IBL News

Author: IBL News

  • The New York Times Against Canceling Student Debt, which Reached $1.7 Trillion

    The New York Times Against Canceling Student Debt, which Reached $1.7 Trillion

    IBL News | New York

    Over 45 million people carry $1.7 trillion in student debt, most of it owed to the Federal Government.

    Given this fact, should the U.S. Government cancel student debt?

    According to a New York Times editorial article, that is “a bad idea” and “such a move is legally dubious, economically unsound, politically fraught, and educationally problematic.”

    “Canceling this debt, even in the limited amounts that the White House is considering, would set a bad precedent and do nothing to change the fact that future students will graduate with yet more debt — along with the blind hope of another, future amnesty,” writes The Editorial Board of The New York Times.

    As a candidate, Joe Biden said he supported congressional action to tackle student debt. Now, he is considering canceling it through an executive order.

    To date, his Department of Education has taken steps to alleviate some of the loans for borrowers who are unable to pay and forgiven the debts of some students defrauded by for-profit schools. Throughout the pandemic, borrowers have been forgiven the interest that accrued on their loans each month, in addition to not having to pay down the principal of the loan. The Biden administration has extended the pause several times, and it is now set to expire on Aug. 31.

    According to The Times, the moratorium on payment of federal loans, which make up more than 90 percent of all student debt, has already cost $100 billion and has canceled the equivalent of $5,500 in debt per borrower.

    The White House is considering various proposals for debt cancellation, possibly with income-based limits for eligibility.

    “Lawmakers should also consider making it easier to discharge student loans through bankruptcy, a measure of relief that is available for credit card and mortgage debt.” Changes to bankruptcy law in 2005 have also made those protections less accessible.

    Since 2021 the Biden administration has approved more than $18.5 billion in loan discharges for more than 750,000 borrowers.

    President Biden said at an April press conference that he was considering canceling “some” student loan debt.

    “The Biden administration should focus on confronting the problems with college affordability and loan repayment, so more students and graduates have a better chance at that prosperity,” the editorial board concluded.

  • An Op-Ed Calls to Rename George Washington University for Its “Systemic Racism”

    An Op-Ed Calls to Rename George Washington University for Its “Systemic Racism”

    IBL News | New York

    Should we start renaming universities?

    The Washington Post proposed this in an op-ed, written by a senior at George Washington University, Caled Francois, proposing to rename the university  because “racism has always been a problem at GW.”

    Two proposed names to rename the university are Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth (abolitionists) as well as Malcolm X.

    “At the university’s founding in 1821, enrollment was restricted to White men. In 1954, then-university president Marvin employed numerous efforts to preserve segregation, arguing for a ‘homogenous’ group of White students.” (…) “In 1987, Black students organized to demand more visibility in a predominantly Black city where Black students were outnumbered by huge majorities. Today, with Black enrollment at about 10 percent, Black students on campus continue to struggle for community. Despite alleged efforts by administration to enhance diversity, the admissions office continues to fail to ensure a student body with adequate minority representation.”

    “These problems are rooted in systemic racism, institutional inequality, and white supremacy”

    This op-ed author demanded four items: “Decolonized university curriculum, increased Black enrollment, the renaming of the university and the selection of an African American President.”

    “An African American at the helm would reflect a new chapter in university politics. Such a decision would demonstrate the university’s commitment to strength through diversity and serve as a reflection of the university’s pledge to racial justice,” he wrote, noting GW University has never had a Black president in its 200-year history.

    In addition to renaming the university, the author insisted its main campus, Mount Vernon Campus, needs to be stripped of its name since it’s named after Washington’s former slave plantation. It was also suggested that the Winston Churchill Library “must go” as well as the school’s moniker, mascot, and “Hail Thee George Washington” motto.

    “The work of this university to uplift the ideals of universal humanism and break its ties with white supremacy and systemic racism must be done with effort, dedication, and painstaking excellence,” he wrote.

  • Boston University and Other Colleges Raise Tuition Price, Attributing It to Inflation

    Boston University and Other Colleges Raise Tuition Price, Attributing It to Inflation

    IBL News | New York

    College tuition is going up again after the pause taken during the pandemic. This time, colleges and universities attribute the increase to rampant inflation.

    Currently, the inflation rate is 8.3 percent over the last year, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics this past Wednesday. It’s the highest rate since 1983.

    Some institutions, like Boston University, are pushing up prices to historic levels. Experts are afraid that when prices go up, they don’t go back down, as an article posted on Inside the Higher Education explains.

    In a letter to faculty and staff last week, Boston University President Robert A. Brown said that “by far, my greatest immediate concern is the impact of inflation on faculty and staff, our students, and the University.”

    He added: “We have increased undergraduate tuition by 4.25% for the coming academic year, our largest increase in 14 years, following an increase of only 3.0% last year.”

    “This increase does not keep pace with the current national rate of inflation and cannot fully offset the increased costs of University operations or fund salary increases that would fully mitigate the effects of inflation on the families of faculty and staff.”

