Blog

Over the past summer, we spoke with institutional and organizational leaders committed to supporting student veterans in higher education, and in every conversation, we heard about the importance of belonging to student veteran success. Many of these administrators and leaders observed that today’s student veterans are not who most faculty members, administrators, and other students think they are. For more than a decade, the image of the typical student veteran was shaped by the public image of combatants returning…

A Collaborative Update and Call to Action for the Education in Prisons and Jails Research Community Given recent policy changes and expanded access to postsecondary education, technology options for education programs in prisons and jails are increasing at all levels. Education technology vendors are responding to these changes with new platforms, instructional content, and devices that can be used to support education programming inside facilities. At the same time, there is a growing need for research on the use of…

In the third installment of our series on issues of disability, accessibility, and accommodations in postsecondary education in prison programs, we spoke with Ben Wright on his personal experience with disability and higher education in prison and the many challenges people with disabilities face inside. This follows our interview with Dr. Jenifer K. Montag, Director of Disability Services, at Marion Technical College, which highlights the issues that service providers face. Last April,…

The US military affords servicemembers a variety of opportunities to engage in postsecondary education, taking courses and earning academic credit, during and following their service. Those opportunities are a prominent selling point for enlistment and remain a priority for those considering joining up. There is a bitter irony in the high value that many service members put on these benefits because they do not yet know how difficult it will be to use the credits they have earned to complete…

In the state of Washington, 45 percent of bachelor’s degree earners at its public universities transfer from a Washington community and technical college (CTC), similar to the average transfer rate nationally. Considering how many students in Washington take this path to a credential, it is important for the state to understand how various transfer pathways and transfer degrees impact student outcomes.

Last month, my colleagues and I spoke with institutional representatives from five different institutions: Columbia University, Cornell University, Syracuse University, Texas A&M, and the University of Chicago. These institutions all have a strong commitment to student veteran enrollment, but are at different stages of the process. For example, Cornell and UChicago have been actively scaling up the enrollment of veterans over the last few years, while Texas A&M has long enrolled many hundreds of veterans each year. At Columbia and…

In 2019, Ithaka S+R published a paper discussing the underrepresentation of student veterans at high-graduation-rate institutions and outlining the various barriers—ranging from financial aid policies to transfer credit limitations—that prevent veterans from enrolling in such institutions. As we explained in that paper, these barriers partly explain why, as of 2015-16, only one in 10 veterans using GI Bill benefits were enrolling at institutions with graduation rates above 70 percent, while approximately one-third of veterans were using GI Bill benefits…

The ending of the formal COVID-19 public health emergency offers an opportunity to reflect on how the upheaval of the past few years has impacted many facets of life and society, including higher education. At Ithaka S+R, we are taking this opportunity to revisit some of our previous work focused on the experiences of student veterans (see note on language below) that was completed just prior to the…

Colleges and universities are under increasing pressure to better prepare students for the world of work and integrate career preparation into their degree programs. There are many avenues to pursue in these efforts, including enhancing career services offices, revising general education curricula, and coordinating academic offerings with local workforce needs. One particularly promising approach is offering more experiential learning opportunities, like study abroad, service-learning, and undergraduate research. These experiences allow students to apply what they…

On September 29, we hosted a webinar, “Pell 101: Information for Librarians and Those Serving People in Prison,” to share information about the restoration of Pell funding for students who are incarcerated. Panelists included prison education journalist and Open Campus reporter Charlotte West, Vera Institute of Justice Associate Initiative Director Ruth Delaney, and NASFAA Education Specialist Sheila Meiman. We’re pleased to share the recording here. Below, you will also find our panelists’ responses to questions raised during the…

In early August, the federal Department of Education held a little known but statutorily required convening to maintain the balance of the higher education quality assurance ecosystem. Almost all US colleges and universities operate in this regulatory ecosystem, often described as the Triad, which consists of state governments that authorize institutions to operate, accreditation agencies that assure educational quality, and the federal government that administers student aid programs. Most higher education stakeholders will likely be familiar with accreditation…

In June 2023, the University of Michigan’s Generative AI Committee released a report with a list of recommendations for how to adapt to increased use of generative AI tools like ChatGPT. One of the committee’s key recommendations was that the university provide “secure and equitable access to GenAI platforms and tools for the entire U-M community.” To meet this need, the University of Michigan launched a custom AI…

The Ohio College Comeback Compact successfully concluded its pilot year, demonstrating proof of concept for a novel program aimed at re-enrolling college students with stranded credits and settling the institutional debt they owed their former institutions. The Compact is advancing to a full implementation at the eight original public colleges and universities in Northeast Ohio for the 2023-24 academic year. And, with generous support from Lumina Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation, Ithaka S+R will be…

This is the second post in our series spotlighting the complex and challenging situation regarding disabilities, accessibility, and accommodations in postsecondary education in prison programs. Read the first entry and announcement of the series. We recently spoke with Dr. Jenifer K. Montag, director of disability services at Marion Technical College, about her work as a researcher-practitioner, the challenges of providing disability services to postsecondary students in prison, and what needs to change for equitable access to education inside. To…

The commercial release of ChatGPT and other forms of generative AI created a firestorm this spring in and well beyond higher education. Other types of AI were already being used in university settings, particularly by researchers, but the sudden availability of consumer-friendly tools capable of generating responses to virtually any query transformed AI from a specialized tool into a mass-market product. The rapid spread of these easy to use tools raised important questions about teaching, learning, and research practices in…

Developing open access models for monograph publishing is a priority for many university presses today, but it has been a challenge to provide the level of subvention necessary to sustain open models. As a consequence, open access programs have increasingly looked to include library support as well, for example through various flavors of subscribe to open models. In addition, some publishing leaders have come to question the assumption that when monographs are published on an open access basis,…

Higher education in prison programs are receiving significant attention in light of the restoration of Pell grants, but the provision of reentry support and continuing education post release has only recently become a focus of the field. From complex college application systems and financial aid processes to meeting basic needs, students face a range of obstacles that may prevent them from completing their degrees after incarceration. Building pathways that specifically support students in achieving their educational goals post-release will be…

Ithaka S+R has published the results of a first-of-its-kind, nationwide survey of technology access in higher education in prison programs. You can read the full report findings, discussion, and recommendations here, as well as a condensed version of the key findings and figures. Important Information for a Field in Flux In July, the FAFSA Simplification Act went into effect, reinstating federal Pell grant funding for students who are incarcerated, and it is expected to increase access to…

Today we are excited to announce that Ithaka S+R is embarking on a one-year research project, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, to assess the impact and implementation of open educational resources (OER) programs at public institutions of higher education. Through the project, we will develop a framework to guide sustainable OER adoption and implementation. At their core, OER initiatives aim to increase student learning outcomes by reducing costs. Our project aims to explore how OER strategies…

Questions about who gets into America’s most prestigious colleges and why have been at the center of American discourse recently. In June, the Supreme Court struck down the use of race-conscious admissions practices in higher education. And soon after the Court’s decision, a federal civil rights complaint was filed against Harvard University for its use of legacy admissions, which disproportionately benefits white, affluent students. New research by Opportunity Insights adds to the conversation with a robust…