Higher Ed Dive: Student Success
Monday, October 5
Should elite colleges share academic cutoffs for admissions?
None of the eight Ivy League institutions publicly share minimum academic requirements to gain admission. The same is true for Stanford University, Duke University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Minimum course requirements, GPAs or admissions scores that students must meet to be eligible for…
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Wednesday, September 30
SAT scores are up across the board for high school class of 2026
Dive Brief: The high school class of 2026 outperformed the previous year’s graduates on the SAT, according to results for the college admissions exam released Tuesday by the College Board The mean total SAT score for the class of 2026 reached 1045 — a 16-point increase from the class of 2025. Average scores increased…
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Friday, September 25
Major public universities report hits to international enrollment
Major public colleges across the U.S. have reported big drops in their international student populations this fall. As more institutions release their newest enrollment data, the higher ed sector is getting a clearer picture of the impacts of the federal government's crackdown on foreign students and moves to tighten…
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Tuesday, September 22
College athletics rack up millions in deficits as Senate eyes oversight bill
Major court cases and policy changes in recent years have ushered in a new era of revenue sharing between institutions and players and for athletes to make money off their names, images and likeness. Since then, many athletes have taken to transferring teams in search of better compensation and colleges are rushing to…
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Wednesday, September 16
College enrollment rate among recent high school graduates ticks up
Dive Brief: The share of the high school graduating class of 2025 who immediately enrolled in college ticked up slightly from the previous cohort, according to data released Thursday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The increase came regardless of the economic makeup of their high school. At…
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Tuesday, September 15
4-year visa cap for international students halted by federal judge
Dive Brief: A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's rule limiting international student visas to four years, a regulatory change that would have taken effect Tuesday. In his 48-page ruling, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor said a lawsuit against DHS is "likely to…
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Friday, September 11
How Dartmouth’s push for more dialogue improved campus debate and its reputation
As some institutions move to restrict certain classroom instruction, Dartmouth College has been taking a different tack — teaching its students how to engage in debate about polarizing topics. Dartmouth Dialogues aims to teach students how to engage in difficult conversations inside and outside the classroom. The…
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Wednesday, September 9
‘Utter paralysis’: Legacy admissions ban faces tough road in Congress
Momentum for banning legacy admissions practices has seemingly tapered over the past two years, as legislation has stalled in state legislatures, the fate of bipartisan congressional bills is in doubt, and the Trump administration hasn’t indicated any interest in taking up the issue. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s…
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Tuesday, September 8
Humanities degrees hit their lowest numbers in decades
Students graduating with humanities bachelor’s degrees have hit their lowest numbers in decades — with further declines potentially on the horizon, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. U.S. colleges awarded 164,847 undergraduate humanities degrees in 2025. That’s the…
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Friday, September 4
Florida bans undocumented students from selective public universities
Dive Brief: The State University System of Florida’s board of governors on Thursday banned undocumented students from attending its universities with selective admissions — effectively shutting them out of the highly ranked public system. Beginning in the 2027-28 academic year, prospective students who are “present in…
highereddive.comHigh schoolers say school counselors emphasize college pathways, not CTE
Dive Brief: While 66% of high school students from middle-income families say educators heavily emphasized four-year college when talking about future pathways, far fewer reported similar attention to community college (11%), technical training and apprenticeships (16%) and full-time work (17%), according to a Rand…
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Tuesday, September 1
Tennessee’s free community college program ‘pays for itself,’ working paper finds
When then-Gov. Bill Haslam signed the Tennessee Promise into law in 2014, he touted the program as one that would “make a real difference for generations of Tennesseans” at zero net cost to the state. The program — the first in the U.S. to offer tuition-free community college statewide — covers any remaining tuition…
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Monday, August 31
Judge rules Trump policies deporting foreign students based on speech unconstitutional
Dive Brief: Policies used by the Trump administration to deport legal immigrants because of their speech are unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Friday. The Trump administration has revoked hundreds of student visas and sought to deport noncitizen students in the U.S. legally by invoking two provisions of the…
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Friday, August 28
Texas governor pushes for 3-year degree pathways
Dive Brief: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday directed the state’s higher education board to develop recommendations for three-year pathways to bachelor’s degrees. Abbott instructed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to gather public college officials and faculty leaders, as well as employers and…
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Thursday, August 27
20 Michigan colleges join new direct admissions program
Dive Brief: Interested Michigan high school students can begin receiving direct admissions offers this fall from 20 public and private colleges in the state through an initiative launched by the nonprofit Michigan College Access Network. Under the new MI College Match initiative, students will automatically receive…
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Tuesday, August 25
Cornell, MIT and others can appeal class action status in antitrust case
Dive Snapshot: Five highly selective colleges can appeal the class action status of an antitrust lawsuit filed nearly five years ago after an appellate court ruling Monday. A group of former college students sued in early 2022, alleging that over a dozen defendant institutions took part in a price-fixing scheme that…
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Monday, August 24
International applicant numbers tumble on Common App
Dive Snapshot: The number of first-year international applicants declined 10% during the 2025-26 cycle on the Common App compared to the prior cycle, according to a report Thursday from the college application platform. Applicants from Asia fell 11%, the report found. That’s a troubling signal, as the continent…
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Friday, August 21
University of Houston slashes 40% of courses from its core curriculum
Dive Brief: The University of Houston has slashed about 40% of courses from the flagship's core curriculum as it works to comply with a new state law dictating the architecture of general education requirements at Texas public colleges. In the 2026-27 academic year, UH will adopt a core curriculum list with roughly…
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