The NCAA–DoD CARE Study Suspended: What’s Next for Concussion and CTE Research?

The Higher Education Inquirer is calling on both the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to explain the suspension of the Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium, the largest concussion study in U.S. history. Since 2014, CARE has sought to illuminate the effects of concussion and repetitive head impact exposure (HIE) on student-athletes and military service members.

A Decade of Groundbreaking Work

Funded through an initial $30 million “Grand Alliance,” CARE enrolled more than 53,000 athletes and cadets and tracked over 5,500 diagnosed concussions across more than two dozen universities and four service academies. Its successive phases—CARE 1.0 (acute effects), CARE 2.0 (cumulative impacts), and CARE-SALTOS Integrated (long-term outcomes)—provided unprecedented insights into how concussions affect recovery, cognition, mood, sleep, and overall well-being.

The CARE study generated more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, influencing safety protocols, athletic training practices, and public health debates in both NCAA settings and the U.S. military.

CTE and the Need for Decades-Long Research

The suspension comes at a critical moment. Concerns about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)—a degenerative brain disease linked to repetitive head trauma—are rising. Because CTE’s symptoms often surface decades after injuries, researchers emphasize that only long-term, continuous studies can reveal who develops CTE and why.

Pausing or dismantling CARE risks losing continuity in precisely the kind of data needed to connect the dots between adolescent or collegiate injuries and late-life neurodegenerative conditions.

Collateral Damage: Workers Left Behind

The disruption of CARE has already produced casualties beyond lost data. At the University of Michigan, one of the leading CARE sites, about two dozen research workers were abruptly laid off. Without union protections, they had little recourse. This underscores how fragile large research consortia can be—dependent not only on grants and institutional goodwill, but also on a workforce often treated as disposable.

These layoffs raise troubling questions: If the workers who made CARE possible are discarded without warning, what does that say about the broader commitment to athlete and cadet safety?

Outstanding Questions for NCAA and DoD

The Higher Education Inquirer is pressing for answers:

• Why was CARE suspended? Was this due to funding shortfalls, shifting priorities, or political pressure?

• Will existing data remain accessible? The CARE Consortium has been a vital contributor to the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research (FITBIR) database.

• What about the workforce? Why were employees terminated without protections, and what obligations do the NCAA, DoD, and participating universities have to them?

• What is the long-term plan for concussion research? Without decades-long studies, the risks of CTE and other late-life conditions will remain poorly understood.

Big Loss for Athletes

If CARE is permanently suspended, the consequences will extend far beyond academia. Athletes and cadets will lose a vital source of protection, science will lose irreplaceable data, and workers will continue to bear the costs of institutional indifference.

The Higher Education Inquirer urges the NCAA and DoD to clarify CARE’s future and recommit to the kind of decades-long research that brain science demands. Anything less is a betrayal—to athletes, to service members, and to the very workers who made this research possible.

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Sources

• NCAA. NCAA-DOD Grand Alliance: CARE Consortium. ncaa.org

• CARE Consortium. About the Consortium. careconsortium.net

• NCAA. NCAA and Department of Defense expand concussion study with $22.5 million. (October 31, 2018). ncaa.org

• U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. Research Supporting a Lifetime of Brain Injury. mrdc.health.mil

• NIH. Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education Consortium (CARE) Study Data. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

NCAA Football Is Dirty… And It Always Has Been

For more than a century, college football has wrapped itself in pageantry, school colors, marching bands, and the language of amateur virtue. It has sold itself as character-building, educational, and fundamentally different from professional sports. Yet from its earliest days to the present NIL era, NCAA football has been marked by exploitation, corruption, racial inequality, physical harm, and institutional hypocrisy. The truth is not that college football has recently become “dirty.” It has always been this way.

College football emerged in the late 19th century as a violent, chaotic game played almost exclusively by elite white men at private Northeastern universities. By the 1890s, dozens of players were dying each season from on-field injuries. In 1905 alone, at least 18 young men were killed. The brutality became so extreme that President Theodore Roosevelt summoned university leaders to the White House, demanding reforms to save the sport—or shut it down entirely. The NCAA’s predecessor organization was born not to protect players, but to protect football itself.

From the beginning, control and image management mattered more than athlete welfare.

As the sport spread nationally in the early 20th century, universities discovered football’s power as a marketing and fundraising engine. Gate receipts financed campuses, built stadiums, and elevated institutional prestige. With that money came cheating. Schools openly paid players under the table, provided fake jobs, and created academic loopholes to keep athletes eligible. The NCAA responded not by ending exploitation, but by codifying “amateurism”—a concept designed to deny players compensation while preserving institutional profit.

That amateur ideal was always selective. Coaches became highly paid public figures, administrators gained power and prestige, and universities used football to attract donors and students. Players, meanwhile, were expected to risk their bodies for scholarships that could be revoked, often steered into academic programs that prioritized eligibility over education. The system worked exactly as intended.

Race made the exploitation even starker. For much of the 20th century, Black athletes were excluded outright or limited by quotas, especially in the South. When integration finally occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, it did not bring equity. Black players disproportionately filled the most physically punishing positions, generated enormous revenue, and remained shut out of coaching, administrative leadership, and long-term financial benefit. The plantation metaphor—uncomfortable as it is—has endured because it fits.

Throughout the postwar era, scandals became routine. Academic fraud at powerhouse programs. Boosters laundering payments. Universities covering up recruiting violations while publicly moralizing about rules and integrity. The NCAA positioned itself as a regulator, but enforcement was inconsistent and often political. Blue-blood programs negotiated slaps on the wrist while smaller schools were hammered to make examples. Justice was never blind; it was strategic.

Meanwhile, the physical toll on players worsened. As athletes grew larger, faster, and stronger, the sport became more dangerous. Concussions were downplayed for decades. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) was ignored until it could no longer be denied. Players suffering brain injuries were dismissed as weak, while universities and conferences cashed ever-larger media checks. The NCAA claimed ignorance, even as evidence mounted and lawsuits piled up.

The television era transformed college football into a billion-dollar entertainment industry. Conference realignment chased broadcast revenue, not regional tradition or student well-being. Athletes were asked to travel cross-country on school nights, miss classes, and perform under relentless pressure—all while being told they were “students first.” The hypocrisy became harder to conceal.

