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Paying Off Student Debt With Social Security by Anna Pycior, policyshop.net | August 14, 2012
Social Security turned 77 today. Unfortunately, it's not a happy day for the historic program: new data compiled by the U.S. Treasury Department for Smart Money reports: "From January through August 6, the government reduced the size of roughly 115,000 retirees' Social Security checks on those grounds. That's nearly double the pace of the department's enforcement in 2011; it's up from around 60,000 cases in all of 2007 and just 6 cases in 2000." So, we're garnishing Social Security checks. This development can't be blamed on poor personal finance and bad life choices. Most of these retirees took on this debt later in life to help others (mainly family members) pay for increasingly expensive and necessary higher ed degrees. read more »Back To School And A Renewed Call For Progressive Education by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | August 13, 2012
Even if you don't have school-aged children, you can tell schools are about to open in many places because the airwaves, mailboxes, and newspaper inserts are stuffed with "Back to School" advertising. It's also the time of year when we hear most about research studies and serious-sounding reports about public education. read more »The For-Profit Higher Education Industry, By the Numbers by Suevon Lee, propublica.org | August 9, 2012
The for-profit higher education industry was the target of a bruising report issued last week. Based on a two-year effort, the report detailed high rates of loan default, aggressive recruiting, higher than average tuition, low retention rates, and little job placement assistance. It was spearheaded by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, a longtime critic of the industry. The report has provoked some pushback. The Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, a membership organization composed of accredited for-profit schools, issued a statement criticizing what it saw as "continued political attacks" on the for-profit sector. Saying the report "twists the facts to fit a narrative," it went on to challenge several figures. It didn't contest the following numbers. read more »Orwellian 'Parent Trigger' Laws Have Gun Aimed at Wrong Target by Jim Horn, commondreams.org | August 8, 2012
Since No Child Left Behind became law, schools where there are lots of poor kids have been turned into brutal testing factories, where the focus is on raising test scores rather than raising children. Even so, the test scores inexorably reflect the economic disadvantages of poor communities, as parents each year continue to receive the federally-mandated letters telling them their schools are failing. Some parents shake their heads and shrug off the letters because they know their child’s teacher is doing the best she can. Others get frustrated and angry. And yet most of these parents do not know that Karl Rove and his little band of Texans created NCLB with their dismay and frustration in mind, in order to replace public education, or to “blow it up a bit,” as former Assistant Secretary of Education Susan Neuman told Time Magazine in 2008. read more »Turning College Students into a Commodity by Jim Hightower, otherwords.org | August 6, 2012
Let's take a trip deep into the magic kingdom of "Laissez Fairyland" and prostrate ourselves before the infallible and inscrutable force known as the free market. While this awesome deity cannot be seen, the high priests of free-market fundamentalism insist that we mere mortals must simply have faith that its mysterious workings are always in our best interest. Yeah, sure, your holiness. We saw how well that worked out for us wandering pilgrims after you true believers deregulated Wall Street, which then crashed on our streets. Well, get ready. Free-market purists want us to have another ungodly religious encounter with their omnipotent deity. Looking at America's trillion-dollar student debt crisis, these spiritualists had a burning-bush revelation. read more »Saddled With Student Debt? Welcome To America's Screwed Generation by Natalia Antonova, The Guardian | August 1, 2012
I may not look like it, but I am a modern-day serf. Saddled with thousands of dollars of student debt – debt that has been stripped of all consumer protections and is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy – I am part of a screwed generation. Earlier this year, the collective student loan burden in the United States passed the $1trillion mark. Analysts are increasingly referring to a student loan bubble that could result in a crisis similar to the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. A bad job market for recent graduates and skyrocketing education costs have greatly exacerbated the problem. And among the nation's elite, there is a terrible sense of denial about just how bad the younger generations have it – old white guys in Congress believe we're merely lazy and entitled, having not had the good grace to be born into families with trust funds. It's a class war, and the middle class is losing. read more »Education Reform's Central Myths by Michael Lind, salon.com | August 1, 2012
