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Friday, October 29, 2010

120. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. Not So Need-Blind - Inside Higher Ed

‎"Bishop pointed to economic data showing that, since 1985, the cost of attending a private college has risen at more than double the rate of household income. Put another way, the share of a median household's income that was devoted to paying for higher education went from 22 percent in 1988 to more than 50 percent today. Those increases continue, with tuition and fee hikes this year ranging from 4.5 percent to nearly 8 percent over last year. "Families are more stressed than they ever have been before," said Bishop...."As I look out over the next 10 years, I'm deeply concerned," said Rick Bischoff, vice president for enrollment at Case Western Reserve University. "Would it be better to have a smaller percentage of high-need students and not 'gap' them?" he asked, referring to the practice of admitting some applicants without offering them sizable enough aid packages to realistically make it possible for them to enroll. "

2. Need Blind, but 'Gapping' -

"That's because only a small subset of colleges pledges to meet the full need of all students they admit. That means that for most institutions, "gapping" has become the norm. That's when a college admits a student, tells her that she probably needs $X to afford to enroll, and then provides a package that is less than $X -- sometimes considerably so. On need-blind status, the study found that 93 percent of public institutions and 81 percent of private institutions say that they are entirely need blind. An additional 6 percent of private colleges report that they are need blind until May 1, and then consider economic circumstances when evaluating students on the waiting list or who apply late. But the numbers change dramatically when colleges are asked if they meet the full financial need of accepted students. Only 32 percent of public institutions and 18 percent of private institutions say that they make such a commitment, the report says."

3. Nearly All Graduates of a Texas High School Earn College Credit, in Inside Higher Ed

"A new report by Jobs for the Future outlines how the Hidalgo Independent School District, which serves an economically depressed area along the Texas-Mexico border, was able to graduate more than 95 percent of its most recent high school graduating class with college credit. About two-thirds of its graduating seniors earned at least a full semester of college credit. The school district opened the Hidalgo Early College High School in 2005 with help from the University of Texas System and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Unlike many early college high schools that serve less than 400 students, the Hidalgo model serves all of the 900+ high-schoolers in the district. The high school has strong partnerships with South Texas College and Texas State Technical College, so that students can transfer onward to earn a postsecondary credential. John Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Texas High School Project, said of the project, “Hidalgo [Independent School District] shows that obstacles impeding high school and postsecondary success can be overcome. The success of early college high schools is being replicated in districts throughout Texas. We need to create more Hidalgos in our country, more districts where the lessons of early college are spread to all students.”

4. Top 10 benefits of a college degree, by Elizabeth Fuller -

Please, read this list!

5. For athletes, concussions impact class: After 5th hit, ex-Penn FB player grappled with school, by Calder Silcox

"However, ending his collegiate football career didn’t halt the effects of his concussion. For weeks after the hit, Donnelly struggled with schoolwork — a challenging hurdle for a Wharton sophomore.“Doing work was hard,” he said. “I would get headaches when I would focus, when I would read. Class was pretty much the same thing.”Colin added that in the weeks after his concussion, he had trouble recalling what he’d just read or heard in class. At the advice of his doctors, he avoided school for an entire week, watching as the work piled up.“My short term memory was just foggy until I recovered,” he said. According to Kathy Lawler, director of neuropsychological resources at Penn, Donnelly’s situation is typical of most individuals who suffer head trauma.“You’ll be fine if you don’t do anything, but the minute you go to do something like read for an hour . . . ."

6. For-Profit Colleges Clean Up Their Acts ... Sort Of -

"Faced with mounting criticism, two of the largest for-profit colleges have announced reforms. Starting in September the 470,000-student-strong University of Phoenix stopped paying its admissions officers based on the number of students they sign up, eliminating an incentive some see for those officers to mislead applicants or pressure them to sign paperwork. The school will also put all prospective new students through a three-week, tuition-free “orientation” course designed to help them decide whether they’re ready for the commitments that come with their studies. In the past there have been reports of cash-strapped students talked into signing up when they may not have been ready—many may be behind financially or educationally, but they still end up on the hook for making school payments they can’t really afford. “The orientation program enables incoming students to make an informed decision about attending University of Phoenix and experience the rigors of the college classroom. . . ."

