Education

An estimated 40,000 Rhode Island students will face rising loan bills without action this week from Congress. Senate Democrats and Republicans are looking for a way to avoid the increase, but if they fail to reach a compromise, interest rates on subsidized federal Stafford loans will double on July 1st, rising from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.

State Education Commissioner Deborah Gist is calling for the closure of the Academy for Career Exploration (ACE), formerly known as Textron/Chamber of Commerce Providence Public Charter School, citing poor academic results and leadership failures.

Outgoing Brown University President Ruth Simmons will take a seat on the board of trustees at Princeton University next month. Simmons is stepping down on June 30th as head of Brown, ending an 11-year tenure at the Providence institution.

Simmons is no stranger to Princeton. She held several positions at the New Jersey school, including that of vice provost, before becoming president of Smith University. When she became president at Brown University, Simmons was the first African-American to lead an Ivy League school.

The American Bar Association has granted preliminary accreditation to the law school at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, clearing the way for students to take the bar exam in any state.

Prior to the preliminary accreditation, UMass law school students could only take the bar in Massachusetts and Connecticut.