the weekly digest from NEJHE and other news from the New England Board of Higher Education
April 21, 2021

Earlier this month, NEBHE and several New England higher ed leaders and organizations urged Congress to double the Pell Grant maximum to $12,990 by the 2021-22 academic year and ensure that the increase is permanent by making the increased portion of the grant an entitlement. Here, James T. Brett, president and CEO of the New England Council, America's oldest regional business group, writes that one important step Congress can take to help make a college degree more affordable and accessible to students is to increase the maximum grant amount under the federal Pell Grant program. Pell Grants, established by Congress in 1972 and named in honor of the late U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, are geared to low-income and "first-generation” college students. In 1975, the Pell Grant covered almost 80% of tuition and room and board at a four-year public college, compared with less than 60% today. Brett and others suggest doubling the maximum Pell Grant award.
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NEBHE welcomes Ohio State University lecturer Jasmine Roberts to lead a discussion on the importance of centering social justice in Open Education. Along with her communication expertise, Roberts is a renowned Open Education leader. She is the author of the highly rated, openly licensed book Writing for Strategic Communication Industries.



International postsecondary students are critical to New England’s vitality and help open new chapters in U.S. relations with foreign countries. Yet, New England’s historically strong international enrollment numbers may be in jeopardy. The total number of international students studying at U.S. universities—whether from within the U.S. or online from abroad—was down 16% in fall 2020, according to a recent survey by the Institute of International Education (IIE). Enrollments of new international students have decreased by 43% over the previous academic year. In the first webinar of our three-part series, a panel of experts will explore the policy landscape for international students, as well as strategies for boosting New England’s international student recruitment and enrollment in a post-COVID world. 
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The Education Trust Board of Directors named Denise Forte, currently the national organization’s senior vice president for partnerships and engagement, to serve as interim CEO, while John B. King Jr., the group's current president and former U.S. secretary of education, runs for governor of Maryland.

Pictured: Denise Forte
More from The New England Journal of Higher Education

The perspectives of today's students are shaped by hate crimes, terrorist attacks and mass shootings. "My students know about El Paso, Dayton, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Parkland, Pulse Nightclub, Thousand Oaks, Las Vegas, Tree of Life Synagogue, the Boston Marathon bombing, the Emanuel AME Church, among so many others," writes Christina Cliff, an assistant professor of political science & security studies at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire. A self-described Cold War kid, Cliff explores teaching courses on political violence and terrorism to students in the post-9/11, mass-shootings generation. "My students didn’t just duck and cover under their K-12 school desks," she writes. "They learned to tie tourniquets, and have been taught how to block doors [and] how to stay silent in a coat closet."

Remote learning was a key component of college strategies for addressing the COVID-19 crisis across the country. More than 1,100 colleges went entirely remote by March 2020, according to the education consultancy Entangled Solutions, and 44% of institutions had developed fully (or primarily) remote instruction by September 2020, reports the College Crisis Initiative at Davidson College. This mass migration to remote learning also resulted in significant increases in technology spending. Converting the investments made to support remote learning into a new online revenue stream, however, is an entirely different proposition, writes Todd J. Leach, the chancellor emeritus of the University System of New Hampshire and former chair of NEBHE.

NEJHE has spilled much ink (pixels?) on stories related to trauma, the coronavirus pandemic and immigration, treated as mostly distinct issues. Here, psychologist Diya Kallivayalil ties those angles together as she explains how the Victims of Violence Program that she directs at Cambridge Health Alliance pursues its mission of bringing health equity and social justice to underserved, medically indigent populations. A faculty member in the Psychiatry Department at Harvard Medical School, Kallivayalil writes of many patients who have lost their incomes and faced racialized targeting of immigrants in workplaces and beyond.
Tracking Coronavirus: A Deep Dive
This semester, NEBHE is deep-diving on topics related to New England institutions' response to COVID-19 (see our updated COVID-19 response page here). We will publish periodic briefs on topics including: plans for spring 2021, federal actions that affect higher education, vaccination distribution, mental health and planning for fall 2021. Interested in a topic we haven't covered? Reach out to Charlotte Peyser at cpeyser@nebhe.org.
News Around NEBHE

The latest edition of The Monthly Policy Dispatch from NEBHE's Policy & Research team covers the work of Faculty Diversity Fellows Kamille Gentiles-Peart and Tatiana Cruz and their proposal to create reparative justice in higher education. To subscribe to The Monthly Policy Dispatch, click here or contact NEBHE Associate Director of Policy Research and Analysis Stephanie Murphy at smurphy@nebhe.org.

We seek a Director of Finance and Administration to lead NEBHE’s finance, business management and
budgeting, human resources, administration and IT.
The director will play a critical role in partnering with the senior leadership
team in strategic decision-making and operations as NEBHE continues to enhance its quality programming and build capacity. Qualified candidates may submit a cover letter and resume to gdavis@nebhe.org.
NEJHE NewsBlast is a summary of NEJHE content and other news around NEBHE prepared weekly by NEJHE Executive Editor John O. Harney and emailed every Wednesday to opinion leaders and practitioners. When responding to NEJHE content, please make sure that your remarks are relevant, courteous and engaging. Individuals are responsible for their comments, which do not represent the opinions of the New England Board of Higher Education. We urge commenters to briefly note their occupational or other interest in the topic at hand. Please refrain from offensive language, personal attacks and distasteful comments or they may be deleted. Comments may not appear immediately. Thank you for staying engaged.
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