7. College Tuition: What Students Are Paying Today, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy -

‎"Bottom Line: If you are evaluating colleges, price tags are meaningless. It’s important to find out kind of price cuts individual colleges will offer your child. You’re more apt to find these schools if you cast a wider net. There are tons of price discounts out there and the best way for a child to snag them is to do well at school and take challenging courses. Grade point averages and the strength of a teen’s academic record are typically what colleges care about the most. In the meantime, if you want to see what college costs have been doing at individual schools, I’d suggest that you take a look at this nifty college cost tool from The Chronicle of Higher Education that shows the yearly tuition and fees for more than 3,300 individual colleges and universities since 1999."

8. Education Leaders Weigh in on Preparing Students for College Success, by Caralee Adams -

"The United States has slipped from the No. 1 spot in producing college graduates to 12th, in part, because the country was not paying attention, not working hard enough, not setting high enough goals, not getting teachers in the right places, and not having the right leadership, Caperton said. There should be a stronger partnership between K-12 and higher education. Too often, colleges have stood back and said, "Send me your students and we'll take them and expect them to be at a certain level," Caperton said. If colleges want better performance, there needs to be more collaboration with public schools and higher demands on students in teacher colleges, he said. Caperton pointed to College Board programs starting in the 6th grade that build students' skills in English and math so they are ready for the PSAT in 9th grade and Advanced Placement courses in high school."

9. For-Profit Colleges to Get New Federal Rules, by Tamar Lewin -

"The final regulations on these for-profit colleges cover 13 of the 14 program-integrity questions the department has plans to address. The one that remains is the “gainful employment” regulation that would cut off federal student aid to programs whose graduates borrow too much and earn too little to repay their debts. The department will hold hearings next week on the topic, and will meet with interested parties to discuss that regulation, which will be finalized next year, and go into effect in 2012."

10. Life After Test-Optional, by Eric Hoover

"At the College Board’s annual conference here, several admissions officers at “test-optional” colleges have shared some answers. Melissa Falk, associate dean of admission and financial aid at Muhlenberg College, said reading the files of a non-submitter requires more time than reading the files of other applicants. That’s because Muhlenberg requires applicants who don’t send their scores to submit a copy of a graded paper, and to participate in an interview, either in person or by telephone. “It adds another level of subjectivity,” Ms. Falk said. Typically, colleges that go test-optional must do a lot of explaining, to faculty members, alumni, high-school counselors, prospective applicants, and—last, but not least—campus tour guides. The message? “This doesn’t mean standards are diminished,” Ms. Falk said."

11. Who Needs Harvard? by Nancy Gibbs and Nathan Thornburgh

‎"You're the college counselor at a public school in a hothouse ZIP code, and you wish you could grab the students, grab the parents by the shoulders and shake them. Twenty thousand dollars for a college consultant? They're paying for help getting into a school where the kid probably doesn't belong. Do they really think there are only 10 great colleges in the country? There are scores of them, hundreds even, honors colleges embedded inside public universities that offer an Ivy education at state-school prices; small liberal-arts colleges that exalt the undergraduate experience in a way that the big schools can't rival. And if they hope to go on to grad school? Getting good grades at a small school looks better than floundering at a famous one. Think they need to be able to tap into the old-boy network to get a job? Chances are, the kid is going to be doing a job that doesn't even exist now, so connections won't do much good. The rules have changed. The world has changed."

12. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily for today's top stories on college admissions & financial aid in newsletter form -




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Thursday, October 28, 2010

119. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. NCAA football grad rates at all-time high, but top ...

"The rate for black players, a longtime concern, jumped five points to 61% of those who entered school in 2003, the association's latest study showed.But the annual academic scorecard was less flattering to many of the sport's top-tier programs. Seven of the top 10 — including No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Boise State — and 16 of the top 25 in the current Bowl Championship Series standings fell beneath the sport's four-year average. Oklahoma and Arizona graduated fewer than half of their players.The numbers also were low in the other marquee college sport, men's basketball, where three of last season's eight NCAA regional finalists and more than one in five programs overall had four-year rates beneath 50%. Those multi-year averages count players who arrived on campus from 2000-2003, giving them six years to earn degrees."

