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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

A registered nurse speaks with a new mother before her discharge from Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. The proportion of nurses with bachelor’s degrees is up from 44 percent to 57 percent since 2004, but still far short of the goal of reaching 80 percent by next year set by the Institute of Medicine to deal with the increasing complexity of healthcare.

10 years later, goal of getting more Americans through college is way behind schedule

Budget cuts, high tuition, public disillusion have slowed progress while employers struggle to find skilled workers

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – January 14, 2019

The Chill Room at GSoft, a technology firm in Montreal that features over-the-top amenities to recruit and keep employees at a time of intense competition for talent.

How one city has been tackling the swelling scourge of brain drain

As unemployment dips, competition to keep and recruit talent is intensifying

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – December 31, 2018

As a student from a tiny rural hometown, Kendra Beaudoin found unexpected obstacles when she arrived last year at the University of Michigan. She had to use a paper map to find her way around after losing her phone, couldn’t figure out the bus system and didn’t understand crosswalks. “Those aren’t a thing where I live.”

Some colleges extend scholarships and other help to rural high school grads

They see benefits to diversity — and their own bottom lines — in having rural students

Divided We Learn

by  Jon Marcus  – December 12, 2018

Chestnut Hill College director of student success Kim Cooney meets with senior Erin Crowley. Cooney changed her major at the end of her junior year in college, adding an extra semester to the time it took to graduate. Now she tries to help others make the right decisions sooner.

Switching majors is adding time and tuition to the already high cost of college

Despite the spiraling cost of the investment, some students commit to it without a plan

Higher Education

by  Jon Marcus  – December 7, 2018

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

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