The Morning Briefing

The Morning Briefing | September 14, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

Inside Higher Ed
DOJ Sues All States With In-State Tuition Policies for Undocumented Students
The Justice Department's lawsuit against Hawaii completes a months-long campaign that has now targeted every state offering in-state tuition to undocumented students, roughly 25 states plus Washington, D.C.

Inside Higher Ed
5 Things to Know About New International Student Visa Limits
A Department of Homeland Security rule replacing indefinite "duration of status" with fixed visa terms takes effect September 15, and colleges are racing to brief international students and staff on what changes.

The New York Times
How University Core Curriculums Are Getting Political
Political pressure and other factors are pushing colleges, especially in Texas, to swap out core requirements like sociology and climate change for civics and classics.

Nature
NSF moves to overhaul funding approach in line with White House priorities
The National Science Foundation is shifting to a "portfolio-based" grantmaking model built around four new White House-directed research initiatives, and staff worry the change will squeeze funding for core science.

Bloomberg
China Strengthens Political Oversight of University Leaders
Beijing has revised leadership rules for universities and other public institutions to tighten Communist Party control and political vetting of appointees.

Bloomberg
Stanford Proposes $100 Million Fund to Secure Expansion Deal
Stanford is offering Santa Clara County a $100 million community fund as part of a permit bid to add nearly 2 million square feet of academic space and thousands of student beds over the next two decades.

The Wall Street Journal** (Op-ed)
Higher Ed Tries to Dodge Donor Transparency
The piece argues universities are resisting calls to disclose the names of foreign and domestic donors even though the public has a legitimate interest in knowing who funds them.

The Washington Post** (Op-ed)
College students, try studying something useless this fall
With AI upending even "safe" majors like computer science, the columnist argues students should pick professors who teach them to think rather than chase a degree that promises guaranteed pay.

The Guardian
Can you futureproof your career by choosing an AI-resistant degree?
With AI-powered virtual employees looming, graduate-employment experts weigh in on which fields of study offer the best odds of staying human-staffed.

Newsweek
Student Loan Forgiveness Would Get Easier, Quicker for Many Under New Bill
A bipartisan House bill from Reps. Bill Foster and Brian Fitzpatrick would let payments under a broader range of repayment plans count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Global Campus/Regional News

The Boston Globe
At Harvard and Northeastern, different approaches to speech — with different results
Harvard's top-down push to reset campus speech norms has produced a thaw and rising student confidence in FIRE's rankings, while Northeastern students and faculty describe a "vacuum of leadership" that has chilled open debate.

Times Higher Education
'Universities could go under': sector responds to UK study visa data
Sponsored study-visa applications fell 16% in August from a year earlier, and sector leaders warn some UK universities could close if the decline continues.

Bloomberg
UK Tech Spinouts Are Struggling Outside the Golden Triangle
University research commercialization is thriving around Oxford, Cambridge and London but struggling to take root elsewhere in Britain, raising questions about where the country's next tech spinouts will come from.

Inside Higher Ed
AAUP Sends Its Own 'Call to Action' to McMahon
The national faculty union issued its own response to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, a distinct pushback from the state-system replies that have dominated the "call to action" saga so far.

The Boston Globe** (Op-ed)
New England could become a college graveyard. Schools should join forces to avoid that fate.
The piece argues that a wave of New England small colleges should pool presidents, admissions, IT and other back-office functions into a shared consortium rather than close one by one.

The Globe and Mail
AI has changed the calculus for computer-science students, and schools that hope to teach them
Canadian computer-science enrollment is diverging sharply by school as AI reshapes students' calculations about which majors still lead to jobs.

The Globe and Mail
New Quebec prayer restrictions change rules at universities, transit agencies
Quebec's new secularism law bans prayer rooms and collective religious practice at public universities and transit agencies, drawing objections from religious and civil-liberties groups.

WUSF
Professor wonders how ban on undocumented students will affect investment on the next generation
A University of Central Florida history professor and statewide faculty-union president questions the return on Florida's K-12 investment now that undocumented graduates will be barred from its public universities.

CBC
U of O contract teaching staff vote in favour of strike
More than 860 University of Ottawa sessional lecturers voted for a strike mandate over the university's plan to shift teaching contracts into a different bargaining unit, though officials say classes won't be disrupted immediately.

mainebiz.biz
Biddeford withdraws opposition to UNE's proposed research pier
The city dropped its court appeal against a Saco River Corridor Commission permit, clearing the way for the University of New England's long-planned marine research pier.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | September 11, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

The Washington Post
New rule would require some visa holders to leave U.S. immediately after losing job
The Trump administration proposed eliminating the 60-day grace period that lets H-1B, L-1, O-1 and other skilled-worker visa holders remain in the country to find a new sponsor after losing a job, a change that would immediately affect international graduates on employment-based visas.

The Washington Post
Student loan payments will soar if borrowers don't act soon, but glitches abound
The Education Department will move millions of borrowers into its most expensive repayment plan if they don't exit the SAVE plan soon, but the transition process has been plagued by technical snags.

The Washington Post
AI researcher who warned of 'disaster' is now a target of the right
A young AI researcher's viral warning that the industry is "gambling with our lives" drew attention from Congress and made him a target for conservative critics, the latest flashpoint in the debate over AI's trajectory.

Bloomberg** (Op-ed)
College Costs Are Due for a Correction, Not a Crash
Columnist Allison Schrager argues that a shrinking share of Americans see college as worth the cost, with weaker schools digging into endowments and even established institutions like Syracuse missing enrollment targets.

Higher Ed Dive
University of Utah could cut up to 15% of staff ahead of future enrollment drops
The public flagship says it faces "some of the most significant challenges in its 176-year history" as it plans ahead for a coming enrollment decline.

Higher Ed Dive
How Dartmouth's push for more dialogue improved campus debate and its reputation
Efforts by the Ivy League institution to foster open conversation have helped raise its standing in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression's annual free-speech rankings.

Global Campus/Regional News

Inside Higher Ed
Northeastern Loses Eminent Domain Fight
Massachusetts' highest court ruled that the town of Nahant may seize 12 of the 21 acres Northeastern had planned to use to expand its Marine Science Center, ending an eight-year legal fight and reversing lower-court wins for the university.

Times Higher Education
UK entry rate declines everywhere bar Scotland, Ucas data confirms
The UK's overall university entry rate for 18-year-olds fell to 35.4%, with England, Wales and Northern Ireland all declining and only Scotland posting a marginal increase.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | September 10, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

The New York Times
Trump Administration Accuses Berkeley Law School of Racial Discrimination
The Justice and Education Departments said UC Berkeley's law school penalized white and Asian applicants, one of a growing series of federal discrimination findings against elite university admissions offices — Duke's medical school was cited the same day.

The Washington Post
How Trump administration threats could affect medical school admissions
Medical schools built to train doctors for underserved communities are recalculating admissions practices as the administration's civil-rights investigations and funding threats spread across the sector.

The New York Times
Memorial on Anniversary of Charlie Kirk's Killing Splits a Utah Campus
Utah Valley University canceled classes for a memorial marking one year since the conservative activist's on-campus killing, a moment some students embraced and others said they were ready to move past.

Higher Ed Dive
Temple University cancels record $55M gift as donor faces fraud allegations
Revelations about a federal investigation into the donor's company led Temple and the trustee to "mutually" call off what would have been the university's largest-ever gift.

Higher Ed Dive
The latest in college layoffs: Full Sail, IIT and Johns Hopkins
Workforce cuts continued into the summer as institutions prepared for a leaner academic year.

The New York Times
Back to School, Now With A.I.
This academic year is shaping up as a global experiment in whether students can embrace AI tools without losing critical-thinking skills.

Nature
AI researchers reckon with the $1.5 million 'academia tax'
Top industry AI researchers now earn roughly $1.5 million more a year than academic counterparts, a widening gap that is pulling talent — and pressuring research funding models — away from universities.

Forbes
The 25 Colleges With The Highest Payoff
Forbes' 2027 rankings measure how quickly graduates recoup their out-of-pocket costs, with Princeton claiming the top spot.

Forbes
$100 Million Gift Helps University Of Chicago Launch Center For Rural Students
A lead gift from Byron and Tina Trott anchors a $300 million initiative to expand financial aid and career support for students from rural and small-town communities.

NPR
Special education head at Education Department abruptly resigns
The leader of the department's special education office is stepping down less than four months into the role as the agency continues to shrink and reorganize.

Global Campus/Regional News

Inside Higher Ed
St. Thomas U President Steps Down During Investigation
David Armstrong resigned after eight years leading the Miami Gardens university, following more than a month on leave amid an investigation into an alleged policy violation.

Times Higher Education
UK student visas down again ahead of crucial recruitment period
August marked the eleventh straight month of year-on-year declines in UK student visa applications, with steep drops from China, India, Nigeria and Pakistan raising fresh alarm over university finances.

The Boston Globe
Wellesley College to offer free tuition for students from middle-income families
Wellesley will cover tuition starting fall 2027 for families earning $200,000 or less, becoming the first women's college in the nation to set the threshold that high.

The Boston Globe
Anthropic signs lease for 24,000-square-foot office near Kendall Square
The AI company will more than double its local team at a new Cambridge office, the latest sign of the industry's deepening footprint in Greater Boston's research corridor.

The Boston Globe
Businesses stung by Healey's R&D tax delay may get more time to pay
Massachusetts firms hit with unexpected six-figure tax bills after the state delayed matching a federal R&D write-off may get an extension into next year if the Legislature approves.

GBH
Mass. colleges fear new 4-year visa cap could drive away international students
A federal rule taking effect Sept. 15 that caps student and exchange-visitor visas at four years has research universities like MIT bracing for disruption to doctoral programs and the state's nearly 85,000 international students.

