Colleges

It is astounding to me that attaining a quality higher education is becoming a red or blue state issue Dr Liz Leininger

The educated don’t like Republicans. “Highly educated adults — particularly those who have attended graduate school — are far more likely than those with less education to take predominantly liberal positions,” per a 2016 Pew Research report, which found Americans with graduate degrees are five times more likely to be “consistently liberal” than those with a high school degree or less. Why do Republicans hate higher education? Here’s the sinister reason (2/23/2024)

Censorship has always been on the side of authoritarianism, conformity, ignorance, and the status quo
Free Speech on Campus by Erwin Chemerinsky, Howard Gillman (pdf)

Now in red states, attacks from the state legislature, the governors — people elected to serve our country — are damaging higher education and its role as a public good in a democracy. These bills are being turned out at a fever pitch and they are very damaging, not only to higher ed, but to democracy. Education in a democracy is essential. You have to educate voters; you have to have experts who can criticize the government or expose corruption. ... The bills are being drafted in right-wing think tanks funded by dark money. It’s a well-funded, well-orchestrated, decades-long campaign. It’s not just springing up out of nowhere since the language in the bills is very similar.
Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the organization that has long promoted the benefits of faculty tenure and intellectual freedom. By the AAUP’s count, there have been more than 50 such bills in 23 states. (6/17/2023) Vox

So here's the con so far. You must go to college because you're screwed if you don't. Costs are outrageously high, but you pay them because you have to, and because the system makes it easy to borrow massive amounts of money. The third part of the con is the worst: You can't get out of the debt. Since government lenders in particular have virtually unlimited power to collect on student debt – preying on everything from salary to income-tax returns – even running is not an option. And since most young people find themselves unable to make their full payments early on, they often find themselves perpetually paying down interest only, never touching the principal. Our billionaire president can declare bankruptcy four times, but students are the one class of citizen that may not do it even once." Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone

American students, in fact, are going to college for free right now in Germany, Iceland, France, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic, because pretty much anybody can go to college for free in those countries—and dozens of others. Student Loan Debt Is an American Malignancy Born of Ronald Reagan (8/26/2022)

"MAKE TUITION FREE AT PUBLIC COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. This is not a radical idea. Last year, Germany eliminated tuition because they believed that charging students $1,300 per year was discouraging Germans from going to college. Next year, Chile will do the same. Finland, Norway, Sweden and many other countries around the world also offer free college to all of their citizens. If other countries can take this action, so can the United States of America. In fact, it’s what many of our colleges and universities used to do. The University of California system offered free tuition at its schools until the 1980s. In 1965, average tuition at a four-year public university was just $243 and many of the best colleges – including the City University of New York – did not charge any tuition at all. The Sanders plan would make tuition free at public colleges and universities throughout the country." Senator Bernie Sanders

The Future of College Is Online, and It’s Cheaper (5/25/2020)

The attack on universities in 2015-6 and again now is central to the Republican strategy and to the far right internationally https://t.co/CBdJV1LGGk

— Jason Stanley (@jasonintrator) July 21, 2020

Republicans have always been more skeptical and critical of more liberal academia. Fair enough. But it’s only recently (since 2016) they’ve come to see higher education overall as a bad thing. pic.twitter.com/UWjXeNWBWl

— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) July 21, 2020

Open Education

EdX Free Courses From Harvard, MIT, Berkley

Coursera Courses on-line for Free

Charter Oak College

Open University

The University of the People offers on-line, free tuition, higher education.

MIT curriculum on-line ?

UC Berkeley is making entire video courses available on youtube.

