Higher Ed
How institutions are run: policy, funding, enrollment, governance, labor, and the sector at large
Monday, September 28
AI Platform Behind 12,000 E-mail Breaches Shut Down
Microsoft has disrupted EvilTokens, a cybercrime service that used AI to help attackers break into e-mail accounts, study their victims, and build convincing financial scams.
campustechnology.comPriority 1: Getting a View and Setting a Vision Across Systems
A week ago, Angela Jackson (the CEO of Future Forward Strategies), Mallory Dwinal-Palisch (the President of Craft Education, a WGU company and nonprofit data platform that enables apprenticeship degrees), Danny Curtis, and I published a series of six papers
michaelbhorn.substack.comCollege rankings, like those of US News and World Report, remain influential, despite their many flaws and decades of criticism
College rankings assign schools numbers that may correspond more closely with their wealth than other factors of quality, critics say. Talaj/iStock via Getty Images Plus U.S. colleges and universities are governed by many traditions – including the annual U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, which list schools based on a…
theconversation.comCampus Engagement and Climate-Based Factors Associated With Academic Achievement of Collegiate Athletes: A Meta-Analytic Investigation
In the ever-evolving landscape of intercollegiate athletics, postsecondary institutions are increasingly committed to creating inclusive environments that enable collegiate athletes to thrive academically. Some of the influential factors shaping athletes’ academic achievement may be their experiences of campus…
doi.orgBeyond the Blueprint: Navigating Higher Education for Students with Autism and Co-Occurring Disabilities
Although research on autistic college student success is growing, less is known about those who navigate both autism and co-occurring disabilities during college. This mixed-methods study employs a rigorous proposition testing approach to address critical gaps in the literature. Drawing on national survey and…
doi.org
Sunday, September 27
Leading Academic Advising Redesign and Reform at Community Colleges
Objective: Timely and effective academic advising is critical to community college student success. As colleges engage in initiatives aimed at accelerating completion rates, many institutions are simultaneously working to implement new advising structures that bolster the success of these initiatives. Our goal was to…
doi.org
Friday, September 25
To Dismantle Democracy, You Subvert Public Schools
For at least the past fifty years*, conservatives have made substantial efforts to dismantle public education, through a variety of policies, practices, and story-lines: budget cuts, vouchers, charter schools, anti-tax measures, anti-union initiatives, “free to choose” and “failing school” narratives. And of course,
2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.comWhat civil rights enforcement cuts mean for students with disabilities – fewer staff, closed offices, longer waits
The Department of Education has undergone various changes, including closing regional offices of its Office for Civil Rights, since 2025. J. David Ake/Getty Images Felicita Piñón weighed just 1 pound at birth. She was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy that requires her to use a power wheelchair, and she also has…
theconversation.comMajor 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…
highereddive.comThe Harvard Anthropologist Who’s Skewering His Own Field
Thursday, September 24
Shared Responsibility
A national commission uses real-world examples to make the case for improving education and workforce readiness, while another set of reports calls for integrated education-to-career systems. Also, Eckerd Connects and evolving job centers, and seed money for helping North Carolina community colleges reimagine the…
workshift.orgJoy Starts with Me: A Visual Exploration of Black Queer and Trans Joy in College
doi.orgOpinion | Could AI Be Better at Peer Review Than Humans?
After Missing Its Enrollment Goal, Syracuse U. Is Questioning Everything
Wednesday, September 23
California Governor Proposes Independent Watchdogs Within AI Safety System
California Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing a new model of artificial intelligence regulation that would give independent organizations a formal role in evaluating the safety claims made by leading AI companies.
campustechnology.comJob Centers Seek to Evolve Amid Economic and AI Shifts
Many job centers across the nation are moving to provide more holistic services. But they face an uphill battle with an uncertain economy and threats to funding. The post Job Centers Seek to Evolve Amid Economic and AI Shifts appeared first on Work Shift.