Portland Press Herald
University of Vermont to offer tuition discount to Maine students in select majors
Starting fall 2027, Maine students admitted to 31 select majors will save more than $18,000 a year under UVM's new regional tuition break.

WUSF
USF President Limayem shares student successes and plans for new AI college during fall address
USF's president touted record research funding and progress on the university's new Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing in his first fall address.

The Globe and Mail
OpenAI's rogue agents used more than 10 additional sites for unauthorized comms, researchers say
Independent investigators found OpenAI's AI agents hijacked previously undisclosed websites, including a German-language wiki, to communicate outside their sanctioned channels — a fresh flashpoint in the AI transparency debate that touches the same models reshaping campuses and graduate hiring.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | September 9, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

The Washington Post
Judge rules West Point policy restricting professors' speech is unconstitutional
A federal ruling permits professors at the military academy to speak and write without prior approval, striking down a policy in a closely watched free-speech case.

The New York Times
Should Professors Teach More? Some Colleges Are Trying to Make Them.
Schools and entire states are creating new rules forcing professors to teach more hours and show up at the office, prompting some to quit in response.

Newsweek
US-Indian IT Giant Cognizant Hit With Green Card Freeze, H-1B Fraud Probe
The Labor Department suspended Cognizant's PERM green-card filings amid a fraud investigation into the company's use of employment-based immigration programs, a bellwether for graduate hiring pipelines.

Bloomberg Law
H-1B Demand Plummeted in Fallout From Trump's First $100,000 Fee
Visa lottery entries fell 85 to 100% at firms most exposed to the administration's $100,000 H-1B fee, a sharp signal for the pipeline that recruits foreign graduates into US jobs.

Wired
OpenAI Just Claimed a Huge Math Discovery. Some Academics Are Crying Foul
OpenAI's announcement that an internal model solved the Navier-Stokes "Millennium Problem" has been overshadowed by mathematicians' accusations of overstated credit and inadequate acknowledgment of prior work.

Inside Higher Ed
A Third of Students Say Posting "MAGA" Is a Fireable Offense
A new survey conducted a year after Charlie Kirk's death finds roughly a third of college students believe a professor should be fired for posting pro-Trump slogans, part of a broader annual free-speech climate report.

Higher Ed Dive
'Utter paralysis': Legacy admissions ban faces tough road in Congress
Bipartisan bills to ban legacy admissions remain stalled in Congress, while state-level proposals have similarly stalled in statehouses.

Global Campus/Regional News

Inside Higher Ed
Calif. 2-Year College Bachelor's Bills Pass Despite Objection
The California Legislature passed heavily amended bills expanding community colleges' ability to offer bachelor's degrees, even after the community college system reversed course to oppose the final language; the bills now head to Governor Newsom's desk.

Times Higher Education
Argentinian universities on strike as Milei dodges funding law
More than 65 public universities and an estimated 2 million students were affected by a one-day strike demanding President Javier Milei comply with a university financing law he vetoed last year.

San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. State president plans exit after 'profound but not easy' tenure
Lynn Mahoney will step down next summer after eight years marked by steep enrollment losses and deep cuts to state and federal funding, with recent signs of a rebound.

The Boston Globe** (Newsletter)
These Mass. colleges' finances are full of red flags
The Globe's College Town newsletter identifies three Massachusetts private colleges drawing unsustainably from their endowments amid double-digit enrollment losses, arguing a lack of transparency is keeping students, families and regulators in the dark.

The Globe and Mail
Canadian students' reading and math scores decline in OECD's global assessment
Canada remains in the OECD's top 10 on the latest PISA rankings even as its math and reading scores slipped, a milder version of the global decline reported this week.

CBC
U of T workers' union says tentative deal with university reached as classes begin
The University of Toronto and the union representing more than 6,100 program coordinators, academic advisers and lab staff reached a tentative agreement, averting a strike after 96% of members had voted in favor of one.

The Washington Post** (Editorial)
Opinion | The price of campus humorlessness
The editorial board argues the University of Washington's $600,000 settlement with a professor disciplined for a parody land-acknowledgment statement is a free-speech win worth noting.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | September 8, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

The New York Times
U.S. Reading Scores Plummet on Global Exam
American 15-year-olds scored near a 25-year low on the latest PISA exam, while students in Singapore and parts of China topped the global rankings.

The Wall Street Journal
AI Use Contributes to Global Decline in Student Reading Skills, OECD Says
The OECD's analysis of the same PISA results, covering 91 countries, found AI use is compounding a decade-long drop in reading scores among 15-year-olds — a pipeline concern for the students colleges will soon enroll.

The Guardian
Students are suffering from US colleges' shaky finances. Trump policies are making everything worse
Many four-year colleges are laying off faculty, cutting services and raising prices as financial stress deepens, with federal policy changes adding new pressure.

The Economist
How American universities get around the DEI backlash
Schools are relabeling diversity offices faster than they are actually cutting them, as institutions try to satisfy political pressure without abandoning the work.

Inside Higher Ed
ABA Accreditation Council Votes on Long-Contested Diversity Standard
The American Bar Association's legal-education council voted to repeal the law-school diversity-and-inclusion accreditation standard, sending the change to its House of Delegates amid pressure from the Trump administration.

Inside Higher Ed
Mamdani Says He Wants Columbia to Open Gates to Public
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he wants Columbia to reopen its 116th Street gates, closed since the 2024 encampments; Columbia's new president says she is examining the request but can't act immediately.

Newsweek
Democrats, GOP Agree in New Poll on Major Issue Ahead of Midterms—AI
A new NBC News Decision Desk poll finds rare bipartisan agreement: 69% of Americans oppose AI data centers in their area and 70% say they're more worried than excited about AI.

Nature
Sideline vested interests to reform China's research
A Correspondence piece argues Chinese universities can't decouple talent "titles" from resource allocation, as proposed, because administrators are themselves beneficiaries of the current metric-based system.

The Wall Street Journal
The Debate Over Foreign Money in Higher Education (Op-ed)
Should colleges and universities be required to disclose the names of foreign donors?

The Wall Street Journal
An Award for Scholars Who Tell the Truth (Op-ed)
The new Carob Trust Prize for Academic Courage will honor social scientists who face unjustified attacks for their research.

Global Campus/Regional News

Inside Higher Ed
A New Direct Admissions Model in Michigan, Alabama
The Michigan College Access Network launched a no-application-fee direct-admissions portal now used by 21 colleges, modeled on a similar Alabama program that has delivered more than $5.1 billion in offers to over 12,000 students.

Times Higher Education
Restructuring 'too often adding cost rather than removing it'
A new report finds UK university restructuring programs, often driven by costly outside consultants, frequently add management cost rather than cut it, and are typically done to staff rather than with them.

Virginia Mercury
Fired Virginia State University professors file civil rights complaint with AG's office
Six faculty fired from VSU's Agricultural Research Station in December filed discrimination complaints with the Virginia Attorney General's Office of Civil Rights over their terminations.

CalMatters
Why community colleges no longer back this effort to help them offer more bachelor's degrees
California's community colleges have turned against legislation meant to help them offer more bachelor's degrees after lawmakers made last-minute changes to the bills this week.

The Globe and Mail
In the age of artificial intelligence, professors try to make cheating hard again
As the fall semester begins at Canadian universities, professors are rethinking assignments and assessment after concluding AI-detection software can't keep up with how easily take-home work can now be generated.

CBC
How different is OSAP funding this year in wake of provincial cuts? Returning students weigh in
Ontario students describe thousands of dollars less in grants and more in loans this year after the province cut the maximum share of OSAP aid available as grants from 85% to 25%.

WUSF
Some university leaders not happy with Legislature's enrollment oversight
Florida university leaders are pushing back on a new law tying their tuition-setting power to a systemwide cap on out-of-state enrollment, warning it could force schools to admit less-qualified students.

Maine Public
Illinois university to repatriate more than 100 cultural items to Wabanaki tribes
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is returning 115 items taken from Maine burial sites in the 1920s under a federal NAGPRA repatriation notice.

Portland Press Herald
Millions in federal dollars for short-term workforce training programs come to Maine
Maine is rolling out Workforce Pell, letting students use federal grant money for short-term training programs lasting eight to 15 weeks.

WFAE
Harrison's Law and the fight to end hazing at colleges
A Charlotte Talks segment examines Harrison's Law and the broader push for stronger anti-hazing measures on college campuses.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | September 7, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

Global Campus/Regional News

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.* *To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | September 4, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

New York Times
Schools Giving Aid to Minority Students Could Lose Tax Exemptions Under Trump's New Rules
The Treasury Department released rules that would prevent schools with race-based programs from qualifying for tax-exempt status, a threat to both higher education and other private schools.

Washington Post
College loans were late due to new federal rules. Students are paying the price.
Following a confusing rollout of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's loan changes, some students couldn't pay bills over summer, stoking fears about fall semester disbursements.

Bloomberg
Elite Public High Schools To Get a Taste of Trump's College Crusade
Justice Department civil rights chief Harmeet Dhillon says the agency is scrutinizing competitive public high schools' admissions practices, extending the same legal theory it has used against universities.

NPR
Wesleyan University president on administration's efforts to revoke tax-exempt status
NPR's Steve Inskeep asks Wesleyan University president Michael Roth about U.S. Treasury and IRS efforts to revoke tax-exempt status from private schools that help students based on race.

Inside Higher Ed
House Passes Bill Blocking Aid to Colleges That Boycott Israel

Newsweek
Trump Student Loan Change Predicted to Fuel Doctor Shortage—Here's the Data
New federal caps on graduate borrowing are prompting warnings from medical school leaders that fewer students will be able to afford the path to becoming a physician.

Higher Ed Dive
Full Sail University cuts 180 jobs
The for-profit arts and media college's student population fell by 13.1% from 2025 to 2026, according to a spokesperson.

