Education News

MPR News keeps track of the latest education news in Minnesota so you can understand the events shaping the future of learning and how it impacts students at any level.

Stay informed about local education events, policies and more happening in schools and colleges across Minnesota.

Why students need standardized financial-aid-package letters
Raj Date of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told an audience at the University of Minnesota yesterday why colleges need a comprehensive, standardized format for financial-aid-package letters: Once challenge that students face is comparing financial aid information from different schools. … It’s important to be able make side-by-side comparisons. But when prospective students open their…
This is just a prototype, announced yesterday by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, of the preferred format for college financial-aid-package letters. The idea behind the “Know Before You Owe” project is to make them standardized and easy to read so that students can compare various colleges’ offerings side by side. It’s not the final…
If you’re following the recent student loan news coming out of Washington this week, I suggest you check out MPR’s The Big Story Blog, which concentrates on gathering all kinds of articles and topics on one timely topic a day. Today it’s student debt and college costs. It’s full of story links, articles and graphics,…
Photo: Coyote found next to MSU-Moorhead residence hall
Well that’s a sight. Someone found this coyote camped out next to MSU-Moorhead’s Ballard Hall dormitory earlier this week. The Advocate student paper says the animal may have been sick. It was captured and released north of the city. Read the full story here.
Kindles not catching on among Tommies
I posted just yesterday about students’ preference for printed textbooks over digital ones, and now University of St. Thomas circulation desk worker Nathan Wunrow tells TommieMedia that its collection of Kindle readers is “rarely” checked out: “It has its highs and lows maybe in the summer and J-term it’s better, but right now I don’t know…
Tuition and fees rise more than 8% at U.S. public colleges Public four-year universities charged residents an average of $8,244, up 8.3% from last year, while public two-year schools charged an average of $2,963, up 8.7%, says the report by the non-profit College Board. About 80% of the nation’s undergraduates attend public institutions. (USA Today) Toughest Exam…
Help for student borrowers, but is it enough?
President Obama has announced a new program to lower monthly payments for students graduating next year and beyond, and let other student borrowers consolidate loans at a lower interest rate. With student loan debt exceeding $1 trillion, and the cost of college continuing its upward trajectory, will that be enough?