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NEWS | October 2009

Each month NEWS delivers stories about our colleges and higher education research, trends and policies

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Ashley Abbate

Keeping it small: why class size matters

Research shows that low student-teacher ratios and small class sizes in elementary classrooms have a positive impact on student learning. There is some evidence that small classes also benefit students at the college level. Read more about class sizes.
 
Tiffany Vang

Gates scholarships let students think big

The Gates Millennium Scholarship program marks ten years of helping low-income students cover the cost of attending college. Find out about the impact of the scholarship on three students who attend one of Minnesota’s Private Colleges. Read more about Gates scholars.
 
Briefs

Briefs

    • Carleton College and Macalester College were among 26 schools nationwide to score an A- on a national report card that measures colleges' sustainability efforts. A recent Star Tribune editorial on green building projects at Macalester and St. Olaf College noted a host of sustainability efforts from all our colleges, concluding that “where these schools lead, others follow.”
    • The new report, Civic Responsibility: What Is the Campus Climate for Learning? suggests a gap between campus aspirations and the actual experiences of many students. Campus activities shown to foster students’ civic engagement include community service opportunities, campus life activities and courses where community involvement is required.
    • Trends in College Pricing 2009, an annual report from the College Board, shows that tuition and fees at four-year public institutions rose 6.5% this year, compared to 4.4% at private nonprofit institutions. A companion report, Trends in Student Aid 2009, found that about two-thirds of full-time undergraduates receive grant aid.
    • In the latest newsletter from ThreeSixty, a teen journalism program sponsored by the University of St. Thomas, find out how teens responded to President Obama’s challenge to take school seriously — and how a Robbinsdale principal separated students by race to expose the differences in test scores.