Education category, Page 24
Firm suggests closing 16 Pittsburgh Public schools, opening 2 new ones
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials have received recommendations to close more than a dozen schools and potentially merge Carrick and Brashear high schools. A consultant hired by the district said, through a facility use report, that the urban school system should close 16 of its schools and open two new ones,...
Student loan repayments on pause for some as court fight continues over federal debt relief program
Millions of student borrowers facing college loan payments are getting temporary relief following court decisions this summer blocking implementation of the federal debt relief program known as SAVE. Their payments and any interest are effectively paused — at least while a court fight plays out between Republican-led states suing to...
Will Israeli-Palestinian conflict protests, encampments resurface when college resumes?
Alon Leshem, a rising senior at the University of Pittsburgh, is energized to finish his computer science degree and to take secondary field of study courses involving Israel and Palestine. But, like other Jewish students at Pitt and elsewhere, his enthusiasm is tempered by knowing fall could bring renewed pro-Palestinian...
State funding to bolster special educator workforce benefits Western Pa. schools
As the state Department of Education pushes out nearly $1.5 million in grants to help grow the special educator workforce, Western Pennsylvania schools are taking advantage. More than 75 universities and K-12 schools will benefit from the grants — including Bethel Park, Mt. Pleasant Area, Plum and Pittsburgh Public school...
FAFSA forms again delayed for many after last year’s troubled rollout
As fall classes approach, a problem-plagued rollout of the federal government’s revised FAFSA — the form needed to secure financial aid — could pose more trouble and slow some college students’ ability to pay bills. The latest glitch is being felt as the U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday announced...
Grove City College president to retire
Paul J. McNulty, whose tenure as Grove City College president has seen campus growth on multiple fronts, will retire after the 2024-25 academic year, school officials announced Tuesday. McNulty, a 1980 graduate of the Christian liberal arts and sciences college, returned to his alma mater after a 30-year law career...
Penn State fraternity brothers plead guilty in student’s 2017 hazing death
Two former Penn State University students and fraternity leaders pleaded guilty to their roles in the 2017 hazing death of Timothy Piazza, the Attorney General’s Office announced on Tuesday. Brendan Young, 28, and Daniel Casey, 27, pleaded guilty this week to 14 counts of hazing and one count of reckless...
6,300 University of Pittsburgh staffers gain chance to join Steelworkers union
For University of Pittsburgh staff who watched as 3,400 faculty colleagues gained collective bargaining rights a few years back, what’s coming in the mail soon represents their own moment of choice. The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board will oversee another union election at Pitt. This time, it’s for 6,300 staff. Ballots...
Chancellor of State System of Higher Education announces resignation
Daniel Greenstein, chancellor of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, is resigning this fall after a transformative six-year tenure that saw controversial campus mergers, a historic jump in state university funding, and no tuition increases. Greenstein notified the system’s Board of Governors on Monday of his intention to leave, effective...
Hempfield Area to spend $111K for 6 weapons detectors for random student screening
Hempfield Area School District plans to start this school year with a new weapons detection system. At a school board meeting Monday, the board decided on buying six OpenGate weapons detectors for a little under $111,300. The machines cost about $18,000 each and were tested by the district earlier this...
New PennWest president reveals ‘secret sauce’ of W.Pa.’s second largest public university
Pennsylvania Western University’s new president had this to say Monday about the struggles preceding him to merge three century-and-a-half-old institutions with proud histories into one: “Integration is really tough,” Jon Anderson said. But the 50-year-old educator from Utah, who became PennWest’s chief executive on July 1, nonetheless is bullish on...
Franklin Regional sees benefits of ‘Parents as Allies’ program
Members of a family that just moved to the Franklin Regional School District from overseas might not have the confidence to get up at a school board meeting and ask a question. But get a few of those families together for dinner at a local Italian restaurant, and conversations start...
