Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center officials met with a special state tax commission on Thursday to discuss how New Hampshire taxes hospitals, the Associated Press reported. The representatives said DHMC is penalized with taxes for integrating laboratory services, outpatient oncology and ambulance care with Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, though it is in the patients' best interest to do so. Until 2011, hospitals were refunded state tax money, but the federal government now requires the state to distribute money based on the Medicaid cost of each respective hospital, the report said.
Only 43 percent of the students who took the SAT met the benchmark score of 1550 out of 2400 points, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Test takers in the lowest income group, whose families make less than $20,000 a year, averaged a score of 1326. In contrast, students from families with a yearly income of over $100,000 averaged 1619. The College Board maintains that those who reach the benchmark score have a higher probability of getting at least a B-minus average in college. College Board officials reported that this benchmark score has remained virtually unchanged over the last five years. College Board president David Coleman stressed the need to encourage more high school students to take honors and Advanced Placement classes.While the potential federal government shutdown may only modestly affect higher education, the past several months of ongoing, fiscal fights may jeopardize funding for financial aid programs and research, Inside Higher Ed reported. Last week, the White House told federal agencies, including the Education Department, to update their plans for operation during a government shutdown. Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman Emily Cain said agencies are reviewing legal requirements as they update their plans. In anticipation of a shutdown in 2011, the Education Department estimated that it may have had to furlough up to 94 percent of its total staff if the shutdown lasted longer than a week.
