Although many colleges and universities have been expecting enrollment declines in light of the current economic slump, a survey released by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities indicates that private colleges will see an average enrollment increase of 0.2 percent in the upcoming academic year, Inside Higher Ed reported. These numbers are largely the result of colleges' slowing tuition increases and increasing financial aid offerings, according to Inside Higher Ed. Other incentives, like accepting late applications and lengthening recruiting periods, Inside Higher Ed reported, also contributed to enrollment rates that exceeded expected yields.
College-aged students tend to overestimate their ability to use basic office software included in Microsoft Office, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. A study conducted by North Carolina Central University asked students to rank their computer skills in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, The Chronicle reported. Although 75 percent of subjects claimed extensive knowledge of Word, only half of them were able to perform intermediate tasks such as paragraph justification or determining a document's word count. None of these students were able to perform any of the assignments in the advanced category, according to The Chronicle. PowerPoint was the only program in which students correctly estimated their ability, The Chronicle reported, with a total of 81 percent of subjects performing at an intermediate level. Students who are unable to properly use these programs will likely face difficulty when entering the job market, according to researchers, The Chronicle reported.
Students in the University of California system whose college education was cut short by the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II will receive honorary degrees from the institution, according to Inside Higher Ed. "This action is long overdue and addresses an historical tragedy," Mark Yudof, university system president, told Inside Higher Ed. "It will never be possible to erase what happened, but we hope we can provide [these students] a small measure of justice." Approximately 400 students at University of California campuses in San Francisco, Los Angeles Davis and Berkeley spent time in internment camps during the 1940s and were unable to graduate, Inside Higher Ed reported. Several other universities on the West coast the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and the University of Puget Sound have made similar gestures in the past year.