2. Irish Athletes Again Rank Number One In 2010 NCAA GSR Comparisons

"University of Notre Dame athletic programs again rank among the best in the country in graduation rates, based on Graduation Success Rate (GSR) figures released today by the NCAA - including first-place ratings in the sports of football, men's basketball and women's basketball, and a close second in ice hockey. Among the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision institutions, Notre Dame had the highest percentage of its sports with 100 percent scores (for the fifth time in six years), with a .863 figure (19 of 22). In football, Notre Dame achieved a 96 GSR rating for the highest figure among FBS schools."

3. Rise in college costs hits public schools hardest, by Blake Ellis -

"For the school year 2010-11, in-state tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities rose to $7,605, up 7.9% from a year ago, the College Board reported Thursday. At private four-year institutions, the average cost rose 4.5% to $27,293.31. Dwindling state budgets are sparking the hikes at public colleges. Over the past decade, public school tuition has risen at an annual rate of 5.6% vs. 3% at private schools. "Prices are continuing to rise more rapidly than the rate of inflation, particularly in the public sector," said Sandy Baum, independent policy analyst at the College Board. "Public colleges and universities are getting less money from the states because the states just don't have money to give them."

4. Tuition Rises, But So Does Financial Aid, by Jacques Steinberg in The Choice -

"If there is “good news 2010 “Trends in College Pricing” and “Trends in Student Aid” reports,” Ms. Lewin writes, it is “that fast-rising tuition costs have been accompanied by a huge increase in financial aid, which helped keep down the actual amount students and families pay.” Ms. Lewin quotes Sandy Baum, the economist who is the lead author of the reports, as saying that in 2009-2010, students received $28 billion in Pell grants, “and that’s $10 billion more than the year before.” In fact, Ms. Lewin says, growth in student aid from the government this year “was so large that unlike former years, government grants surpassed institutional grants.”

5. A Potential Vaccination for ‘Senioritis,’ by Dave Marcus -

‎"As a journalist visiting scores of high schools, I have found a wasteland no one wants to acknowledge. It’s the final five- or six-month stretch of 12th grade, when college applications are done and students’ minds drift far from the classroom.For many, the boredom starts in October, after early applications are filed. Quite a few principals agree that we need to reinvent senior year. It should be a chance for teenagers to make the transition from the predictable routines and 42-minute blocks of secondary school to the self-discipline, public speaking and teamwork that is vital in college and many careers."

6. Tuition Hikes of the Downturn - Inside Higher Ed:

"For room and board, public increases also outpaced the privates, and privates are also more expensive. The average public college rate is going up by 4.6 percent, to $8,535, and the average private rate is going up by 3.9 percent, to $9,700. Those figures are for four-year institutions only, as the pool of community colleges and for-profit colleges charging for room and board remains small. As is the case every year, College Board officials stress that the data show that most colleges -- however much their prices frustrate students and families -- are not in the mid-$50,000 range that attracts so much attention. Total expenses for a private four-year institution are, on average, just under $37,000 a year. But because the most famous private institutions tend to be well above that average, many people assume tuition rates are even higher than they are."

7. (Almost) Final Rules - Inside Higher Ed:

"More than ever before, the department emphasized in a statement released to reporters late Wednesday that for-profit higher education was its target. “These new rules will help ensure that students are getting from schools what they pay for: solid preparation for a good job,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan. While the department has in the past framed the rules as designed to protect the integrity of the Title IV program, the statement cites the for-profit sector’s “rapid growth of enrollment, debt load, and default rates” as having “prompted” the public hearings in the summer of 2009, the negotiated rule making sessions that spanned from November to January, and the months of revisions that produced the final regulations. Most of the regulations released today take effect on July 1, 2011."

8. Reframing College Completion - Inside Higher Ed

"Focusing on the states creates difficulties in those metropolitan areas where multiple states intersect, putting up unnecessary barriers (in the form of financial aid, tuition and credit transfer policies) that inhibit the flow of students. And viewing higher education completion through the prism of individual institutions' productivity -- judging them on how many graduates they produce -- ignores the rapidly increasing numbers of students who attend multiple colleges. "[A]n institution’s graduation rate is not what we truly care about," three of the center's staff members write. "What matters more is whether a student completes a degree anywhere in the system -- regardless of that student’s pattern of mobility."In the two papers, the center offers alternatives -- to complement, not replace, the existing approaches. In "Easy Come, EZ-GO," three researchers at the Institute for Higher Education Policy propose that the federal government seed an "educational zone" experiment. . . ."

