Hacker News with Generative AI: Higher Education

2025 Hiring Pause (hr.cornell.edu)
Together with all of American higher education, Cornell is entering a time of significant financial uncertainty. The potential for deep cuts in federal research funding, as well as tax legislation affecting our endowment income, has now been added to existing concerns related to rapid growth and cost escalations. It is imperative that we navigate this challenging financial landscape with a shared understanding and common purpose, to continue to advance our mission, strengthen our academic community, and deepen our impact.
Higher Education, Funding, Financial Uncertainty
178 points by MinimalAction 4 days ago | 164 comments
Despite sticker prices, the real cost of getting a degree has been going down (theatlantic.com)
Despite ever-higher sticker prices, the real cost of getting a degree has been going down.
Education, Economics, Higher Education
75 points by linusg789 12 days ago | 172 comments
U. of Pittsburgh pauses Ph.D. admissions amid research funding uncertainty (wesa.fm)
Amid uncertainty about frozen research aid from the National Institutes of Health, the University of Pittsburgh has put its Ph.D. admissions on ice.
Research Funding, Higher Education, Science, Universities
142 points by jslezak 12 days ago | 13 comments
Penn to reduce graduate admissions, rescind acceptances amid research cuts (thedp.com)
Penn directed department chairs to significantly reduce admissions rates across graduate programs in the face of federal research funding cuts, multiple faculty members told The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Higher Education, Admissions, Research Funding
331 points by strangeloops85 12 days ago | 655 comments
Claims of college grade inflation and dumbing-down are overblown (greyenlightenment.com)
Claims of college grade inflation and dumbing-down are overblown
Education, Higher Education, College, Grading
11 points by debesyla 13 days ago | 7 comments
Coursera's 2025 Strategy: Focusing on Campus, Scaling Back Degrees (classcentral.com)
As revealed in a recent earnings call, Coursera’s strategy is to integrate into existing university curricula, prioritizing ‘Coursera for Campus’ over its own online degree programs.
Education, Online Learning, Coursera, Higher Education, Strategy
4 points by raybb 24 days ago | 0 comments
Tell HN: Title: The UC Berkeley Job Market Meltdown–What No One Wants to Admit (ycombinator.com)
I work in administration at UC Berkeley, and I need to say this: something is deeply broken.
University, Labor Market, Higher Education, California
12 points by UCBThrowaway 25 days ago | 9 comments
Colleges limit AP credits to maximize tuition revenue: study (thecollegefix.com)
Universities across the U.S. are preventing students from earning a degree in less than four years by accepting fewer Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate credits, a recent report by the Progressive Policy Institute found.
Education, Higher Education, Tuition, College Admissions, AP Credits
11 points by Eumenes 57 days ago | 1 comments
Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping? (celestemdavis.substack.com)
“Nearly 60 percent of all college students today are women. That’s an all-time high… U.S. colleges and universities have lost about 1.5 million students in the past several years. Men accounted for 71 percent of that loss.”
Education, Demographics, Gender, Higher Education
18 points by tempestn 64 days ago | 24 comments
Math Education Needs Reform. It Got a War Instead (alumni.berkeley.edu)
On July 7, 2023, a University of California faculty committee unanimously voted to reverse a highly controversial policy.
Education, Politics, Controversy, Higher Education
11 points by 7402 78 days ago | 2 comments
University of Michigan eliminates DEI statements as part of faculty hiring (cbsnews.com)
The University of Michigan will no longer ask for diversity statements as part of its hiring process and when considering promotion and tenure.
Higher Education, DEI, Hiring Practices
6 points by nsoonhui 91 days ago | 0 comments
Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State (technicianonline.com)
Questions are surrounding the death of a popular NC State faculty member, whom NC State police found dead in his office on Nov. 20.
Death, Allegations, Higher Education, NC State, Faculty
214 points by HappyKasper 100 days ago | 148 comments
How the Ivy League Broke America (theatlantic.com)
The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.
Higher Education, Social Issues, Inequality, Meritocracy
25 points by chrisaycock 113 days ago | 16 comments
Graduate Degrees Are Overrated (lemire.me)
Though I have many brilliant graduate students, I love working with undergraduate students. And I am not at all sure that you should favor people with graduate degrees, given a choice. Many graduate students tend to favor abstraction over practical skills. They often have an idealized view of the world. Moreover, these students are often consumed by research projects, theses, or dissertations, and the publication of scientific articles, which limits their time for concrete actions.
Education, Higher Education, Skills, Academia
3 points by ibobev 114 days ago | 1 comments
Graduate Degrees Are Overrated (lemire.me)
Though I have many brilliant graduate students, I love working with undergraduate students. And I am not at all sure that you should favor people with graduate degrees, given a choice. Many graduate students tend to favor abstraction over practical skills. They often have an idealized view of the world. Moreover, these students are often consumed by research projects, theses, or dissertations, and the publication of scientific articles, which limits their time for concrete actions.
