Notes in the Margins: Transfers, co-signers and aptitude testing

How much are college students learning? This failure to examine systematically what is, after all, the core mission of colleges is a big problem for U.S. higher education. We’re awash in efforts to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of our colleges. But without a better base of comparative evidence, we won’t really know how these reforms affect learning. (CNN via NAICU)

The new SAT: Aptitude testing for college admissions falls out of favor There’s a reason the College Board scrubbed “aptitude” from the name of its big admission test two decades ago. The idea of a Scholastic Aptitude Test left the organization open to criticism that it believed some people were born to go to college and some weren’t. (The Washington Post)

What Law Schools Can Teach Colleges About Lowering Tuition  If law schools can reduce their tuition, why can’t other parts of higher education? And do institutions only lower their prices when demand falls? (Washington Monthly)

Transfers show community colleges’ rising reputation Institutions in California are part of a national trend to recruit community college students, mostly from minority and low-income backgrounds, to improve campus diversity. (Los Angeles Times)

Student Loans Can Suddenly Come Due When Co-Signers Die, a Report Finds Rohit Chopra, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s student loan ombudsman, said that he did not know how common the practice was, but that a steady stream of consumer complaints indicated it was becoming more frequent. He also said companies appeared to be doing it more or less automatically, combing public records of deaths and bankruptcies, comparing them to loan records and generating repayment demands and default notices. (The New York Times)