After four years of budget cuts, some states are increasing the tax money they appropriate to higher education, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Other states that have continued to struggle with low tax revenues have chosen to not increase spending on higher education, a range that mirrors the uneven pace of economic recovery nationwide. While Massachusetts plans a 16 percent increase to its spending on public colleges for the 2014 fiscal year, Washington and Kansas will decrease their spending by 9 and 3 percent, respectively. Nationally, state spending for high education has fallen 3 percent since 2008. Many states increasing spending for higher education also bargain with recipient universities, asking for tuition freezes or other cost-saving measures. State budgets are expected to grow in coming years, although not as quickly as before the recession, The Chronicle reported.
Federal student loan debt has reached a record $1.2 trillion dollars, breaking the $1 trillion threshold for the first time, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Total student loans, including private and federal loans, passed the $1 trillion dollar milestone in 2011. Student loan debt follows home mortgage debt as the nation's second largest category of debt. The news comes as the Senate prepares to vote on a bill to institute both a cap on rising interest rates and a standardized rate for both subsidized and unsubsidized undergraduate loans. Interest rates would be fixed to Treasury notes, but the cap on undergraduate loans would fall between 8.25 and 10.5 percent for undergraduates and 9.5 percent for graduate students. The bill could potentially increase costs for students in the long run and save taxpayer money.
Kate Taylor's Sunday New York Times article "Sex on Campus: She Can Play That Game, Too," has sparked a critical response from students and faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported. Students interviewed by argued that the story did not accurately reflect the full range of female undergraduate experiences, citing the author's failure to profile homosexual or transgender students and members of religious organizations on campus. They also alleged that the article included photos, stories and statistics taken out of context. Others argued that the article did not devote enough attention to concerns about binge-drinking and sexual violence on college campuses. Taylor interviewed over 60 students for her piece, including male and female students, but said she was ultimately drawn to write about female students' sexual experiences at Penn.
