in 1984, after SCOTUS allowed conferences/schools to negotiate CFB TV contracts themselves instead of everything going through the NCAA, this was the very first new deal signed.

Cornell basically got the same "deal" UVA got, but they're forking over $30 million as well.

Elwood Watson of East Tennessee State takes the measure of various college rankings and finds @washingtonmonthly.com to be the best for most students. www.myjournalcourier.com/opinion/arti...

While small colleges will have higher per-student operating costs, New College of Florida is blowing that out of the water. The state is asking more questions as their US News ranking is down 60 spots in recent years. www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

In a surprising development, the federal negotiated rulemaking committee reached consensus on the list of programs that count as professional (and thus have higher loan limits than other graduate programs).

also, none from SC, where one of the commission's staff is from

Tennessee is notably absent, as are flagship institutions.

Matt Rhule says his staff is jumping on calls to get the air travel plans figured out as the shutdown nears 40 days.

A college athlete investing in a pro sports team. Amazing how things have changed in the last 5-10 years.

Educational administration programs across the country tend to have high tuition discount rates because they help colleges keep and retain employees. At my last job, this became an issue and I capped the number of student employees. They weren't happy. www.highereddive.com/news/univers...

This is a good look at how HBCUs are using large unrestricted gifts that they have never seen before. It's a combination of strategic investments, student support, and seeding endowments.

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out and whether University of Austin survives. Making it free is a great move, and I'd love to see more places do it, but I'm not confident that even a gift of this size will be enough to keep it tuition free, unless it stays very small.

Harvard’s faculty of arts and sciences says its running a massive structural deficit in part because of the endowment tax and in part because of deferred maintenance and failure to check other costs. Some faculty are not welcoming the coming cuts www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

The joy of being both a department head and an active faculty member: I get told at least once a week that I look tired. Yay.

I'm spending a lot of time thinking about the shift of students from lower-cost to higher-cost fields, further stretching institutional budgets (and something that often flies under the radar). Here is the trend for public research universities.

Even during the government shutdown, the negotiated rulemaking session on which programs should count as professional (and thus get higher loan limits) continues. The plane truth is that these conversations are tricky, as evidenced by a bachelor's degree in aviation.

George Mason will get back to having a quorum on its governing board with likely unified Democratic control in Virginia.

Apparently, AI has its limitations as a studying tool.

New pub with Amy Li on the financial needs of students in CC promise programs. We examined 7 local programs - interviewing 32 practitioners and analyzing 43 docs on program resources and financial challenges that promise students face. #highered #newpub journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Trinity Christian College in Illinois is closing in May after 67 years of operation. This follows at least six consecutive years of financial losses and enrollment dropping by one-third over the last decade.

This is an incredible and very specific hater energy substack.com/home/post/p-...

RISE Neg Reg Committee Convenes Again to Continue Discussion of New Loan Limit Provisions The RISE committee kicked off its second session of neg reg on Monday, focusing on the new prorated loan limits for students enrolled in less-than-full time: ow.ly/jYKF50XmqBW

Given the state of Wisconsin football in 2025, this isn't terribly surprising. But when I was a grad student there, alcohol wasn't sold in general admissions areas.

Twenty-two blue states and a coalition of nonprofits sued to block ED's planned restrictions to Public Service Loan Forgiveness, with more lawsuits on the way.

With higher education facing great uncertainty, have a webinar scheduled for Wednesday about how public research universities can finance their missions. Register today: msu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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"If you shrink your profit centers and grow your loss centers, what do you think is going to happen?" www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

It would likely take a generation to rebuild the Department of Education's capacity, as potential employees and contractors are going to be very hesitant to join on after the terminations. This is at the same time that ED has ambitious plans for expanding the federal role in higher education.

Every time I try to explain to a normie why politicized hiring is bad for universities or government, will use Belichick as an example

Annnnnnnd now my kids (who aren't even six or seven years old yet) are running around screaming "SIX SEVEN!" Preschool teachers should also be paid a heck of a lot more.

Last game of the season. Can't hold anything back, I guess. But I still wouldn't want to get hit by a major league fastball.

This is almost certainly the last World Series game with a starting pitcher older than me (Scherzer). Nice work, fellow old man.

The Texas football crowd is chanting "Overrated!" at Vanderbilt. That's got to be a first.

Lots of people sharing this article and I feel compelled to point out that there's lots of research concluding that huge percentages of teachers have considered leaving their jobs and very, very few actually do.

I am dying laughing as one kid, who took a little longer to pick bc he didn’t want candy (braces), saw the Declaration of Independence and then had to run to catch up w/ his friends, unsuccessfully yelling over their howls and hoots “Guys - guys, guys - GUYS! I GOT A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE!!!”

www.chronicle.com/special-proj... by the brilliant @carlsonics.bsky.social

I'm sorry, but I'm a bit skeptical of this assertion.

In my latest department head column for the @chronicle.com, I shared some thoughts about how to lead a large number of direct reports (while also reporting to someone who is dealing with the exact same challenge).

For those of you who visit different campuses or talk with friends at different campuses than yours: I'm looking for campuses that are struggling with deferred maintenance issues because of tight budget. Send me a DM or an email ([email protected]) with suggestions for where I should look.

With School of Ed letterhead, specifically. Oof.

Proposed program closures at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln seem to not just be about closing a budget deficit. The pain of losing AAU membership a decade ago is still there, and UNL is trying to save money elsewhere to reallocate to research. But are their metrics the right ones? I'm not sure.

good morning www.extrapointsmb.com/p/wait-what-...

In my latest department head column for the @chronicle.com, I shared some thoughts about how to lead a large number of direct reports (while also reporting to someone who is dealing with the exact same challenge).

Definitely should be. In education, we’ve lost the plot for sure

The list of potential signers of the proposed higher education compact now includes: New College of Florida, a public spending $100k per student Grand Canyon University, which fought the feds about shedding for-profit status Valley Forge Military College, which has less than 100 students

This is a good piece on the financial challenges facing the University of Chicago, which posted budget deficits for a remarkable fourteen consecutive years. And this was before graduate education and research were upended in 2025.

Which of those positions does Kim Mulkey get?

The US House of Representatives has been out of session for all but four days since Trey Yesavage made his major league debut

I'm feeling a bit old when multiple MLB managers are younger than me. I thought that I was doing pretty well when I put my tenure packet in at 33.

I wrote a quick piece on the Trump admin's newly published Public Service Loan Forgiveness rule that could limit some borrowers access to forgiveness even if they have spent ten years working in public service. #StudentLoans #PSLF #StudentLoanForgiveness www.forbes.com/sites/edward...