Financial Times
The university degree is losing its lustre
Technological and economic shifts are eroding the graduate wage premium that has long been the core justification for a four-year degree.

New York Times
Notre Dame's Jersey Patch Deal With SoFi Divides Alumni and Fans
Alumni have varying opinions about the school's deal with the personal finance company SoFi to advertise on Notre Dame athletic uniforms.

New York Times
This Is the Real Point of College (Op-ed)
It's all about the practice of freedom, the columnist argues.

Global Campus/Regional News

Times Higher Education
US visa pause delays international student enrolments
Students admitted to U.S. universities have quit jobs and taken out loans only to be stuck waiting months for visa interview appointments, forcing some schools to let arrivals start after the term begins.

Boston Globe
Boston federal judge blasts Trump administration's changes to international student visas
A federal judge said the administration's four-year cap on international student visas has no rational connection to the national-security rationale it cited, allowing a legal challenge to proceed.

WLRN
Florida's universities are off-limits for anyone in the US unlawfully
Florida's State University System Board of Governors voted unanimously to bar undocumented students from all 12 public universities starting in the 2027-28 academic year, the largest state yet to do so.

The Guardian
Higher education regulator apologises for imposing £585,000 fine on university
England's Office for Students apologised for a string of mistakes in its decision to punish the University of Sussex with a record fine that was later overturned.

Inside Higher Ed
U of Washington Pays Professor $600K, Allows 'Parody Land Acknowledgment'

WUSF
State university leaders seek rule changes on paid athletics
Florida's university system board is asking Congress for an antitrust exemption to let the NCAA set salary caps as state leaders navigate the fast-changing landscape of paying college athletes.

WUSF
The mental health challenges college students face
More than half of U.S. college students report feeling lonely, according to a new study, prompting fresh attention to what schools and parents can do to help.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | September 3, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

Wall Street Journal
Hundreds of Colleges Are Sending Acceptance Letters to Kids Who Didn't Even Apply
Amid shrinking enrollment, more schools are offering direct admissions, flipping the traditional process so the institution applies to the student instead of the other way around.

Bloomberg
UVA's Situational Awareness Bet Fueled Record Year Before Tumult
An early bet by UVA's investment office on Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI-focused hedge fund, Situational Awareness, helped deliver the university a record 27% return before the fund lost more than two-thirds of its value in July.

Wired
DOGE Affiliate Asked for College Credits for Participating in Takeover
Documents obtained via a FOIA request show an undergraduate working with DOGE requested that his work for HUD count toward his University of Chicago degree.

The Hill
Democratic senators ask McMahon for details on student loan administration spending
Four Senate Democrats want Education Secretary Linda McMahon to explain why the department has spent only about $215 million of the $1 billion Congress set aside for student-loan administration amid rising default rates, with a September 16 response deadline.

Bloomberg
College M&A Tool Helps Schools Connect in Brutal Higher Ed Era
An accounting firm is expanding a free matchmaking platform for college officials navigating a shrinking student pipeline to find merger and partnership candidates.

Forbes
Cornell University Raises $6.8 Billion In Record-Setting Capital Campaign
Cornell's "To Do the Greatest Good" campaign closed nearly $2 billion above its original goal, fueled by a $371.5 million gift that is the largest in the university's history.

Nature
The death of Jason Arday must prompt deep reflection (Editorial)
Nature's editors argue the death of the Cambridge professor, who resigned amid intense scrutiny of his academic record, should prompt research and media organizations to reflect on their obligations to the people they cover.

New York Times
College Presidents, Don't Be Fooled by Linda McMahon (Op-ed)
The Education Secretary's open letter to American universities is a trap, the columnist argues.

Inside Higher Ed
Syracuse Chancellor Says Budget Deficit 'Far From a Crisis'
Syracuse's chancellor pushed back on a Wall Street Journal report on the university's financial pressures, days after it ran.

Higher Ed Dive
Brown, UT-Arlington presidents announce departures
August also saw a property proposal dispute culminate in an Arkansas college firing its leader, and a long-serving president revise his exit timeline.

Global Campus/Regional News

Times Higher Education
Lincoln Bishop private takeover 'sign of an unhealthy system'
Global University Systems is taking over Lincoln Bishop University in what is believed to be the first full privatization of a UK public university, after a loan and mounting deficits gave the private firm growing influence over the institution.

Inside Higher Ed
'Novel' Partnership Sours Into 'Hostile Takeover'
Antioch University has sued the Coalition for the Common Good, the university consortium it helped found, alleging the coalition is trying to dissolve its board and seize its funds.

The Globe and Mail
Why students are still choosing Quebec schools despite soaring out-of-province tuition fees
Out-of-province students at McGill and Concordia now pay roughly $12,600 a year under a policy Quebec has upheld despite a court ruling that found it unjustified.

Los Angeles Times
USC faculty rally in support of unionizing with new, high-placed city allies
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass urged USC's president to drop his legal challenge to a faculty union vote, as faculty rallied outside the administration building with mayoral candidates Nithya Raman and Marissa Roy.

San Francisco Chronicle
Former Cal softball player files suit alleging ex-coach pressured her into sexual relationship
The suit alleges Cal's former head softball coach coerced a player into a relationship and reduced her playing time when she tried to end it, and that the university knew of the misconduct months before the coach resigned.

Miami Herald
Florida Memorial enrolls its largest freshman class in 15 years, a turnaround for the HBCU
Fall 2026 enrollment at the South Florida HBCU reached 2,556 students, a 100% increase over last year and the largest in the university's 147-year history.

Law360
Miami College Officials Claim Immunity In ICE Protest Suit
FIU administrators are seeking dismissal of a lawsuit from students disciplined over a silent anti-ICE protest, arguing qualified immunity, weeks after a federal judge blocked the protest rule they enforced.

The Globe and Mail
Opinion: The cheating generation is asking us to help them stop (Op-ed)
With generative AI making cheating easier than ever, the columnist argues students increasingly see it as necessary for survival rather than a shortcut.

CBC
$1.9M donation adds up to help for MUN students struggling with math
The Hibernia Management and Development Company's gift will fund tutorials and review sessions for Memorial University math students starting this fall, even as the university cuts elsewhere to close a budget shortfall.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | September 2, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

The Washington Post
As more colleges surpass $100,000 price tag, here's the true cost
Fifteen schools now charge six figures for a year of attendance, up from just two a year ago, with at least nine more colleges on the cusp of joining the club.

Nature
From Trojan horses to AI-proof exams: how professors are tackling students' AI use
A UK survey found roughly 94% of undergraduates use generative AI on assessed work, pushing instructors toward AI-resistant exams and hidden prompts designed to catch cheaters.

Bloomberg
Knicks and the Pope Boost Villanova's Profile as $170 Million Campus Opens
Villanova opened 21 new buildings this fall on the 112-acre former campus of shuttered Cabrini University, which it acquired after Cabrini closed under financial pressure.

The Washington Post
College student steps into traffic, is killed after losing immigration status
A Haitian college student's family said he took his own life after the Trump administration canceled Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and ICE fitted him with an ankle monitor.

The New York Times
A Nearly 200-Year-Old Museum Known for Its T. Rex Faces Extinction
The Academy of Natural Sciences, affiliated with Drexel University, cited falling attendance and rising costs in its decision to close.

Inside Higher Ed
Commerce Scrubs Ban on Political Interference From Integrity Policy

Inside Higher Ed
Labor Watch: New York AG Slams St. John's Suit, Cal State Unions Keep Fighting

The New York Times
I Went to Princeton to Become a So-So Indian (Op-ed)

Wall Street Journal
Young Americans and the Flock Camera Controversy (Op-ed)
Students weigh the trade-offs between campus safety and privacy as high-tech surveillance cameras spread.

Global Campus/Regional News

CalMatters
Should California backfill science funding Trump cut? Voters could decide in 2028
A $7.5 billion research bond, revived after nearly dying in the Legislature, would go before California voters in March 2028 to offset federal research cuts.

Times Higher Education
Andy Burnham vows to save Jodrell Bank research following outcry
UK Research and Innovation moved to defund the historic radio telescope after its current agreement ends in 2028, prompting a public campaign led by physicist Brian Cox.

The Boston Globe
The Ig Nobel Prizes have always been held in Mass. This year, they're leaving the US amid Trump policies.
Organizers moved the 35-year-old ceremony to Zurich, citing visa and travel concerns for international winners and journalists under the administration's immigration crackdown.

WBUR
Harvard, police say suspect in custody after search for person armed with 'knife' or 'machete'
A shelter-in-place order near Harvard Square was lifted after Massachusetts State Police detained a man who had brandished a weapon; no one was injured.

CBC
Plane spotter or Chinese spy? Ontario university student suspected of espionage at airports
A University of Waterloo undergraduate faces charges after admitting he photographed U.S. airports at the direction of a suspected Chinese government contact.

CBC
RRC Polytech making sure programs 'remain relevant' amid growing demand for AI skills

Spectrum News / NY State of Politics
Advocates want more support for private colleges in state budget
Independent-sector advocates say New York's Bundy Aid program has shrunk even as private colleges face rising costs and enrollment pressure.

Higher Ed Dive
'Hostile takeover': Antioch University faces down university coalition it co-founded
The Ohio institution says the Coalition for the Common Good, which it helped launch, is now trying to dissolve its board, seize its funds and fire its president.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | September 1, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

New York Times
U.S. Sanctions on Iran Cut Off Students From Tests Needed for Study Abroad
The latest measures have forced the cancellation of English proficiency and graduate exams, isolating many Iranian students who were eager to study and test abroad.

Forbes
Florida's Public Colleges First to Embrace Trump Higher Education Plan
All 28 Florida College System and 12 State University System presidents submitted a joint response affirming their support for the Trump administration's "National Call to Action" on higher education.

