A study released by the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics on Tuesday titled "New Americans in Postsecondary Education," examined the percentages of subgroups of immigrant and first-generation Americans attending colleges and universities compared to the entire undergraduate student population, according to Inside Higher Ed. Approximately 10 percent of all undergraduates in 2007-2008 were immigrants, while 13 percent were children of immigrants, with data varying by state, according to Inside Higher Ed. Asian students accounted for the largest proportion of immigrant undergraduates at approximately 30 percent, followed by Hispanic students at 26 percent and white students at 24 percent. The study found that roughly two-thirds of Hispanic undergraduates and 93 percent of Asian students were either first or second-generation immigrants, compared to 23 percent of all undergraduates. These figures reflect the lower socioeconomic backgrounds of many first- and second-generation Asian and Latino undergraduates, many more of whom grew up in homes where English was not their primary language than the white students surveyed, Inside Higher Ed reported.
The Department of Education proposed new regulations Tuesday to amend federal student loans regulations for disabled borrowers and increase forgiveness for borrowers who become disabled and permanently unable to work, the Washington Monthly reported. While the Social Security Administration approves the disability claims of many borrowers, the Department of Education rejects their claims for discharging student loans. The new regulations aim to correct the Department of Education's evaluation process, which a ProPublica-led investigation determined were too ad-hoc and lacking in clear standards . The regulations require greater transparency from the Department of Education and the institution of a cap on the loans of disabled borrowers, according to the Washington Monthly.
Wheaton College of Illinois joined a lawsuit on Wednesday filed by the Catholic University of America against the Obama administration for requiring religious employers to provide health insurance that covers the cost of contraception, including the morning-after pill, for students and employees, the Chicago Tribune reported. Wheaton is the most recent institution to join a group of over 50 mostly Roman Catholic colleges and universities opposed to the requirement, though Wheaton stands out as one of the few evangelical Protestant institutions publicly opposed to the requirement. While evangelical doctrine approves of certain forms of contraception, it opposes the morning-after pill on the grounds that it induces abortions, according to the Tribune. Wheaton President Phillip Ryken told the Tribune that the mandate has united Protestants and Catholics by infringing upon their pro-life views. Some critics of Wheaton claim that the college is using its religious identity to discriminate against women seeking contraception, according to the Tribune.
