96. College Return on Investment (ROI)

With tuitions up and jobs scarce, it is understandable to question whether college is really worth it. To help quantify this decision, some have applied the concept of return on investment (ROI). According to The Huffington Post, "ROI takes the price of a school's degree and compares it to how much that school's graduates earn on average, producing perhaps the truest measure of a school's value." To see which U.S. colleges have the highest ROI, click this link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/28/college-biggest-payoff_n_628127.html

To find out which college in each state has the highest ROI, click this link to Business Week:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/06/0628_payscale1/index.htm

95. The Greatest College Sports Rivalries

Sports are a part of life on many college campuses--sometimes, for better; at other times, not so much. And rivalries have long been a part of college sports. Which rivalries are the greatest? To see but one list, click this link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/24/the-greatest-college-spor_n_624187.html

94. U.S. Senate Hearings on For-Profit Higher Education

On June 24, 2010, Chairman Tom Harkin opened hearings by the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on for-profit higher education. At the outset, a report was issued, containing the following conclusions:

The Federal government and taxpayers are making a large and rapidly growing investment in financial aid to for-profit schools, with few tools in place to gauge how well that money is being spent. Available data show that very few students enroll in for-profit schools without taking on debt, while a staggering number of students are leaving the schools, presumably many without completing a degree or certificate. To boost enrollment, some for-profit schools recruit large numbers of new students each year. In some cases, schools enroll more students over the course of the year than were enrolled at the beginning of the year. To ensure these enrollment increases, it is necessary for the schools to devote very large shares of Title IV dollars and other Federal financial aid to marketing activities, not education.

These schools are increasingly relying on Federal financial aid dollars for revenue. When all Title IV, Department of Defense and Veteran’s Administration funds are included, many of these schools are receiving nearly all of their funds from Federal sources. While increasing their reliance on Federal dollars as a source of revenue, for-profit schools are at best spending only slightly more than half of revenues actually educating students, and in several cases are shrinking the amount spent on instruction. Yet these same schools are reporting profit margins of 20 percent and higher to investors.

Students at for-profit schools are also taking on higher amounts of debt than their peers at public and nonprofit schools. Nearly half of student loan borrowers who entered repayment in 2007 and defaulted by 2009 attended for-profit schools (44 percent), even though less than 10 percent of students attend these schools.

The publicly available data, in tandem with mounting reports of questionable practices and poor student outcome, yields a mixed portrait of the for-profit higher education sector that calls into question the taxpayers return on their multi-billion-dollar investment, and leaves many unanswered questions with regard to whether a sufficient number of students receive an education that provides them with the knowledge and skills they need to obtain jobs to repay their student debt. (p. 11)

To read the entire report, "Emerging Risk?: An Overview of Growth, Spending, Student Debt and Unanswered Questions in For-Profit Higher Education," copy and paste this link:

http://harkin.senate.gov/documents/pdf/4c23515814dca.pdf

93. Proportion of Adults, 25-34, with College Degrees

The U.S. national average for the proportion of adults (ages 25-34) holding college degrees is 37.8%; in Ohio, however, the figure is below that--at 36.4%. To see the percentage for any state, you can access an interactive map from The Chronicle of Higher Education at this link:

http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Map-Proportion-of/65009/

92. Academic Progress Rate (APR)

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires member colleges and universities to submit information on all sports teams competing in Division I. These data indicate student-athletes' eligibility and retention during a previous four-year period; the most recent APR is based on statistics from the 2005-06 through 2008-09 school years. If a team's APR is less than 925 (of 1,000), it can face penalties, including loss of scholarships or limits on practice time. Teams having an APR lower than 900 for several years can be penalized by being banned from postseason play--including bowl games.

To search the Academic Progress Rate for schools of interest, click this NCAA link:

http://web1.ncaa.org/maps/aprRelease.jsp

91. Value in a Liberal Arts Education?

During this challenging economic climate, students and parents expect college to aid one's career. Consequently, they often seek majors, programs, and degrees that will lead directly to a specific job--and a well-paying one, at that. Nonetheless, defenders of a liberal arts education still emphasize its value; to see why, read this post by Michael Roth, President of Wesleyan University, entitled "Coming to the Defense of Liberal Education," at this link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-roth/coming-to-the-defense-of_b_605899.html

90. Graduation Rates in U.S.

To find out "Student Success Highlights" (i.e., retention rate, four-year graduation rate, five-year graduation rate, and six-year graduation rate) of any college or university in the United States, check out a website of The Education Trust called "College Results Online." (You can also compare success statistics for various schools.) Access the site at this link:

http://www.collegeresults.org/

89. World's Best Universities?

If you wonder which country has the highest-rated universities in the world, you're not alone. Apparently, others wonder, too. U.S. News & World Report ranked 400 of the "World's Best Universities" in 2010; to see its list, hit this link:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/worlds-best-universities/2010/02/25/worlds-best-universities-top-400.html?PageNr=1

88. Is College the Key to Success?

In America, we hear that getting a good education--particularly, earning a college degree--will lead to career success. Today, more and more people are entering college; they are expecting an economic payoff. But is this expectation realistic? Ann Larson examines "the education gospel" in her post, dated June 3, 2010, for Inside Higher Ed entitled "Higher Education's Big Lie;" you can read her views at this link:

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/06/03/larson

87. Retention Rate

According to the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences (whew!), a college's retention rate is "the percentage of first-time students who are seeking bachelor's degrees who return to the institution to continue their studies the following fall." Retention rate is regarded as an important statistic relating to student success in college. To discover the retention rate of a U.S. college or university, click the link below, then type in the school's name to search for it; finally, click on "retention and graduation rates."

http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/

To see the retention rates of students having differing ACT scores and admitted to colleges with varying rates of selectivity, consult the ACT report "National Collegiate Retention and Persistence to Degree Rates" at this link:

http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/retain_2009.pdf