12-10: Like ‘talking to a brick wall’; Roaring '20s?

✅ California congressman: Talking to anti-mask lawmakers like ‘talking to a brick wall’ -- California Rep. Ami Bera complained Wednesday that many of his fellow members of Congress still do not wear masks inside the Capitol, and compared efforts to convince them to cover their faces to “talking to a brick wall.” Quint Forgey Politico -- 12/10/20 

✅ Cal State announces plans for fall 2021 reopening of its 23 campuses -- Six days before its application window closes, the California State University system serving nearly half a million students has announced a plan for all 23 of its campuses to reopen next fall after more than a year of virtual instruction amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Nina Agrawal in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 12/10/20 

✅ Get ready for another roaring ’20s, UCLA economic forecast predicts -- UCLA economists issued an optimistic forecast Wednesday, predicting the U.S. economy will experience “a gloomy COVID winter and an exuberant vaccine spring,” followed by robust growth for some years. Margot Roosevelt in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 12/9/20 

✅ Low-Income Community College Students Most Likely to Cancel Plans 

The pandemic is widening equity gaps as more low-income students and students of color leave higher ed. 

—Inside Higher Ed 

✅ New Analysis of Faculty Pay, Representation 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     Women and people of color make less money and have less job security than their white, male counterparts in academe, according to a new “snapshot” analysis of federal data from 2018 by the American Association of University Professors. “That these data sets predate the advent of COVID-19 is cause for true alarm and also a clear call to action,” Rana Jaleel, assistant professor of gender, sexuality and women’s studies at the University of California, Davis, and chair of the AAUP’s Committee on Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, said in a statement…. 

✅ Report: Fewer High School Students Went Straight to College 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     The COVID-19 pandemic doesn't seem to have affected high school graduation rates. But it appears to have impacted how many of those graduates went straight to college. 

     New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center show that nearly 22 percent fewer students from the Class of 2020 went to college immediately after high school this fall compared to the Class of 2019, according to a news release from the center. The overall immediate college enrollment rate fell from 35.3 percent to 27.7 percent, a drop that is 10 times greater than the decline between 2018 and 2019…. 

✅ Moody's Sees Negative Outlook for Community Colleges 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     Community colleges are expected to take financial and enrollment hits through 2021. Moody's Investors Services announced its 2021 outlook for the sector is negative, as is its outlook for four-year public and private institutions. 

✅ Food Insecurity Among Students Continues During Pandemic 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     Nearly one-third of students said they have experienced food insecurity since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey report from Chegg.org, the research and advocacy arm of the course materials and services company Chegg. About the same number of students also said hunger has “impacted their ability to study,” and more than half of students have accessed an off-campus food bank at least once, the survey found…. 

✅ The Real Covid-19 Enrollment Crisis: Fewer Low-Income Students Went Straight to College 

—CHE 

✅ ‘A Tremendous Amount of Fear’: Will Major Cuts Threaten Research Universities’ Work? 

Public flagship universities are bracing for a grim 2021. 

—CHE