Media

In an op-ed for The New York Times, Professor Victor Fleischer of the University of San Diego School of Law advocated minimum annual payouts from university endowments to reduce tuition and increase research support. He suggests paying out 8 percent of the endowment balance if the endowment exceeds $100 million. This is an issue worth discussing though the conclusion that endowment payouts be mandated is by no means as clear as the professor suggests. 

The significance that money in politics has in the candidacy of women and people of color is perhaps no more evident than in the 2014 campaign of Nina Turner for Ohio Secretary of State.

It’s not often that statewide candidates can garner national headlines the way Turner, a black woman, did during her race. She had been an experienced legislator and a strong voice against voter suppression in one of the nation’s most influential states. Turner had the backing of unions and other groups on the grassroots level, and was even a popular guest on cable news shows. 

The St. Louis Fed findings add to the growing body of evidence that higher education benefits some groups more than others, which may help to exacerbate the yawning racial wealth gap instead of shrink it. Black and Hispanic students are more likely to approach college with lower levels of wealth on average and are, therefore, more likely to have to borrow to attend school, according to a report earlier this year from Demos, a left-leaning think tank.

For the wider audience hungry for culture that puts racial issues prominently in the foreground, it is particularly vexing that the comedians would choose this delicate time to make their imminent (though not permanent) departure.

“These voices are so needed, and when they’re not there, you really feel it,” said Donovan X. Ramsey, a fellow at Demos, a public policy organization that works in part to promote racial equality.

While every single Democratic member of the Legislature has signed on as a sponsor of this bill, not a single Republican has been willing to break from party orthodoxy and let common sense trump caustic partisanship.

Imagine the benefits to our state economy and Wisconsin families if millions of dollars in interest on student loans paid by borrowers every year to the federal government and Wall Street banks would instead stay right here.

One year ago today, the country was rocked by the death of 18-year-old Mike Brown. He was just days from heading to college when a white police officer shot and killed him.

Hillary Clinton just released a bold plan to return the United States to debt-free public college for future students and relieve the burden for existing borrowers.

Declining state appropriations for higher ed is responsible for more than three-quarters of tuition hikes between 2001 and 2011, the analysis found. Increased spending on administration and building projects accounts for only about 12 percent of the tuition increases over that time. During the recession, when many states scrambled to cope with shrinking coffers, lawmakers slashed spending on public universities. But appropriations haven't returned to prerecession figures despite an improving economy.

Millennials have an average credit score of 625 (based on the Experian VantageScore 3.0 credit score), compared to 650 for Generation X and 709 for those over 50 years old. They also use an average of 43 percent of their credit limits—compared to 34 percent nationally—and their average debt (excluding mortgages) totals 77 percent of their income, compared to 49 percent nationally.