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Anonymous Donor Gives $140 Million to MIT

© Courtesy of MIT
© Courtesy of MIT



Someone wealthy who wishes to remain anonymous has committed to donate $140 million for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to spend as it sees fit.

The money will support MIT's educational and research mission, according to an MIT announcement. The contribution from an alumnus allows MIT "to invest in daring, high-risk ideas; address some of the world's most urgent challenges; and sustain support for students, faculty and the physical campus," according to MIT News, an online publication of the university.

“No one has ever made it through life without someone else's help," the donor said in an anonymous statement.

The donor said she or he received "generous financial aid" from MIT and was "extremely appreciative of all the ways that MIT has shaped me.”

“I am also inspired by MIT's vision in tackling global challenges, and I trust its leadership to take bold steps to make the world a better place. I am blessed to be able to give back to the Institute so other students can experience what I did, and so that the institute can continue to excel in groundbreaking achievements," the donor continued. "I hope this gift inspires others to give back to MIT and to pay it forward to the society that we all share.”

MIT President L. Rafael Reif called the donation “the vital fuel that helps big ideas take off,” MIT News reported. “This remarkable gift will magnify our strength in education, research and innovation and help foster transformative discoveries, inventions and solutions to conquer new frontiers and build a better world. We are honored by the expression of confidence this donor has shown in MIT's capacity for impact, and we are grateful for this visionary support.”

The gift will be targeted to innovative thinking that MIT calls one of its hallmarks. "Unrestricted dollars" can go toward funding initiatives that "may be too risky to qualify for backing from traditional sources."

The donation could fund laboratories, staff support and equipment that would push discoveries, for example, in Alzheimer's disease treatments. Another area where this funding could be applied, MIT said, is in physics, "where MIT faculty have played a primary role in detecting the largest collection of antimatter particles recorded in space — helping to advance our fundamental knowledge about the universe."

MIT says it is "one of five colleges and universities in the United States that provide all undergraduate financial aid based on need," meaning if you are admitted to the school on merit, academics or sport, the institution will fund you.

“In order to take on the world's most pressing problems, we need the very best faculty and the brightest students working in the finest facilities. Unrestricted funds are critical in providing scholarship aid for our undergraduates, startup funds for junior faculty members, and support for campus renewal,” said Israel Ruiz, MIT’s executive vice president and treasurer. “The demand for unrestricted dollars to enable MIT to continue to push the boundaries of knowledge is never fulfilled, and we are grateful to donors at all levels who signal their trust and belief in MIT with these kinds of gifts.”

Today's announcement comes as MIT enters the second year of the public phase of its $5 billion Campaign for a Better World, which seeks to advance the institute's work on some of humanity's toughest challenges. As of June 1, MIT has raised $3.4 billion toward the campaign goal, with gifts coming from more than 87,000 alumni and friends.

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Columbia U. news site offers tips for international students

FILE - On an unseasonably warm day, students relax on the front steps of Low Memorial Library on the Columbia University campus in New York City on Feb. 10, 2023.
FILE - On an unseasonably warm day, students relax on the front steps of Low Memorial Library on the Columbia University campus in New York City on Feb. 10, 2023.

Bwog, a student-run campus news site at Columbia University, has a guide for international students spending their first semester in the U.S.

Among the tips:

Expect some culture shock

Don't be afraid to ask for help

Stay in touch with people from home.

Read the full article here. (August 2024)

NCAA's $2.78 billion settlement with colleges to allow athlete payments gets preliminary approval

Georgia quarterback Carson Beck (15) throws from the pocket in the first half of an NCAA college football game against Auburn, Oct. 5, 2024, in Athens, Georgia.
Georgia quarterback Carson Beck (15) throws from the pocket in the first half of an NCAA college football game against Auburn, Oct. 5, 2024, in Athens, Georgia.

A judge granted preliminary approval Monday to the $2.78 billion legal settlement that would transform college sports by allowing schools to pay players.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken released an order setting a timeline for a deal that would put millions of dollars into the pockets of college athletes, who can begin applying for payment on October 18.

