From new data on transfer students to the U.S. Department of Education’s plan to smooth the Free Application for Federal Student Aid rollout, here are the top-line figures from some of our biggest stories of the week.
By the numbers
16%
The share of students who started at community colleges in fall 2015 who went on to earn a bachelor’s degree at a four-year institution, according to a new joint research project. That rate has hardly budged over the past several years, up only 2 percentage points from the 2007 cohort.
$50 million
The funding the Education Department is giving nonprofit groups to help smooth the rollout of the new FAFSA. The funds will be used to recruit financial aid professionals who will provide colleges with technical assistance as they create aid packages for the 2024-25 academic year.
2020
The year Dartmouth College implemented a test-optional policy. However, the Ivy League institution said this week it plans to discard this policy after data suggested that less-advantaged students were withholding scores that would have benefited them.
13
The number of academic programs that Baldwin Wallace University, a private Ohio institution, plans to eliminate or consolidate as it works to remedy a budget deficit. The academic cuts come with the elimination of 23 staff and faculty positions.
$7.5M
The amount of money Birmingham-Southern College raised after it was rejected from a state loan program last year for distressed higher education institutions. However, the private Alabama college could get a second shot at a $30 million loan: State lawmakers proposed a bill that would replace the loan administrator who denied the application.
