plan to take and federal scholarships, grants and financial aid. A number of admissions and financial aid offices contacted by USA Today did not know about the mandate, USA Today reported. Dartmouth's Office of Financial Aid currently offers a net price calculator tool on its website. The calculator estimates a family's expected contribution to tuition fees by assessing information on taxes, income and other financial obligations, according to the website.
Seton Hall University will give early applicants with strong academic records a tuition reduction of $21,000, cutting two-thirds from the cost of admission beginning with the 2012-2013 academic year, The New York Times reported. The reduction is an attempt to help students cope with the current financial climate while helping to attract "a certain quality" of applicants, Seton Hall President Gabriel Esteban said in an interview with The Times. To be eligible for the discount, students must have a combined total of over 1,200 on the reading and math sections of the SAT, or score above a 27 on their ACT, and finish in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Other universities have also employed measures to attract students in light of the economy's poor performance. The liberal arts college Sewanee cut its tuition by 10 percent this fall, The Times reported.
A 20-year-old ban on carrying firearms on Oregon's state university system campuses was overruled following a Wednesday vote by the Oregon Court of Appeals, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The court had previously acted beyond its authority by imposing the ban in 1991, according to an opinion by three of the court's judges. The panel cited a state law that allows the state legislature to solely regulate firearms. The panel declined to say whether the ban violated the Second Amendment rights for gun ownership, The Chronicle reported. The Oregon university system has not yet decided if it will appeal the decision, according to The Chronicle. "Our greatest concern is for the safety of our students and the entire campus community," George Pernsteiner, the chancellor of the university system, said in a statement.