A final hearing is set for April 7, 2025, the day of college basketball's national title game. If finalized, the deal would allow the biggest schools to establish a pool of about $21.5 million in the first year to distribute to athletes via a revenue-sharing plan. Athletes would still be able to cut name, image and likeness deals with outside groups.

"We are pleased that we are one step closer to a revolutionary change in college athletics that will allow billions in revenue sharing," said plaintiff attorney Steve Berman.

The judge's approval comes 11 days after attorneys tweaked wording in the original settlement agreement to address Wilken's concerns. The main change involved getting rid of the word "boosters" and replacing it with a better-defined description of whose potential NIL deals would be subject to oversight by a neutral arbitrator once the deal goes through.

That did not, however, strike to the heart of the settlement, which sets up a revenue-sharing arrangement between schools and the athletes. The $21.5 million figure comes from the 22% of average revenue that power conference schools generate through media rights, tickets and other sources. It will be recalculated periodically through the 10-year window that the agreement covers.

"We are thrilled by Judge Wilken's decision to give preliminary approval to the landmark settlement that will help bring stability and sustainability to college athletics while delivering increased benefits to student-athletes for years to come," NCAA President Charlie Baker said. "Today's progress is a significant step in writing the next chapter for the future of college sports."

This settlement also allows former players to apply for payments to make up for lost revenue they would have received through NIL deals that weren't allowed in college sports before 2021. It sets up a framework to regulate future NIL deals and replaces scholarship caps with "roster limits," which will grow to 105 for football, the biggest sport at most major universities.

This settlement resolves three major antitrust lawsuits filed against the NCAA, including one spearheaded by Grant House, a former swimmer at Arizona State University. Berman's law firm says the value of new payments and benefits to college athletes is expected to exceed $20 billion over 10 years.

Still unknown, however, is how long the terms of this deal will last. Litigation regarding the rights of players to unionize and potentially be considered employees remains unsettled. Meanwhile, the NCAA is pushing for federal legislation to knit together a streamlined policy for NIL, which is currently regulated by a patchwork of state laws, legal settlements and NCAA rules.

Grace period for US student loan payments is over. Here's what you need to know

FILE - UCLA students celebrate during a commencement ceremony inside Pauley Pavilion on UCLA campus, in Los Angeles, June 14, 2024.
FILE - UCLA students celebrate during a commencement ceremony inside Pauley Pavilion on UCLA campus, in Los Angeles, June 14, 2024.

The 12-month grace period for student loan borrowers ended on September 30. The "on-ramp" period helped borrowers who are struggling to make payments avoid the risk of defaulting and hurting their credit score.

"The end of the on-ramp period means the beginning of the potentially harsh consequences for student loan borrowers who are not able to make payments," said Persis Yu, Deputy Executive Director at the Student Borrower Protection Center.

Around 43 million Americans have student loan debt, amounting to $1.5 trillion. Around eight million of those borrowers had enrolled in the SAVE plan, the newest income-driven repayment plan that extended the eligibility for borrowers to have affordable monthly student loan payments. However, this plan is currently on hold due to legal challenges.

With the on-ramp period and a separate program known as Fresh Start ending and the SAVE plan on hold, student loan borrowers who are struggling to afford their monthly payments have fewer options, added Yu. Student loan borrowers who haven't been able to afford their monthly payments must consider their options to avoid going into default.

If you have student loans, here's what you need to know.

What was the on-ramp period?

The Education Department implemented this grace period to ease the borrower's transition to make payments after a three-year payment pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this year-long period, borrowers were encouraged to keep making payments since interest continued to accumulate.

"Normally, loans will default if you fall about nine months behind on making payments, but during this on-ramp period, missed payments would not move people towards defaulting and then being subject to forced collections. However, if you missed payments, you still be falling behind ultimately on repaying your loans," said Abby Shaforth, director of National Consumer Law Center's Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project.