    However, as Inside of Higher Education reminds “the increase comes on the heels of the best fundraising year in history for Boston University, which brought in $225 million in philanthropic support in 2021.”

    • In December, the University of Virginia approved an 8.4 percent increase in undergraduate tuition and fees over the next two years.
    • The Oregon Institute of Technology raised undergraduate tuition by 6.6 percent, or 7 percent, when including student fees.
    • The Washington State University Board of Regents approved a 2.4 percent tuition increase for undergraduates this month.

    “These new tuition rates will help the university balance its annual budget in an inflationary environment while maintaining our commitment to accessibility and to value,” UVA President, Jim Ryan, said in December 2021.

     

  • The Some College No Credential Population Rose to 39 Million in the U.S

    The Some College No Credential Population Rose to 39 Million in the U.S

    IBL News | New York

    The number of Americans without a college credential but some college credits continues to increase. In July 2020, this segment was up 3.1 million from the 36 million in 2019.

    These data were issued by the National Student Clearinghouse’s Research Center this week on its last annual progress report.

    The National Student Clearinghouse warned that “if these trends continue, a growing number of U.S. workers lacking education credentials risk being left behind in the twenty-first-century economy.”

    The Some College, No Credential (SCNC) report series showed that California, Texas, New York, and Illinois account for more than a third of the nation’s number.

    • Seventy percent of the 60,400 completers obtained their credential from a public institution (two- or four-year). Private nonprofit four-year institutions had the highest perseverance rates (64.8%), while community colleges had the lowest (50.2%).
    • Women outnumbered men in re-enrollment, credential earning, and perseverance. The share of re-enrollees among minority women was substantially higher than men (63.5% versus 34.6%).
    • Associate degrees were the most common credential earned by Latinx SCNC students (42.5%), whereas Black students were most likely to have completed a certificate (42.7%). Asian and White students persevered at a higher rate than other groups.

     

  • Bentley University Becomes One of the First Colleges Accepting Crypto for Tuition Payments

    Bentley University Becomes One of the First Colleges Accepting Crypto for Tuition Payments

    IBL News | New York

    The adoption of cryptocurrency and digital assets is arriving in higher education.

    A small college in the Boston area, Bentley University has become one of the first educational institutions in the U.S. to accept tuition fee payments made in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), the university announced on May 3.

    The university is partnering with the crypto exchange Coinbase to accept those three cryptocurrencies.

    “The move highlights Bentley’s long-standing commitment to leading the way in the early adoption of technologies changing the business world,” said the university in a blog post.

    LaBrent Chrite, President of the university stated, “We’re proud to embrace this technology that our students are learning about, which will soon transform the global business landscape they’re about to enter.”

    Last year, Bentley, located in Waltham, MA, used NFTs — non-fungible tokens or digital collectibles bought and sold with cryptocurrency on blockchains — to commemorate former women’s basketball coach Barbara Stevens’ induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Bentley was one of the first universities in the world to issue NFTs.

    More than 41 million Americans – 16 percent of U.S. adults — have invested in, traded, or used cryptocurrency, according to the Pew Research Center. The global cryptocurrency market is projected to more than double, from $910.3 million in 2021 to $1.9 billion in 2028, according to Fortune Business Insights.

     

  • Coursera Announces New Features, Tools, and Learning Initiatives

    Coursera Announces New Features, Tools, and Learning Initiatives

    IBL News | New York

    Coursera, Inc. (NYSE: COUR) announced this month a new set of tech features, tools, and learning initiatives.

    Shravan Goli, Chief Product Officer at Coursera, listed on a blog post the following innovations, which will be launched this quarter:

    • Personalized Schedules. Learners will be able to personalize their schedules in a course to automatically receive personalized course deadlines and goals.
    • Data-Driven Deadlines. Students will receive deadlines within a course calculated based on how long it took to finish the item. 
    • Schedule Nudges. Learners get notified whether they are on track, ahead, or behind in their course with actionable next steps to keep them progressing efficiently.
    • Lecture Summaries. Learners will see Machine-Learning generated summaries of key lecture videos. This will allow them to review prior course material, gain a quick understanding of a topic, and progress faster through a course.
    • Adobe Guided Projects. Learners will be able to work with Adobe software to gain hands-on skills, build a portfolio, and prepare for a UX/Design role. Each learner who completes an Adobe Guided Project will receive a complimentary month of access to Adobe Creative Cloud.
    • File Downloads from Labs to work locally and enhancements on auto-grading and auto-submission.

    Another remarkable innovation for educators is the possibility of migrating their existing content on edX and Open edX to their courses on Coursera via a new self-serve edX content ingestion tool. “Through this tool, university partner Dartmouth seamlessly moved 30+ courses to Coursera with minimal work for its program staff,” explained Shravan Goli.

    Also in May, Coursera announced Career Academy intended for entry-level job-skills training.

    Recent platform innovations included:

    • LevelSets. A tool to help employees determine their proficiency in key skills and identify areas to focus on moving forward.

    Currently, there are 60+ new LevelSet assessments across Data Science, Technology, Marketing, and Finance to assess learner skills proficiency to establish a baseline and personalize content recommendations.

