Bill Schackner stories, Page 6
West Virginia University police investigate campus burglaries and arsons
West Virginia University police are investigating multiple burglaries and arsons reported this week inside the school’s Life Sciences Building, including one faculty office targeted twice in two days. The university issued an alert Friday following the incidents on its Downtown campus. In the first burglary, reported Wednesday morning, testing material...
Student loan forgiveness plan in Pennsylvania wipes out $45.1M in debt for 5,600 borrowers
The Biden administration this week canceled $1.2 billion in student debt nationwide. In Pennsylvania, that means 5,600 borrowers with a total of $45.1 million in debt have had their loans wiped clean, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The agency on Friday released a state-by-state breakdown of where the...
Pitt becomes latest to extend student decision deadline amid FAFSA worries
The University of Pittsburgh Friday became the latest institution to extend the deadline for first-year admitted students to decide whether to enroll. The May 1 deadline will be extended to May 15, officials said Friday. The move impacts thousands of applicants to Western Pennsylvania’s largest university and is the result...
La Roche University names new president
La Roche University has named as its eighth president Christina Clark, former provost at Marywood University in Scranton, who has spent two decades as an academic at comprehensive Catholic universities. Officials announced the hiring Thursday. She takes office in July as the school’s second lay president in its 61-year history....
State System of Higher Education chancellor faces tough questioning over more than next school year’s budget
Were this any other year, the leader of Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities simply might have needed to defend next year’s appropriation request and explain how it would enable a sixth consecutive tuition freeze. Instead, State System of Higher Education Chancellor Daniel Greenstein faced sharp questioning from state senators Wednesday about...
Student debt wiped clean for 153K borrowers
About 153,000 student borrowers nationwide learned by email this week that their college debt has been wiped clean by the federal government. The U.S. Department of Education says it has discharged or eliminated $1.2 billion in student loans under the Biden administration’s new income-driven student loan repayment plan called Saving...
Carnegie Mellon students sickened from on-campus eatery, officials say
Food safety inspectors from Allegheny County report finding violations in a campus eatery at Carnegie Mellon University after the school said numerous students reported symptoms consistent with a foodborne illness. The Allegheny County Health Department inspected Stack’d Underground in the basement of the Morewood Gardens residence hall on Thursday. Their...
Pitt to launch doctor of chiropractic program
Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and evidence indicates chiropractic care effectively treats pain with less reliance on opioids, some experts say. Those are among the reasons cited by the University of Pittsburgh for establishing a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) program, the first at a research-intensive...
FAFSA delays prompt Pa. state-owned universities to extend enrollment deadlines
Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities are extending the deadline for thousands of prospective new students to review financial aid offers and decide whether to enroll for fall. The move is intended to mitigate delays being experienced nationwide with the U.S. Department of Education’s revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known...
A bullet on note in IUP classroom causes angst and reflects reality of college life
The handwritten note found in a classroom on the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus seemed harmless at first: “Hello student. Hope you have a good day!” But it ended cryptically with the initials “JK,” “lol” and an acronym for foul language. Then came something more ominous: A bullet was placed...
Penn State dance marathon raises $17 million, beats record by $2 million
Their voices are likely shot, their ankles probably sore and they definitely could use some sleep. But the 700-plus dancers — and thousands more who participated in this year’s Penn State University IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon — know they made history, raising almost $17 million in the fight against childhood cancer,...
Mark Smail, leader of Smail Auto Group in Hempfield, dies unexpectedly
Mark Smail, a prominent Westmoreland County automotive sales executive whose family has been associated for half a century with selling cars, died Saturday after falling ill during a ride home from Seven Springs Mountain Resort. He was 62. Smail of Greensburg was a passenger in the car. He was transported...
Runners shrug off cold in Pittsburgh Undie Run to help fight neurofibromatosis
“Aren’t you freezing?” The question was painfully obvious. But it was hard to avoid repeating it Saturday to runners young and old who huffed and puffed their way across the Roberto Clemente Bridge from Downtown Pittsburgh to the North Shore, wearing enthusiastic smiles, colorful skivvies and not much more in...