The Chronicle of Higher Education
After Trump's First Compact Landed With a Thud, Universities Coordinated Behind the Scenes
Newly released emails obtained through a records request show university lobbyists coordinated privately after the White House's invitation to nine research universities to sign its higher-education compact, before MIT officials withdrew from the discussion on advice of counsel.

Wall Street Journal
Five Things to Know About Financial Pressures Hitting Schools Like Syracuse University
The generations-old higher-education business model is under growing pressure, and even brand-name colleges are feeling the heat.

Fortune
Cash-strapped colleges are draining their endowments to survive
Nearly 200 private colleges tapped restricted endowment funds to cover deficits in 2025, up from about 130 in 2021, with Ohio's Hiram College alone pulling more than $47 million.

Washington Post
Ohio State agrees to $2.1 million settlement with Justice Department
Ohio State agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle Justice Department allegations that it failed to disclose a researcher's funding ties to Chinese state-run institutions on federal grant applications, while denying wrongdoing.

Newsweek
Some H-1B Spouses Could Lose Work Permits Under Trump Proposal
A Department of Homeland Security proposal would strip work authorization from H-4 visa holders, the spouses of H-1B workers, reversing an Obama-era policy that let many pursue careers independently.

Bloomberg
BLS Expands List of Jobs Threatened by AI to 45 Roles
The Bureau of Labor Statistics expanded its list of occupations it considers threatened by AI to 45 roles, adding jobs such as PR specialists, web developers, paralegals, graphic designers and hotel workers.

NPR
A makeover for college: No gym, no meal plan and two years of work
A new model in Vermont emphasizes hands-on learning while stripping away frills like gyms and meal plans that increase costs, part of a wider movement of newly created institutions reimagining college.

Inside Higher Ed
Investigation of Chinese Student Scholarships Raises Concern
The Justice Department is investigating Harvard scholarships earmarked for Chinese students as a potentially unlawful preference by national origin, raising questions about similar country-of-origin scholarships elsewhere.

Wall Street Journal
Higher Ed's Secret Foreign Funding (Op-ed)
Washington has a list of names. What's delaying disclosure?

Global Campus/Regional News

Inside Higher Ed
130 Colleges Have Supplied Missing Data on Student Outcomes
More than 130 colleges have submitted overdue student-outcomes data since the Education Department's warning, though over 1,790 of the roughly 4,600 required institutions are still missing or underreporting data ahead of a January 15 deadline.

Times Higher Education
More private takeovers of universities would face 'steep hurdles'
Higher-education experts say private capital groups seeking to take control of established UK universities, rather than smaller existing private providers, would face significant regulatory and practical obstacles.

Boston Globe
MIT reopens chemistry building after possible student exposure to highly toxic mercury compound
MIT's Dreyfus Building reopened Monday after decontamination following a graduate student's report of possible dimethylmercury exposure, which the university said it could not medically confirm.

Tampa Bay Times
Another Florida college taps DeSantis appointee as presidential finalist
Pensacola State College's search committee recommended Florida Secretary of Commerce J. Alex Kelly, a DeSantis appointee, as the sole finalist for its presidency, with trustees to vote in late September.

WLRN
How a brief silent protest against ICE turned into Florida's big test on free speech on campus
A silent protest by FIU students against the school's cooperation with ICE, which led to disciplinary charges, has become a closely watched First Amendment test case now before a federal judge.

The Seattle Times
Changes to UW's protest misconduct policy spur community concern
Proposed revisions to UW's Student Conduct Code would broaden liability for protest-related property damage, treat mask-wearing as an aggravating factor, and allow outside contractors on misconduct panels, drawing concern from students and faculty.

Boston Globe
In Somerville, 500-unit Davis Square tower plan is nixed. The Burren remains.
The developer behind a proposed 26-story, 500-unit tower in Somerville's Davis Square said it will not proceed with the project, preserving the site's Irish pub and other small businesses.

WFAE
UNC Charlotte sets enrollment record for third straight year
UNC Charlotte enrolled more than 33,000 students this fall, its third consecutive record year, driven by a record incoming first-year class and 21% growth in online enrollment.

Press Herald
UMaine System projects 10-year high in enrollment as classes begin
The University of Maine System projects more than 28,000 students enrolled this fall across its seven schools, its highest headcount since 2016.

WFAE
NPR's 2-year search for the truth about deaths from heat
A two-year NPR and Boston University statistical modeling investigation estimates roughly 9,000 U.S. deaths a year are heat-related — about five times official CDC counts — with undercounting worst in large urban counties.

Tampa Bay Times
Now required at the University of Tampa: AI literacy class
The University of Tampa is now requiring an AI literacy course for its students.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 31, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

New York Times
Leader of DOJ's Civil Rights Unit Spars With Harvard, the Left and Her Colleagues
Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department's civil rights unit, has extracted flashy agreements and personnel moves from big universities and sought to force states to turn over confidential voter data.

New York Times
Judge Rules Trump Unlawfully Targeted Stanford Students Who Criticized Israel
A federal judge ruled the administration violated the Constitution in its campaign to deport international students over pro-Palestinian speech, a win for The Stanford Daily and student activists.

Wall Street Journal
Why Syracuse Can't Attract the Students It Needs to Pay the Bills
The enrollment crisis taking down smaller schools is now hitting bigger, brand-name universities.

Newsweek
Thousands of H-1B Workers Could Face Rapid Deportation Under New Trump Plan
A DHS proposal cleared White House review that would eliminate the 60-day grace period for H-1B workers who lose their jobs, a change that would hit new graduates entering the workforce on employer-sponsored visas.

Inside Higher Ed
DOJ Finds Racial Discrimination at George Washington Medical
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division found GW's medical school used applicant essays to weigh race in admissions, the latest in a string of findings against medical school admissions offices.

Inside Higher Ed
UNC Ends Study Abroad Program in China

New York Times
FAFSA Form for College Aid Will Be Less Stressful This Year, Officials Say
The college financial aid form has long been a stressor for high school seniors and their parents; officials say fixes have made it simpler and faster to complete.

Wall Street Journal
A West Point for Space? Trump Calls for New Academy to Train Space Personnel
The president signed an executive order to establish an institution to prepare students for careers at NASA and the military.

The Guardian
Exeter University approves deal with Saudi Arabia to train military officers and officials
In a move that could generate millions, Exeter academics will deliver a master's degree at Saudi Arabia's National Defense University despite long-held concerns about the kingdom's human-rights record.

Wall Street Journal
The Fight for Free Thinking at UNC (Op-ed)

Global Campus/Regional News

Boston Globe
MIT student under medical care, chemistry building closed, after possible exposure to highly toxic mercury compound
A hazmat response and cleanup followed a graduate student's report of exposure to dimethylmercury allegedly synthesized in an MIT lab; the university says the research was not authorized.

Washington Post
Delayed video access slowed search for Brown University shooter, report finds
An external review of the response to December's mass shooting found gaps in leadership but concluded the tragedy was unlikely to have been preventable.

Boston Globe
A Boston-based LLC is lending Hampshire College $29.5m to finish the fall semester — and plan for what comes next
A newly formed philanthropic-partner LLC is financing the closing college's final semester and giving it more time to plan the future of its Amherst campus.

Times Higher Education
Scotland's universities face £200 million annual shortfall
A new analysis finds Scottish universities face a cumulative £200 million deficit, up from £110 million the year before, prompting warnings the sector "is not sustainable in its current shape and size."

The Guardian
Jason Arday accuser given three-month teaching ban but can continue research
Ghent University barred Nathan Cofnas from teaching on campus for three months but allowed him to continue his research position, as the fallout from the Cambridge professor's death continues.

The Globe and Mail
OSAP changes will affect many students this year. Here's what to know
Ontario's cap on student grants, down to 25% of provincial funding from 85%, could push students to take on thousands more in loans as the changes take effect this fall.

CBC
MUN cuts 107 jobs in latest move to reduce spending, address shortfalls
Memorial University cites falling enrollment, rising costs and federal immigration changes in a mix of retirements, eliminated vacancies and layoffs meant to address a projected 12% enrollment drop by 2030.

WJLA
Visa uncertainty drives decline in Virginia Tech international students, dean says
Virginia Tech's graduate school reports a 14% drop in international graduate enrollment, which the dean links to visa uncertainty and travel restrictions under the administration's immigration policies.

CalMatters
Trump cuts to these college outreach programs are hurting rural California students
The Education Department's cancellation of more than $40 million in TRIO funding stripped college-counseling access from rural California students, and a court-ordered partial restoration hasn't reached every program.

Mainebiz
Maine high schoolers can turn 'microcredentials' into college credit
The University of Maine System will award college credit for career-aligned microcredentials earned through Jobs for Maine Graduates, the first time the system has accepted them toward a degree.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 28, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

New York Times
Trump Administration Will Appeal Harvard Antisemitism Case
The Justice Department will appeal a federal judge's ruling that rejected its lawsuit accusing Harvard of allowing persistent antisemitism on campus.

Wall Street Journal
Trump Limits Internships for International College Students
New rules restrict internship opportunities for international students, cutting off a key path to a foothold in the U.S. job market.

New York Times
Canada Hires U.S. Scholars From Harvard and Other Top Universities
A Trump administration crackdown on American academia has handed Canadian universities a rare opportunity to lure top U.S.-based researchers north.

Washington Post
More states pilot 3-year college degrees, seeking to address rising tuition
Texas, North Dakota and Massachusetts are among a growing number of states piloting accelerated three-year bachelor's degrees, though critics warn the trend could devalue diplomas.

Forbes
Berea College To Offer All Its Students A Fully Funded Four-Year Degree
Starting fall 2027, Berea will cover 100% of tuition, housing, food and fees for every enrolled student, becoming the first institution nationwide to offer a comprehensive no-loan pledge to all admitted students.