    • SkillSets. It provides content recommendations powered by data from millions of learners, choosing from a variety of skills and setting proficiency targets to establish measurable learning goals.

     

  • Coursera Launches a Collection of Short Videos and Lessons Intended for Skills Development

    Coursera Launches a Collection of Short Videos and Lessons Intended for Skills Development

    IBL News | New York

    Coursera, Inc. (NYSE: COUR) introduced Clips, a collection of bite-size, 5-10 minute videos and lessons, intended to teach skills training to employees on job-relevant topics — mostly business, tech, data, leadership, and human abilities. The product will be available for Coursera’s corporate clients, starting in June.

    Clips will be available to Coursera for Business customers starting in June. To learn more, contact Coursera here.

    Currently, Coursera offers 10,000 short educational videos. The learning company announced that it will scale its offering to 200,000 videos by the end of the year.

    A Coursera survey noted that 60% of employees spend less than one hour on learning per sitting.

    “We are enabling employees to quickly develop the role-based skills and human skills needed to do their job successfully,” said Leah Belsky, Chief Enterprise Officer at Coursera.

    The Clips product doesn’t require signing up for any course. “This feature provides employees with a clear path to deeper skills development when they are ready to enroll,” explained Belsky.

    The new Clips offering features short content across businesses, tech, data, leadership, and human skills. These are some examples:

     

  • Udacity Puts Its Platform on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace

    Udacity Puts Its Platform on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace

    IBL News | New York

    Udacity.com launched its Digital Transformation Platform suite solution on Amazon Web Services (AWS) marketplace last month.

    This suite focuses on in-demand technologies, mentor support, and project-based learning taught by industry experts.

    Programs include a curated content catalog in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), data science, autonomous systems, and cloud computing.

    The price of the platform starts at $150,000 per twelve months.

    “We are bringing to the AWS Marketplace – the ability for companies to transform their legacy workforces into job-ready cloud professionals, capable of powering their cloud transformations,” said Gabriel Dalporto, CEO of Udacity.

     
    Udacity Platform Fee Udacity Talent Transformation Platform + Initial STU Count Included $150,000 $285,000 $405,000

  • Andreessen Horowitz Creates with Columbia and Stanford a Research Lab on Crypto and Web3

    Andreessen Horowitz Creates with Columbia and Stanford a Research Lab on Crypto and Web3

    IBL News | New York

    Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced through a blog post last month that it was building out dedicated crypto research and web3 team led by faculty from Columbia and Stanford universities.

    Crypto technology has matured into a field of knowledge that brings together elements of computer science, economics, finance, and humanities.

    Ethereum and other fully programmable blockchains on the web3 space have unlocked a rich space for innovation and profits.

    The venture firm has in mind two examples of successful research labs which have pioneered advances in AI: DeepMind and OpenAI.

    Tim Roughgarden, researcher and computer science professor at Stanford and Columbia [in the picture], will lead the team as Head of Research.

    His YouTube lectures for his crypto and blockchain course at Columbia, for example, are one of the best and most popular introductions to the space.

    Dan Boneh, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University, will be the Senior Research Advisor.

    Under Tim’s leadership, Andreessen Horowitz is bringing on board a multidisciplinary founding team of Research Partners, which include Joseph Bonneau, Benedikt Bünz, Scott Duke Kominers, and Valeria Nikolaenko.

  • 2U/edX Increases Revenues and Losses While It Transitions Into edX

    2U/edX Increases Revenues and Losses While It Transitions Into edX

    IBL News | New York

    2U, Inc. (Nasdaq: TWOU), the parent company of edX, reported yesterday a revenue increase of 9% to $253.3 million and a net loss rise of $80.2 million to $125.8 million ($1.65 per share) in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year.

    The Degree program segment revenue increased 6% to $154.2 million while the Alternative Credential segment revenue grew 15% to $99.1 million.

    The Lanham, Maryland–based educational company mentioned that the increase in revenue in the first quarter included $10.9 million from edX.

    Costs and expenses for the first quarter totaled $364.7 million, a 35.3% increase from $269.6 million in the first quarter of 2021. This increase included $58.8 million of non-cash impairment charges in our Alternative Credential Segment and $18.3 million of operating expenses related to edX.

    Christopher “Chip” Paucek, Co-Founder and CEO of 2U, said that his company “was transitioning to a platform company under the edX brand.” In addition, 2U’s mission was expanding beyond online programs at scale into “access to high-quality education for everyone, everywhere, at every stage of life.”

    “We remain focused on unlocking the potential of edX, continuing to invest in our degree programs, and improving the profitability of the Alternative Credential Segment,” added Paul Lalljie, 2U’s Chief Financial Officer.

    2U’s business outlook for 2022 pointed to revenue in the range of $1.05 billion to $1.09 billion, representing growth of 13% at the midpoint; net loss to range from $260 million to $240 million; and adjusted EBITDA to range from $80 million to $90 million, representing growth of 28% at the midpoint.