By the early 21st century, the contradictions finally cracked. Legal challenges exposed the NCAA’s amateurism rules as a restraint of trade. Courts acknowledged what players had long known: universities were profiting massively from their labor while denying them basic economic rights. Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) was not a revolution—it was an overdue concession.

Yet even in the NIL era, the dirt remains. The system still lacks transparency. Booster-driven collectives operate in legal gray zones. Players are encouraged to chase short-term deals without long-term protections. There is no guaranteed healthcare beyond enrollment, no pension, no real collective bargaining for most athletes. Coaches can leave at will; players are scrutinized, transferred, or discarded.

The NCAA insists it is reforming. Conferences promise stability. Universities speak the language of athlete empowerment. But the underlying structure remains unchanged: unpaid or under-protected labor generating extraordinary wealth for institutions that claim educational mission while operating like entertainment corporations.

College football’s defenders often say, “It’s always been this way,” as if that excuses the harm. In reality, that phrase is an indictment. From the deadly fields of the 1900s to the concussion-ridden stadiums of today, from Jim Crow exclusion to modern NIL chaos, the sport has been built on control, denial, and profit.

The problem with NCAA football is not that it lost its way. It never had one.

What is new is not the dirt—but the visibility. Players now speak openly. Courts intervene. Fans question the myths. The mask is slipping, and the century-old fiction of purity is harder to maintain. Whether that leads to real change—or merely a cleaner narrative over the same exploitative core—remains to be seen.

But history is clear. College football did not fall from grace.

It was born compromised.

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Sources

– National Collegiate Athletic Association, History of the NCAA
– Michael Oriard, Reading Football: How the Popular Press Created an American Spectacle
– Taylor Branch, “The Shame of College Sports,” The Atlantic
– Allen Sack & Ellen Staurowsky, College Athletes for Hire
– ESPN Investigations and NCAA Infractions Reports
– Boston University CTE Center research on football-related brain injury
– U.S. Supreme Court, NCAA v. Alston (2021)

The Tragedy of NCAA Athletes Who Died Young

[Editor's note: This article was written before the tragic death of former LSU football player Kyren Lacy, who died of an apparent suicide.]  

The NCAA has long been a cornerstone of American college sports, offering a platform for student-athletes to showcase their talent while pursuing higher education. These athletes are revered for their commitment, discipline, and often exceptional abilities, balancing the pressures of academics and the demands of competitive sports. However, there exists a darker side to this world—a series of tragedies that have shattered lives and futures. The untimely deaths of NCAA athletes, often in their youth, cast a long shadow over the collegiate sports landscape and demand reflection, discussion, and action.

A Stark Reality: The Lives Cut Short

In the past decade, there have been numerous heartbreaking stories of NCAA athletes who have tragically passed away at a young age. These athletes, in the prime of their lives, were known for their fierce dedication to their sports and the promise of success that lay ahead. From football players to track stars, the common thread among these stories is the shock and disbelief that accompany such sudden losses.

The deaths of athletes like Zachary Easter, a football player at the University of Iowa, or Mitch Petrus, a former Arkansas Razorback who played in the NFL, demonstrate the vulnerability of young athletes. These athletes, often strong and healthy, were still susceptible to the dangers of both physical and emotional stress, and the grim reality is that their stories are not isolated.

The causes of these deaths vary greatly. Some, like Easter, succumb to the pressures of mental health struggles, while others, like Petrus, tragically fall victim to cardiovascular events or other undiagnosed health conditions. However, the impact on families, friends, teammates, and the entire college community remains the same: profound grief and a relentless questioning of how such a loss could occur.

The High Stakes of College Sports

One of the underlying factors contributing to these tragedies is the intense pressure faced by student-athletes. The NCAA and its member institutions hold their athletes to extraordinarily high standards, both on and off the field. The expectation is often that they must excel in their sport while maintaining their academic standing—balancing an often grueling schedule of training, games, classes, and personal life.

While these demands can shape athletes into disciplined and resilient individuals, they can also contribute to physical and mental strain. Physical exhaustion, injuries, and the demands of performance can take a severe toll on the body, sometimes in ways that are not immediately visible or diagnosable. Mental health struggles, too, are increasingly recognized as a significant challenge for student-athletes, with many feeling isolated or overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed. Tragically, this pressure sometimes leads to a point where the athlete cannot carry on.

Further complicating matters is the culture of silence surrounding mental health in sports. Athletes are often expected to "push through" pain and adversity, leading many to mask their struggles, avoid seeking help, or underreport symptoms. This cultural stigma, combined with a lack of adequate mental health support, creates a deadly cocktail for some athletes, whose needs go unnoticed until it is too late.

The Role of Colleges and the NCAA

As institutions of higher education, colleges and universities have a responsibility to care for the well-being of their students—athletes included. However, there is a growing concern that some universities and the NCAA as a whole have not done enough to address the physical and mental health challenges faced by student-athletes.

The NCAA has made some strides in recent years, implementing policies designed to improve the health and safety of athletes. From concussion protocols to mental health awareness initiatives, these measures reflect a growing acknowledgment of the risks that student-athletes face. However, critics argue that these efforts are still insufficient and that the culture of winning at all costs often takes precedence over athlete welfare. The pressure to perform continues to outpace efforts to safeguard the well-being of athletes, leaving some to wonder whether the systems in place are truly protecting those who are most at risk.

Moreover, the lack of comprehensive long-term health care, especially for former athletes who may face long-term consequences from injuries or undiagnosed conditions, further highlights the systemic shortcomings in how the NCAA handles athlete health. While some colleges have programs to support former athletes, many feel that these programs are often inadequate for the long-term needs of those who were once part of the athletic community.

Mental Health: A Critical Issue

One area that has garnered increasing attention in recent years is the mental health of student-athletes. While the physical demands of sports are often the focus of attention, the psychological toll of being a college athlete can be equally, if not more, devastating.

Studies show that student-athletes are at higher risk for anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues compared to their non-athlete peers. The pressure to perform at a high level, combined with the stress of academic work, social expectations, and sometimes traumatic injuries, can be overwhelming. Tragically, this sometimes leads to self-destructive behaviors or even suicide.

In 2020, the death of Riley O’Neill, a University of Texas swimmer, shocked the collegiate community. O’Neill, a highly talented swimmer, struggled with depression and the pressure to perform. His death highlighted a broader issue of how universities and athletic programs often fail to provide adequate mental health resources or to address the stigma surrounding mental health struggles.