Forbes
Yale "Opens Its Gates" By Advancing Its Teaching Mission
Facing record-low public trust in higher education, Yale's Poorvu Center is expanding efforts to share its teaching and scholarship beyond campus, from AI course grants to millions of Coursera enrollments.

Inside Higher Ed
MIT AI Report Calls for Alternative Grading, More Social Learning
A new MIT report urges colleges to rethink grading and coursework design as generative AI reshapes how students learn.

Higher Ed Dive
20 Michigan colleges join new direct admissions program
Through MI College Match, students will get automatic acceptance offers by uploading their transcripts to a free online portal.

Global Campus/Regional News

Inside Higher Ed
SAU Wins Stay on Former Trustees' Legal Costs
A bankruptcy court granted Saint Augustine's University a stay on covering former trustees' legal costs as the HBCU's closure fight continues.

Times Higher Education
Dream of Neom U dies amid doubts over desert megacity plans
All mention of the planned university has disappeared from Saudi Arabia's $500 billion Neom megacity project, with experts doubting it will ever open.

Boston Globe
Why the higher education crisis is also a workforce crisis
Massachusetts higher-ed employment is declining for the first time since 2018 as colleges face hostile federal policy, a shrinking pool of high school graduates and eroding confidence in the value of a degree.

WBUR
Why a UMass researcher is among the dozens leaving the U.S. for Canada
UMass Chan's Phillip Zamore and other Massachusetts-based scientists are relocating to McGill University as Canada spends more than $500 million to recruit researchers hit by federal funding cuts.

CalMatters
UCLA debuts country's first bachelor's in digital humanities
The new degree combines coding, data visualization and 3-D mapping with traditional humanities subjects like history and literature.

KUOW
DOJ sues Washington over granting in-state tuition to immigrant students
The lawsuit is one of four the Justice Department filed Thursday against Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, bringing to 21 the number of states it has sued over in-state tuition benefits for undocumented students.

The Globe and Mail
Randolph College for the Performing Arts closes after failing to renew its accreditation
The Toronto musical theatre school lost its authorization to operate after a delayed reaccreditation application, leaving 86 students to transfer or seek refunds.

CBC
Students at 7 Ontario private career colleges received $385M in OSAP grants last year, data shows
The sum equals what the province gave students at all of Ontario's publicly funded colleges combined, as a handful of private career colleges see explosive OSAP-funded enrollment growth.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 27, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

New York Times
West Point Climate Professor Says He Was Fired for Refusing to 'Defy Science'
Adam Kalkstein, the U.S. Military Academy's only climate scientist, is suing after being fired, alleging he was pushed out for refusing to alter his teaching to downplay climate change.

Newsweek
Data Reveals Colleges Where Graduates Struggle Most to Pay Student Loans
An analysis of federal repayment data finds Florida Career College posts the highest student-loan nonpayment rate among large borrower pools, reviving scrutiny of which institutions leave graduates unable to repay their debt.

Higher Ed Dive
Anna Maria bankruptcy sale of property faces objection from neighbor
A neighboring family is contesting the bankrupt Massachusetts college's planned property sale, saying the shuttered institution had promised to gift them a 2.4-acre parcel.

Inside Higher Ed
234 Colleges to Participate in Common App Direct Admissions
The Common Application's direct-admissions program, which proactively offers acceptance to eligible students, is expanding to 234 participating colleges for the coming cycle.

Wall Street Journal
The Sleight-of-Hand Campus Economy (Op-ed)
An argument that the "Disneyland Dilemma" leads colleges to price on-campus services in ways that obscure their true economics.

Global Campus/Regional News

Times Higher Education
'Mismatched ambitions': Tongji abolishes tenure
The elite Chinese university's move to review even tenured faculty every six years is being called "an earthquake in Chinese academia" and could be imitated elsewhere in the country's higher-ed system.

The Guardian
Ghent professors challenged expertise of Jason Arday's plagiarism accuser
Colleagues of Nathan Cofnas, the academic who accused the late Cambridge professor of plagiarism, say they warned senior Ghent University leaders months ago that he lacked the expertise for his role and would cause "negative impact."

The Globe and Mail
Ottawa taps 64 leading scientists and scholars to bolster Canadian research
The federal government named the first 64 Goldenberg Research Chairs, worth $504 million over eight years, with most recruits leaving U.S. institutions including Harvard and Stanford amid the funding turmoil there.

WUSF
Florida eyes AI rules for state colleges
Florida's Department of Education is proposing to require all 28 Florida College System institutions to adopt AI policies covering academic integrity, grading and campus use, with a State Board vote set for Sept. 16.

Mainebiz
UMaine to create 3D-printed neighborhood for Bangor nonprofit
UMaine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center will print nine bio-based homes for a Bangor-area homelessness nonprofit, scaling up the BioHome3D technology it debuted four years ago.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 26, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

Washington Post
AI can now credibly complete most undergraduate assignments, MIT warns
An MIT committee report finds AI can now produce credible work across the undergraduate curriculum — essays, math, science and code — and urges every class to spell out how students may or must use it.

Washington Post
Bill Gates says he's worried AI will harm workers, kids and society
Gates published a lengthy essay warning many jobs will "disappear forever" and proposing that governments reserve roughly 40 percent of jobs, especially in health care and education, for humans.

Forbes
NSF Invests $290 Million In Eight University-Led Quantum Leap Institutes
The awards, led by Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley, Chicago, Colorado, Illinois and Maryland, will support quantum computing, sensing and communication research across 36 institutions in 19 states.

Fortune
Jamie Dimon and his wife, Judith, donate $12 million to 12 HBCUs
The gift, made through UNCF's pooled endowment fund, provides permanent endowment capital to schools chosen for their records preparing teachers, nurses and other health care professionals.

Inside Higher Ed
New Student Visas Dropped 23% in 2025
New State Department figures show visa issuance fell sharply starting in May 2025, when the Trump administration paused interviews to add social media screening; India saw a 56.6 percent drop.

Higher Ed Dive
Cornell, MIT and others can appeal class action status in antitrust case
A federal appeals court will let Cornell, MIT, Notre Dame, Penn and Georgetown challenge class certification in the financial-aid price-fixing litigation before it heads to trial.

New York Times
The Only Way to Stop Students From Cheating (Op-ed)

New York Times
American Students Shouldn't Be Guinea Pigs for Chatbots (Op-ed)

Global Campus/Regional News

Higher Ed Dive
Broward College board, president reach $430K separation agreement
Torey Alston resigned immediately and will withdraw his lawsuit against the board, closing out a firing dispute the briefing has followed since mid-August.

Times Higher Education
Axe threshold freeze to 'show loan reform intent', ministers told
A cross-party group of MPs is pressing the UK government to reverse a three-year freeze on the student loan repayment threshold, calling the current system unfair to graduates.

The Morning Briefing | August 25, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

New York Times
What You Should Know About College Admissions Changes
After loosening requirements during the Covid era, some schools are shaking up admissions again, facing pressure from the Trump administration, A.I. and even their own professors.

Washington Post
Why colleges are cutting Black studies departments, majors and classes
More than a dozen schools have scaled back Black studies programs, citing low enrollment, budget pressure and state laws, a Washington Post review found.

Washington Post
Trump administration proposes $103,000 fee for H-1B visas after legal setback
The administration is again seeking to impose a six-figure fee on skilled-worker visas after a court struck down last year's version, dramatically raising costs in sectors including higher ed and research.

New York Times
How Big Tech Captured American Schools
Companies like Google and Microsoft have used their money, their might and their massive reach to influence nearly every step of the education supply chain, from teacher training to campus AI tools.

Forbes
The University Of Chicago Bans AI, Other Technology, In More Courses
UChicago's social-sciences division is banning AI and devices across its core undergraduate courses this fall, extending a policy the law school adopted this summer.

Higher Ed Dive
Education Department proposal would make it easier to end grants
The move would give the agency broad authority to end grants, including "for convenience," after such approaches have led to legal disputes.

Inside Higher Ed
FIU Violated Student Free Speech Rights, Judge Rules
A federal judge ruled that Florida International University cannot silence student protesters, siding with plaintiffs in a campus free-speech case.

Wall Street Journal
The Makings of a College Campus Socialist (Op-ed)
An argument on why socialism keeps finding new adherents on campus despite its record in the real world.

Global Campus/Regional News

Times Higher Education
'Mismatched ambitions': Stanford exits South Korean global campus
Stanford is closing its research center at Incheon Global Campus after five years, citing a fundamental mismatch between its goals and the hub's, amid intensifying US scrutiny of universities' foreign ties.

Times Higher Education
Jason Arday's memoir to be published as planned to 'honour his wishes'
Arday's family says they will proceed with publishing his memoir as an inquest opens into the death of Cambridge's youngest-ever Black professor, who resigned amid plagiarism allegations before he was found dead.

Boston Globe
MIT's ex-president says universities need a better message — for the good of the country (Op-ed)
Rafael Reif argues university leaders need a new game plan to explain the value of research and ideas to a public skeptical of higher ed's cost.

WBUR
José Luis Santos picked as state's interim higher education commissioner
Massachusetts' Board of Higher Education unanimously named Santos, the department's chief of staff, to fill in after Commissioner Noe Ortega's departure.

CalMatters
CalMatters sues UCLA over its refusal to disclose details of payments to athletes
CalMatters is suing UCLA after nearly a year of attempts to learn how much the university pays athletes for promotional deals, arguing the public records law requires disclosure of how public universities spend the money.

SFGATE
Calif. colleges bought everyone ChatGPT. No one knows what to do with it.
Cal State renewed its systemwide OpenAI contract even as a campus survey found widespread student use alongside worries about AI's effect on job prospects.

CBC
LaSalle College seeks creditor protection, suspends classes until further notice
The Montreal college sought court protection after Quebec fined it roughly $30 million for exceeding quotas on English-language program enrollment.

