Higher Education

NEWTON - Dan Kennedy will graduate from Boston College on Monday, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and the recipient of the school's most prestigious prize, the Edward H. Finnegan Award. Winners of the Finnegan, given to the student who best exemplifies the BC motto, "ever to excel," tend to go big - top grad schools, Wall Street, overseas fellowships. Kennedy is planning to give away his computer, recycle his Blackberry, and move to a modest communal house in St. Paul, Minn.

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney on Tuesday announced an extensive list of education policy advisers, further adding to the growing roster of voices helping the presumptive Republican presidential nominee flesh out his policies on major national issues. The policy group includes several top officials from the administration of President George W. Bush, including former education secretary Rod Paige. It also includes several who advised Romney while he was Massachusetts governor, including Robert Costrell and Jim Peyser.

The expense of higher education has become a crippling burden on students and families — which is why it's encouraging that local institutions are exploring new approaches to lowering costs. Earlier this year, Mount Holyoke College froze its tuition. Now, MIT and Harvard have announced a collaboration called edX that will offer five online courses next year — for free. The classes don't count toward a traditional degree at either institution, and there may be some fees for students who want proof of completion.

Stephen J. Kerrigan Age: 40 Hometown: Lancaster, Mass. Secondary school: St. John's High School, Shrewsbury Higher education: University of Maryland Job: CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee, Charlotte, N.C. Volunteer: President at Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund Inc. Previous jobs: Chief of staff for President Obama Presidential Inaugural Committee, 2008-2009; chief of staff for former Mass....

The burgeoning movement to put more college classes online, which attracted the support of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology earlier this month, is getting another endorsement that may have an even greater impact: rigorous evidence that the computer can be as effective as the classroom. A new study compared two versions of an introductory statistics course, one taught face to face by professors and one mostly taught online with only an hour a week of face time.

The following was submitted by Tufts University: Eric Greitens, humanitarian, award-winning author, and decorated Navy SEAL officer, will deliver Tufts University's commencement address on Sunday, May 20 and receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Greitens, a former Rhodes and Truman Scholar, was a Navy SEAL officer deployed four times to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and Southeast Asia. His assignments included serving as the commander of a Joint Special Operations Task Unit, commander of a Mark V Special...

What's a professor to do when he writes a book so provocative that even his coauthor seems to disagree with some of its points? Here's Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School professor and author of "The Innovative University," on the future and finances of higher education in an era of destabilizing Web technologies: "I think it's going to get really bad for traditional universities a lot sooner than most people think. " Here's his coauthor, Henry Eyring, advancement vice president at Brigham Young University-Idaho: "We're not saying the sky is falling.

State funding for higher education has declined because of a slow recovery from the recession and the end of federal stimulus money, according to a study released Monday. Overall, spending declined by some $6 billion, or nearly 8 percent, over the past year, according to the annual Grapevine study by the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University. The reduction was slightly lower, at 4 percent, when money lost from the end of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was not taken into account.

President Barack Obama will stress the importance of an affordable higher education Friday in Virginia, a state that is key to his re-election hopes. The president will speak with students and parents at an Arlington high school about his efforts to prevent interest rates on federal subsidized student loans from doubling on July 1. Obama will hold a morning round-table discussion with a group of seniors and their parents. Then he'll speak to a larger group of parents, juniors and seniors about the importance of having a fair shot at an...

An independent report on higher education flunks most states when it comes to affordability. It gives better, but still mixed, grades in other areas, such as participation and completion rates. The biennial study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education evaluates how well higher education is serving the public -- and leaves little doubt where the system is failing. Forty-three states received F's for affordability, up from 36 two years ago. The others got D's, except Utah and California, both of which eked out C's. The report card uses a range of...

The Greater Boston area is a hub of higher education, therefore making spring a momentous season. For hundreds of years, students have adorned the traditional cap and gown to receive their degrees and participate in senior activities. Proud families and friends come from all over the world to see the pomp and circumstance. See the "From the Archives" gallery.

The following was submitted by Tufts University: Eric Greitens, humanitarian, award-winning author, and decorated Navy SEAL officer, will deliver Tufts University's commencement address on Sunday, May 20 and receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Greitens, a former Rhodes and Truman Scholar, was a Navy SEAL officer deployed four times to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and Southeast Asia. His assignments included serving as the commander of a Joint Special Operations Task Unit, commander of a Mark V Special Operations...

The expense of higher education has become a crippling burden on students and families — which is why it's encouraging that local institutions are exploring new approaches to lowering costs. Earlier this year, Mount Holyoke College froze its tuition. Now, MIT and Harvard have announced a collaboration called edX that will offer five online courses next year — for free. The classes don't count toward a traditional degree at either institution, and there may be some fees for students who want proof of completion.

The following was submitted by Margaret Adams, director of Language, Literacy, and Title I for the Malden Public Schools: Mary Margaret Almonte, English as a Second Language Teacher, at the Beebe School, was named English Language Learner Teacher of the year by the Massachusetts Association of Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages. MATSOL is a professional association of educators of English language learners in K-12 schools, adult learning centers, higher education, institutions, and the workplace in Massachusetts.

President Barack Obama will stress the importance of an affordable higher education Friday in Virginia, a state that is key to his re-election hopes. The president will speak with students and parents at an Arlington high school about his efforts to prevent interest rates on federal subsidized student loans from doubling on July 1. Obama will hold a morning round-table discussion with a group of seniors and their parents. Then he'll speak to a larger group of parents, juniors and seniors about the importance of having a fair shot at an affordable higher...

The head of the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority says a doubling of interest rates on some federal student loans might force some students to forgo higher education. RISLA Executive Director Charles Kelley said Monday that the doubling of the interest rate on Stafford loans could make college unaffordable. The rate is set to go from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in July if Congress does not act. Kelley was joined by students and U.S. Rep. James Langevin (LAN'-jih-vin) at a news conference at the Warwick Mall.

UNTIL LAST week, has anyone ever cast doubt on the concept that we hope our children will go to college? And hasn't that always been most true for parents who were unable for whatever reason to achieve that goal for themselves? Rick Santorum turned that aspiration on its head with a sweeping indictment of any who would encourage this, while simultaneously vilifying college educators who participate in its fulfillment ("Yes, colleges are full of liberal elites," Jeff Jacoby, Op-ed, March 4)

If insanity is doing the same thing again and again but expecting a different outcome, then the federal government's strategy for keeping higher education affordable is crazier than Norman Bates. For decades, American politicians have waxed passionate on the need to put college within every family's reach. To ensure that anyone who wants to go to college will be able to foot the bill, Washington has showered hundreds of billions of dollars into student aid of all kinds — grants and loans, subsidized work-study jobs, tax credits, and deductions.