Free Higher Ed

Academic Earth

Colleges

The mainstream media has enabled Trump’s war on universities (6/13/2025)

Trump’s revenge spree on Harvard echoes well beyond education Jan-Werner Müller (5/26/2025)

Don’t Fool Yourself Into Thinking It Will Stop With Columbia (4/16/2025)

White House may seek legally binding control over Columbia through consent decree – report (4/10/2025)

Trump is targeting US universities as never before. Here are four ways to help them (4/7/2025)

The Authoritarian Endgame on Higher Education (3/15/2025)

The Trump Administration is an Existential Threat to Academic Freedom and Higher Education: Middle East Studies Assn. (03/14/2025)

Trump and Musk want people to think college is not worth it. They are wrong (2/17/2025)

‘We’re like sitting ducks’: the right’s ‘war on woke’ has a well-tested playbook to take down academics (2/14/2025)

College enrollment is falling at a ‘concerning’ rate, new data reveals (12/8/2024)

Fascism Expert Jason Stanley on Project 2025, Great Replacement Theory, Attacks on Immigrants & Gaza (9/18/2024)

Why fascists hate universities Jason Stanley (9/5/2024)

Why are US campuses facing an orgy of state repression in the ‘land of the free’? (4/30/2024)

Long-term solutions for college affordability require congressional and state action (4/9/2024)

Why do Republicans hate higher education? Here’s the sinister reason (2/23/2024)

Nearly 74,000 additional borrowers will receive loan forgiveness thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration (1/19/2024)

Indiana blocks world’s top sex research center from state funds: ‘a scary moment for academic freedom’ (2/28/2024)

Why do Republicans hate higher education? Here’s the sinister reason (2/23/2024)

US ‘university’ spreads climate lies and receives millions from rightwing donors (9/6/2023)

Conservative groups sue to block Biden plan canceling $39 billion in student loans (8/6/2023)

The “anti-intellectual attack” on higher ed will take years to undo (6/17/2023)

GOP is subverting the University of North Carolina according to AAUP. It's one of a pattern in Republican States.

Barcelona students to take mandatory climate crisis module from 2024 (11/12/2022)

Student Loan Debt Is an American Malignancy Born of Ronald Reagan (8/26/2022)

The Year That Pushed Higher Ed to the Edge (12/19/2020)

A Parent Trap? New Data Offers More Dire View of College Debt (12/24/2020)

Why authoritarian regimes attack independent universities (9/28/2021) Washington Post

Colleges, Conservatives and the Kakistocracy (9/19/2020)

The Future of College Is Online, and It’s Cheaper (5/25/2020)

How Harold Bloom misunderstood the fall of the humanities (10/24/2019)

The Student Vote Is Surging. So Are Efforts to Suppress It. (10/24/2019)

How Paying for College Is Changing Middle-Class Life (8/30/2019)

Student loan watchdog pens scathing rebuke of the Trump administration as he resigns in protest (8/27/2018)

Here's How Higher Education Was Destroyed in 5 Basic Steps (6/2/2018)

Republicans skeptical of colleges' impact on U.S (7/20/2017)

18 states and DC sue Betsy DeVos over delayed rules designed to protect student borrowers (7/6/2017)

Where will your degree take you? Career paths after college

American Universities Must Take a Stand (2/8/2017)

Open Education

Professor Watch List: A Racist Violation of Free Speech (12/9/2016)

Where To Invade Next? Slovenia (Where college is Free)

The GOP's War on College Students (9/9/2015)

College Has Gotten 12 Times More Expensive in One Generation (5/31/2015)

Make College Tuition Free (5/19/2015) Bernie Sanders video

Germany offers free college tuition to U.S. and international students (10/10/2014)

Thinking Like Corporations is Harming American Universities (10/9/2014)

American Elite Colleges: In a State of Complete Failure ? (9/10/2014)

Austerity is Crap (3/29/2014)

How America's Great University System Is Getting Destroyed (3/1/2014)

Dumbing America Down, Conservative Style (1/4/2014)

Over a Million Signatures in Support for Sen. Warren's Student Loan Bill (5/24/2013)

How the American University was killed in Five Easy Steps (8/12/2012) !!!!!

Harkin Report on For-Profit Colleges (7/2012) Executive Summary

Higher Ed. Racket: How Kids Are Paying a Fortune for Rip-off 'Prestige' Educations (9/2/2010)

University of Phoenix, DeVry: Scams That Leave You "Dumber" and Poorer (8/30/2010)

Throwing away the ladder: the universities in the crisis - George Caffentzis (7/23/2005)

Academia Under Siege (3/31/2004)

Text Books

Issues

Links

Bibliography