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Higher Education Editor

Jon Marcus

Jon Marcus, higher-education editor, has written about higher education for the Washington Post, USA Today, Time, the Boston Globe, Washington Monthly, is North America higher-education correspondent for the Times (U.K.) Higher Education magazine, and contributed to the book Reinventing Higher Education. His Hechinger coverage has won national awards from the Education Writers Association and he was a finalist for an award for beat reporting from the New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The former editor of Boston magazine, Marcus holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree from Bates College. A journalism instructor at Boston College, he says he ends up learning from his students far more than he teaches them.

Recent Stories

Students in a nursing class at Missoula College in Montana. Data show that nursing is among the highest-demand professions in the state.

One state uses data about job needs to help decide what colleges should teach

A seemingly obvious way to connect supply with demand, the approach remains rare

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – November 8, 2018

Myiesha Robateau wasn’t offered enough financial aid to go to a private college and instead began this fall at the public University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

New data show some colleges are definitively unaffordable for many

Even as net prices begin to fall at some schools, many families are priced out

Divided We Learn

by  Jon Marcus  – October 18, 2018

If Montana’s higher education property tax levy fails, “A lot of students aren’t going to be able to keep going to college,” says Kelly Armington, a University of Montana freshman majoring in communication studies.

Montana vote becomes a national referendum on public confidence in higher ed

A one-of-a-kind ballot question could be a bellwether of sentiment toward academia

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – October 9, 2018

Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Dickinson is among a growing number of colleges and universities that involve their faculty in watching for problems that could derail students — something not traditionally considered their role.

At a growing number of colleges, faculty get a new role: spotting troubled students

On most campuses, however, ensuring students succeed is still not considered part of the job

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – October 8, 2018

What do college students learn

As students return to college, a basic question persists: What are they learning?

Despite years of demands, consumers know little about how and how much students learn

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – September 17, 2018

Grinnell College, halfway between Des Moines and Iowa City. First-year students here attend a mandatory career advising program before their classes even start.

Colleges welcome first-year students by getting them thinking about jobs

Increasingly judged on graduates’ success, some start career advising very, very early

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – September 6, 2018

The Old Manse, the centerpiece of Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock. Federal data show that of the 201 low-income freshmen who began at the college in 2011, none had graduated six years later.

Billions in federal financial aid is going to students who aren’t graduating

First-ever formal look at biggest college grant fund exposes generally poor results

Divided We Learn

by  Jon Marcus  – August 27, 2018

Alana Wolf was accepted to Cornell University, which told her to go somewhere else as a freshman and come back as a sophomore under a little-known policy called conditional admission. She spent her freshman year at Ithaca College and will enter Cornell this fall.

Seeking advantage, colleges are increasingly admitting students as sophomores

Some applicants are told: Start here after going somewhere else for freshman year

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – August 23, 2018

A student walks past the Bender Library on the American University campus in Washington, D.C. American is one of 32 colleges and universities with an accelerated program that lets students earn bachelor’s degrees in thee years instead of four, which one management expert has criticized for helping only undergraduates who are already very well prepared.

Critics warn that well-meaning reforms may be lowering the quality of college

Signs emerge that some are cutting corners to produce more graduates more quickly

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – August 17, 2018

At least four colleges and universities in the Midwest alone have added certificate or associate degree programs in beer fermentation, brewing, brew management and wine and viticulture technology, among the 41,446 degree or certificate programs colleges and universities have added since 2012.

Panicked universities in search of students are adding thousands of new majors

Despite tight budgets and high risks, colleges hope niche degrees will spur demand

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – August 9, 2018

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