A recent study released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that one-third of college students transfer to a different institution before graduating, reflecting a decreasing percentage of students who graduate from the same school they entered as freshmen, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Students most commonly transfer in their second year, though 13 percent of transferring students do so in their fourth year, according to The Chronicle. Among students who transfer from four-year public institutions, more than half transfer to two-year public schools. Of students who transfer from two-year public institutions, over a third transfer to other two-year institutions, while 41 percent of students transfer to four-year institutions, The Chronicle reported. The report found that community colleges are a popular destination for transfer students, possibly due to lower tuiton costs and better insitutional fits, according to The Chronicle.
Elsevier, a science publishing giant, has rescinded its support from the Research Works Act, a controversial bill that aimed to prevent federal government agencies from requiring public access to subsidized research, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The bill's co-sponsors, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., declared the bill dead hours later. Prior to Elsevier's withdrawal of support, advocates of open access information had arranged a boycott of the company, The Chronicle reported. Over 7,400 scholars signed the boycott petition, claiming that they will not edit, contribute to or review Elsevier journals, according to The Chronicle. Although some scholars have claimed that the boycott had a resounding effect on Elsevier's decision to remove support of the bill, Elsevier representatives said that the publishing group based its decision on the opinions of scholars who continue to work with it, according to The Chronicle.
A recent study of 15 years of data from an unidentified private university has shown that students who receive loans and scholarships to pay for their education give smaller donations as alumni, according to Inside Higher Ed. While these students give at approximately the same rate as those not paying full tuition, the gifts tend to be for a lower amount of money, Inside Higher Ed reported. This confirms previous assumptions that students paying off loans will be unable or unwilling to give as much to their alma mater as other graduates, but is surprising to those who believed that scholarship recipients would follow a "pay it forward" principle and donate to help the next generation of students, according to Inside Higher Ed.