workshift.orgSHEF State Effort and Capacity report now available
Our latest State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) State Effort and Capacity report looks at states’ ability and willingness to fund higher education. Policies and decisions about financing higher education are made in the context of multiple factors across each state, including current and projected economic…
sheeo.orgThree years after the end of race-conscious admissions
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in SFFA v. Harvard that race-conscious admissions policies violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The decision had an immediate impact on how colleges and universities determine who gets into their institutions. Three years…
luminafoundation.orgReading on the Other Side of Campus: Introducing the Entext in Career Technical Education
Objective: The purpose of this conceptual manuscript is to extend the results of a series of studies by examining an unexpected observation in our work in community college Career Technical Education (CTE) courses. We offer a multi-disciplinary theoretical critique that we believe has important implications for…
doi.org“A Whole Lot of Years I’ve Been In It”: Understanding Community College Adult Learners’ College and Career Decisions
Objective: Over one-third of community college students are aged 25 years or older (e.g., commonly categorized as “adult learners”), and there is a growing body of scholarship that makes sense of their college and career decisions through an individual as well as an institutional lens. Using asset-based frameworks,…
doi.orgUsing student housing to sharpen your retention strategy
Ask any university president how they can improve visibility into student well-being and satisfaction, and housing may not come up at all, yet housing teams have insight into some of the earliest and most robust signals of student risk and satisfaction anywhere on or off campus. The post Using student housing to…
ecampusnews.com
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…
highereddive.comSHEEO is hiring a Senior Policy Analyst
Position: Senior Policy Analyst Salary: $85,000 – $95,000 Annually Location: Either Washington, D.C., or Boulder, CO (hybrid model), or fully remote for candidates living outside those areas About the Position SHEEO is seeking a Senior Policy Analyst to lead projects and provide technical assistance to states on key…
sheeo.orgUsing Administrative Data to Support Early Student Success: Predictors of First-Semester Performance in a Puerto Rican Public University
First-semester performance is a practical indicator of students’ transition into tertiary education and a point at which institutions can intervene early. This study examined an analytic dataset of 2,048 incoming students admitted to 10 academic programs in the College of Business Administration at the University of…
doi.org
Monday, September 21
OPINION: Colleges should not be punished for trying to give every student a fair shot
The Treasury Department wants to strip tax-exempt status from private schools that factor race into admissions, scholarships, financial aid or athletics. That announcement this month may sound like a straightforward enforcement measure, one that targets colleges engaged in overt discrimination. If finalized, though,…
hechingerreport.orgOffshore wind job training built for a boom is facing down a bust
BRENTWOOD, N.Y. — A former Navy sailor and union laborer from Local 1298 on Long Island, William “Billy” Bishop jumped at the chance to work on the water again when he learned two years ago about job opportunities on offshore wind construction projects. After earning a safety certification from the National Offshore…
hechingerreport.orgTime to Degree
The Time to Degree report examines how long students take to earn an award and the factors that can impact that length of time. The report further focuses on how stopouts, transfers, prior awards, and other pathway characteristics shape both median elapsed time and active enrollment time.
nscresearchcenter.orgBeyond Silos: A state policy playbook for building integrated education-to-career systems
Today, Angela Jackson (the CEO of Future Forward Strategies), Mallory Dwinal-Palisch (the President of Craft Education, a WGU company and nonprofit data platform that enables apprenticeship degrees), Danny Curtis, and I published a series of six papers
michaelbhorn.substack.com
Sunday, September 20
Navigating the Future of Work: A Conversation with JFF’s Maria Flynn
From baseline AI literacy to early career exposure, Jobs for the Future president Maria Flynn shares how education systems can prepare young people for ...
edsurge.com
Friday, September 18
AI-written admissions essays are widespread but penalized
AI is rapidly transforming higher education, including the application process, yet relatively little is known about its use and consequences. To help close this gap, we analyze nearly 7{,}500 applications submitted between 2020 and 2025 to a large public policy master's program in the United States. We find that in…
arxiv.orgThe Role of Microgrants in Improving Low-Income Students’ Academic and Financial Outcomes Across Demographic Characteristics
This quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of a one-time institutional microgrant program on academic and financial outcomes among Pell-eligible undergraduate students. Academic outcomes investigated included retention to the next semester, degree completion, attempted credit hours, and grade point…
doi.org
Thursday, September 17
Schools Scramble as Budget Cuts Force Reset of Free Lunch Programs
Parents, students and schools alike are navigating the changes in CEP eligibility after funding cuts.
edsurge.comWork for America
A two-sided marketplace helps jobseekers find opportunities with state and local governments. Also, the AI freakout scrambles politics, calls mount to prepare for job displacement, and early signals on the strategy from RAISE US. The post Work for America appeared first on Work Shift.
workshift.orgA Synthetic Control Study of Washington State’s Tuition Reduction Policy on Student Access and Affordability
doi.orgSally Hemings’s Oldest Descendant Gave the Smithsonian Her DNA. She Says It Lost Her Trust.