The tragedy of O’Neill’s passing, like others, underscores the need for universities and the NCAA to take proactive steps to ensure that student-athletes have access to counseling and mental health services. These services must be integrated into the athletic programs in a meaningful way, removing barriers to access and ensuring that athletes feel safe and supported in seeking help.

A Call for Change

The untimely deaths of NCAA athletes serve as a painful reminder of the sacrifices these young individuals make in pursuit of excellence. Their lives, cut short too soon, represent not only personal tragedies but a systemic issue that demands attention.

To prevent further heartbreak, colleges, universities, and the NCAA must make a more concerted effort to prioritize the physical and mental well-being of student-athletes. This means improving access to mental health services, providing better protections against physical risks, and creating a culture that values health and safety over performance and achievement.

In honor of those who have passed, we must ensure that future athletes do not have to suffer in silence, that their health is protected, and that their futures remain bright, even as they face the unique pressures of being a student-athlete. It is only through such efforts that the untimely deaths of these young athletes will lead to meaningful change, sparing others from the same fate.

The tragic loss of so many young athletes calls for us to reflect on the human cost of competitive sports, pushing for a shift in how we view success—one that values life and well-being as much as it does athletic performance. The NCAA and its member institutions must rise to the occasion, ensuring that these tragedies do not continue to define the legacy of college sports.

The New York City Midtown Shooting, CTE, and the Cult of Football

On Monday evening, violence erupted at 345 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, a sleek tower that houses the offices of private equity giant Blackstone and the National Football League. Just before 6:30 p.m., a 27-year-old man named Shane Devon Tamura walked into the building’s lobby carrying an M4-style assault rifle. Within minutes, he had killed four people and injured a fifth before taking his own life. Among the victims was NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who had been working a private security detail, and Wesley LePatner, a senior Blackstone executive. The shock of the event was compounded by what Tamura left behind—a three-page note referencing the NFL, the dangers of brain injury, and an eerie final request: “Study my brain. I’m sorry.”

Tamura, who had driven from Las Vegas across the country, appeared obsessed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease associated with repeated head trauma. Whether Tamura actually played football, or merely saw himself as part of the broader culture shaped by it, his writings expressed a sense of betrayal. He accused the NFL of hiding the truth about brain injuries and framed his act of violence, disturbingly, as a kind of vengeance or warning.

This incident would be troubling in any context, but its location—inside a building that symbolizes the merger of capital and American sports mythology—demands closer scrutiny. It touches the raw nerve of a national cult that HEI has investigated before.

In October 2024, we published The Cult of NCAA Football and the Destruction of Young Men, an examination of how Division I college football programs systematically exploit young athletes. These programs market dreams of glory, mobility, and masculinity, only to discard players whose bodies or minds no longer serve the machine. We reported on the toll this system takes—not just in physical injuries, but in suicides, depression, substance abuse, and post-collegiate disillusionment. The culture around football demands pain and silence, while the profits flow to coaches, administrators, and television executives.

That investigation built on earlier work, including The Tragedy of NCAA Athletes Who Died Young, which chronicled the stories of former college athletes who died early—some by suicide, others from heart conditions, overdoses, or unexplained circumstances. These deaths were not random. They were systemic, the result of intense physical demands, inadequate medical oversight, and emotional isolation within a culture that worships toughness and punishes vulnerability.

The broader evidence around CTE has grown increasingly clear. As of 2023, researchers at Boston University had identified CTE in 345 of 376 former NFL players studied after death—an astonishing 91.8 percent. A 2024 study by Mass General Brigham found that one in three former NFL players surveyed—approximately 35 percent—believed they were experiencing symptoms of CTE, such as memory loss, depression, or emotional instability. Even among those who had never been officially diagnosed with a concussion, symptoms were common. Scientists now argue that it is not concussions alone, but repetitive sub-concussive impacts—those hits that don’t cause symptoms but still jostle the brain—that pose the greatest long-term threat.

The crisis starts early. A study funded by the CDC found that youth tackle football players aged 6 to 14 sustained 15 times more high-magnitude head impacts than flag football players. Despite the NFL’s public safety campaigns and rule modifications, many of these reforms have not trickled down to college, high school, or youth programs. Guardian Caps—foam covers placed over helmets to reduce head impacts—are now standard in NFL practices but remain optional or absent in amateur leagues.

Tamura’s final request to have his brain studied postmortem mirrors the last acts of former football players like Junior Seau, Tyler Hilinski, and Phillip Adams, who took their own lives and were later confirmed to have suffered from CTE. The difference here is that Tamura reportedly had no known football career. His identification with CTE suggests something darker—a cultural proximity to violence and despair reinforced by football’s influence on masculinity, toughness, and worth.

Football is not just a sport in the United States; it is an institution that binds masculinity to sacrifice and identity to violence. It teaches boys to ignore pain, suppress fear, and prove their value through physical domination. For those who succeed, there are scholarships and contracts. For those who don’t, there are broken bodies and forgotten names. And for a growing number, there are stories ending in suicide, addiction, or in this case, public violence.

The NFL has the resources to protect its players. Universities have the responsibility to care for their students. But what remains in question is whether either institution has the will to do so. HEI has chronicled the recurring patterns—of exploitation, denial, and silence—in both sports and education. We have seen young athletes discarded after injury, whistleblowers ignored, and mental health support offered only when it serves branding or liability defense.

Monday’s shooting was not simply a tragedy—it was a mirror held up to a society that profits from physical destruction while ignoring psychological harm. It reminded us that the myth of football’s nobility has a human cost. And that silence, whether in locker rooms or corporate boardrooms, is not safety. It is complicity.