Penn State president could get $1.5 million bonus if she stays through June 2032
Penn State University trustees on Friday showed they want to retain President Neeli Bendapudi long term by approving incentives including a $1.5 million bonus if she stays in office through June 30, 2032. The vote to amend her compensation package came as the state’s flagship public university confronts what some...
College and university endowments rebound from historically bad year; Pitt remains largest in Western Pa.
College and university endowments in 2023 reversed a historically poor showing from the previous year by posting investment returns approaching 8% that favored institutions with less wealth over peers with billions of dollars in holdings. The findings are from a study of nearly 700 institutions nationally that was released Thursday...
Carnegie Mellon boosts tuition to $64K per year
Undergraduate tuition will soon cost more than $64,500 at Carnegie Mellon University under new rates for the 2024-25 academic year. That will boost overall undergraduate charges by 3.72%. The new $64,596 yearly tuition was adopted by school trustees and outlined in a message to the campus this month from Provost...
A bullet on note in IUP classroom causes angst and reflects reality of college life
The handwritten note found in a classroom on the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus seemed harmless at first: “Hello student. Hope you have a good day!” But it ended cryptically with the initials “JK,” “lol” and an acronym for foul language. Then came something more ominous: A bullet was placed...
FAFSA angst sweeps across Western Pa. for prospective college students
Many prospective college students and their parents are feeling angst over delays associated with the federal financial aid application, known as FAFSA, that millions rely on. An update to the application system last year has resulted in delays this year. As a result, it could be mid-March before colleges receive...
Pitt trustees discuss ways to raise national profile
University of Pittsburgh trustees Thursday heard an update on the university’s five-year strategic initiative dubbed “Plan for Pitt” and elected a new board chairman. Their meeting was punctuated by a noisy but peaceful pro-Palestinan protest outside the Assembly Room in the William Pitt Union. The demonstrators numbering a few dozen...
Shapiro’s college plan could be ‘transformational,’ Pa. higher education board chair says
Minutes into Thursday’s State System of Higher Education board meeting, chair Cynthia Shapira summed up in her own view the enormous stakes for public higher education in Pennsylvania: “If we do this right, the new system represents an opportunity to be transformational.” She was referring to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposal...
PennWest University embarks on search for new president
Efforts to identify PennWest University’s next president are advancing this week after the school finished assembling a 25-member search committee. Members are a mix of State System of Higher Education leaders and representatives from the California, Clarion and Edinboro campuses, which were merged in 2022 to create Western Pennsylvania’s largest...
Shapiro’s budget proposal seeks funding increase to merge state-owned universities and community collegesVideo
A unified system of 10 Pennsylvania state-owned universities and 15 community colleges would see a near-historic, 15% increase in state funding under Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed 2024-25 state budget, which was unveiled Tuesday. The increase would support his plan, announced last month, to overhaul the state’s higher education system and...
Dartmouth reinstates SAT test requirement. Will Pa. colleges follow?
The pandemic that drove students from campuses in March 2020 also accelerated a decadeslong shift away from using the SAT/ACT in college admission. By last spring, more than 8 in 10 colleges nationally and in Pennsylvania no longer required standardized tests. That trend could be reversing itself — at least...
Tractor-trailer tips on its side near South Hills Village mall
A large flatbed truck flipped onto its side Friday morning near the intersection of Washington and Connor roads in Mt. Lebanon, injuring no one but snarling traffic along both major arteries. Mt. Lebanon police, fire and medics responded to the crash reported at 10:01 a.m. in the right southbound lane...
Slovak president to visit Pitt and tour Nationality Rooms
Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová will visit the University of Pittsburgh on Sunday to meet with Chancellor Joan Gabel and other campus leaders, months after a delegation from that country visited to explore potential academic collaborations. Both trips come at a time when Pitt and other universities are emerging from a...
