Higher Education

College costs, student debt, job prospects: All 3 will be improved with Trump’s executive order

In his book The Way to Wealth (perhaps America’s very first book of financial advice), Benjamin Franklin said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Franklin might amend that today, in light of the skyrocketing cost of a university education, the crushing burden of student debt, and the mismatch between graduates and available jobs. Indeed, later...

March 21, 2019

Higher Education

Texas Flagship Universities Fly the Flag for Freedom of Speech on Campuses

In January, Texas A&M University became the Lone Star State’s sole university to receive the highest possible rating for its protection of the First Amendment on campus. At the same time, it appears that the University of Texas System is considering taking its own principled stand for freedom through adopting the University of Chicago’s exemplary...

February 25, 2019

Higher Education

Texas Takes The Next Step To Make College More Affordable

In 2011, then-Texas Governor Rick Perry called on the Lone Star State’s public four-year universities to craft affordable bachelor’s degrees, what the Governor labeled at the time, “$10,000 degrees.” Texas universities have risen to the challenge. In late 2013, the first Texas Affordable Baccalaureate Degree was launched by Texas A&M-Commerce and South Texas College. The...

December 26, 2018

Higher Education

What the 2018 Election Means for Higher Education

When the 116th Congress is seated in January, political control will be divided, with Democrats holding a majority in the House and Republicans in the Senate. What does this mean for higher education? We asked a few NAS members to weigh in. Other articles in the series are, Focus on Reining in the American Bar Association, Time to...

December 11, 2018

Higher Education

Tackling Civic Illiteracy in America

American government is divided into three branches. Can you name them? If so, you’re in the minority. National polling finds that only 26 percent of Americans can name all three branches of the government. This is down from 38 percent in 2011. Worse, 33 percent of Americans surveyed were unable to name even one branch of government....

November 30, 2018

Higher Education

Opponents of Campus Free-Speech Laws Forgot the History of the Civil Rights Movement

Two weeks ago, a demonstration in support of Supreme Court nominee (now Justice) Brett Kavanaugh at the University of Texas at Austin was met with not only opposition but also some pushing and shoving. UT is far from the only school to witness such confrontations. Even the First Amendment, it would seem, has become a...

October 26, 2018

K-12 Education

Learning Liberty: Congress Should Fund The ‘American History for Freedom’ Initiative

It has been ten years since the Federal Higher Education Act was last reauthorized. Little-noticed at the time, the 2008 reauthorization added a new provision—“American History for Freedom” (AHF)—which sought to counteract the politically correct agenda that has become all the rage at too many colleges and universities. AHF would award government funds to academic...

September 27, 2018

K-12 Education

After Public Backlash, Texas Education Will Continue to Remember The Alamo

When I moved from Illinois to Texas, years ago, my children were still at the K-12 level. Helping my seventh-grader with her homework, I was struck by my new state’s commitment to teaching the history of Texas. Earlier this month, that commitment appeared to be wavering. But today, thanks to a mobilized citizenry, Texas students...

September 20, 2018

Higher Education

Think the U.S. Constitution ‘Subverts Democracy’? Think Again

For roughly the past fifty years, higher education reformers have been warning about the decline in civic education in this country. National polling consistently shows that Americans, even college graduates, are growing increasingly civically illiterate. A recent survey found that only 36% of respondents can identify the three branches of American government. A mere 27% know that...

August 28, 2018

Higher Education

Congress Seeks to Fix Our Broken Higher Education System

Today, college students are saddled with more student loan debt than ever before in American history. The average student loan debt for 2017 graduates was over $39,000, which is a six percent uptick from 2016. Students owe nearly $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. According to the website, StudentLoanHero.com, student loan debt now runs $620 billion higher than...

July 18, 2018

Higher Education

Educating the Educators: States Take The Lead On Restoring Free Speech On Campus

If some public universities have lost sight of the fact that freedom of speech is essential to both education and American democracy, the American people are fortunate that a growing number of state legislatures have not. Several weeks ago, Louisiana Governor John Edwards signed SB 364, a bill crafted to restore students’ free speech at the...

June 29, 2018

Higher Education

To Punish Disrupters, Or Not? New Recommendations To Restore Free Speech On Campus

Just how bad is the state of free speech and debate on America’s campuses? In March 2018, Gallup/Knight looked to answer this question through conducting a survey of more than 3,000 college students. The results are frightening: The survey reveals that 61 percent of American college students find that their school prevents some students and faculty from...

May 31, 2018