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New rules hope to make universities more accountable for getting students jobs
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In a battle of two culinary schools, the rules single out for-profits but ignore worse outcomes at a local community college. - photo by Eric Schulzke
Tough new federal rules regulating for-profit colleges apply a double standard when they ignore community colleges, argues an administrator at a New York City-based career college.

The "gainful employment" rules developed by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009 were held up by lawsuits until they finally went into effect this past summer.

Under the new rules, "a program would be considered to lead to gainful employment if the estimated annual loan payment of a typical graduate does not exceed 20 percent of his or her discretionary income or 8 percent of his or her total earnings," the Department of Education states on its website.

The rules were held up by a pair of lawsuits filed by trade associations representing for-profit colleges, which had argued all along that the rules should apply equally to nonprofits as well.

It wasn't until June that the second of these suits was dismissed by a federal judge, paving the way for the rules to take effect.

Its a resounding win for the Department of Education, said Maura Dundon, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, to Inside Higher Ed at the time. Its a very strong review of both the departments authority to regulate for-profit colleges the way it has using the statutory hook of gainful employment to create debt metrics as well as the way the department developed the metrics.

In a column posted by the Pope Center for Higher Education, Marc Jerome, an executive vice president at Monroe College, points to Monroe's award-winning culinary program as a potential victim of the new double standard, comparing his school's program with a competing culinary program at a local community college that is exempt from the gainful-employment rule.

Jerome does not contest the substance of the rule at all, focusing only on the double standard of its application. This, he argues, leads to perverse results when a competing program at a community college that produces significantly inferior results gets a pass.

"Looking broadly across all programs at the two colleges," Jerome argues, "Monroe has a 53 percent graduation rate, compared to 11 percent at the nonprofit college. We also have a 5.7 percent student loan default rate, versus 17 percent at the nonprofit college. Yet, if our program fails under GE (gainful employment), we would be required to post a warning notice to prospective students that, among other things, directs them to information on competing programs like the one where the outcomes clearly trail Monroes."

"Here's the irony," Jerome concludes. "As the Department's College Scorecard itself shows, the typical student at that college will finish the program with nearly $5,000 more in student debt and can expect to make less salary than those who went to Monroe's program can."
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.