Sara Custer

Sara Custer

@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Editor-in-chief @insidehighered.com | Okie in DC | She/her | Human servant to greyhound Neville | #highered | #academicsky | #scifi

1.6K followers570 following286 posts

Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

A warning from an academict: Users of Academia.edu or any online platform should read the terms and conditions carefully, particularly when it comes to AI. And users who care about accuracy, attribution and learning should delete their accounts. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

insidehighered.comNo, I Don't Want My Article Turned into a Podcast (opinion)Scholars who don’t want Academia.edu to use AI to generate adaptations of their work should delete their accounts.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Spare a thought today for the institutional researchers who are working to compile 7 years of disaggregated admissions data by March 18th. @kathrynpalmer.bsky.social reports that 81% of colleges still haven't submitted their data to the Department of Education www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.comResearch Offices Ask for Extension on Admissions SurveyWith less than a month before data is due, 81 percent of institutions recently surveyed say they are still working to collect and submit the required information.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

“The whole idea was to create clarity and reassurance,” UNC Capel Hill chancellor Lee Roberts said during a Faculty Senate meeting Friday. “That policy clearly has not achieved that aim.” www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...

insidehighered.comUNC Chancellor Scraps Secret Recording PolicyTwo weeks after introducing a policy that allowed administrators to secretly record faculty members during class, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill chancellor Lee Roberts told faculty he wou...

Sara Custer reposted

Rutger Bregman
@rutgerbregman.com

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

With new caps on federal student loans, the private lending sector is going to get very interesting. Like Sallie Mae selling a seed portfolio of student loans to an investment firm and committing to selling $2 billion more annually for the next three years. finance.yahoo.com/news/sallie-...

finance.yahoo.comSallie Mae Launches Private Credit Strategic Partnership with KKRNEWARK, Del., November 12, 2025--Sallie Mae, the leader in private student lending, has announced a multi-year strategic partnership with KKR, a leading global investment firm.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Another college closure, this time nearly 900 students' educations are disrupted and 126 faculty are losing their jobs. @byjoshmoody.bsky.social dug into Trinity Christian College's finances and found that 76% of contributions came from just 3 donors in 2024 www.insidehighered.com/news/busines...

insidehighered.comTrinity Christian College Announces ClosureTrinity Christian College will close next year due to financial pressure following years of declining enrollment, stubborn deficits and an overreliance on a small donor pool.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

The buzzword at Educause this year was "consolidation". Colleges are "shopping their closets" one ed tech leader told me in an effort to find efficiencies and cost savings in their digital ecosystems. Here's my full report www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-in...

insidehighered.comHigher Ed Tech Leaders Pursue Consolidation and SavingsEducause’s latest top 10 survey shows economic and political uncertainty are putting pressure on colleges to streamline their tech environments while keeping up with AI’s evolution.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

And if you're wondering what *exactly* those individual responses say– and don't say– @byjoshmoody.bsky.social spoke to some rhetoric and communication experts to read between the lines www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

insidehighered.comReading Between the Lines on Compact ResponsesUniversities that rejected the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education emphasized merit in their responses and highlighted core values in turning it down.
Sara Custer@saracuster.insidehighered.com

We're keeping track of how universities have the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education (will we ever call it Kay-He??) So far 10 colleges have rejected it and two said they'll "provide feedback". www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.comHow Universities Are Responding to Trump’s CompactThe document would require signatories to make sweeping changes to policies and practices. A number of institutions have already said no, and more responses are expected.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

We're keeping track of how universities have the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education (will we ever call it Kay-He??) So far 10 colleges have rejected it and two said they'll "provide feedback". www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.comHow Universities Are Responding to Trump’s CompactThe document would require signatories to make sweeping changes to policies and practices. A number of institutions have already said no, and more responses are expected.

Sara Custer reposted

Katherine Knott
@knottkatherine.bsky.social

UVA essentially agreed to follow this DOJ memo www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.comDOJ Declares Slew of DEI Practices Unlawful in MemoThe nine-page memo builds on the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Josh Moody@byjoshmoody.bsky.social

The University of Virginia is the first public institution to settle with the Trump administration, but avoided a financial penalty & compliance monitor like others. DOJ investigations are paused and will be closed pending "reforms prohibiting DEI" at UVA. www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

insidehighered.comUVA Settles With Justice DepartmentThe University of Virginia agreed to a settlement with the Trump administration that will pause investigations over allegedly illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Amber Northern, the special adviser tasked with reforming IES, will giver her report in Dec. But with the government shutdown and staff cuts can she deliver? @ryanequinn.bsky.social looks into the confusion surrounding the future of federal education data www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.comTrump Gutted IES. Skepticism of Its Renewal Abounds.The Education Department recently requested ideas on how to “modernize” the data collection and education research funding agency, and it sought to hire for a few positions.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Today is the deadline for the nine original invitees to provide feedback on the White House’s compact. So far none have accepted it wholesale- Vanderbilt said it would provide feedback. Silence from UT Austin. @byjoshmoody.bsky.social reports www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

insidehighered.comArizona Rejects Compact, Others Leave Options OpenMonday’s deadline to provide feedback on the Trump administration’s proposed deal passed with no signatories and silence from some university leaders invited to join.

