Education

Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon says she supports making college tuition more affordable. She visited the University of Illinois-Chicago Thursday and presented a plan to stop rising tuition costs. She says both state and federal officials need to work together to bring costs down. While at the university, she shadowed two students in a chemistry lab work-study program. Simon’s office says increases in college tuition and fees have outpaced inflation, citing a Pew Research Center report that found students had an average of more than $26,000 in student loans in 2010.

Murray State University’s Homecoming festivities will include a celebration for reaching a 70 million-dollar capital campaign goal and the dedication of the newly named College of Business and hall of benefactors. The newly renamed Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business holds a reception and dedication Friday starting at 1:30 pm in the lobby. Following that will be the dedication of Heritage Hall, which will house the Hall of Benefactors and several university offices. MSU Alumnus Jesse. D. Jones made gifts allowing the construction of Heritage Hall.

Inaccurate reporting of testing scores from McCracken County’s adult education program has allowed West Kentucky Community and Technical College to get more money from the Commonwealth than it was qualified to receive. Kentucky adult education officials found student testing practices at WKCTC were not in compliance with state and federal policies and established ethical standards. Kentucky’s Adult Education agency requires the programs it funds to administer tests establishing a baseline education level teachers can plan around.