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ACTA is committed to helping colleges and universities rise to the challenge of the pandemic.
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COVID-19 Resources
ACTA is committed to helping colleges and universities rise to the challenge of the pandemic.
Judging by common metrics of success, Princeton University does well. It is highly selective, accepting only 5% of its...
Read MoreThe coronavirus pandemic has imposed grave, urgent financial pressure on colleges and universities. Campuses had to move courses online in a matter of days, students and parents are demanding housing and meal plan refunds,...
READ MORE“ACTA provides short, concise suggestions for trustees who can help administrations make real, beneficial change for the future of education.”
The hero of Virgil’s epic masterpiece, the Aeneid, written over two millennia ago, offered his companions this comfort: “Summon up...
Colleges and universities depend on informed and engaged trustees. ACTA’s tools and resources equip board members to be effective fiduciaries for America’s institutions of higher education. Be prepared for your next board meeting with ACTA’s trustee toolkit.
Get Your CopyAfter a six-month legal battle, the University of Missouri and Hillsdale College have ended a dispute with an anti-climactic resolution. The two institutions agreed to split a gift that Sherlock Hibbs gave to Mizzou...
READ MORE“I appreciate the assistance of the Fund for Academic Renewal in structuring the gift and my agreement. The guidance will ensure that my objectives for the gift will be honored by the University for many years to come.”
News out of Cedar Falls, Iowa underscores the complex dilemma facing fundraisers and administrators at schools grappling with dwindling...
Recently, ACTA hosted a panel discussion on Capitol Hill to discuss the future of higher education accreditation with a group of experts from a range of different perspectives. The event was loosely based on...
READ MORE"ACTA’s resources are very informative for my staff as we work to solve issues in higher education. I commend the hard work of ACTA."
WASHINGTON, DC—The American Council of Trustees and Alumni—an advocacy organization which has long urged stronger oversight and accountability in...
Read how policymakers can reform the higher education quality assurance process to protect students and taxpayers, preserve university and college independence and autonomy, and allow innovation in post-secondary education that will retain America's leadership.
Get Your CopyStudents are often told that they must go to college. They are told that higher education is the key to their future and that they will not be able to make it very far...
READ MORE“Our very best wishes for ACTA’s continued success. We are in desperate need of educated citizens if as a country we are to survive.”
R. Stafford Johnson is Director of the Stephen S. Smith Center and Professor of Finance at the Williams College of...
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we have had to postpone our Fall 2020 event. ACTA's 25th Plus One Anniversary Celebration will take place on November 11-12, 2021. As good fortune would have it, we have been able to schedule the same exciting roster of events, culminating at the storied Library of Congress, which Thomas Jefferson e...
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Americans are, as I’ve noted before, appallingly ignorant of their own history and institutions. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni found in a survey of college graduates that less than 20 percent could accurately identify in a multiple-choice survey the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation. One-third did not know that Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal, and nearly […]
The executive committee of Liberty University’s board of trustees announced Monday that it’s hiring a forensics firm to investigate “all facets” of Jerry Falwell Jr.’s tenure as the school’s president. Critics had pointed to Falwell’s erratic behavior, public statements, and questionable business for years. But it took salacious personal scandals to force Liberty University’s board finally to […]
The shock of seeing so many Black people killed this summer in brutal police actions has seared the conscience of the nation. The memory of the 2015 murder of nine African Americans at a Bible study in Charleston, S.C., by an unrepentant white supremacist needs to weigh on America as a grim warning of the […]
Universities have struggled with deciding whether to return students to campus this fall for in-person classes. Each institution can make its own best decision. It would help, however, if the administrators making the call would have the integrity to acknowledge that remote learning is an ineffective substitute for real educational instruction. The administrators can’t do […]
Two out of three college students now graduate with an average of over $28,000 in student debt, and the price of tuition continues to rise at an unsustainable rate, faster even than health care. So how do colleges spend that money?
The goal of ACTA's What Will They Learn?® project is to encourage colleges and universities to strengthen their general education programs—so that students graduate better prepared for the workforce, ready to participate in their communities as responsible citizens, and acquainted with our cultural and intellectual inheritance.
Intentional, directed giving has the power to renew our colleges and universities. ACTA's Fund for Academic Renewal serves donors who want to make transformative gifts to higher education, gifts that help institutions live up to their highest ideals. FAR guides donors and their advisors through every step in the gift-making process.
Colleges and universities have investigated their spending practices due to ACTA’s work. Visit our site, HowCollegesSpendMoney.com.
Institutions have adopted the Chicago Principles on Freedom of Expression due to ACTA’s outreach.
Colleges and universities have improved their core curriculum requirements based on ACTA’s annual What Will They Learn?® initiative.
Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.
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