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Sources
Higher Education Inquirer. "The Tragedy of NCAA Athletes Who Died Young." April 2025. https://www.highereducationinquirer.org/2025/04/the-tragedy-of-ncaa-athletes-who-died.html
Higher Education Inquirer. "The Cult of NCAA Football and the Destruction of Young Men." October 2024. https://www.highereducationinquirer.org/2024/10/the-cult-of-ncaa-football-and.html
Boston University CTE Center. "BU CTE Diagnoses in NFL Players." Updated 2023. https://www.bu.edu/cte/
Mass General Brigham. “One in Three Former NFL Players Believe They Have CTE.” 2024. https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/study-finds-1-in-3-former-nfl-players-believe-they-have-cte
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Comparing Head Impacts in Youth Football.” 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/traumatic-brain-injury/data-research/comparing-head-impacts
ABC News. “Shooter’s Note Referenced NFL, CTE.” July 29, 2025. https://abcnews.go.com/US/midtown-shooting-suspect-left-note-mentioning-nfl-cte/story?id=124163966
People. “Blackstone Executive Killed in NYC Shooting.” July 29, 2025. https://people.com/blackstone-executive-wesley-lepatner-new-york-city-mass-shooting-victim-11780775

Throwing the Flag for the Fourth Time: U.S. College Students Are Still Gambling with Student Aid

In this fourth installment of our continuing investigation into student gambling, one issue looms larger than ever: the misuse of student financial aid to fund risky betting behavior. This is not an isolated anomaly or a cautionary footnote. It is a widespread and worsening crisis that reveals the vulnerabilities in a higher education system increasingly entangled with digital addiction and financial exploitation.

An estimated one in five U.S. college students has used student aid—whether federal loans, Pell Grants, or other education funds—to place bets, often through mobile sports betting platforms. These findings, confirmed in recent surveys by Intelligent.com and state gambling councils, expose a troubling truth: higher education is not just failing to prevent this behavior; it may be silently enabling it.

Since the 2018 Supreme Court decision that overturned the federal ban on sports betting, online gambling has exploded in popularity. Students can now place bets with a few taps on their phones, often encouraged by targeted promotions, social media ads, and campus culture. A 2023 NCAA survey showed that nearly 60 percent of 18- to 22-year-olds had engaged in sports betting, with as many as 41 percent betting on their own school’s teams. What was once considered deviant is now normalized.

Financial aid, originally intended to help students pay for tuition, housing, and books, has become a silent reservoir for gambling losses. Students who misuse these funds often do so quietly, making it easy for the behavior to go undetected until academic or financial disaster strikes. This is not only a matter of personal irresponsibility but of systemic neglect. With little oversight of how aid money is spent after disbursement, students can easily divert those funds toward high-risk activities without triggering institutional red flags.

The consequences are severe. Students who gamble with loan money frequently fall behind on rent and tuition. Some accumulate additional credit card debt. Many report heightened levels of anxiety, depression, and academic disengagement. A subset drops out entirely—often with thousands of dollars in nondischargeable debt and no degree to show for it. What we’re witnessing is the transformation of long-term educational debt into a form of speculative entertainment, with young people bearing the cost and the state underwriting the risk.

Colleges and universities, for the most part, have done little to stop this. Fewer than a quarter have any formal gambling policy in place. Counseling centers are often underfunded and untrained in gambling-specific treatment. Awareness campaigns are limited and usually reactive. Meanwhile, the gambling industry continues to rake in profits and expand its reach on college campuses, sometimes through sponsorship deals or targeted advertisements that blur the lines between athletics, student identity, and wagering.

The NFL Foundation’s $600,000 commitment to gambling awareness may be well-intentioned, but it’s woefully insufficient when compared to the scale of the problem and the profits at stake. While a handful of schools have taken steps to limit advertising or incorporate gambling risk into financial literacy programs, these measures remain the exception rather than the rule.

This is not a moral panic. It is a public health crisis driven by the same factors that have fueled other digital addictions: rapid technological change, corporate lobbying, student precarity, and institutional inaction. It is part of a broader shift toward what we’ve described in previous articles as “digital dope”—a system in which tech companies engineer compulsive behaviors for profit, and colleges quietly adjust to a reality where student attention, money, and mental health are fair game.

The normalization of gambling, especially among male students, mirrors other troubling trends we’ve reported: rising alcohol abuse, declining classroom engagement, and growing alienation from educational institutions. Many of these students are not just gambling because it’s fun—they are using it to escape a deeper sense of disconnection, uncertainty, and despair.

To meaningfully address this crisis, institutions must confront the uncomfortable truth that financial aid is being used to subsidize digital addiction. That means enforcing clear restrictions on gambling app promotions, integrating gambling screening into student health protocols, rethinking how aid is distributed and monitored, and establishing formal policies that treat gambling risk with the same urgency as alcohol or drug abuse.

In publishing our fourth report on student gambling, The Higher Education Inquirer again asks: how many warnings are needed before the problem is acknowledged at scale? How many more students must drop out, spiral into debt, or fall into addiction before administrators, lawmakers, and the Department of Education take this seriously?

The answers are not hard to find. What’s missing is the will to act.

Sources:
Intelligent.com (2022, 2023), College Student Gambling Surveys
NCAA (2023), Sports Betting Participation Data
Nevada Council on Problem Gambling (2024)
Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling (2023)
CollegeGambling.org
Time Magazine (2024), “An Explosion in Sports Betting Is Driving Gambling Addiction Among College Students”
Kindbridge (2025), “Is America in the Middle of a College Student Gambling Addiction Crisis?”
Addiction.Rutgers.edu (2024), “The Rise of Sports Betting Among College Students”
HigherEducationInquirer.org (2025), “Student Aid and Student Gambling: Risky Connection”

HEI Resources 2025

[Editor's Note: Please let us know of any additions or corrections.]

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• Kozol, Jonathan (2006). The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. Crown. 
• Kozol, Jonathan (1992). Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. Harper Perennial.
  
• Labaree, David F. (2017). A Perfect Mess: The Unlikely Ascendancy of American Higher Education. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Labaree, David (1997) How to Succeed in School without Really Learning: The Credentials Race in American Education, Yale University Press.
  
• Lafer, Gordon (2004). The Job Training Charade. Cornell University Press.  
• Loehen, James (1995). Lies My Teacher Told Me. The New Press. 
  
• Lohse, Andrew (2014).  Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: A Memoir.  Thomas Dunne Books. 
  
• Lucas, C.J. American higher education: A history. (1994).
• Lukianoff, Greg and Jonathan Haidt (2018). The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. Penguin Press.
• Maire, Quentin (2021). Credential Market. Springer.
  
• Mandery, Evan (2022) . Poison Ivy: How Elite Colleges Divide Us. New Press. 
  
• Marti, Eduardo (2016). America's Broken Promise: Bridging the Community College Achievement Gap. Excelsior College Press. 
  
