Education category, Page 50

Upperclassmen, alumni, faculty members and family pitched in Wednesday to help first-year students settle into campus residence halls at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. Final enrollment figures weren’t available for the fall semester, but university President Robert Gregerson said, “Enrollment is up from last year. We had a really...

Virginia native Grace Merrbach was all smiles Wednesday when she learned of the student loan forgiveness program announced the same day by President Joe Biden. “I’m very excited,” said the 21-year-old senior biology major at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. “That gets rid of all of my student debt...

Wake up. Check your phone. Go to class. Check your phone. Start homework. Check your phone. Go to bed. Check your phone. For some high schoolers, cellphone use is almost on par with blinking, with the average teenager raking in up to nine hours of screen time each day, according...

The Greensburg Salem School District is inviting the community to celebrate local school pride at a Back to School Bash Wednesday at Greensburg’s Offutt Field. Admission is free for the event, which is slated for 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Urania Avenue and Laird Street. It will take place...

Move-in day at the University of Pittsburgh will mean wearing masks for the estimated 8,000 students lugging their belongings into campus housing starting Saturday. With covid-19 transmission still in the high level in Allegheny County, the university requires masks to be worn indoors, as per CDC guidelines. Face coverings are...

There’s nothing quite like new school year excitement — unless you’re overwhelmed by all of the back-to-school prepping and hype. Whether it’s being on time, dealing with first-day nerves or making sure your student has a happy return to class, area educators, parents and school officials share their tried-and-true back-to-school...

Hope Albert had a bad habit of using run-on sentences in the papers she turned in for her college courses. But that problem, and others that hampered the Washington Township senior’s written compositions at Seton Hill University, are in the past tense, thanks to help she received through one of...

Franklin Regional school board members filled a couple of the positions left open after the departure of several administrators in the past few months. School directors approved a new assistant superintendent and assistant high school principal, following the resignations of Robin Pynos and Ted Benning, respectively. Matthew Delp joins the...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Some Florida schools have moved library books and debated changing textbooks in response to a law critics call “Don’t Say Gay” — and some teachers have worried that family pictures on their desks could get them in trouble. As students return from summer break, educators are cautiously...

The University of Pittsburgh School of Law is lending a hand to help Afghan refugees secure asylum. The university plans to hire an Asylum Fellow to train and support pro bono attorneys who will work with local organizations in assisting refugees, said Pitt professor Sheila Vélez Martínez. Vélez Martínez is...

Leaders at local universities and colleges are planning for a mostly traditional school year, complete with in-person learning and open activities — all while keeping an eye on covid-19. As students prepare to return to campus, schools are gearing up for the third academic year of monitoring the coronavirus on...

Seton Hill track and field athlete Logan Lindenmuth will become a multi-sport athlete this fall. With the Greensburg university adapting its unofficial gaming club into a varsity program in the coming academic year, Lindenmuth — a rising junior studying computer science — will be among the first official esports players...

NEW YORK — To understand the impact of surging inflation on this year’s back-to-school spending, look no further than children’s rain boots with motifs like frogs and ladybugs made by Washington Shoe Co. Spending held steady for these evergreen items even after the Kent, Washington-based business was forced to pass...

CHICAGO — On a recent morning inside Chalmers School of Excellence on Chicago’s West Side, five preschool and kindergarten students finished up drawings. Four staffers, including a teacher and a tutor, chatted with them about colors and shapes. The summer program offers the kind of one-on-one support parents love. But...

Although Penn State is slated to receive an additional batch of unexpected funding from Governor Tom Wolf, university officials are rejecting a call from House Republicans to use the one-time allocation to roll back plans to raise tuition. Penn State will receive about $12.1 million from Wolf’s administration through funding...

Yough School District will have a new superintendent with a familiar face — the former middle school principal. Mt. Pleasant Area School District Assistant Superintendent Anthony DeMaro was hired by the Yough School Board last week as the district’s next superintendent under terms of a five-year contract. DeMaro, who will...

Penn State University’s board of trustees approved a tuition increase of 5% for in-state University Park undergraduates and 2% for their commonwealth campus counterparts. That’s the university’s largest tuition hike in 12 years, but it comes with a caveat: In-state and out-of-state students who have a household income of $75,000...

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is starting the final stage of its plan to rethink how it manages state-owned schools. PASSHE’s board of governors approved the third phase during a meeting this week. Among numerous goals, it aims to increase financial aid and graduation rates for students at...

Out of Gov. Tom Wolf’s commitment to leaving the state’s education system in better shape than he found it comes a three-year strategy to recruit and retain more educators to work in Pennsylvania’s classrooms, according to Acting Education Secretary Eric Hagarty. Hagarty said filling vacancies at schools is the most...

Allegheny and Westmoreland school districts anticipate a boost in funding this year after legislators gave their stamp of approval to $8.5 billion for K-12 public education. The Keystone State will provide more than $7.3 billion in basic education and level-up funds — a roughly 11.4% increase from the 2021-22 allocation....

High school students who will be starting their senior year this fall are invited to a summer “Pitt-nic” July 16 on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. The outdoor admissions event is set for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Those attending will have an opportunity to tour...

Acting Pa. Secretary of Education Eric Hagarty remembers what it was like to shoulder student loan debt. “The average graduate in Pennsylvania has somewhere just north of $30,000 in student loan debt, which is about what I had when I graduated college,” Hagarty told Indiana University of Pennsylvania administrators, staff...

New rules proposed by the Biden administration on Wednesday would make it easier for borrowers to get their federal student debt forgiven through several existing programs. The action is intended to overhaul relief programs that have been criticized for their burdensome paperwork requirements and long processing times. It builds on...

Democrats continue to throw their full support behind the University of Pittsburgh’s funding after Pennsylvania House Republicans added a take-it-or-leave-it amendment to Pitt’s appropriation bill. Numerous Allegheny County Democrats gathered Tuesday in Harrisburg to speak in favor of Pitt and decry the amendment that would restrict state-related universities from receiving...