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higher education

Democratic-led states sue to block student loan caps for nursing, health degrees

Illustration accompanying article: Democratic-led states sue to block student loan caps for nursing, health
  • Twenty-four Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia sued the federal government to block new caps on federal student loans for graduate health professions degrees, arguing the limits will worsen a national nursing shortage.
  • The caps, set to take effect July 1, limit nursing and other non-physician graduate students to borrowing $20,500 per year with a $100,000 total, while professional medical students face a $50,000 annual and $200,000 total cap.
  • A study in Health Affairs Scholar found that more than a quarter of advanced practice nurses with loans already have balances exceeding the $100,000 limit.
  • Coby Rodriguez, a Johns Hopkins nursing graduate, said the caps will force him to delay his nurse anesthetist program by three to four years because he lacks a co-signer for private loans carrying interest rates up to 18%.
 4 MIN READ

Jackson State’s new president will receive leadership coaching after years of turnover

Illustration accompanying article: Jackson State’s new president will receive leadership coaching after years of turnover
  • Denise Jones Gregory, Jackson State University’s new president, will receive a year of outside leadership coaching through a $97,500 contract between the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board and the search firm AGB Search.
  • The role has been held by four people in six years, and Gregory inherits a campus grappling with a student housing shortage, frayed alumni relationships, and a U.S. Department of Education investigation into its doctoral program.
  • Commissioner of Higher Education Alfred Rankins Jr. said executive coaching is normal for first-time presidents and that the board wants “to set as much support around a new president as possible.”
  • Old Dominion University associate professor Felecia Commodore, who studies HBCU governance, said it is unusual for such a contract to be disclosed publicly and called it “a positive sign.”
  • Marcus Thompson, president of the Jackson State University National Alumni Association, said the coaching could be a waste of money if not effective — but that if it is, Gregory “could be the best president Jackson State has ever seen.”
 4 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: Michigan arts school to demolish lodge named for Jeffrey Epstein