Reminder News - MCC will celebrate 47th commencement (May 13, 2011) - Manchester Community College will celebrates its 47th annual commencement on May 26 at 5:30 p.m., at the Bicentennial Band Shell.Kristi Zea, a production designer, art director and costume designer will deliver the commencement address..

Inside Higher Ed - Community College If You Can Pay (May 19, 2011) - The California Legislature is considering a bill that critics say would create separate community college courses for the "haves" and the "have-nots" on some campuses. The bill would allow two-year institutions to create "extension programs" offering credit courses. The courses would have to be "self-supporting, with all costs recovered," and could not supplant existing courses funded with state dollars. But the courses could be quite similar to the regular courses -- just with much higher tuition rates...

Inside Higher Ed - Online Ed Trends at Community Colleges (May 18, 2011)  - Community colleges reported a 9 percent increase in their distance education enrollments from fall 2009 to fall 2010, according to a national survey of two-year institutions released Tuesday by the Instructional Technology Council, an affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges...

CT Mirror - As higher education shakeup approaches, experts warn of challenges (May 18, 2011) - As Connecticut moves to consolidate its higher education systems, experts are warning that the transition is likely to be rocky and savings elusive, at least at first...

Inside Higher Ed - In the Market for Transfers (May 17, 2011) - Bertha Flores, a 23-year-old Salvadoran immigrant, is the first in her family to attend college. Last year, she graduated with an associate degree from an honors program at Montgomery College, in suburban Maryland... Flores is part of the second cohort of students to arrive at Dickinson as part of a new comprehensive transfer partnership with honors programs at five community colleges in Pennsylvania and Maryland...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - Crisis of Confidence Threatens Colleges (May 15, 2011) - The American higher-education system has long been seen as a leader in the world, but confidence in its future and its enduring value may be beginning to crack along economic lines, according to two major surveys of the American public and college presidents...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - Most Presidents Prefer No Tenure for Majority of Faculty (May 15, 2011) - The deteriorating number of tenured positions in higher education is a common source of concern for faculty, but few college presidents seem perturbed by the trend...

Boston Globe - Mass. investigating top for-profit college (May 17, 2011) - AG demands University of Phoenix data on recruiting, finances ..The University of Phoenix is the largest for-profit college in the country, serving more than 400,000 students at more than 200 US campuses, including three schools in Massachusetts. Last fiscal year, it reported $4.5 billion in revenue, mostly from federal student grants and loans...

CT Mirror - Tuition break for illegal residents advances--but how many will use it? (May 12, 2011 ) - The state House of Representatives Thursday approved a bill to give undocumented residents in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, but advocates say they fear eligible students may be scared off by the requirement that they admit their illegal status...

Connecticut LIFE - Therapeutic recreation specialist wants to show you how to exercise your brain and have fun, too (May 1, 2011) - Try a crossword puzzle, a shot at a word search or take a mental trip through the supermarket aisles and recall only foods that begin with the letter "B." More and more, research shows that exercising one's brain not only keeps memories alive, it's good for an individual's overall health. Nancy Frede, who is certified in therapeutic recreation...

CT Mirror - Applications are scarce for the state's top education job (May 19, 2011) - With almost half the states looking for A-list candidates to fill their top education positions since the first of the year, Connecticut's national search has generated little interest since Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan resigned abruptly nearly five months ago...

Hartford Courant - Study links lead exposure, low student test scores (May 18, 2011) - A new study says many Connecticut students who have been exposed to lead in paint, soil and elsewhere are performing poorly on standardized tests compared to their peers...

CT Mirror - Concession deal relies on millions in assumed savings (May 17, 2011) - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's labor deal relies largely on hard, verifiable cuts to achieve its $1.6 billion two-year target, but also includes hundreds of millions of dollars in softer assumptions about savings to be derived from things like retirement, employee suggestions and a healthier work force...

CT Mirror - Malloy-labor concession plan could prompt a wave of retirements (May 16, 2011) - Though Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has insisted he won't rely on retirement incentive programs and other fiscal gimmicks to cut labor costs, his tentative union concession deal includes several retirement benefit changes that could encourage a wave of senior workers to step down this summer...

CT Mirror - Unions, Malloy reach a $1.6 billion concession deal (May 13, 2011) - Negotiators for state employee unions and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy tentatively agreed Friday on a two-year $1.6 billion package of concessions and other labor savings that will help Malloy balance the $40.1 billion biennial budget without 4,700 announced layoffs..

CT Mirror Editor's Choice Blog - Assessing the value of a college degree (May 17, 2011) - What's a college education worth? Two new studies take a look at that question, and come up with somewhat different answers...

Diverse Issues in Higher Ed - Perspective: Community Colleges Should Be at the Front Line of Economic Recovery (May 17, 2011) - As governors across the nation look for ways to close yawning budget gaps, a prime target is higher education - especially community colleges...

Seth Godin's Blog - The future of the library - ...The library is no longer a warehouse for dead books. Just in time for the information economy, the library ought to be the local nerve center for information...