Since this grace period has ended, student loan borrowers who don't make payments will go delinquent or, if their loans are not paid for nine months, go into default.

Borrowers who cannot afford to make payments can apply for deferment or forbearance, which pause payments, though interest continues to accrue.

What happens if I don't make my payments?

Borrowers who can't or don't pay risk delinquency and eventually default. That can badly hurt your credit rating and make you ineligible for additional aid and government benefits.

If a borrower missed one month's payment, they will start receiving email notifications, said Shaforth. Once the loan hasn't been paid for three months, loan servicers notify to the credit reporting agencies that the loan is delinquent, affecting your credit history. Once the borrower hasn't paid the loan for nine months, the loan goes into default.

If you're struggling to pay, advisers first encourage you to check if you qualify for an income-driven repayment plan, which determines your payments by looking at your expenses. You can see whether you qualify by visiting the Federal Student Aid website. If you've worked for a government agency or a non-profit organization, you could also be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which forgives student debt after 10 years.

What happens when a loan goes into default?

When you fall behind on a loan by 270 days — roughly nine months — the loan appears on your credit report as being in default.

Once a loan is in default, it goes into collections. This means the government can garnish wages (without a court order) to go towards paying back the loan, intercept tax refunds, and seize portions of Social Security checks and other benefit payments.

What if I can't pay?

If your budget doesn't allow you to resume payments, it's important to know how to navigate the possibility of default and delinquency on a student loan. Both can hurt your credit rating, which would make you ineligible for additional aid.

If you're in a short-term financial bind, you may qualify for deferment or forbearance — allowing you to temporarily suspend payment.

To determine whether deferment or forbearance are good options for you, you can contact your loan servicer. One thing to note: interest still accrues during deferment or forbearance. Both can also impact potential loan forgiveness options. Depending on the conditions of your deferment or forbearance, it may make sense to continue paying the interest during the payment suspension.

What is an income-driven repayment plan?

The U.S. Education Department offers several plans for repaying federal student loans. Under the standard plan, borrowers are charged a fixed monthly amount that ensures all their debt will be repaid after 10 years. But if borrowers have difficulty paying that amount, they can enroll in one of several plans that offer lower monthly payments based on income and family size. Those are known as income-driven repayment plans.

Income-driven options have been offered for years and generally cap monthly payments at 10% of a borrower's discretionary income. If a borrower's earnings are low enough, their bill is reduced to $0. And after 20 or 25 years, any remaining debt gets erased.

What is the latest with the SAVE program?

In August, the Supreme Court kept on hold the SAVE plan, the income-driven repayment plan that would have lowered payments for millions of borrowers, while lawsuits make their way through lower courts.

Eight million borrowers who had already enrolled in the SAVE plan don't have to pay their monthly student loan bills until the court case is resolved. Debt that already had been forgiven under the plan was unaffected.

The next court hearing about this case will be held on October 15.

What happened with the Fresh Start program?

The Fresh Start program, which gave benefits to borrowers who were delinquent prior to the pandemic payment pause, also closed on September 30. During this limited program, student loan borrowers who were in default prior to the pandemic were given the opportunity to remove their loans from default, allowing them to enroll in income-driven payment plans, or apply for deferment, among other benefits.

Boston university relaunches journalism curriculum to encompass humanities

A display chronicling Gwen Ifill’s storied journalism career lines a corridor in the school that bears her name, at Boston’s Simmons University. (Photo courtesy of Simmons University)
A display chronicling Gwen Ifill’s storied journalism career lines a corridor in the school that bears her name, at Boston’s Simmons University. (Photo courtesy of Simmons University)

As the fall semester begins, a women’s college in Boston, Massachusetts, has retooled its media-related curriculum to best reflect the ideals of the school’s namesake, the late journalist Gwen Ifill.

Simmons University announced it would relaunch the media school as the Gwen Ifill School of Media, Humanities and Social Sciences. A search committee also named media scholar Ammina Kothari as the new dean.