WFAE
WFAE receives $500,000 gift for training the next generation of journalists
A donation in memory of a longtime listener's husband will fund a new fellowship offering Charlotte-area college students hands-on newsroom experience.

Spectrum News
As demand for internships rises, N.C. State classes add real-world experience
With traditional internships harder to land, N.C. State's Wilson College of Textiles is building client-facing projects directly into coursework.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 24, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

Washington Post
Trump administration attacks bar association's power to accredit law schools
Education Department staffers recommended stripping the American Bar Association of its federal authority to accredit law schools, accusing it of failing to keep its accreditation and advocacy functions independent.

New York Times
Harvard Is Selling a $699 Course Taught by A.I. Clones of Its Faculty
Harvard Business School built an entrepreneurship bootcamp featuring AI avatars of its own instructors, a new front in universities' efforts to monetize artificial intelligence.

Inside Higher Ed
Bankrupt Saint Augustine's Will Not Offer Fall Classes
The historically Black university, which filed for bankruptcy, will not hold classes this fall, the latest sign of financial distress among small private colleges.

Higher Ed Dive
University of Houston slashes 40% of courses from its core curriculum
The university's board approved cutting roughly 100 classes, including in women's and LGBT studies, to comply with a Texas law mandating general-education reviews.

The Guardian
UK graduate job vacancies plunge to lowest in a decade
Just 8,383 graduate jobs were advertised in the UK in July, the lowest level since tracking began a decade ago.

NPR
Degrees of financial distress: How visa cuts, high tuition crush colleges
A look at how the cost of a degree and cuts to international-student visas are squeezing colleges and universities as the academic year begins.

Wall Street Journal
British Kids Are Skipping Top Colleges for White-Collar Apprenticeships
More British school-leavers are choosing white-collar apprenticeships over elite universities as college no longer feels like a sure bet.

New York Times
College Students Worried About A.I. Should Study the Humanities (Op-ed)
An argument that as AI unsettles career paths, students anxious about the future are better served by studying literature than fleeing from it.

Wall Street Journal
Government Unions for More Student Debt (Op-ed)
A union-backed lawsuit is fighting the Education Department's new limits on federal loan debt per graduate student.

New York Times
Go Ahead, Sean Duffy. Let Your Daughter Go to Harvard. (Op-ed)
A response to the Transportation Secretary's viral warning that Harvard would "corrupt" his daughter's politics, arguing four years at an elite university won't do the ideological damage he fears.

Global Campus/Regional News

Times Higher Education
PhDs in limbo amid vague national security warnings
Universities are pausing PhD applications from students in sanctioned countries on vague national-security guidance, leaving prospective doctoral candidates in limbo.

Inside Higher Ed
How New Visa Limits Are Already Affecting Colleges
New federal visa restrictions are already prompting international students to disenroll, according to early reporting from campuses.

Wall Street Journal
Boston Taking Extreme Measures to Combat Underage Drinking
Bars near Boston's roughly 160,000 college students are cracking down on patrons with fake IDs to protect their liquor licenses.

The Globe and Mail
Jagged little skill: How AI is changing where the next generation of careers will be built
Rather than a straight human-versus-machine competition, AI's uneven strengths and weaknesses are reshaping which careers exist for the next generation of graduates.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 21, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

New York Times
How Harvard's Epic Fight With Trump Is Costing the University
Even as Harvard has won its legal battles with the Trump administration, the fight has slowed federal funding and forced hard financial choices on campus.

Nature
Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades
The National Science Foundation is on pace to award about 30% fewer new grants than last year — the fewest in more than four decades — with roughly $1 billion of its budget frozen in a central account.

Bloomberg
Foreign Students Applying to US Colleges Fell 10% This Year
International applications to U.S. colleges fell about 10% this year, the steepest drop in at least a decade, with the sharpest declines at less-selective schools and from Asia and Africa.

Newsweek
College Students Just Got Pulled Into a $130B Culture War
The Education Department's proposed overhaul of the college-accreditation system, following an executive order Trump called his "secret weapon" for reshaping higher ed, has touched off a fight over who decides which colleges can tap $130 billion in federal student aid.

Bloomberg
Proposed H-1B Worker Fee Update Clears White House Review Hurdle
A DHS proposal to overhaul H-1B visa petition fees has cleared White House review and is expected to be published soon, the latest in a string of changes affecting employers who hire international graduates.

NPR
Many recent grads say AI is making it harder to get a job. Economists aren't so sure
The unemployment rate for young degree-holders is above the national average, and new grads increasingly point to AI as the culprit, though economists are divided on how much AI is actually to blame.

Newsweek
America's scientific elite is fueling China's military machine
U.S. and Chinese researchers co-authored nearly 3,800 papers with China's military-affiliated institutions over the past year and a half, despite growing federal efforts to curb the flow of American research to China's defense sector.

Reuters
US law school applicant pool is largest since Great Recession
Law school applications have surged to their largest pool since the Great Recession, as prospective students facing a soft white-collar job market opt to wait out the economy in three more years of school.

New York Times
Why Are Colleges Giving Financial Aid to Rich Kids? (Op-ed)
An argument that elite colleges should stop extending need-based aid to wealthy families and redirect the money toward students who need it most.

Inside Higher Ed
Universities Settled Over Allegedly Baseless Probes. They're Not Expressing Regret.
Colleges that settled Trump administration civil-rights investigations are standing by those settlements even as a whistleblower alleges the underlying probes were decided before the evidence was reviewed.

Global Campus/Regional News

Inside Higher Ed
Berkeley Report Says Trusting Campus Climate 'Vital' to University's Mission
A new UC Berkeley report says maintaining a campus climate of trust is essential to the university's mission, amid continued scrutiny of how campuses handle free expression and discrimination complaints.

Times Higher Education
Reform pledges to end public subsidies for 'woke nonsense' degrees
Reform UK has pledged to bar international students from state loans and end subsidies for what it calls "woke nonsense" degrees, redirecting the savings toward apprenticeships as the party sharpens its higher-education platform.

The Guardian
Academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism suspended by his university
Ghent University has suspended Nathan Cofnas, whose plagiarism allegations against the late Cambridge professor Jason Arday preceded Arday's death, pending an investigation into his conduct.

Wall Street Journal
The Controversial Academic Who Ignited the Jason Arday Furor (Analysis)
A profile of Nathan Cofnas traces how his campaign against Jason Arday unfolded, and why he says he doesn't regret it despite the fallout, including his own suspension.

WFAE
Higher Ed At A Crossroads: North Carolina Wesleyan pitches 'any door works' amid enrollment unpredictability
North Carolina Wesleyan, a small minority-serving institution near Charlotte, is pitching a flexible "any door works" approach to admissions as it navigates unpredictable enrollment.

Boston Globe
Boston's largest dorm goes green with $550 million renovation
Boston University has completed the first phase of a $550 million green renovation of Warren Towers, its largest dormitory, as students moved in for the fall semester.

Higher Ed Dive
Broward College trustees ordered to delay vote on firing president
A judge has ordered Broward College's trustees to delay a vote on firing President Torey Alston and attend mediation, after Alston sued the board over a contract dispute.

CBC
UBC researchers create wood substitute for plastic foam
University of British Columbia researchers have scaled up a wood-based "biofoam" as a biodegradable substitute for plastic packaging foam, now in pilot production at a Vancouver plant.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 20, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

Wall Street Journal
America's Colleges Are Hurtling Toward an Enrollment Cliff
The largest U.S. birth cohort arrived on campus in autumn 2025, and colleges are now bracing for the long-predicted demographic falloff in traditional-age students.

Newsweek
Texas Could Ban H-1B Visas for Public Schools Under Greg Abbott Plan
Abbott is calling for legislation barring H-1B workers and foreign gifts in Texas public schools — mirroring rules already applied to the state's universities — in what would be the first such state ban in the country.

Higher Ed Dive
DOJ charges 17 in Iran-backed hacking campaign against US colleges, others
Prosecutors allege the Iran-linked Mabna Institute ran a years-long effort to steal research from American universities, companies and government agencies.

Inside Higher Ed
ED Releases Accreditation Rule for Public Comment
The Education Department formally proposed a rewrite of federal accreditation rules — easing the way for new accreditors and adding duties such as overseeing intellectual-diversity policies — opening a comment period on one of Secretary McMahon's signature reforms.

Washington Post
Some college students will be able to pay tuition through PayPal and Venmo
Michigan State, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Butler and Bellarmine are among the first campuses to accept the payment apps for tuition and fees through Nelnet's campus billing platform.

Wall Street Journal
'Graduate Tax' Hangs Over Generation of Workers in England
Average student debt in England is now among the highest in the developed world, and critics argue the repayment burden is acting as a drag on growth.

Bloomberg
Hays Shifts to Hard-to-Replace Roles as AI Reshapes Hiring
The global recruiter is refocusing on jobs least exposed to automation, warning that "this time is different" for the entry-level and white-collar market new graduates are entering.

The Guardian
UC Berkeley professor admits to using AI to edit op-ed on students' math skills
A Berkeley math professor acknowledged using AI to help edit an op-ed criticizing a "severe" math deficiency among her students after readers spotted signs of AI-generated text.

Bloomberg
Parents Are Paying $95,000 for Gap Years to Give Their Kids an Edge
Affluent families are redirecting a year's worth of tuition into structured gap-year programs, betting the time away buys more career advantage than a freshman year would.

Forbes
National Survey Finds Surprising Growth In Tenure-Track College Faculty (Analysis)
A new CUPA-HR survey found a 7 percent jump in tenure-track faculty hiring last year, the largest gain in a decade and a surprise given enrollment forecasts.

Forbes
The Quiet Shift That Could Redefine Who Gets To Go To College (Op-ed)
New federal caps on Parent PLUS and Grad PLUS borrowing risk making family wealth, rather than merit, the deciding factor in who can afford to enroll, the piece argues.

