The availability of federal aid to for-profit colleges may be increasing those institutions' tuition costs, Inside Higher Ed reported. A study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the tuition at for-profit schools that can accept students' federal financial aid is around 75 percent higher than at schools that cannot, according to Inside Higher Ed. A federal rule that specifies that colleges may only earn 90 percent of their revenue from federal financial aid may cause institutions to raise tuition in order to abide by the regular, Inside Higher Ed reported. The economists who led the study said that the results help validate the "Bennett Hypothesis," which says that federal financial aid interferes with free market mechanisms of higher education. Many of the for-profit institutions that cannot receive aid are vocational schools, including transportation, cosmetology, culinary and health professional programs, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Fifteen students at Colby College were found to be in viola-tion of Colby's sexual misconduct policy in relation to a November incident, The Boston Globe reported. Twelve of the students were suspended for one or more semesters, two students voluntarily withdrew from Colby and one student's case is ongoing, according to The Globe. Administrators have not released details of the incident, but the student newspaper reported that Colby football players were involved, The Globe reported. Although the incident was in violation of Colby's sexual misconduct policy, no crimes were committed according to Maine state law, The Globe reported. Colby has organized two student forums to address the matter one focused on the incident itself and the greater issue of sexual misconduct and one that addressed the incident's impact on Colby, according to The Globe.
Dickinson State University awarded 584 international students degrees they did not earn, The New York Times reported. Many of the students were enrolled in exchange programs through Dickinson and are mostly from China and Russia, according to The Times. Many of the students did not have sufficient credits to graduate, and some students submitted fake transcripts from their Chinese universities to enroll in the program, The Times reported. A meeting to discuss the findings was called off when Dickinson Dean of Education, Business and Applied Science Douglas LaPlante did not attend, according to The Times. He was later found to have commited suicide, though whether a connection exists between the suicide and the degree scandal is uncertain, The Times reported.
