Undergraduate applications to the University of Pennsylvania rose 17 percent this year, to 26,800 for only 2,400 spots. The trend is the same at other top U.S. universities, including Princeton University, Drexel University, Villanova University and Swarthmore College. U Penn Dean of Admissions Eric Furda stated, "We're going to be more selective, if not the most selective Penn has ever been." Students avoiding budget-stricken schools in California are partially to blame - with top schools seeing 16 to 36 percent increases in applications from the state.

In his first State of the Union address, President Obama emphasized the need to reduce the cost of higher education. Referring to his recent proposal to expand aid to students and universities through tax breaks, Pell grants, and more lenient payback plans for Federal student loans, the President stated, "In the United States of America no one should go broke because they chose to go to college.”

The Sloan Consortium’s annual Survey of Online Learning reports that U.S. universities experienced a 17 percent increase in online enrollment in the past year, with more than one in four students taking at least one online course. The survey also indicates that the current economic climate has had a particularly large impact on students’ demand for affordable distance education. Despite this trend, Sloan’s data suggests that institutions have not done enough to account for online education as they plan around budget cuts and space shortages.

According to a new survey from Gates Foundation-funded Public Agenda, 71% of young adults who had quit college indicated that their need to support themselves financially contributed to their decision to drop out. More than half of these individuals stated that their need to work full-time was the major contributing factor. 35% of survey participants went on to say that they had attempted to ballance work and school, but had ultimately found it too difficult.

After a year when 34% of college freshmen did not return to the same school for their sophomore year, the highest attrition rate in 20 years, Purdue University in Indiana, has turned its attention to student retention. Administrators at Purdue have responded to the nationwide concern about attrition and the high costs of university tuition by investing in an online tool that helps students self-monitor their academic performance, called "Signals" which helps improve college retention rates.

Mercy College's Personalized Achievement Contract, or PACT, offers incoming college freshmen a mentor to assist them with academic as well as career planning. Inside Higher Education's feature on PACT highlights how the program benefits not just first generation college students, but all new students, by helping them to create a strategy for success and by enhancing their sense of affiliation with the university.

Education policy blog www.changinghighereducation.com recognized Nicholas Allen, Senior Advisor to InsideTrack and Provost Emeritus & Collegiate Professor at the University of Maryland, for his timely InsideTrack white paper titled "The Future of Non-Traditional Higher Education in the United States." The paper, a two-part series, outlines the major challenges and potential solutions ahead for higher education in the U.S., which due to demographic and economic factors, must meet the needs of an ever-growing number of non-traditional students.

Researchers at the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute have found that a $500 increase in per-student expenditures on student services correlates with a 0.7% increase in graduation rates. The same additional $500, when directed toward instruction, correlates with 0.3% graduation gains. When directed toward research, the additional $500 correlates negatively with graduation rates.

In Crossing the Finish Line, William Bowen examines graduation rates at public, 4-year universities in the U.S. Primarily an exercise in regression analysis on student attributes, the book proceeds from a startling fact: among universities in their sample, fewer than 60% of students who started college in 1999 ever earned a degree. Bowen is president emeritus of the Mellon Foundation and Princeton University.

Sloan-C's 2008 annual online enrollment survey indicates continued growth across a wide range of student and institutional profiles.

President Barak Obama, in his first speech to a joint session of Congress, called upon Americans to commit to getting at least one year of higher education.

The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's analysis of high school graduation trends suggests that the United States will experience a decline in high school graduates. WICHE projects an approximate low of 3.19 million in 2014-2015, down from a high of 3.34 million in 2007-2008.

In an Inside Higher Ed editorial, InsideTrack advisory board members Bob Atwell and Pat Callan call for a different public policy approach to higher education during challenging economic times. In addition to serving on the InsideTrack Advisory Board, Atwell is president emeritus of the American Council on Education, and Callan is president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

The Department of Education reports that during the 2006-2007 school year, 66% of Title IV-eligible universities offered courses at a distance. Sixty one percent reported offering online courses.

Chronicle of Higher Education Research reports that 46% of universities saw diminshed admissions yields in the Fall of 2008. Of that percentage, more than three-quarters indicated that the decline was unexpected.

The Gates Foundation recently challenged itself to help the U.S. "double the number of low-income adults who earn post-secondary degrees or credentials by age 26."

Paul Jansen, McKinsey & Co. Director Emeritus and InsideTrack Advisory Board member discusses the factors likely to transform higher education in coming years.

College Results, an online tool from the Education Trust, allows users to compare graduation rates by state and university, as well as across several demographic dimensions. Education Trust notes, "similar schools have vastly different rates of success with similar students," leaving room for universities in the United States to take additional measures to "raise the trend line" on college gradation rates.

Nicholas Allen, Provost Emeritus and Professor at University of Maryland University College, serves on InsideTrack's Advisory Board. In part one of two of his latest white papers for InsideTrack, Allen outlines major forces shaping the future of higher education for adults in the United States.

The Luminna Foundation provides insights into the higher education attainment challenges facing the United States in coming decades.

Pat Callan, President of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, is also a member of InsideTrack's Advisory Board. At a recent InsideTrack event Callan cited the economic cost of failing to educate Americans to reach their full potential.

As of 2006, 39% of Americans aged 25-34 had a tertiary credential.  While that level that has remained roughly constant for many years, there is some evidence that it it is now on the decline.  At least 10 countries have exceeded the U.S.'s current attainment levels. Moreover, the U.S. now ranks second in the world for the percentage of students who begin a tertiary education program, but fail to complete it. 

College enrollment numbers recently released by the National Center for Education Statistics show that Title IV institutions enrolled more than 18.7 million undergraduate and graduate students in 2007. However, only 57% of these students who begin Bachelor's programs attain a degree from the same institution.

The National Survey of Student Engagement was developed by InsideTrack Advisory Board member George Kuh. The 2008 survey results indicate that online students are more deeply engaged in the learning experience than on-campus students. Meanwhile, transfer students are relatively less engaged than their non-transfer peers.