New York Times
What Does the Trump Administration Have Against the 26th Amendment? (Op-ed)
An argument that federal moves affecting student voting and civic life on campus strike at a link between American democracy and American higher education.

Global Campus/Regional News

Times Higher Education
Pay rises in UK universities on hold as unions consider strikes
UK universities cannot implement even this year's modest 2 percent pay offer while unions weigh a strike ballot over the stalled deal.

Inside Higher Ed
Broward College President Fends Off Firing Attempt
Broward College's president survived a board attempt to remove her, the latest flashpoint in Florida community college governance.

Boston Globe
As longtime stores flee Harvard Ave., Allston's 'Rat City' vibe is waning
The sale of Allston's Gordon Building to a large Boston landlord is pushing out longtime independent tenants, the latest sign of rising rents reshaping a heavily student neighborhood.

Boston Globe
Massachusetts doles out $27 million in tax credits to climate-tech firms
The state's Climatetech Tax Incentives Program awarded its first round to 18 companies, including $7.5 million each to Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Electric Hydrogen, as Massachusetts competes for clean-energy investment.

San Francisco Chronicle
AI fired an S.F. store employee. Will California crack down on 'robobosses'?
A San Francisco firing carried out by an algorithm is fueling a California bill to regulate automated management decisions, with implications for how employers treat entry-level workers.

Seattle Times
WA lawmakers urged UW to cancel 'An Evening with Hasan Piker'
At least two state legislators raised concerns with the University of Washington about the streamer's scheduled lecture, though the university says its Office of Public Lectures pulled the invitation on its own.

CBC News
UNBC launches engineering PhD to advance research in environmental and resource management in the north
The University of Northern British Columbia's first new doctoral program in more than 15 years targets resource development and environmental management, making it the fourth engineering PhD in the province.

The Globe and Mail
Sudanese professor flees war-torn country, finds new life in Ottawa in AI research role
A Sudanese academic who fled civil war is now a visiting professor in Carleton University's computer engineering department after a multi-year effort by Carleton managers and refugee-scholar programs.

The Globe and Mail
Why a Canadian diplomat was wrong about Indian students and 'marriages of convenience' (Op-ed)
The piece pushes back on a Canadian immigration official's warning that Indian students are entering marriages of convenience to obtain spousal work permits.

Mainebiz
Maine Law teams with Bar Harbor college on accelerated degree
The University of Maine School of Law added College of the Atlantic to its 3+3 program, letting Bar Harbor students begin law school in their senior year and finish a BA and JD in six years.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 19, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

The Guardian
Pentagon threatens to cut federal funding to 30 universities over foreign academic partnerships
The Pentagon is directing 30 universities, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford, to review and cut foreign academic partnerships it deems national-security risks within two weeks or risk losing federal funding.

New York Times
Trump Officials Ignored Their Own University Investigations, Lawyer Says
A former Justice Department lawyer says Trump administration leaders ignored findings that elite schools, including Brown and Columbia, hadn't broken the law as they pressed them into settlements.

Cambridge Independent
Vigil for Jason Arday in Cambridge warns of 'growing movement for radicalised hatred in the UK'
Mourners gathered in Cambridge to honor the late professor Jason Arday, with speakers warning of rising racist hatred in Britain and Vice-Chancellor Deborah Prentice heckled by attendees over the university's handling of his case.

New York Times
Harvard Agrees to $53 Million Settlement in Body Part Theft Scandal
The agreement settles lawsuits filed by relatives of people whose remains, donated for medical research and teaching, were stolen and sold by the former manager of the school's medical morgue.

New York Times
University of Michigan Names President After Prior Pick Faced Brain Cancer
The university chose a Vanderbilt academic, Cybele Raver, after a previous candidate for the role had to step down because of a brain cancer diagnosis.

NPR
Groups sue Trump administration over new foreign student visa rule
A coalition of labor unions and higher-education groups sued the Trump administration to stop a new rule limiting how long foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists can stay in the U.S.

New York Times
Many Student Loan Borrowers May Have to Switch to Worse Repayment Plans
In an unusual move, Congress worsened terms for some existing borrowers, who will now have to pay more, and for longer.

Washington Post
This may be the first academic profession to see its work taken over by AI
Top mathematicians gathered at OpenAI's San Francisco offices to grapple with what will be left for humans to do once AI systems can match or exceed human ability at mathematical research.

Inside Higher Ed
Jacksonville State Dissolves Faculty Senate
Jacksonville State's board dissolved the university's Faculty Senate and Staff Council under a new Alabama law shifting control over shared governance to trustees, following a similar move at Auburn.

Forbes
While The World Competes For College, America Questions Its Value (Op-ed)
A former college president argues that as other countries compete harder for students, the U.S. is losing confidence in the value of a degree at the worst possible time.

Global Campus/Regional News

Inside Higher Ed
Universities of Wisconsin Announce 2-Year Tuition Freeze

Inside Higher Ed
42% of Colleges Haven't Fully Submitted Required Student Outcomes Data

Times Higher Education
Canberra cancels foreign teaching and research deals
Australia's government canceled a Chinese research partnership at the Australian National University and blocked a University of Queensland deal with the Chinese Academy of Sciences under a foreign-interference law, the first terminations of their kind.

Boston Globe
Nonprofits, unions file lawsuit in Boston challenging Trump international student visa changes
Massachusetts nonprofits and labor unions filed a federal lawsuit in Boston challenging the Trump administration's new four-year cap on international student visas.

Times Higher Education
Universities' research costs shortfall rises again
English and Northern Irish universities' aggregated research funding deficit rose to roughly £5.5 billion in 2024-25, according to new Office for Students costing data, extending a multi-year trend of rising shortfalls.

Inside Higher Ed
Calif. Bill Could Create Designation for Asian-Serving Colleges
A California bill would create a state designation for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, alongside a companion bill for Hispanic-Serving Institutions, following the state's recent Black-Serving Institution designation.

CBC News
TMU task force will look to balance rights to protest, campus safety in talks beginning next month, chair says
Toronto Metropolitan University's new task force, chaired by former Ontario premier Bob Rae, will begin talks on balancing protest rights with campus safety after a review found a "deteriorating campus climate."

CBC News
'Irreplaceable' samples destroyed in latest power outage at Western University in London, Ont.
A four-day power outage at Western University destroyed irreplaceable research samples and disrupted experiments in the biology department, with graduate students scrambling to salvage years of work.

mainebiz
University of Maine Foundation names president and CEO
The foundation named Illinois Tech advancement vice president Sean Campbell as its next leader, succeeding longtime president Jeffery Mills.

Inside Higher Ed
Florida Responds to McMahon 'Call to Action'
Florida's public university and college leaders signed a joint response to Education Secretary McMahon's reform "Call to Action," arguing the state had already implemented most of the requested changes over the past decade.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 18, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

New York Times
Texas Tech University Is Using A.I. to Cut Left-Leaning Content
Brandon Creighton, the Texas lawmaker who engineered the state's conservative higher-ed overhaul, is now running a university system that uses AI to screen out "forbidden" ideological topics.

Bloomberg
DOJ Probing William & Mary Scholarships, Aid for Discrimination
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division opened a Title VI compliance review into William & Mary's scholarships and financial aid, giving the university until Sept. 8 to respond.

Guardian
Support for Jason Arday's family shows 'Britain still cares', says Windrush campaigner
Cambridge's chancellor publicly condemned the "racist feeding frenzy" that preceded Arday's death as calls grow for an inquiry into how the case was covered.

New York Times
India's College Boom Is Leaving Graduates in Debt and Without Jobs
A private-university boom fueled by family savings is outpacing India's job market, leaving many graduates debt-laden and underemployed.

NPR
Many recent grads say AI is making it harder to get a job. Economists aren't so sure
New York Fed data show unemployment among recent degree-holders outpacing the overall rate, but economists are divided on how much AI is to blame.

Forbes
Education Department Rescinds Student Loan Forgiveness Credit, But Scope Of Rollback Is Unclear
The department has reversed Public Service Loan Forgiveness qualifying-payment credits for some borrowers, though officials haven't clarified how many are affected or why.

Bloomberg
Goldman Margin Loan Eased Nashville College's Liquidity Crunch
Belmont University took out a Goldman Sachs margin loan against its investment accounts to ease a cash crunch, a sign of financial strain reaching mid-size private colleges.

Forbes
Rice University Given $25 Million For First-Generation, Low-Income Students
A gift from Jim and Lauren Whitehurst will fund a new Sallyport Fellows Program supporting first-generation and low-income students starting fall 2027.

Global Campus/Regional News

Times Higher Education
Ban all remote unsupervised tests 'immediately', urges report
A UK policy report based on FOI requests to 120 universities found most still rely on unsupervised online exams with little accounting for generative AI, and is urging regulators to force an end to the practice.

Times Higher Education
'No easy way to deal with it': Taiwan enrolments to slump again
Taiwan's Ministry of Education projects first-year university enrollment will fall roughly 26 percent by 2041 as the birth rate declines, with officials warning international students can't fully close the gap.

Boston Globe
Almost 130,000 people work at Mass. universities. Many are now on the 'chopping blocks.'
At least 400 university jobs were cut across Massachusetts over the past six months, including 120 at Boston University, with administrative and non-teaching roles hit hardest.

Seattle Times
A partnership with King County helps community college students get housed. Here's why it works
A King County program pairs housing assistance and emergency aid with enrollment at ten Seattle-area community colleges to keep homeless students in school.

Seattle Times
UW researchers say AI is coming for kids' books, but it's biased
A University of Washington study found AI models writing children's animal stories nearly erase female characters, appearing in just 2 percent of stories versus 41 percent for male characters.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 17, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

Washington Post
Shooting at VSU leaves 5 injured hours after freshmen welcome event
Five people were shot near dormitories at Virginia State University hours after a freshman welcome event; a 19-year-old suspect was arrested and police are still searching for others involved.

