MATC Matters

If you haven’t been keeping up with MATC’s Environmental Scan blog, here’s a glimpse of what’s news this week:

College Cost Reduction & Access Act Signed Into Law;
Last Thursday, the College Cost Reduction & Access Act, H.R. 2669, was signed into law. Qualifying students who make regular loan payments will have their loans forgiven after 10 years. It is expected to help attract graduates to jobs in government, public schools, and other fields that have suffered a shortage of workers. WKOW‑TV interviewed UW law students who want to work in public service, but would have ended up working for private firms in order to reduce their college debts. The law will also provide other benefits, including a reduction of interest rates on federal loans & an increase of the maximum annual Pell Grant to $5,400 by 2012‑2013.

High‑Priced Student Loans Sow Seeds of Trouble for U.S. Economy:
The near doubling in college costs over the past decade has produced an explosion in high‑priced student loans that could haunt the U.S. economy for years. Critics say what happened in the mortgage market could happen in the student loan market. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who conducted a nationwide investigation, said the parallels between the two markets are “provocative.” Demand for bundled student loans sold to institutional investors worldwide fueled lending to students. The market for private student loan‑backed securities leapt from $9.4b to $16.6b between 2004‑2005. The student loan‑backed securities market has yet to suffer noticeable effects of a global credit squeeze that was triggered this summer by a mortgage meltdown of borrowers with risky credit. According to one expert, “Once the economy starts to slow, you’re going to see a large increase of these people in bankruptcy court.”

Overdue Budget Causes Stress & Concern Among Students: The state budget impasse is causing hardships for financial aid recipients, whose awards were frozen by the Wisconsin Higher Education Board. Many low‑income students & veterans are either taking out loans, extra jobs, or dropping out because their funding remains in legislative limbo. While Governor Doyle insists that a resolution is only days away, Rep. Steve Nass (R‑Whitewater) told Wispolitics.com that the Republicans in the Assembly will not vote for any new tax increases, and that the budget battle could easily go on beyond Christmas and into next spring.

Germantown School Board Votes Unanimously for Secession: Last week, Germantown’s school board voted 7‑0 in favor of secession from the Milwaukee Area Technical College district. Now the proposal will face scrutiny by the Wisconsin Technical College District Board, and some of its members are cautioning that the pro‑seccession rationale will need to go beyond the desire for a reduced property tax levy, and assess the potential impact on the school districts and its students. Meanwhile, a Milwaukee Journal‑Sentinel editorial forecasts more attempts at secession as long as college revenues are tied to property taxes.

Violence Tests Campus Security: The New York Times reports on how universities have revised their safety policies in the wake of the April 16th murders at Virginia Tech. On its first day of the new school year, the University of Colorado‑Boulder used text messaging to alert students to a stabbing on‑campus. The U. of Maryland’s Text‑Alert system has already come under criticism. Delaware State University and St. John’s University have both had shootings this September, and the UW‑Madison experienced two lockdowns last week; one after police searched for an armed and suicidal inmate on work‑release, and the other happened after an armed robbery at Fraboni’s.

Environmental Scan is the news blog from MATC’s Institutional Research & Effectiveness Dept. Written by MATC employees, our mission is to keep you udpated on the latest trends and challenges in higher education.

Thanks to inspiration from Tech Academy and Digg.com, we’ve made further improvements to our blog, so that posting stories is fast, easy & fun! Here’s how the Scan works: If you see an interesting article on the web regarding academia, we post the article to our blog. From there, you can comment on the ideas presented in the articles. If you’re interested in contributing to the blog, please contact Dan McCormick at djmccormick@matcmadison.edu or 246‑6412.

New stories will be posted every week, so be sure to bookmark our site: www.environmentalscan.org.