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The Union of Students in Ireland is sponsoring a huge protest against new student fees at the nation’s colleges and universities.
The Dublin protest, underway at this hour, is expected to draw tens of thousands of students. Check back for more details.
The economic stimulus bill that Congress is scheduled to vote on today includes more than $150 billion in new education funding, according to the New York Times.
That number includes $6 billion in construction and renovation funds for colleges and universities, and an $8 billion increase in Pell Grant funding.
The Pell Grant hike would raise total government support for the program by nearly 50%.
Meanwhile, as the Times reported two weeks ago, colleges and universities spending on students has dropped in the last half-decade, while the proportion of the cost of education paid for by students has risen. (The study the Times drew those conclusions from can be found here.)
I was figuring today would be a slow news day on the York University strike. I figured wrong.
- The Liberal party is rejecting calls for a tuition refund.
- CUPE is planning a court challenge to the upcoming back-to-work legislation.
- More than a thousand students have signed on to a class-action lawsuit against York over their handling of the strike.
January 28 Update: CUPE won’t be challenging the BTW law after all. Classes at York should resume on Monday.
Passage of the DREAM Act has been voted one of the top ten agenda items for the Obama administration by members of change.org. The DREAM Act proposal is the only higher education campaign to make the cut.
According to its change.org sponsors, the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act would open a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants under the age of 30 who…
- were brought to the United States before they turned 16,
- have lived here continuously for five years,
- graduated from a US high school or obtained a GED
- have good moral character with no criminal record, and
- attend college or enlist in the military.
Here’s an article on the campaign to get the DREAM Act into the top ten and a link to DreamActivist, a site that supports passage of the bill.
President-elect Obama is on record in support of the DREAM Act. A statement of support he provided to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities last year follows the jump…
The Economist looks at the changing economics of going to college, and how the financial crisis is going to change them more.
Key passage: Private borrowing for college has increased sevenfold in the last decade, and is set to rise even more. But if “a student is going to borrow, it is generally better to go through the government.” As a spokesperson for The Institute for College Access and Success puts it, private loans “really are not a form of student aid … they’re an expensive form of credit.”
The Economist‘s conclusion? “By bailing out some of the private lenders, [Treasury Secretary] Paulson risks giving the seal of government approval to a sometimes dodgy business.”
Update: When a center-right magazine like The Economist sides with students over banks, they’re going to provoke some interesting responses. Here’s my favorite screech from the comments on that piece:
The reality is too many people go to college, it lasts too long (+4 years in the US, only 3 in the UK), too many students study nonsense, and college professors teach too much nonsense. Students spend their 4-5 years taking classes in wine-tasting and astrology to round out their majors in Marxism or Interpretive Dance Theory. […] We NEED student loans to dry up because we need our terrible education system to die and be replaced by something better.
studentactivism.net 
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