• Mettler, Suzanne 'Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream. Basic Books. (2014)
• Newfeld, C. (2011). Unmaking the Public University.
• Newfeld, C. (2016). The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We Can Fix Them.
• Paulsen, M. and J.C. Smart (2001). The Finance of Higher Education: Theory, Research, Policy & Practice.  Agathon Press. 
• Rosen, A.S. (2011). Change.edu. Kaplan Publishing. 
• Reynolds, G. (2012). The Higher Education Bubble. Encounter Books.
• Roth, G. (2019) The Educated Underclass: Students and the Promise of Social Mobility. Pluto Press
• Ruben, Julie. The Making of the Modern University: Intellectual Transformation and the Marginalization of Morality. University Of Chicago Press. (1996).
• Rudolph, F. (1991) The American College and University: A History.
• Rushdoony, R. (1972). The Messianic Character of American Education. The Craig Press.
  
• Selingo, J. (2013). College Unbound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students.
• Shelton, Jon (2023). The Education Myth: How Human Capital Trumped Social Democracy. Cornell University Press. 
• Simpson, Christopher (1999). Universities and Empire: Money and Politics in the Social Sciences During the Cold War. New Press.
  
• Sinclair, U. (1923). The Goose-Step: A Study of American Education.
• Stein, Sharon (2022). Unsettling the University: Confronting the Colonial Foundations of US Higher Education, Johns Hopkins Press. 
• Stevens, Mitchell L. (2009). Creating a Class: College Admissions and the Education of Elites. Harvard University Press. 
• Stodghill, R. (2015). Where Everybody Looks Like Me: At the Crossroads of America's Black Colleges and Culture. 
• Tamanaha, B. (2012). Failing Law Schools. The University of Chicago Press. 
• Tatum, Beverly (1997). Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria. Basic Books
• Taylor, Barret J. and Brendan Cantwell (2019). Unequal Higher Education: Wealth, Status and Student Opportunity. Rutgers University Press.
• Thelin, John R. (2019) A History of American Higher Education. Johns Hopkins U. Press.
• Tolley, K. (2018). Professors in the Gig Economy: Unionizing Adjunct Faculty in America. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Twitchell, James B. (2005). Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College Inc., and Museumworld. Simon and Schuster.
  
• Vedder, R. (2004). Going Broke By Degree: Why College Costs Too Much.
• Veysey Lawrence R. (1965).The emergence of the American university.
• Washburn, J. (2006). University Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education
• Washington, Harriet A. (2008). Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present. Anchor. 
• Whitman, David (2021). The Profits of Failure: For-Profit Colleges and the Closing of the Conservative Mind. Cypress House.
• Wilder, C.D. (2013). Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities. 
• Winks, Robin (1996). Cloak and Gown:Scholars in the Secret War, 1939-1961. Yale University Press.
  
• Woodson, Carter D. (1933). The Mis-Education of the Negro.  
• Zaloom, Caitlin (2019).  Indebted: How Families Make College Work at Any Cost. Princeton University Press. 
• Zemsky, Robert, Susan Shaman, and Susan Campbell Baldridge (2020). The College Stress Test:Tracking Institutional Futures across a Crowded Market. Johns Hopkins University Press. 

 

Activists, Coalitions, Innovators, and Alternative Voices

• Academe Blog
• Adjunct Crisis
• Adjunct Nation
• American Federation of Teachers Adjunct-Contingent Faculty Caucus
• Bryan Alexander (Futurist)
• Campus News (New York)
• Clery Center
• Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor
• College Futures Foundation (California, K-20)
• College is a Risky Business (Thomas B. Walsh)
• College Promise (Free Community College)
• College Tuition Advisory Services (CTAS)
• College Viability App (Gary Stocker)
• Con Job: Stories of Adjunct and Contingent Faculty
• Confessions of a College Professor (Professor Doom)
• Debt Collective
• Deep Thoughts on Higher Education (Jeff Doyle) 
• Diane Ravitch (K-12)
• EdTrust
  
• Higher Ed Not Debt
• Higher Education Labor United  
  
• Higher Education Strategy Associates
• I Am Ai
• ITT Tech Warriors
• Jim Wolfston and the Social Mobility Index (CollegeNet)
  
• Jonathan Kozol (K-12)
• Kelchen on Education
  
• National Consumer Law Center
• New Faculty Majority (Adjuncts)
• New Laws For America (Bob Hertz)
• Outside the Law School Scam
• Presidents Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration 
• Project on Predatory Student Lending
  
• Randall Collins (Credentialism and Credential Inflation)
• Remaking the University
• Republic Report (David Halperin)
• Saving For College (Mark Kantrowtitz)
• SEIU Faculty Forward (Adjuncts)
• Steve Foerster (Technologist and Educator)
• Strike Debt Portland
• Student Borrower Protection Center
• Student Debt Crisis
• Student Loan Justice
• Terri Givens (Radical Empathy)
• The Best Classroom is the Struggle (Joshua Sooter) 
• TuitionFit (Mark Salisbury)
• Whistleblower Revolution (Heidi Weber)
• Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor
• Wrench in the Gears: A Skeptical Parent's Thoughts on Digital Curriculum (K-12)

 College Choice and Career Planning Tools

• Modern States (free college credits)
  
• College Promise
• TuitionFit 
• College Viability App
• College Scorecard (NCES) 
• Washington Monthly College Rankings 
• Apprenticeship Finder (US Department of Labor)
• FinAid
• College Navigator (NCES)
• Best Value Colleges (PayScale)  
• Hechinger Report College Fitness Tracker
  
• NBC News Investigation: Certificate schools are leaving many students in debt and unable to find jobs
• 2/3s of US Employees Regret Their College Degrees (CBS News)
• The Future of Work Won't Be About College Degrees (CNBC, Stepane Kasriel)
• Student Loan Meltdown (Dave Ramsey)
• Permanent Underemployment for College Grads (Burning Glass Technologies)
• College Is A Risky Proposition For The Working Class (Jon Marcus, Hechinger Report)
• Apprenticeships are a trending alternative to college — but there’s a hitch (Jon Marcus, Hechinger Report) 
• 15 Things College Doesn't Teach You
• Best Colleges for Social Mobility (CollegeNet)
• The Case Against Higher Education (Bryan Caplan)
• College May Not Pay Off For Everyone (Liberty Street Economics/NY FED)
• Online Education Has Questionable Outcomes (IHE)
• Colleges Where Most Students Borrow and Few Repay (TICAS)
• Broke, Busted, and Disgusted Trailer (Student Loan Debt)
• The Confusing Information Colleges Provide Students About Financial Aid (The Atlantic)
• College Affordability and Transparency Center (ED)
• Public College Dropout Factories (Third Way)
• Outcomes By Major (NY FED)
• Third Way
• GI Bill Comparison Tool (VA)
• 8 Tips to Help Vets Pick the Right College (Military Times)
• Warrior Scholar (For Veterans)
• Service to School (For Veterans)
• Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE)