The Ifill School’s new structure expands its media curriculum to include humanities and social sciences. The attributes that defined Ifill also shape a new, holistic approach, “An unwavering commitment to accuracy and objectivity, a nuanced understanding of social and historical context and a compassion-based appreciation of policymaking’s real-world implications,” according to a Simmons press release.

“Folks here are very proud of Gwen’s legacy and want to honor it in many different ways,” said Bert Ifill, Gwen’s brother and a longtime university administrator.

A crucial component of the Ifill School is its emphasis on communications, a field Gwen excelled in, Bert told VOA.

After graduating from Simmons in 1977, she had long careers in both print and television journalism, working for The Baltimore Evening Sun, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NBC and PBS. She covered seven presidential campaigns and died in 2016 at age 61.

Gwen Ifill delivers the commencement address at Simmons University on May 15, 2009. (Photo courtesy of Simmons University)
Gwen Ifill delivers the commencement address at Simmons University on May 15, 2009. (Photo courtesy of Simmons University)

Ifill was the first African American woman to moderate a vice presidential debate and to coanchor a national newscast, “PBS NewsHour.”

“Gwen valued storytelling, and she was an amazing journalist,” Kothari, the school’s new dean, told VOA. “But she also worked really hard to raise awareness about important social issues and to highlight underrepresented voices.”

Abigail Meyers, a current junior at the Ifill School, admires the journalist’s “groundbreaking work” in both journalism and racial justice, she told VOA. Raised near Baltimore, Maryland, Meyers feels a special connection to Ifill’s work for the Baltimore Evening Sun newspaper.

The school has been instrumental in supporting Meyers’ aspirations to become a professional journalist, she told VOA.

“The support that you get from the faculty and alumni is unlike really any other journalism program,” she said.

Being a double major in communications and political science, Meyers appreciates the new curriculum’s flexibility, as she is able to take classes across different disciplines.

This flexibility will help prime Simmons’ students to achieve success, Kothari said. She believes interdisciplinary training leads to stronger leaders in the world.

“As we think about communications or media, including journalism or social sciences, we need a strong foundation in humanities to understand the historical context for what we see happening today,” Kothari said.

The school’s increased focus on humanities “couldn’t be more timely,” according to the press release. Nearly three of four Americans believe media literacy is an important skill in today’s news landscape, a 2023 Boston University survey found.

However, humanities-focused degree programs like the Ifill School’s receive little recognition. Of all the bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2020, humanities degrees made up less than 10%, a number that has only been decreasing, according to a 2022 MIT study. Meanwhile, science, technology, engineering and math degrees, or STEM, have grown exponentially.

But humanities and STEM shouldn’t be seen as opposites, Kothari said.

She cited the COVID-19 pandemic response as an example. Many precautionary measures such as social distancing were grounded in “amazing scientific research,” but weren’t effectively communicated to the public, she said.

“As we have new knowledge being produced, we also need journalists,” Kothari said. “We need communicators who are able to translate very complex information to the audience so they can see, ‘How does it matter to me? What is the effect for me?’”

Ifill’s legacy is not only celebrated within her namesake school, but also through press freedom organizations around the world.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom nonprofit, honors Ifill with the annual Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award, which is presented to individuals who have “shown extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom,” according to CPJ’s website.

Christophe Deloire, the late director of international media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, received the 2024 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award.

“Christophe was one of journalism's greatest-ever champions,” RSF Executive Director Clayton Weimers told VOA in an email. “There was hardly a fight or an advance in press freedom in the past decade that he wasn't a part of, if not leading.”

As Ifill’s legacy spreads, there is one person who couldn’t be prouder: her brother, Bert. He told VOA it often seems as though his full-time job is “to talk nicely about Gwen.”

“It's always a great pleasure and honor for me to talk about her and to talk about her legacy, not only as obviously a very skilled journalist, but as an extraordinary mentor and confidant,” he said.

