Category Archives: Education

Autonomy and Accountability in Higher Education – Part 2

Posted on July 26, 2017 by matt ohern

In 2005, when leaders of Virginia’s most prestigious universities were angling for more autonomy from state control, they complained about the bureaucratic hoops they had to jump through. State regulators made the College of William & Mary install an exit sign in … Continue reading →

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Student Loan Defaults Increase

Posted on July 26, 2017 by matt ohern

Household debt surpassed its 2008 recession peak in the first quarter of 2017, according to a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. At $12.73 trillion, household debt stood at $149 billion or 1.2 percent above the … Continue reading →

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Autonomy and Accountability in Higher Education – Part 1

Posted on July 12, 2017 by matt ohern

Under the 2005 Restructuring Act, Virginia universities got more autonomy in exchange for more accountability. Today, they still have autonomy but there’s less accountability. This is the first of four articles exploring higher-education accountability in Virginia since enactment of the … Continue reading →

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Expand Pre-K Access by Expanding Private Scholarships

Posted on June 19, 2017 by matt ohern

The latest annual report from the National Institute for Early Education Research ranks Virginia #29 in early education access for four-year-olds – a statistic comparing unfavorably to the Commonwealth’s surrounding states. Some argue that increasing early childhood education access can … Continue reading →

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Virginia Tech OK’s Intelligent Infrastructure Initiative

Posted on April 12, 2017 by matt ohern

The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors voted Monday to approve a $78 million plan to make the university a leader in “intelligent infrastructure.” The term encompasses everything from self-driving cars and drones to smart construction and energy systems — areas, in the words of President Tim Sands, that are “related to energy systems for the cities of the future and the way that people move in and around those cities.” Continue reading →

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