Innovation and Reform

• Faculty Focus
  
• Strategies for Improving Student Success (Inside Higher Education)
• CUNY ASAP 
  
• Gap Year Basics (NYU)
• Union Plus Free College 
  
• Maryland Student Loan Debt Relief Tax Credit
• Canceling Student Loan Debt Would Grow Economy and Add Jobs (Levy Institute)
• Beyond Tuition: Promises for Affordability, Quality, and Accountability in Higher Education (Center for American Progress)
• Georgia State Turnaround (CHE)
• Spelman Health Initiative (IHE)
• University of Kansas: BA In Three Years
• Shady Grove: Nine Campuses in One (WAPO)  
  

Higher Education Policy

• Veterans’ Education Advocates Celebrate Closure of the 90/10 Loophole
• College Transparency Act (Senate Bill 800)
• Dropping Gainful Employment Rules Gives Billions to Subprime Colleges (Inside Higher Education)
• ED Announces Steps to Hold Institutions Accountable for Taxpayer Losses
• FTC Head Says Supreme Court Ruling Puts More Than $2 Billion for Cheated Consumers at Risk (Brent Kendall, WSJ)
• GAO Report Regarding Online Program Managers
• How to Stop Sudden College Closures (Century Foundation)
• Improving Outcomes Data for Online Programs (Robert Kelchen, Inside Higher Education)
• Spelman College Replaces NCAA Sports with Wellness Programs
• Strengthening Rural Anchor Institutions: Federal Policy Solutions for Rural Public Colleges and the Communities They Serve (Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges)
• The Distributional Effects of Student Loan Forgiveness (BFI Working Paper, Sylvain Catherine and Constantine Yannelis)
• The for-profit college system is broken and the Biden administration needs to fix it (Brookings)
• The Impact of a National Program of Free Tuition at Public Community Colleges and Free Tuition for Most Students at Public Four-Year Colleges and Universities on College Enrollments, Graduations, and the Economy (Robert Shapiro and Isaac Yoder)
• Three Things Policymakers Can Do to Protect Online Students (Century Foundation)  
  

Data Sources

• American Association of Colleges and Universities  
  
• American Association of State Colleges and Universities
• American Indian Higher Education Consortium
• Academic Labor Force Trends (AAUP)
• Century Foundation 
  
• Closed Schools Report (US Department of Education)
• College Closing Projections (EY)
• College Costs Increasing Over Time (College Board)
• College Debt Inhibits Home Buying (CNBC)
• Complete College America
  
• Debt by Degrees (Pro Publica)
• Department of Defense
• Education Statistics by Institution
• Enrollment Numbers 
• Excelencia in Education
• Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity
  
• Growing Inland Achievement 
• Hechinger Report
• Heightened Cash Monitoring
• Long-term Student Loan Default Rates
• Lumina Foundation 
  
• National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
• National Assessment of Educational Progress
  
• National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA)
• National Center for Education Statistics
• NCES Blog
  
• National Student Clearinghouse 
• Predicting College Closures and Financial Distress (Philadelphia Federal Reserve)
  
• School Counselor Numbers (ASCA)
• Scientists Leaving Academia in Droves
• Starving the Beast: The Battle to Disrupt and Reform America’s Public Universities
• State by State College Debt (TICAS)
• Student Loan Debt By State (Urban Institute)
• Student Loan Debt Clock
• Student Loan Debt Inhibits Home Buying (CNBC)
• Student Loan Default Projections (Brookings)
• Subprime Colleges (David Halperin)
• The 74: America's Education News Source
  
• Third Way Reports
• Tracking College Closures (Hechinger Report) 
  
• Transfer Credit Problems (GAO)
• United Negro College Fund
  
• University Business Officers Reports
• US Financial Aid (2024 Annual Report) 
  
• Veterans Affairs (GI Bill)

Trade publications

• Chronicle of Higher Education
• Diverse Issues in Higher Education 
• EdSurge
  
• Higher Ed Dive
• Inside Higher Ed
  

 

One Fascism or Two?: The Reemergence of "Fascism(s)" in US Higher Education

The Higher Education Inquirer is conducting an extensive investigation of the reemergence of fascism in US higher education.  The examination aims to: define and operationalize the concept of fascism, investigate the roots of American fascism since the 17th century, and chronicle the most important cases of fascism in US higher education today.  As part of a democratic process, we ask readers to be involved in the research and writing of this project.  

Reader Input

Additions and corrections will be made with input from readers of the Higher Education Inquirer.  Please add your comments in the section at the bottom. For those who wish to remain anonymous, you can provide feedback by emailing me at dahnshaulis@gmail.com. 

Definition(s) of Fascism(s)

The word fascism has been used by politicians and American writers on the Left and Right for generations.  It may not be possible to create a consensus of what fascism is, or how it appears in US society. This space is likely to be edited as more comments are received.  

*Laurence W. Britt, the author of Fascism Anyone, described 14 elements of fascism here. 

*Italian historian Umberto Eco described 14 elements of fascism here.

*Yale professor Jason Stanley explains "How Fascism Works" here.  

Origins of Fascism in US Higher Education 

US higher education was founded on the taking of land from indigenous people, and oppressing people of color for four centuries. Enslaved Africans and their descendants were part of the origin and continuation of elite American schools for two hundred years.  White, Protestant, males from elite backgrounds had most of the higher educational opportunities--and the names of robber barons and tobacco magnates (Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, Duke) became part of the elite pantheon.  Thorstein Veblen and Upton Sinclair provided a great deal of information on this. 

While there has been more democracy at times, people of color, women, and working-class folks have been excluded or discriminated against for all of US history.  The federal government (Department of Defense, CIA) and US corporations (particularly federal contractors) have also held great importance in the direction of higher education, servicing their most oppressive anti-democratic, colonial elements.  