The “Overton Window” is not a new kind of low-glare, high-insulation windowpane. Identified by Joseph P. Overton of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the Overton Window refers to the boundaries of the limited range of ideas and policies that are acceptable for consideration in politics at any one time. In other words, the Overton Window is the “box” that we are constantly exhorted to think outside of, only to be ignored or punished if we succeed. The debate about K-12 educational reform in the U.S. is an example of the Overton Window at work. For a generation, almost all of the debate about improving American schools has been limited to minor variations on two themes. read more »Teachers Take A Stand Against An Onslaught by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | July 30, 2012
If you've noticed lately the tendency in car commercials to show the vehicle against a background of an empty city street, you can assume it's likely due to the abundance of empty city streets available in the place famous for being home to the major automotive companies -- Detroit. read more »Chicago Teachers – Canaries In The American Coalmine by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | July 22, 2012
When a leading conservative pundit compliments a labor union leader for getting something right, it's usually worth noticing. read more »Critical Questions Democrats Must Ask About School Choice by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | July 12, 2012
Left-leaning people everywhere recently got a hoot when the Texas Republican Party declared its opposition to the teaching of "Higher Order Thinking Skills," including "critical thinking skills," in public schools. read more »
The Latest
Schools Freezing Tuition, USA Today | September 4, 2008
Several colleges and universities in Texas, Ohio, Maryland and New York are freezing 2008-2009 tuitions at last year's levels in an effort to make college more affordable for the nation's middle class. more »
Hard Times Hit Schools, Students, iht.com | September 1, 2008
With mortgage foreclosures throwing hundreds of families out of their homes each month, dismayed school officials say they are feeling the upheaval: record numbers of students turning up for classes this fall are homeless or poor enough to qualify for free meals. more »
Grandparents Help With Back-To-School , USA Today | August 29, 2008
In the midst of one of the toughest back-to-school buying seasons in years, grandparents in many families are pitching in to get kids clothed. more »
Army Opens Dropout Prep School, time.com | August 27, 2008
The U.S. Army, eager to fill its ranks amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, formally opened its first prep school for dropouts. The soldiers work in small classrooms outfitted with simple desks, chairs, and dry-erase boards. In-desk computers are used for test-taking. more »
Private Student Loans Scarce, USA Today | August 26, 2008
In recent months, several large lenders have stopped providing private student loans, stranding families that were counting on private loans to cover some of their costs. Education Finance Partners, the fourth-largest private lender, recently announced on its website that it had ceased operations. more »
School Lunch Prices Rise, The New York Times | August 25, 2008
Prices on some school lunch lines are going up this fall as school officials, like many others, struggle to pay higher prices and delivery fees for staples like bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables. more »
Sallie Mae Spent $640K Lobbying, money.cnn.com | August 19, 2008
Sallie Mae, the nation's largest student lender, spent $640,000 lobbying in the second quarter for government help to shore up the troubled student loan market and on legislation related to other issues affecting the industry, according to a recent disclosure report. more »
More Families Need Reduced Lunch , USA Today | August 19, 2008
The troubled economy may be prompting more families to turn to federal school nutrition programs that aid poor children, a survey suggests. For the first time since 2004, a majority of cafeteria operators say the number of children getting free or reduced-price lunches has risen. more »
Schools Adopt Four-Day Weeks, time.com | August 18, 2008
As the price of diesel — which most school buses run on — topped $4.70 per gal. last spring, school officials across the country watched their transportation costs skyrocket as much as 40 percent. Maryland's Montgomery County is debating whether to shrink its school-bus routes. more »
Low-Income College Students Too Few, Christian Science Monitor | August 7, 2008
About 50 percent of low-income students enroll in college right after high school, compared with 80 percent of high-income students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That's a gap of 30 percentage points, a gap that over the past 30 years has fluctuated between 22 and 49 points. more »