Penn State main campus students face tuition hike; price at branch campuses still frozen
Pennsylvanians attending Penn State University’s main campus a year from now will pay 2% more in undergraduate tuition, while in-state branch campus undergraduates will see no increase for a third straight year. The university’s Board of Trustees Friday approved those and other rates in adopting a $9.9 billion budget for...
Federal appeals court blocks remainder of Biden’s student debt relief plan
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court blocked the implementation of the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan, which would have lowered monthly payments for millions of borrowers. In a ruling Thursday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion for an administrative stay filed by a group of Republican-led...
Carnegie Mellon professor claims Trump shooting ‘was staged’
A Carnegie Mellon University professor, who in 2022 sparked a furor with her social media post wishing a dying Queen Elizabeth II “excruciating” pain, offered this take on Saturday’s attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life: “It was staged,” Uju Anya posted to the social media platform X. Anya, an...
State System of Higher Education freezes tuition for 6th straight year
Tuition across Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities will not increase this fall as the State System of Higher Education on Wednesday approved a sixth consecutive tuition freeze, this one for 2024-25. During a special meeting, held virtually, the State System’s Board of Governors voted unanimously to keep full-time undergraduate tuition for...
Budget sends $500M more to Pa.’s poorest schools, falling short of what some say is needed
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — After weeks of tense, secretive negotiations on Pennsylvania’s budget, the legislature has approved a $47.6 billion spending deal that falls short of the...
Pitt raises in-state tuition on its main campus by 2%
Tuition for in-state undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh will rise 2% for the upcoming academic year. Tuition will be held flat at regional campuses. The rates were announced as part of Pitt’s $3.2 billion operating budget and $265.2 million capital budget for fiscal year 2025, which...
State System of Higher Education hopes to keep in-state tuition freeze
The Board of Governors for Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education reaffirmed Thursday its desire to freeze in-state undergraduate tuition for the 2024-25 school year. If PASSHE receives the state funding increase it requested, tuition will stay frozen for the seventh consecutive year. The ongoing rate has been $7,716 per...
Chatham students fear closure of Eden Hall campus dorm could affect access to classes this fall
Rachel Coyne is concerned about her upcoming semester at Chatham University’s Eden Hall campus in Richland. The school announced it is closing the sole dormitory on the branch campus, and students instead will be housed at the university’s main campus in Pittsburgh. Coyne, like other students who planned to live...
Proposed IUP medical school picks up $2M donation
Indiana University of Pennsylvania has picked up another $2 million toward its proposed college of osteopathic medicine, campus officials announced Tuesday. It comes from Tim and Debra Phillips Cejka, IUP graduates and longtime campus supporters. In remarks prepared for the gift’s announcement, Tim Cejka told his alma mater that the...
What should the future of Hempfield Area School District be? New superintendent aims to focus on plan
In his first week as Hempfield Area School District’s superintendent, Mark Holtzman has been busy. The former superintendent for Beaver Area School District began his five-year contract at Hempfield on July 1. In a letter posted online on the district website, he detailed his plans to conduct a series of...
Under mounting pressures, small private colleges across Pa. close their doorsVideo
A wave of small private college closures in Pennsylvania that already upended career plans of students from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia has claimed another institution. Clarks Summit University, a 92-year-old Baptist college founded during the Great Depression, is shuttering its Lackawanna County campus amid worsening financial and enrollment woes. Enrollment that...
Greensburg native, IUP alum helps establish scholarship for STEM students
A Greensburg native and graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania has helped establish a scholarship at her alma mater to assist military veterans working towards a degree in a STEM field. University officials said retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral C.J. Jaynes made a donation that allowed the Indiana County school...
Philadelphia’s Temple University hires John Fry as its president from neighboring Drexel
PHILADELPHIA — Temple University has hired John Fry of nearby Drexel University to become its 15th president, concluding a search that had been buffeted by the sudden death last fall of acting President JoAnne Epps, the Philadelphia school said. Fry, 63, has been Drexel’s president since 2010 and will start...
