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Updated: May 20, 2013

Index:

• In the News: How Student Loans Became a $120 Billion Government Bonanza - The government will reap more in profits from student loans this year than any of the nation's largest corporations. Last year, for example, the most profitable company was ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), which reported income of $44.9 billion.
• In the News: Federal Spending That Works - Most community colleges could easily put federal grant money to good use plugging up budget holes after years of slashing by states. But the U.S. Department of Labor’s $2 billion in workforce development funding for the sector was designed to encourage two-year colleges to make lasting, ambitious changes instead of just back-filling budgets. And that approach seems to be working.
• In the News: Let's Not Talk About It - Otterbein University is getting rid of a form that it required victims, perpetrators and witnesses to a sexual assault investigation to sign, after student journalists asked administrators why alleged victims were being told not to discuss their cases.
• In the News: Elizabeth Warren Pushes Bill to Reduce Student Loan Interest Rates
• Why AAUW Cares about Community Colleges — and You Should, Too
• In the News: Bankers Warn Fed of Farm, Student Loan Bubbles Echoing Subprime
• On Thursday, May 9, AAUW will release a new research report, Women in Community Colleges: Access to Success. Before the report release, read the executive summary and learn how to start planning your research panel watch party.
• In the News: New Report Recommends Best Anti-Bullying Practices
• Congress Begins Discussions on Higher Education Act - With the Higher Education Act set to expire at the end of 2013, the House and Senate held hearings this week to discuss next steps for the legislation governing financial aid programs and other aspects of postsecondary education. This week AAUW also addressed the issue of college affordability and student loan debt on Capitol Hill with a briefing, "Understanding the Gender Pay Gap and its Impact on Student Debt." The briefing presented AAUW’s latest research on the gender pay gap and student debt burdens from Graduating to a Pay Gap, as well as policy recommendations on both subjects.
• In the News: Public Schools, Billionaire Agendas: The Threat of the 'Parent Revolution' Campaign - The "parent-trigger” movement is being heavily financed by the conservative Walton Family Foundation, one of the nation’s largest anti-union organizations.
• North Country Matters April cable show focuses on school reform (April 3, 2013)
• North Country Matters: North Countrty Matters Back On The Air Tonight (April 3, 2013)
• North Country Matters: Strategies to Maintain Educational Solvency in Fiscally Challenging Times - an interview with St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES School Superintendent Tom Burns who discusses some short and long term strategies school districts can look at to meet the fiscal challenges facing North Country schools. (March 29, 2013)
• More States Moving Toward School Vouchers - According to the New York Times, lawmakers across the country are seeking to give funds meant for public schools directly to individual families through voucher programs. Critics of the legislation point out this would take funds away from public schools while not necessarily providing better quality education for students and would leave many students without civil rights protections.
• Continuing the Obama administration’s efforts to promote college affordability, the Department of Education launched new loan counseling tools to help borrowers manage their student debt.
• North Country Matters: Superintendent Pat Brady discusses the Financial Situation at Potsdam Central (March 7, 2013)
• Department of Education Urges Schools to Reduce Gender-Based Violence - On Thursday, the Department of Education urged state school leaders to take immediate action to decrease gender-based violence, including teen dating violence and bullying, in schools. In addition to a letter urging school leaders to take action, the Department of Education released a tool kit with suggestions and resources for addressing and preventing gender-based violence.
• In the News: Who Benefits From Online Ed?
• In the News: Assemblywoman Russell says upstate senators taking wrong approach to getting more aid to poorer schools
• Did you miss the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) webinar on Graduating to a Pay Gap with AAUW Public Policy and Government Relations Director Lisa Maatz and Senior Researcher Christianne Corbett, or want to watch it again? A recording is available.
• In the News: School Reforms Not Working, U.S. Panel Declares - A federal commission on Tuesday said the bipartisan education reform agenda pursued in the past 15 years has failed to adequately improve public schools, with the consequences largely affecting low-income and minority students. The commission called on the federal government to take a more active role in public education and argued for increased attention on rigorous teacher training and less emphasis on standardized test scores.
• In the News: How Student Loan Debt is Treated Differently Than Other Debt
• In the News: Thinking About Debt Relief
• In the News: New Data on Diversity in Medical Schools
• In the News: 'The Rise of Women'- Full-time working women in 2011 earned only 82 percent of what men earned. That's up 20 percentage points from 30 years ago, thanks in part to women getting more education and access to high-paying managerial positions, but also an internal motivation to get a degree as "insurance" to be able to make a middle-class living.
• In the News: It Takes a B.A. to Find a Job as a File Clerk
• Southern Students Hit Hard by Pell Grant Changes
• Obama Administration Introduces “College Scorecard”
• In the News: S.T.E.M. education inspiring girls nationwide
• Report: Some NCLB State Waivers Weaken Civil Rights Commitments of the Law
• Take Your Daughter to a STEM Conference
• AAUW in the News:The 2013 Governor's Education Budget, a discussion with Assemblywoman Addie Russell who talks candidly about the many public schools in New York in danger of falling off the fiscal cliff.
• In the News: St. Lawrence County students finishing last in ‘Race to the Top’?
• In the News: Assemblywoman Russell says state school aid formula is "rigged"
• In the News: 3 Ways You Can Introduce a Girl to Engineering
• In the News: Assemblywoman Russell to sponsor 'School Funding Equity Act’
• Bipartisan Group of Senators, President Outline Different Plans to Overhaul Immigration Policies
• High School Graduation Rate Rises to Highest Since 1975-1976
• In the News: Senator Casey Introduces Bill to Combat Sexual Violence on College Campuses

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