Sara Custer reposted

Katherine Knott
@knottkatherine.bsky.social

Today’s the feedback deadline for the compact, and I broke down what we know about the document so far here from why the White House is taking this approach to what could happen to those who reject it. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.com5 Things to Know About Trump’s Higher Ed CompactNine universities were asked to give “limited, targeted feedback” on the proposal by today. So far, six have rejected the deal.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

In the past 24 hours, two more colleges have rejceted the compact. That leaves Arizona, UT Austin & Vanderbilt of the original 9 who haven’t responded. Monday is the deadline. @ryanequinn.bsky.social reports www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

insidehighered.comUVA, Dartmouth Reject Trump CompactThe University of Virginia is the first public, and Southern, institution to publicly turn down the administration's “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com
Sara Custer@saracuster.insidehighered.com

BREAKING: The White House has confirmed it's called the 5 institutions who haven't signed its compact to a meeting this afternoon. Insiders tell us it's "an effort to regain momentum by threatening institutions to sign" @knottkatherine.bsky.social has the scoop www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.comWhite House to Meet with Universities Regarding CompactThe scheduled meeting follows increasingly forceful pushback to the wide-ranging proposal.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

BREAKING: The White House has confirmed it's called the 5 institutions who haven't signed its compact to a meeting this afternoon. Insiders tell us it's "an effort to regain momentum by threatening institutions to sign" @knottkatherine.bsky.social has the scoop www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.comWhite House to Meet with Universities Regarding CompactThe scheduled meeting follows increasingly forceful pushback to the wide-ranging proposal.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Political makeup of the student body is now as much a part of students' choice of college as academic quality or a location closer to home @j-alonso.bsky.social reports www.insidehighered.com/news/student...

insidehighered.comNew Research Shows Influence of Politics on College ChoiceThe study also explores the changing politics of student bodies over the past four decades, showing that liberal campuses have grown more liberal and conservative campuses more conservative.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Amid growing attacks on scholarship, 2/3 of provosts in @insidehighered.com 's annual survey say their institution has formally extended academic freedom policies to non-tenure-track faculty, and another 4% are considering it. @emmawhitford.bsky.social reports www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

insidehighered.comSurvey: Provosts Focused on Funding Cuts, Academic Freedom and AIChief academic officers are confident in academic quality but strained by limited resources, policy shifts and other mounting campus challenges, Inside Higher Ed’s annual survey finds.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Despite saying it would fund TRIO for 2025, ED has not paid about $660 million worth of aid for more than 2,000 programs, advocacy groups say. Those include Veterans Upward Bound, Educational Opportunity Centers & Talent Search @jessicablake.bsky.social reports www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.comTrump Administration Withholds Millions for TRIO ProgramsNonprofits that advocate for first-gen students say that without the federally funded programs, college could become unattainable for hundreds of thousands of students.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Two administrators are now out of a job and a graduate student lost an internship after making comments online that downplayed or celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk @emmawhitford.bsky.social reports www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...

insidehighered.comStaff Members Fired, Grad Student Punished for Cheering Charlie Kirk’s DeathTwo administrators are now out of a job and a graduate student lost an internship after making comments online that downplayed or celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk, the influential conservative fou...
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

In my interview with Dave Isay, founder of StoryCorps and One Small Step, he said: "It's our patriotic duty to see the humanity in people with whom we disagree." I've got conflicting feelings around being patriotic but I can get behind Dave's interpretation www.insidehighered.com/podcasts/key...

insidehighered.comEp. 173: Can StoryCorps Heal the Divide on Campus? | Inside Higher EdFor more than 20 years, StoryCorps has been documenting conversations between Americans and broad
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Trump’s proposal to cut the NIH’s budget by 43% would cause thousands of job losses in college towns, including Madison, Charlottesville & Gainesville, all of which receive about $700 in NIH money per resident per year. @kathrynpalmer.bsky.social reports www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.comNIH Cuts Mean Job Losses in College TownsNew report from the Brookings Institution shows that National Institutes of Health funding increases can boost labor markets in college towns. But if Trump’s proposed budget cuts takes effect, some wi...
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

And oh by the way– @jessicablake.bsky.social reported on the tactic used to repeal the Texas Dream Act. It appears to be a trend among state and federal GOP officials to change policy via legal challenges. Some critics have called it "collusion". www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.comNew Lawsuit Tactic From State and Federal GOP Raises ConcernExperts say the tactic is rather novel but anticipate the Trump administration will be using it more often.
Sara Custer
@saracuster.insidehighered.com

Yesterday, the Trump administration launched the “state plan portal” that will allow the Department of Labor to jointly administer adult education programs with ED. www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...

insidehighered.comTrump Administration Takes Next Step in Dismantling EDThe Trump administration has taken another step toward dismantling the Department of Education, creating a new integrated “state plan portal” that will allow the Department of Labor to jointly adminis...