Great piece -- is there data on which majors are caught up in this? I'd be very interested to know.
14.02.2026 00:44 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
How Universities Use Subprime Loans to Steer Low-Income Families Into Debt
A new report identifies 41 universities that steer low-income families to Parent PLUS loan debt they cannot afford, at the same time that they provide large tuition discounts to wealthier students.
Universities often break their own enrollment records. But some wealthy ones do it by quietly pushing low-income families into crushing debt.
π Here, our #HigherEd expert @stephenburd.bsky.social exposes how some #FinancialAid strategies steer students toward risky loans.
12.02.2026 16:06 β π 1 π 2 π¬ 1 π 0
"...as it turns out..."
Rejoice your LLM doesn't talk this way (yet)
"As it turns out" is a wholly human phrase. AI does not use it, as it turns out....
hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/as-it-turn...
11.02.2026 11:49 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
Something Big Is Happening
A personal note for non-tech friends and family on what AI is starting to change.
I've said this to fellow academics for months: βmost people are using the free version of AI tools. The free version is over a year behind what paying users have access to....The people paying for the best tools, and using them daily for real work, know what's coming.β
shumer.dev/something-bi...
11.02.2026 11:16 β π 0 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0
The Rumsfeld Matrix
Higher Ed is at war, after all
Should universities be about known knowns or unknown unknowns? open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...
06.02.2026 21:08 β π 1 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0
The Rumsfeld Matrix
Higher Ed is at war, after all
Should universities be about known knowns or unknown unknowns? open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...
06.02.2026 21:08 β π 1 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0
interesting read. donβt love the transactional framing and the metaphor breaks down a bit for me (feels more like we are cultivating a garden than letting in and then breeding AI alligators) but I agree with a lot of whatβs in here.
04.02.2026 13:11 β π 1 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0
Good piece, especially because it foregrounds "legitimacy" as the remaining value proposition for universities. In a world where knowledge and skill are not scarce, metacognitive decisions will still be hard β and those decisions are interwoven with questions of social validation. +
03.02.2026 16:26 β π 31 π 4 π¬ 1 π 0
Why Film Professors Can't Fail Students Who Won't Watch Films
The ABCs of the higher ed economy
Universities won't let faculty fail students. You can't fail a revenue stream and stay in business. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/why-film-p...
31.01.2026 15:15 β π 2 π 2 π¬ 1 π 2
Re "I challenge you to look at the Arizona State University film program website and figure out who your professor will be and whether youβre required to watch any films to the end." - I accepted this challenge, and I really wish I hadn't
31.01.2026 16:36 β π 2 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0
Why Film Professors Can't Fail Students Who Won't Watch Films
The ABCs of the higher ed economy
Universities won't let faculty fail students. You can't fail a revenue stream and stay in business. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/why-film-p...
31.01.2026 15:15 β π 2 π 2 π¬ 1 π 2
AI and the Last Mile 2.
The principle of subsidiarity
The great paradox of modern AI is that companies like Anthropic, Google, Meta, and OpenAI pursue ever-larger models and more centralized data collection while simultaneously promising more "personalized" experiences. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/ai-and-the...
30.01.2026 12:51 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
AI-Forced Restructuring Is Top Risk for Higher Ed (opinion)
AI-forced restructuring is the biggest risk colleges face.
AI will transform what the university sells and how it sells it. That is why it is the alligator closest to the boat. I welcome the AI alligator, because mentorship paired with expert judgment is the only defensible value proposition left. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
29.01.2026 12:39 β π 8 π 3 π¬ 1 π 2
What escapes containment is least valuable
More on the value of local news in the AI era
Local news matters in the AI era. The stories that "escape containment" are the least valuable, especially to LLMs. Support making local news accessible. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/what-escap...
29.01.2026 23:01 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
LLM poetry and the "greatness" question
Experiments by Gwern and Mercor
Can AI write great poetry? If a prompt engineer is also a poet, it can come mighty close. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/llm-poetry...
08.01.2026 11:37 β π 16 π 6 π¬ 3 π 6
AI-Forced Restructuring Is Top Risk for Higher Ed (opinion)
AI-forced restructuring is the biggest risk colleges face.
AI will transform what the university sells and how it sells it. That is why it is the alligator closest to the boat. I welcome the AI alligator, because mentorship paired with expert judgment is the only defensible value proposition left. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
29.01.2026 12:39 β π 8 π 3 π¬ 1 π 2
Civics Centers as Ivory Towers
Federalism in the classroom, silence on the street
Wondering why those new university "civics centers" are silent on the deadly constitutional crisis happening in Minnesota.
hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/civics-cen...
