OpenCampus

California’s community colleges have been battling fraudulent students for years, trying to prevent scammers from stealing financial aid money. Recent data shows the colleges’ efforts finally may be working. Last spring, CalMatters reported that colleges were seeing unprecedented reports of fraud, with scammers stealing millions more dollars of student aid than in any previous period, according to reports submitted by colleges to California’s Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

A group of local Indigenous leaders and Lawrence Hall of Science researchers strolled through the lobby of the discovery-based UC Berkeley museum last week as workers put the finishing touches on its latest exhibit, “Yuutka” (The Place of the Acorn). Replicas of black oak trees towered overhead, while California poppies, wild roses, yarrow, and black sage plants were projected on the floor and a creek and bridge were under construction nearby.

University of Texas System regents approved a rule change Thursday, giving campus presidents more power to cut academic programs and faculty jobs. Their vote came one day after critics marched a horse-drawn hearse through downtown Austin to the system headquarters to mourn the death of academic freedom at Texas colleges. Critics say UT System’s new policy strips protections as universities face political pressure over what can be taught and studied.

Students, parents and teachers at a private school run by the University of Chicago are rallying against a policy they say limits what students are exposed to at school and hurts teachers’ ability to support marginalized students.

Laura Delmonico’s college journey has required constant juggling. She has worked, interned, and volunteered as treasurer of her Metropolitan State University of Denver student association, and, most importantly to her, raised three children. This meant late nights, early mornings, and balancing college with her children’s schooling and their everyday lives. Delmonico, 33, was a speaker at MSU Denver’s first-ever graduation on Saturday geared toward students who are also parents.

Fewer Colorado students dropped out of college during the 2023-24 school year and more re-enrolled than in the year before, according to recent statistics. But that bit of good news wasn’t enough to put a dent in the overall number of working-age Coloradans who have some college education but no credential. More than 623,000 people were in that category in the 2023-24 school year.

Seventeen local high school teachers were the first to complete a tuition-free program created to increase access to dual credit courses across San Antonio high schools. “To our teachers who have now completed this program. I know you are wearing many hats, and I want to confirm that you now have a new hat that you are wearing, and I want to invite you to wear it proudly.

The University of Chicago is joining other top universities in offering free tuition for undergraduate students whose families make under $250,000 a year, the school announced Wednesday as part of an initiative to make the college affordable for middle- and upper-middle-income families.

The Dispatch Sign up for our newsletter about the role of higher ed in society The shortage of nurses in America has been widely reported. More than 138,000 nurses have left the workforce since 2022 and an additional 40% plan to leave by 2029. But behind that problem is another that will have to be addressed first: The U.S. is running short on the faculty who could train new nurses.

After 10 months of waiting, the University of Puerto Rico and the Molecular Sciences Research Center signed a new one-year agreement Wednesday that clears the way for the transfer of $1 million to the nonprofit corporation, one week after the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) revealed a deadlock between the two sides that had left the scientific institution without the budgeted funds for its operations.