Education, Higher Education, Career Advice
12 points by usdogu 114 days ago | 8 comments
Decline and Fall of Cambridge (spectator.co.uk)
Last month, after 21 years studying and teaching Classics at the University of Cambridge, I resigned. I loved my job. And it’s precisely because I loved the job I was paid to do, and because I believe so firmly in preserving the excellence of higher education, in Britain and beyond, that I have left.
Education, Higher Education, UK, Academia, Classics
8 points by HawaiiHalo 134 days ago | 3 comments
Did Yale, Princeton, and Duke Violate SFFA in Last Year's Admissions Cycle? (reason.com)
Following the Supreme Court's decision in SFFA in 2023, barring the use of racial preferences in admissions, admissions patterns at most elite universities followed the pattern one would expect: enrollment of black and Hispanic students declined, and enrollment of Asian-American students increased. Three major exceptions to this pattern are Yale, Princeton, and Duke. At each of these universities, enrollment of black students was basically flat, and enrollment of Asian-American students was actually down.
Higher Education, Law, Race, Affirmative Action
5 points by rahimnathwani 140 days ago | 2 comments
The University of Michigan Doubled Down on DEI What Went Wrong? (nytimes.com)
A decade and a quarter of a billion dollars later, students and faculty are more frustrated than ever.
Higher Education, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Criticism
5 points by braza 141 days ago | 0 comments
The University of Michigan Doubled Down on DEI What Went Wrong? (nytimes.com)
A decade and a quarter of a billion dollars later, students and faculty are more frustrated than ever.
Education, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Higher Education
20 points by tysone 141 days ago | 11 comments
California bans legacy admissions at private universities (nytimes.com)
California will ban private colleges and universities, including some of the nation’s most selective institutions, from giving special consideration to applicants who have family or other connections to the schools, a practice known as legacy admissions.
California, Higher Education, Admissions, Private Universities
585 points by JumpCrisscross 157 days ago | 619 comments
Students paid thousands for a Caltech boot camp that Caltech didn't teach (nytimes.com)
Hundreds of universities have lent their names to online programs, plugging budgets but alienating students who feel misled.
Education, Higher Education, Online Learning, Fraud, Misleading Advertising
84 points by goldfishgold 159 days ago | 128 comments
Universities are not just businesses, but an investment in future generations (nature.com)
Many UK universities are in a financial crisis. But the government is leaving them to flounder, treating higher education as a private-sector industry and research as a public investment.
Education, UK Politics, Universities, Higher Education, Government Policy
6 points by rntn 161 days ago | 0 comments
Plagiarism Claims Are Brought Against University of Maryland's President (nytimes.com)
The University of Maryland said it was conducting a review of claims that its president, Darryll J. Pines, plagiarized significant portions of a 2002 scholarly paper.
Education, Plagiarism, Higher Education
49 points by bookofjoe 165 days ago | 23 comments
Elite US universities rake in millions from big oil donations, research finds (theguardian.com)
Prestigious US universities are raking in millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. And one university even appears to have owned a petroleum company from which it has earned millions of dollars, according to a spate of new reports produced by student organizers.
Education, Higher Education, Climate Change, Corporate Influence
6 points by thunderbong 167 days ago | 0 comments
From Myth to Measurement: Rethinking US News and World Report College Rankings (anandsanwal.me)
In the grand theater of American higher education, few performances are as anticipated—or as controversial—as the annual unveiling of the U.S. News & World Report college rankings.
Education, Rankings, Higher Education, Methodology
41 points by chmaynard 169 days ago | 72 comments
Billiards is a good game (1975) (mag.uchicago.edu)
When I came here in 1928, now more than half the history of the University ago, the University of Chicago was the one institution of higher learning that was thought to exist west of the Appalachians by the populace east of the Appalachians.
Billiards, History, Higher Education
84 points by chucksmash 174 days ago | 59 comments
College Grades Have Become a Charade. It's Time to Abolish Them. (wsj.com)
Education, College, Higher Education
36 points by bookofjoe 180 days ago | 55 comments
Stanford creative writing program laying off lecturers (insidehighered.com)
Education, Layoffs, Higher Education, Stanford
11 points by luu 189 days ago | 3 comments
With the end of affirmative action, MIT's incoming class better reflects merit (twitter.com)
Higher Education, Affirmative Action, Diversity
13 points by lopkeny12ko 197 days ago | 4 comments
At MIT, Black/Latino Enrollment Drops Sharply After Affirmative Action Ban (nytimes.com)
Education, Affirmative Action, Racial Demographics, Higher Education, MIT
7 points by yoyoyo1122 197 days ago | 2 comments