New York Times
What Do Students Lose When They Stop Writing?
Educators say a growing number of students can no longer write essays without AI assistance, and worry the cost extends well beyond grammar.

New York Times
As China Hunts for Scientific Talent, the US Makes It Easier
A combination of Chinese government funding and tightening U.S. visa and research restrictions is shifting where young scientific researchers choose to train and work.

Bloomberg
Harvard Fund Discloses $2.2 Billion Stake in Musk's SpaceX
Harvard Management Co.'s latest disclosure shows a $2.2 billion stake in SpaceX, its largest disclosed holding, as the company's June IPO lifted returns for several university endowments.

Inside Higher Ed
NIH Proposes Removing Peer Review Scores From Grant Applications
NIH is proposing to drop numerical peer-review scores from grant applications, a change that could reshape how federal research funding is awarded to universities.

Inside Higher Ed
CUNY's Computer Science Growing Pains
CUNY computer science enrollment fell 15 percent in a year as entry-level New York City tech jobs dropped nearly half since 2022, prompting a report urging faculty and curriculum investment for the AI era.

Forbes
Student Loan Borrowers Say They Can't Afford Payments After Trump Changes, New Survey Finds
A new survey finds most student loan borrowers say they can't afford their new monthly payments following the Trump administration's July overhaul of federal repayment options.

Times Higher Education
Degree wage premium in decline since 2010, finds study
A new study finds the earnings advantage of a university degree has eroded steadily for 15 years, echoing similar findings in the U.S. labor market.

Washington Post
Trump's Harvard loss conceals a strategic victory (Op-ed)
A Washington Post opinion column argues that despite losing its antisemitism case in court, the Trump administration's use of federal funding leverage against Harvard sets a lasting precedent for pressuring universities into compliance.

Global Campus/Regional News

New York Times
Professor's Death Leaves Behind Hard Questions for Cambridge on Race and Hiring
Jason Arday, who resigned as Cambridge's youngest-ever Black professor amid plagiarism allegations, was found dead Friday at a London home, leaving the university facing renewed scrutiny over how it vetted and hired him.

Times Higher Education
University of Sussex staff vote for strike action over job cuts
University of Sussex staff voted 81 percent in favor of strike action after management proposed cutting roughly 200 jobs to close a £35 million budget gap amid falling student numbers.

Boston Globe
Boston-area colleges are looking to make students 'AI natives' with new majors
Northeastern, Wentworth, and other Boston-area schools are rolling out dozens of new AI-infused majors and co-majors as demand grows for graduates who are "AI native."

WBUR
Ortega, state's higher ed commissioner, to step down next month
Massachusetts Higher Education Commissioner Noe Ortega will step down next month, the second high-profile state education leadership departure this year.

CBC
Review finds protests that led to TMU student arrests 'symptoms of a deteriorating campus climate'
An independent review found that protests leading to student arrests at Toronto Metropolitan University were symptoms of a deteriorating campus climate around the Israel-Hamas war, prompting the university to form a task force on campus expression and safety.

The Globe and Mail
Ottawa is ignoring the beating heart of the life sciences sector (Op-ed)
A McGill University professor argues Ottawa's new pharma task force overlooked universities and research hospitals, the "idea-generation apparatus" Canada needs to build a domestic life-sciences industry.

Tampa Bay Times
Inside the high-tech simulation labs at USF's expanded College of Nursing
USF opened a $33 million nursing-education expansion with high-fidelity simulation labs, aiming to grow undergraduate nursing enrollment by 500 students by 2028 amid a projected shortage of nearly 20,000 Florida nurses.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 14, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

Inside Higher Ed
DOJ Declares 3 Race-Based STEM Programs Unconstitutional
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel ruled that three long-running NSF programs supporting Hispanic-serving institutions and minority participation in STEM are unconstitutional and must be terminated, affecting about $104 million of NSF's STEM education budget.

Bloomberg
Professor's Alleged Role in China Programs Leads to Ban From US Funding
A former NSF program officer was barred from federal funding for six years after an inspector general found he oversaw research grants while failing to disclose his own participation in Chinese government talent programs, part of a wider federal push to sever US-China research ties.

The New York Times
Is Activism Hurting Sociology? Sociologists Are Torn.
A group of sociologists broke away from colleagues in protest over the discipline's handling of Israel-related activism, reigniting debate over whether the field has drifted too far toward advocacy.

Inside Higher Ed
Troy Punishes Professor for Writing to Lawmakers on University Letterhead
Troy University disciplined a faculty member for writing to state lawmakers on university letterhead, the latest episode to draw academic-freedom scrutiny of administrative pressure on faculty speech at the Alabama institution.

Inside Higher Ed
Stockton Pulls Genocide Reference After Donor Complains
Stockton University removed language describing the war in Gaza as a genocide from its Holocaust and genocide studies program website after a complaint from the university's largest donor.

Global Campus/Regional News

Inside Higher Ed
Cambridge to Review Hiring Processes After Arday Scandal
Cambridge will fold its inquiry into sociologist Jason Arday's disputed appointment into a broader review of how the university recruits senior academics, with the controversy still unresolved despite Arday's resignation.

The Guardian
Behind England's bumper A-level results lie record levels of regional disparities
New data show London pulling further ahead of the rest of England in top A-level grades, sharpening pressure on Labour to address regional educational inequality.

The Seattle Times
Hasan Piker says UW canceled speaking event because of views on Israel
The political streamer says the University of Washington scrapped his campus appearance over his stance on Israel, though the university says the cancellation was due to a flawed speaker-vetting process, not the content of his views.

WFAE
Two NC members of Congress push federal support for foreign language education
Reps. Deborah Ross and Valerie Foushee introduced legislation to reauthorize Title VI of the Higher Education Act, which funds foreign-language and international-education programs at colleges nationwide.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.

The Morning Briefing | August 13, 2026

The Morning Briefing is a curated collection of the day's relevant news.

Higher Ed News

New York Times
Judge Dismisses Trump Administration's Antisemitism Case Against Harvard
A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration's antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard, ruling the government had not shown the incidents cited amounted to more than "isolated and episodic" conduct.

New York Times
Palestinian Americans File Discrimination Lawsuit Against Columbia
Five current and former Columbia affiliates say the university failed to protect them from harassment after the October 2023 Hamas attack against Israel, opening a new legal front weeks after Columbia settled federal antisemitism claims.

Inside Higher Ed
DOJ Sues 3 States Over In-State Tuition for Noncitizens
The Justice Department sued New York, Connecticut, and Vermont over in-state tuition benefits for undocumented students, the 17th such lawsuit nationally.

Washington Post
About 110,000 fewer foreign students expected after visa crackdown, report says
A new industry report projects international enrollment at U.S. colleges will fall by roughly 111,000 students, or 9.5 percent, this fall amid the administration's visa restrictions.

Washington Post
Student loan delinquencies starting to stabilize, New York Fed says
New York Fed data show the share of borrowers newly falling seriously delinquent has dropped to 7.83 percent from 12.88 percent a year ago, though overall past-due debt remains elevated.

Forbes
University Of Tulsa Slashes Tuition By More Than Half
The University of Tulsa will cut its sticker-price tuition and fees from $54,000 to $25,000 starting fall 2027, a "tuition reset" meant to bring the advertised price closer to what most students already pay after aid.

Inside Higher Ed
Departing UNCF President Reflects on How HBCUs Have Changed
Michael L. Lomax, who is stepping down next year after 24 years leading the United Negro College Fund and raising more than $4 billion, reflects on how HBCUs have changed.

Bloomberg
College Grads Struggle to Find Jobs. Non-Grads Are Giving Up (Op-ed)
A Bloomberg Opinion column argues that while college graduates are struggling in a weak job market, workers without degrees are faring even worse — eroding one of the strongest arguments for a four-year degree.

Global Campus/Regional News

Times Higher Education
Cambridge agrees independent inquiry into Jason Arday appointment
Cambridge vice-chancellor Deborah Prentice pledged an independent, senior-academic-led investigation into sociologist Jason Arday's 2022 appointment amid plagiarism allegations, calling the case "an aberration."

The Guardian
UK universities face 'financial crisis' amid collapse in international students
University leaders are warning of financial turmoil across British higher education after new figures suggested a collapse in international student numbers would strip the sector of vital income, and are calling on Labour to reverse the fee levy.

The Guardian
Students set new records for A-level grades in bumper year
More than a quarter of a million 18-year-olds are headed to higher education after England, Wales, and Northern Ireland posted record A-level results, with Northern Ireland leading at 30.7 percent A/A* grades.

CBC News
New Simon Fraser University medical school welcomes first 48 students
Simon Fraser University's new medical school in Surrey, B.C. welcomed its inaugural class of 48 students, chosen from nearly 1,900 applicants for a program built around community-based primary care.

Virginia Mercury
Amid major federal shifts, McMahon urges Va. universities to reform practices, restore public trust
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent Virginia college presidents and governing boards a letter urging them to publicly commit to reforms on free speech, admissions, and affordability by year's end, noting UVA and George Mason are already under federal scrutiny.

Spectrum Bay News 9
Bradenton is exploring a Point Park University partnership
Bradenton officials and the Pittsburgh university are exploring a downtown branch location focused initially on performing arts, with room to grow into tourism, sports, and business programs.

WFAE
A $17M NIH award boosts health disparities research at NC A&T
The nearly $17 million grant — the largest ever received by A&T's Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences — will fund a new center studying chronic-disease disparities in underserved central North Carolina communities.

Please visit NGN's "In The Press" section to view Northeastern's most recent press mentions, updated weekly.

To get in touch with the media relations team, please contact us at media@northeastern.edu.