Higher Education

The other day I praised Gore Vidal's Lincoln , mentioning in particular the accuracy of its historical details.  Now I learn that the estimable Heidi Landecker, now of The Chronicle of Higher Education , was the fact checker for the book (which she did not much esteem) and a principal source of that historical accuracy.  Her account of working with Gore Vidal  is well worth a few minutes of your time.     

Along with many of the nation's million and a half professors, I saw the recent apparent discovery of the Higgs boson particle as a great moment not only for science but for American education as well. Somehow, lost in the discussion of the discovery and the cost of the facility at which it took place, we managed to miss the real action that unveiled the Higgs: persons nurtured, selected, and paid to think. By universities. As our nation continues to endure a prolonged economic struggle, the cost of higher education has become a focus for many because the price of attendance has outpaced inflation consistently and significantly.

The Johns Hopkins University is joining a group of elite universities that will offer free online courses through a company called Coursera, a collective leap that could open higher education to a broader audience. Though Johns Hopkins already offers courses online, Coursera is considered a potential game changer, because its classes will be available to unlimited numbers of students around the world. Some experts believe so-called "massive open online courses" could de-centralize higher education.

The messy situation at the University of Virginia, which recently saw its president forced to resign by the school's governing board, only to be reinstated two weeks later after faculty and student protests, highlighted problems of institutional reform and financial sustainability that are not unique to the school founded by Thomas Jefferson. Maryland confronts many of the same challenges, which are affecting public colleges and universities across the country, but it has done so in ways that, fortunately, have allowed it to avoid many of the missteps Virginia made.

The economic and political tumult in Europe has continued this week with anti-incumbent votes in France and Greece as well as signs of disaffection in Italy, Great Britain and Germany. The electorate is angry, and the election results have raised renewed concerns about whether Europe's most debt-burdened countries will stick with their quest toward fiscal discipline. On this side of the Atlantic, it's tempting to view the uproar in purely parochial terms - out of concern that the U.S. economy will continue to be encumbered by the eurozone crisis.

Young people face a cruel irony. Most can't land a decent job without a college education, yet many graduates are locked into poorly paying positions that don't permit repayment of student loans. For two generations, college price tags have risen much faster than inflation and families' ability to pay. More importantly, costs have leaped faster than what graduates can earn over working lifetimes, and many diplomas do not offer a positive return on investment, as measured by graduates' ability to service their debt.

We write as members and leaders of Maryland's faith community. We are glad that a special session of the Maryland General Assembly to resolve the state's budget impasse now seems likely. We cannot stress strongly enough how vital it is to fashion a full fix to the doomsday budgetary scenario We each witness in our own congregations and communities the harm the Great Recession has wrought. Now is decidedly not the time to slash more from a state budget that already has left families and communities reeling.

It is difficult to fault the "doomsday" budget and support yearly budget increases for higher education when we hear stories about overpaid professors who only teach a couple of hours a day and take paid sabbaticals every three years. We also can't forget the million-dollar coaching salaries and all the sports revenues that have nothing to do with education. Revenues from higher taxes are not trickling down to benefit the students. The solution is to curb spending. Dan Griffin, Perry Hall

We all know that the cost of higher education continues to increase at an exponential rate. The problem is real and, not to sound apocalyptic, getting worse. Recently, as has already been reported, the state legislature failed to approve its proposed budget and ended up with a "doomsday" budget that shortchanges the University of Maryland College Park and many other institutions and government programs. Specifically, the doomsday measure includes a potential 10 percent (or greater) tuition increase.

Freeman A. Hrabowski III, the longtime president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County whose trailblazing work in educating minority students in the sciences has catapulted the university onto the national stage, has been recognized as one of the most influential leaders in the world. Hrabowski will join a renowned crowd of dignitaries, foreign heads of state, celebrities, activists and other reformers on Time magazine's 2012 Top 100 Most Influential People, due to be released Wednesday.