the weekly digest from NEJHE and other news from the New England Board of Higher Education
Dec. 7, 2022

Boston’s segregated schools, enrolling mostly Black and Latinx students, tend to have a higher student-to-teacher ratio as well as older textbooks, lower-quality facilities, fewer school counselors per student and other inequalities. "This inevitably means that these students will face greater difficulties when it comes to gaining admission to college, completing their degrees and embarking on careers," writes Ginette Saimprevil. executive director of Bottom Line Massachusetts. A Haitian immigrant who went through Bottom Line on her way to earning a full boat at Bowdoin College, Saimprevil explores the nonprofit college access and success organization's "secret sauce" for leveling the playing field by providing students with ongoing, in-person advising from their senior year in high school through college graduation. Bottom Line's professional advisors deliver intensive, relationship-based, one-on-one advising and partner with students to select and gain admission to a college that is the best possible fit—academically, financially and culturally. Research shows Bottom Line students are 23% more likely than their peers to graduate from college, and since most are students of color, the model could contribute to increased racial equity and mobility. No wonder, Bottom Line just snagged a $15 million grant from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott to help it boost the number of students it serves directly to 20,000 in Boston and beyond.
Newslink

Former U.S. Education Secretary John B. King Jr. was named the next chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY), the largest comprehensive public higher education system in the U.S. ... Tufts University appointed Monroe France, currently senior associate vice president for global engagement and inclusive leadership at New York University, to be the Massachusetts university’s vice provost for diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. ... Outgoing Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea announced she will become a visiting senior fellow in democracy and cybersecurity at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University. ... Former Massachusetts state Rep. Jennifer Benson announced she will leave the Alliance for Business Leadership, the progressive coalition of CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders that she began leading in 2020, to become a principal at a lobbying firm led by former Massachusetts Senate President Robert Travaglini. ... See more on these and other developments in NEJHE's Comings and Goings tally of new appointments in New England higher ed and beyond.

Pictured: John B. King Jr.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the Biden administration overstepped its authority with its plan to wipe out billions of dollars in student debt. ... In Massachusetts, a coalition of nonprofit leaders, researchers and program heads are pushing to make college-in-prison programs a priority for the next administration (not to be confused with the regional New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education Behind Bars launched earlier by NEBHE and The Educational Justice Institute at MIT.) ... Read the latest from NEJHE's DC Shuttle, featuring national news drawn from our friends at the New England Council.

NEBHE this week released its inaugural New England Transfer Guarantee Enrollment Report. Among key findings: Guarantee students tend to enroll full-time upon transfer to participating institutions; they are consistently awarded significant institutional scholarships ... and they are diverse. The authors note that despite the image of independent institutions in New England being very white, 44% of the studied group of Guarantee students were identified as BIPOC in the data participating institutions submitted to NEBHE for the spring 2021 to spring 2022 terms.
Tidbits from the NEJHE Beat
ICYMI from The New England Journal of Higher Education ...

In October, I wrote NEBHE colleagues letting them know I would be retiring from the organization and the editorship of The New England Journal of Higher Education (NEJHE) in early January 2023. I joined NEBHE in 1988 and, in 1990, became editor of NEJHE (then called Connection: New England’s Journal of Higher Education and Economic Development). I noted in my letter to colleagues that I strongly believe the regional journal is a key strength of NEBHE that should continue to be appreciated and bolstered. We often characterized Connection and NEJHE as America's only regional journal on higher education and its impact on the economy and quality of life. In addition, the topics we've covered are just too important to cast our gaze elsewhere. New England's challenging demography—where some states now see more deaths than births—means there are fewer of us to nourish a creative workforce and exercise clout in Congress. This makes our historical strength in attracting foreign students and immigrants to build our communities and industries all the more important. Growing chasms in income and wealth between chief executives and employees, meanwhile, agitate antidemocratic and racist forces. While too many critics dis snowflakes, dangerous trauma grows among students and staff. The killer pandemic exposed our fault lines, but also showed the promise of joining together behind scientific breakthroughs ... and behind one another. See a few more parting thoughts here. And as always, thanks for reading. —John O. Harney

From 1990 to 2010, I wrote quarterly columns on angles in higher education and New England for The New England Journal of Higher Education and its predecessor Connection: The Journal of the New England Board of Higher Education. Readers will find that in some ways, very little has changed since then. Here are links to these “Editor’s Memos”
News Around NEBHE

The Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison held its first meeting last Friday at the Hacker Reactor in MIT's Innovation Center. Convened by NEBHE and The Educational Justice Institute at MIT (TEJI)—and funded with a $250,000 grant from the Ascendium Group—the Commission will formally assemble more than 80 individuals throughout New England who represent key stakeholders, including postsecondary and corrections leaders, current and previously incarcerated individuals, employers, legislators and governors. The Commission will develop an action agenda, policy recommendations, strategies and next steps to align institutions, policymakers, prisons, and industry to increase the life and career readiness of formerly incarcerated people—and facilitate their successful transitions to work and sustained contributions to the wellbeing and competitiveness of the region and nation. Visit here for more on the New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison.

NEBHE published its 2022 Annual Report, providing an overview of the interstate compact's programs, including Tuition Break, Policy & Research, The New England Journal of Higher Education (NEJHE) and the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) as well as NEBHE initiatives on Open Educational Resources (OER), college transfer, the North Star Collective Faculty Fellowship aimed at uplifting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) faculty on college campuses, and the future of postsecondary education for people in prison.
Our Webinars
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.
NEJHE NewsBlast is sponsored by
For more information about partnering with NEBHE, click here
or send an email message to our events coordinator Marla Phippen.
Explore more at nebhe.org