In the 21st century, historians Craig Steven Wilder and others dug up the white supremacist roots of elite universities. In a zero-sum game, historically privileged groups and individuals may also feel aggrieved and oppressed when others succeed or are placed ahead of them in line.    

Propagation of Fascism in 2022 (Contemporary Examples in No Particular Order) 

This section will evolve with the help of reader comments.  Here are some preliminary examples of varying importance: 

Role in Mass Surveillance 

"Savage Inequalities" in the K-12 Pipeline 

Hunger, poverty, prostitution, and drug sales among college students 

Sexual assault of college students

Anti-intellectualism in America

Rise of Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA, Turning Point Action, and Students for Trump  

Turning Point USA's Professor Watchlist

Police State and Strong Military Supported 

Use of Propaganda and Disinformation to Oppress "Minorities" and Empower Big Corporations

Predatory Marketing and Advertising 

Legalization of Hate Speech in US Higher Education 

Book Burning and Censorship in US Society

Role of Corporate Power in Higher Education (e.g. Boards, Endowments, Contracts)

Role of Elite Families in Higher Education (e.g. Walton Family Foundation, Koch Brothers) 

Land Theft Through Gentrification and College Expansion 

Tax Avoidance by Elite Schools to Rob Public Coffers 

Colleges Colluding to Limit Financial Aid 

Role of Higher Education in Educating Reactionary Judges and Politicians

State-Sponsored Think Tanks to Support Elites and Oppress Others (e.g. Liberty Institute at University of Texas)

Bomb Threats Against Historically Black Colleges and Universities

End of Affirmative Action for African Americans but Continued Use of Legacies 

Reduction of Needs Based Grants and Scholarships 

Management Corruption, Robocolleges, and the Loss of Labor Power in US Higher Education 

Expenditure of Elite Endowment Funds to Fund Anti-Democratic Organizations

Role of NCAA Football in Promoting Oppressive Values (No Wages, Poor Safety, Sports Gambling) 

Role of US Universities in Supporting Human Rights Violators (e.g. Russia, People's Republic of China) 

Role of US Universities in Undermining Foreign Efforts in Democratization  

Use of "Credentials" as a Legal Form of Discrimination 

Non-Disclosure Agreements

Anti-Union Efforts in Higher Education

Student Loan Peonage, Declining Social Mobility, and the "Educated Underclass"

Related link: US Higher Education and the Intellectualization of White Supremacy

Related link: UT Austin President Eats Cake in a Pandemic (Austin Longhorn*)

Related link: Coursera IPO Reveals Bleak Future For Global Labor

Related link: Guild Education: Enablers of Anti-Union Corporations and Subprime College Programs

Related link: Maximus, Student Loan Debt, and the Poverty Industrial Complex

Related link: Community Colleges at the Heart of College Meltdown

Related link: The Tragedy of Human Capital Theory in Higher Education (Glen McGhee*)

Related link: Higher Education Inquirer: The Growth of "RoboColleges" and "Robostudents"

Related link: SLABS: The Soylent Green of US Higher Education

Dahn Shaulis

Higher Education Inquirer

NCAA bans ex-Temple basketball player for betting on own games (CBS Philadelphia)

 

Humanizing Education Part I: Can Spelman College Wellness Be a Model for Change?

In 2013, Spelman College, an all-women's college and HBCU took the bold move of replacing its costly Division III sports program with an extensive wellness program for all its students. There were several arguments against the strategy, including the idea that many CEOs, including women CEOs, competed as NCAA athletes.

It was a courageous move for then-President Beverly Daniel Tatum, one that appears to have paid off.  We can find no evidence that making this transition to a more egalitarian model of physical activity has hurt the school in terms of funding. Its current endowment is approaching a half-billion dollars. Its acceptance rate is competitive, 28 percent. 

This is not to say that Spelman women and Spelman grads won't be competitive in the way they live their lives. Spelmanites will continue to excel on a number of playing fields. In 2023, there was an effort to establish lacrosse as a club sport, but this did not take away significantly from the overall focus on wellness over competition. 

Social Reality Check

Can this more egalitarian model of physical activity work at other small schools? Perhaps, but we can find no other college that has followed suit. This strategy may not even be possible with expensive Division III football programs that have perennially losing squads. One higher ed businessman who wished to remain anonymous told us that "football gets you 100 enrollment for overcompensating men who want to tell their girlfriends that they played intercollegiate football. It also brings 25 cheerleaders and a 50-piece band  and something to do on homecoming which is among the highest producing development events." 

Making changes to humanize education is not easy. Understanding the particulars of the issues, including vested interests, and social reality, is imperative.

Get Wise, Guys: The Perils of the Sports Betting Culture

The NCAA Calls it a Nightmare 

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of betting on college sports, the potential for quick money, and the social aspect of it all. But let's peel back the curtain and examine the real dangers that lurk beneath the surface of the sports betting culture.  

The Illusion of Easy Money
While it may seem like a simple way to make extra cash, the reality is much more complex. The odds are stacked against you, and the house always has an edge. Chasing losses can lead to a dangerous cycle of debt and despair.

The Mental Toll
The emotional rollercoaster of sports betting can take a significant toll on your mental health. The highs of winning can be fleeting, while the lows of losing can be devastating. The constant stress, anxiety, and disappointment can lead to serious mental health issues.

The Social Impact
Gambling addiction can strain relationships with friends and family. It can lead to isolation, secrecy, and a breakdown of trust. Your academic performance may suffer as you prioritize betting over your studies.

Get Wise, Stay Wise
While it's tempting to indulge in the thrill of sports betting, it's important to approach it with a level head. If you are underage, don't do it.  If you are over 25 and don't have an addiction, stick to a few small bets and a small budget, and know when to walk away. Don't drink or do drugs before, during, or after wagering. If you find yourself struggling with a gambling addiction, seek help immediately.  And if someone notices problems before you do, consider them an ally, and listen. 

Remember, the true joy of sports lies in the game itself, not in the financial outcome.

The National Problem Gambling Helpline (1-800-GAMBLER) is operated by the National Council on Problem Gambling. The helpline serves as a one-stop hub connecting people looking for assistance with a gambling problem to local resources. This network includes 28 contact centers which cover all 50 states and the U.S. territories. The National Problem Gambling Helpline offers call, text and chat services 24/7/365.

