This week in college admissions, top schools focus on economic diversity, the Education Department seeks to exclude some programs from being considered “professional degrees,” FAFSA completion rates are up from last year, and employers are confident that colleges and universities are preparing students for the workforce.
Many highly selective schools are enrolling more lower-income students by doing outreach to students in urban and rural areas and offering free tuition to families below a certain income threshold. Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and MIT have all recently enrolled record numbers of Pell Grant-eligible students.. These efforts have faced scrutiny from the White House, which has argued that considering geographic or socioeconomic diversity may serve as a proxy for race-based admissions.
The Department of Education is proposing that certain graduate programs should not be considered “professional degrees,” and thus should be subject to lower caps on student loan borrowing. Students pursuing “professional degrees” such as medicine, dentistry, or law would be eligible to borrow up to $200,000, while students in professions such as nursing and education would be capped at $100,000 in federal loans.
FAFSA completion rates are up from this time last year, with 26% of high school seniors having completed the form by November 21. This year’s high completion rates are attributed to the new simplified form, which takes less time to fill out, as well as the fact that the FAFSA opened a few days earlier this year than in previous years.
According to a recent survey, most employers are confident that higher education is preparing students for the workforce. 85% of executives and managers surveyed said they felt higher education was effectively preparing students for jobs after graduation. The survey results also showed that employers especially value degrees from institutions that promote respectful dialogue and disagreement, and that focus on applied, hands-on learning experiences.
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