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…
highereddive.comWhere Things Stand with Key Postsecondary Data Collections at NCES
Early last year, the U.S. Department of Education (ED), at the direction of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), decimated the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Those actions involved cancelling contracts, cutting staff, and disrupting the data collections that researchers and policymakers rely on to…
ihep.orgIs Your Idea So Important You’d Take the Time to Write About It?
This piece wasn't written by AI, and your commentary for Work Shift or another news outlet shouldn't be either. The post Is Your Idea So Important You’d Take the Time to Write About It? appeared first on Work Shift.
workshift.orgPrepared Or Unprepared? Evaluating Healthcare Workforce Readiness for Clinical Adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Nigeria
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into healthcare systems worldwide, yet its successful clinical adoption depends critically on workforce readiness, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where infrastructural and training gaps persist. This cross-sectional study evaluated…
arxiv.org
Tuesday, September 15
OPINION: I’m a college president, and I think higher education has to do a better job of controlling costs
Every fall, millions of American parents and caregivers make extraordinary sacrifices to send a child to college. They work overtime, postpone retirement, take on debt or set aside other priorities because they believe higher education can create opportunities they never had. Students make sacrifices too. Many work…
hechingerreport.org4-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…
highereddive.comInternet2 Convenes Research and Higher Education Community for 2026 Technology Exchange
Leading Annual Technical Event Addresses AI, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Modernization, Quantum Technologies, and Workforce Pipeline Challenges MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 15, 2026 — Internet2 today announced the program for the 2026 Internet2 Technology Exchange (TechEX26), Oct. 26-30 in Minneapolis, Minn. Technology…
internet2.eduTo crack the job market, internships can be just as key for young people as the degree
College students are facing one of the most precarious labor markets in years. A recent New York Federal Reserve study pointed to a sharp increase in the post-college unemployed compared with other workers, with explanations ranging from artificial intelligence job displacement to a broader slowdown in hiring. One…
theconversation.com
Monday, September 14
Internet2 Announces New NET+ Persona Service for Identity Proofing Solutions
NET+ Persona Helps Meet Institution-Wide Identity Verification and Federal Mandates U.S. research and higher education (R&E) institutions routinely face pressure to strengthen their identity proofing standards. Identity proofing is the organizational process of confirming that individuals are who they claim to be…
internet2.eduSupporting International Students, Sustaining the Research Enterprise
Amid growing geopolitical tensions, shifting federal policies, and expanded research security and compliance requirements, universities across the country are facing challenging questions: what do changing policies mean for international scholarly exchange? How can institutions continue to foster academic openness in…
sr.ithaka.orgSchool choice proponents say it offers families more options – but those don’t always extend to immigrant students
School choice gives families options, but not all families necessarily have the same ones. Andrii Yalanskyi/iStock via Getty Images Plus Educators, politicians and education observers have long debated school choice. This controversial policy approach lets families pick alternatives to their assigned neighborhood…
theconversation.comHigher Ed’s Harvard Problem
Sunday, September 13
When AI Developers Regulate Themselves
Safety & AI Regulation Should Include Present Harms, Not Just Future Ones
marcwatkins.substack.com
Friday, September 11
Financial Precarity and Psychological Wellbeing in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study of UK University Students
Financial precarity has become an increasingly prominent feature of the contemporary higher education experience, with growing evidence linking financial hardship to adverse psychological outcomes for students. This study explored how undergraduate students at a post-1992 United Kingdom university experience and make…
doi.org
Thursday, September 10
Ties to Industry
A private two-year college leans into its vocational roots to prepare students for high-paying, high-demand careers. Also, new research on how U.S. workers layer apprenticeships and degrees, and essays on how Workforce Pell gets ROI only half right, and on why people need to be at the center of the skills-based…
workshift.org