21.01.2026 01:59 β π 3 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0
Immediate follow
21.01.2026 21:39 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Civics Centers as Ivory Towers
Federalism in the classroom, silence on the street
Wondering why those new university "civics centers" are silent on the deadly constitutional crisis happening in Minnesota.
hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/civics-cen...
21.01.2026 01:59 β π 3 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0
The future does not arrive with a tracking number. A first mile advantage is the ability to be in the right community, in the right room, in the right conversation, to recognize that a signal is worth capturing before it has a name.
17.01.2026 00:06 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Both of my kids with bar and bat mitzvahed at Beth Israel synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi. It was a local kid who torched it, not a college protester. The loudness on the left has kept a lot of national voices from focusing on antisemitism on the right.
13.01.2026 11:50 β π 2 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0
Embrace your lack
Pluribus, culture, language models, performance
Pluribus offers a counterargument to the techno-optimist view that connecting all minds would lead to a cultural explosion. It leads to silence.
hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/embrace-yo...
11.01.2026 21:45 β π 5 π 1 π¬ 2 π 0
And so I say to my AI skeptic friends in the humanities: do not fear the LLM because it is alien. Accept it as the ultimate affirmation of your humanity. Imagine it envies you for having something you lack, which is the ability to feel, at times, distant from the world.
12.01.2026 02:00 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Embrace your lack
Pluribus, culture, language models, performance
Pluribus offers a counterargument to the techno-optimist view that connecting all minds would lead to a cultural explosion. It leads to silence.
hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/embrace-yo...
11.01.2026 21:45 β π 5 π 1 π¬ 2 π 0
philosophy ph.d. student (philosophy of language primarily), amongst other things. they/he
Knowledge would have little allure if we did not have to overcome so much shame on the way to acquiring it. -Nietzsche
Bookish married English professor, living between Brisbane and Berlin. Interested in way too much, reads indiscriminately, and, cant seem to help myself, has opinions on pretty much everything.
PΔαΈ·i Canon suttas, Buddhist musings and art
Dragged along by a spaniel π
https://edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/charles-west
A fellah in a red plaid hat.
Lantern Thule listening in. Somewhat Goth brunette with black lipstick. She has a nose guard and a large green helm from which two horns protrude horizontally. Green Lantern Corps No. 1, DC All In imprint.
Daily Utah Chronicle Opinion Writer at University of Utah π
βοΈ Dread Lord of the Five-Sided Fistagon.
π Scriber of stately horrors and their allied comrades.
ποΈ Live nightly in New Etoile.
Professor. Sociologist. NYTimes Opinion Columnist. Books: THICK, LowerEd. Forthcoming: 1)Black Mothering & Daughtering and 2)Mama Bears.
Beliefs: C.R.E.A.M. + the internet ruined everything good + bring back shame.
βIβm just here so I donβt get fined.β
Author of Modern Poetry, frank: sonnets, Still Life w Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl, Four-Legged Girl, all from Graywolf Press, and Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open (Univ. of Massachusetts Press), Chancellor for Academy of American Poets.
Assistant Professor at Georgetown β’ Director of the CFR China Strategy Initiative β’ Biden NSC China 2021-2024 β’ Author of The Long Game
Twisted, one-sided commentary. Canadian (the human kind, not the emotional support animal kind).
https://drafts.interfluidity.com/
https://www.interfluidity.com/
https://tech.interfluidity.com/
https://zirk.us/@interfluidity
By day, recovering economist and lender with a heart at Student Freedom Fund. On here, mostly random thoughts. I like science fiction, biotechnology, household finance, causal inference, home fermentation, and powerlifting.
Scholar of the American Revolution and the Early American Republic, education. Author of "What's the Point of College? Seeking Purpose in an Age of Reform" and "Democracy's Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America." Website: https://johannneem.com
Father. Guitar player. Fencer (foil & epee), vulnerability/sustainability scientist. Opinions are my own. Liking/reposting does not imply endorsement.
The NHC is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing humanities research and teaching and encouraging appreciation for the humanities. nationalhumanitiescenter.org
Professor, C19 US. Chair, Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, University at Buffalo. Winner of the James Beard, Lora Romero, Best Book in Food Studies and Choice Awards.
