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What We’re Reading in Higher Ed from December 2020

Posted on December 14, 2020 Written By Thomas Goldrick Leave a Comment

Estimated Read Time: 2 minutes

Needless to say, 2020 has been an unprecedented year for higher education, as it has for nearly every other facet of our lives. With uncertainty around every corner, it’s more important than ever to stay up to date on what’s happening across the industry. In this month’s article, our principal consultants highlight some of the articles and publications that have caught their eye so far. Without further adieu, here are this month’s picks:

Dr. Elmore Alexander

What About Tackling the Causes of Student Debt?

With the election now come and gone, the focus has shifted towards how the President-elect Joe Biden will respond to higher ed’s long-standing issues such as crushing student loan debt. In this piece, Kevin Carey explores how simply eliminating student debt doesn’t address the issue of a system that produces crushing loan debt in the first place. Learn more about tackling the causes of student loan debt in the original article.

Canceling Student Loan Debt Would Backfire on Biden

Similarly, the Bloomberg editorial board suggests that canceling student loan debt isn’t the best way for President-elect Joe Biden to address the financial woes of the nation. For one, student loan debt is reserved for those who can afford to take on that debt in the first place. Learn more about the implications of canceling student debt in the original article.

Dr. Michael Ginzberg

Examining the Feasibility of Empirically Predicting College Closures

The COVID-19 crisis has only exacerbated issues that already existed within higher education, leading to speculation about mergers and closures of colleges and universities. Robert Kelchen explores the statistics behind predicting college closures. Learn more about his findings in the original article.

Nuno Couto

How Higher Education Leaders Tried to Stave Off Disaster in 2020

As previously mentioned, 2020 has been a difficult year for higher ed institutions. In this piece, EdScoop’s Betsy Foresman sits down with higher education professionals to discuss everything from their struggles to the silver linings of the COVID-19 crisis. Although the industry has had its ups and downs, there are still plenty of lessons to be learned from this crisis that can be applied to the coming year. Learn more about how higher ed leaders have survived this year in the original article.

At Optimal, we help colleges thrive! Institutions face severe issues threatening their ability to survive. Which students to recruit, how to retain them, and how to deliver a high-quality education at a reasonable cost must all be part of the institution’s “systems thinking” approach. Learn more about our strategy consulting solutions tailored specifically to your institution’s needs.

 

We hope this list has been helpful in keeping you in the know on the topics that are most important to higher education. If you’d like to suggest an article or topic for discussion, please leave a comment below or send us a message.
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