China’s youth unemployment fuels rise in postgraduate studies

FILE - Recruiters sit at a booth during a job fair held in a shopping center in Beijing, on June 9, 2023.
FILE - Recruiters sit at a booth during a job fair held in a shopping center in Beijing, on June 9, 2023.

Youth unemployment in China climbed to nearly 19% in August, its highest level so far this year, according to official data. Analysts say that the higher level of youth unemployment is driving more college graduates to enroll in graduate schools to escape the job search as the world’s second-largest economy struggles.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS, late last week, the unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds rose from 17.1% in July to 18.8% in August. One big reason for the uptick in joblessness, the NBS said, is that nearly 12 million students graduated from Chinese universities this June, heightening competition in an already tough job market.

Postgraduates overtake graduates

“The job market has shrunk, and at the same time there are still so many graduates. Too many people are idling every day,” said Lin Chan-Hui, an assistant professor of the General Education Center at Feng Chia University in Taiwan. “Another way out is to return to school to study further and temporarily escape the competitive workplace.”

Some Chinese universities say they are seeing more postgraduate students than undergraduates.

According to the state-backed digital publication The Paper, the number of graduate students at Lanzhou University exceeded the total number of undergraduate students for the first time. Lanzhou University is located in the capital of northwestern China’s Gansu Province.

In eastern China’s coastal Zhejiang Province, the Zhejiang University of Technology shows 5,382 new graduate students were admitted this year, beating out the number of new undergraduate students by 40.

The trend was already picking up at more famous Chinese universities last year.

Last December, Beijing’s Tsinghua University said the number of undergraduate freshmen in the previous academic year was 3,760, while the number of master's and doctoral students was 12,069.

Shanghai’s Fudan University in October 2023 reported 15,000 undergraduate students and nearly 37,000 graduate students.

China's Ministry of Education said that last year there were more than 47 million people enrolled in higher education institutes, 1.3 million were graduate students, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Lei, a higher education consultant in Shenzhen, who due to the sensitivity of the subject only gave his surname, told VOA the trend of higher education is moving toward "college graduates who don’t go to graduate school would immediately become unemployed" amid China's economic slowdown.

"On one hand, studying in graduate school can really help you find a job. On the other hand, it’s also an avoidance mentality,” Lei said.

Wandering masters and doctors

Feng Chia University’s Lin said that having an undergraduate degree is not enough in fields like technological innovation and scientific research, so it is still necessary to get a postgraduate degree in certain fields.

On the other hand, he said, China has too many people getting doctorates and master’s degrees and not enough technical and vocational education so there will be "fierce competition for upper-level work, but no one does the lower-level work." Highly educated young people are not willing to engage in grassroots work, Lin said, so there will be more and more "wandering masters and doctors."

Lin said the geopolitical tension between China and the U.S. has also made studying abroad for a postgraduate degree harder, so more students choose a domestic one instead.

Chinese netizens seem to agree that waiting for the job market to improve is their best hope.

A Hunan netizen on China’s Weibo social media platform under the name "Da Ke Ya Tang" said: "The market will not be able to provide so many jobs in the foreseeable future, so we have to leave the problem to the future."

"If colleges and universities cannot adapt to the country's demand for innovative and pioneering talents and reform the way students are trained, more employment pressure may accumulate in society in a few years," writer Wang Guojin said in a post on Weibo.

COVID students coping?

A PhD student in Shanghai who, due to the sensitivity of the subject, only gave his surname Zeng, told VOA the increase in master's and doctoral students is also because many graduate students went to college during the COVID-19 pandemic and are struggling to adapt. Zeng blames remote learning for their struggles with social interaction and the skills needed to compete in the job market.

"This group of college students obviously lacks some socialization skills, at least in recruitment interviews,” Zeng said. “They can't reach the same level as the previous students.”

Zeng adds that monthly stipends for master's and doctoral students ranges from roughly $143 to $700 and Chinese universities encourage entrepreneurship by providing funds to start small projects through competitions.

“Who wouldn’t want to continue their studies and earn money at the same time?” she asked.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

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