Coronavirus and the College Meltdown

The College Meltdown continues in 2020. This phenomenon is deeper than the coronavirus, the temporary closing of campuses across the US, and the cancellation of NCAA basketball's March Madness. What we are seeing in the news should be a smaller entry in the History of American Higher Education compared to larger trends and social problems that preceded the pandemic.

College and university enrollment has been declining slowly but constantly since 2011, with for-profit colleges and community colleges taking the largest hits. And it follows larger demographic trends which include a half century of increasing inequality, including "savage inequalities" in the K-12 pipeline, crushing student loan debt, decreasing social mobility and the underemployment of college graduates, smaller families, and the hollowing out of America.

Spending on college is also an increasingly risky decision for working families.

[College enrollment continues to decline every year. This chart is already outdated. In Alaska, for example, enrollment dropped 37 percent from 2011 to 2019, New Mexico and Michigan dropped 33 and 24 percent. ]

A larger enrollment decline is projected for 2026, a ripple effect of the Great Recession of 2008. With fewer younger people to attend college, this "enrollment cliff" could amount to a 15 percent drop in a single year.

There are many parts to the current Coronavirus crisis and its effects on US higher education. But they all boil down to the Trump mantra (defund, deregulate, and privatize) and the opportunity for the elites to capitalize from the crisis, as they did during and after the Great Recession.

[Image below from Wikipedia. Higher education in the US has increasingly relied on for-profit mechanisms for growth and revenues. This includes privatized housing and services and for-profit Online Program Managers (OPMs).]

Higher education is a small but significant part of the US economy, which includes much larger sectors like Health Care and Finance. While the working class will not get bailed out, these sectors likely will, with the sudden crisis used as a rationalization. The crisis of crushing student loan debt and the much larger problems related to 50 years of growing inequality may be more disruptive in the long run, but these matters continue to be ignored.

Whether the next President is Donald Trump or Joe Biden, things could get worse for working families, unless there is mass resistance--right now I don't see that happening. For the moment, many young people are responding by living with family, not going to college, and delaying child bearing. Those who do get an education are also making economic sacrifices. Some, for example are selling their bodies as Sugar Babies to get through school.

Many state economies also look bleak in the near future. Not enough in revenues and increasing Medicaid costs make investments in education difficult to do without increasing taxes or state-level debt. And it's not likely that the wealthy will be willing to pay their fair share, unless they feel economically threatened. If that happens, rich companies and rich people can just move out of state or out of the country.

Higher Education and the Student Loan Mess

In October 2019, Trump Department of Education official Wayne Johnson resigned, recognizing that student loan debt mess was worse than anyone had imagined. US higher education enrollment is supposed to be countercyclical (improving when the economy drops) , but don't bet on it without government help.

Haven't heard any rumors in months, but it should also be interesting to see if President Trump tries to unload the $1.5T in federal loans to his banking friends using an executive order. McKinsey & Company have been tasked to determine the possibilities of such a maneuver, but there is radio silence on that front.

In the education sector, I'm watching student loan servicers and private lenders Sallie Mae (SLM), Navient (NAVI), and Nelnet (NNI) closely. Student Loan Asset-Backed Securities (also known as SLABS) are also worthy of scrutiny given the low rates of student loan repayment.

Newest Links

• Latest Coronavirus News (Inside Higher Education)
• Moody's lowers higher ed outlook to negative amid coronavirus crisis (Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Education Dive)
• What Is a College Education in the Time of Coronavirus? (NY Times Opinion)
• Community Colleges and the Coronavirus (Madeline St. Amour, Inside Higher Education) 
• California AG sues Betsy DeVos for overturning Obama-era rule aimed at for-profit colleges (Aarthi Swaminathan, Yahoo Finance)
• Coronavirus and Admissions Fears (Scott Jaschick, Inside Higher Education)
• Already stretched universities now face huge endowment losses from market meltdown (PBS, Jon Marcus)
• Uncertain Fate for Support Staff (Lilah Burke, IHE)
• 41% of Recent Grads Work in Jobs Not Requiring a Degree (Inside Higher Education)
• College Students Losing SNAP Benefits (Inside Higher Education)
• New Jersey Passes Contingent Faculty Bill of Rights (The Adjunct Crisis)
• Many Nonprofit College Programs Would Fail Gainful Test (Inside Higher Education)
• The College Wealth Premium Has Collapsed (Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic)
• Trump DOJ Compels NACAC to Soften Ethics for College Admissions (Inside Higher Education)
• Student Debt Is Transforming the American Family (Hua Hsu, New Yorker)
• Community college enrollment down 25% nationally since 2011, Census Bureau estimates (Cleveland.com)
• Break Up the BA Cartel (Frederick M. Hess, National Review)
• Wealthy Students' Borrowing Spikes (Rick Seltzer, Inside Higher Education)
• Behind Closed Doors in Washington, Here’s What Colleges Fight For (Kevin Carey, NY Times)
• Preparing for the Great Enrollment Crash (Inside Higher Education)
• List of 946 Financial Ailing Colleges Kept Secret (Inside Higher Education)
• How Colleges Can Survive the Coming Enrollment Crash (Rob Jenkins, James G. Martin Center)
• Colleges, face up to the rocky financial reality (CNN opinion)
• Trump education official to resign and call for mass student loan forgiveness (Josh Mitchell, Wall Street Journal)
• Worst Colleges in America, By State
• Colleges Ill-prepared for the Future (Inside Higher Ed)
• Has the Chamber of Commerce Hijacked YOUR Education System? Engineering Students For A Low-Wage, Gig Economy (Wrench in the Gears)
• The Educated Underclass (Gary Roth)
• Sallie Mae execs tan at Maui retreat while student debt crisis tops $1.6 trillion (NBC News Investigates)
• Flagship Universities are Unaffordable to Most Citizens (IHEP)
• 99% Rejected For Student Loan Forgiveness - Again (Zack Friedman, Forbes)
• The other victims when colleges decline or close: their hometowns (Hechinger Report)
• HBCUs Plan Cuts After Congress Misses Funding Deadline (Inside Higher Education)
• Trump Administration Hires McKinsey to Evaluate Student-Loan Portfolio (Wall Street Journal)
• Campus Facilities Facing Debt Crisis and Staffing Cuts (Sightlines)
• TCF Analysis of 70+ University-OPM Contracts Reveals Increasing Risks to Students, Public Education
• DOWNFALL OF NCAA WOULD IMPROVE AMERICAN EDUCATION (Randall Collins)