9. NCPA Scholarship Shortfall Search: NCAA Forces College Athletes to Pay

"A study conducted by the NCPA and the Ithaca College Graduate Program in Sport Management reveals that NCAA rules force players to pay for thousands in educational-related expenses. Scholarship shortfalls are different from one college to the next so it is important for recruits to consider how much they are expected to pay at each school. The range of out-of-pocket expenses for a "full" scholarship student-athlete is $200/year to $10,962/year depending on the college....NCAA rules prevent all of its colleges from providing athletic scholarships that fully cover the price tag of the school better known as the cost of attendance. That leaves players on "full" scholarship with significant out-of-pocket expenses for education-related expenses such as various academic supplies and fees. This joint study revealed that, in 2009, student-athletes in Division I receiving a so-called "full" scholarship were left with an average scholarship shortfall of $2951/year, or $14,755 over five years. The NCAA formula for scholarships leaves very different shortfalls from one college to the next. The range in scholarship shortfalls is $200/year - $10,962/year. A full scholarship athlete at the University of Arkansas (Little Rock) would be expected to pay almost $55,000 over five years."

10. Fall College Tuition Costs Climbing Again, by Eric Gorski

"When adjusted for inflation, the tuition increases this fall amount to 6.6 percent at public four-year colleges and 3.2 percent at private ones, according to the College Board. Many students are finding relief in expanded federal aid, including tax credits, veterans' benefits and a record expansion of the Pell Grant program for low-income students. In 2009-10, 7.7 million students received $28.2 billion in Pell Grants - an increase of almost $10 billion from the year before, according to a companion College Board report, "Trends in Student Aid. "Even so, the maximum Pell grant covers just 34 percent of the average cost of attending a public four-year college, down from 45 percent two decades ago."


"Participating schools were graded in nine categories, include climate change and energy, green building and endowment transparency and then given an overall GPA. Schools were assessed according to public data as well as custom surveys sent out to campus officials and student organizations. Inside Higher Ed notes that this particular report card has caused some controversy among certain colleges because it takes into account transparency in its rankings. In July, 24 colleges issued a letter saying that they would not cooperate with the institute. Still, SEI's set of rankings is regarded as one of the most comprehensive assessments of campus sustainability. Along with the report, SEI launched a corresponding website, GreenReportCard.org, which features an interactive map, detailed profiles of each school and full answers to survey questions."

12. Tuition Over Time, 1999-2010 - Find An Institution

"The published price of college continued to climb in 2010-11, according to "Trends in College Pricing 2010," the newest installment in a series of annual reports issued by the College Board. To explore tuition trends at a particular college or university, start by choosing an institution type and a state, and then select an institution. You will then be able to compare its tuition and fees with those at other institutions, stretching back to 1999."

13. In Final Rules, Ed Dept. Makes Several Concessions to Colleges, by Kelly Field

‎"Under the revised rules, for-profit colleges would be required to notify the department when they create new programs, but only a small percentage of those programs would be subject to formal approval.The changes being announced today do not affect the even more unpopular "gainful employment" rule, which will not be published until next year. That rule, which would cut off federal student aid to programs whose graduates carry high student-debt burdens and have low loan-repayment rates, could force for-profits to shutter thousands of programs or lower their tuition considerably. But the revisions, which department officials discussed in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, do represent a rare bit of good news for a sector that has been on the defensive for months. Over the last year, for-profits have come under intense criticism from Congress and the Obama administration for their aggressive recruiting of students, high costs, and overdependence on federal aid."
14. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily for today's top stories on college admissions & financial aid in newsletter form -








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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

118. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. Banks spend big to sell credit cards to students, by Amy Haimeri

"In total, the report showed that credit card companies spent $82.4 million to net 53,164 new student accounts. The University of Notre Dame got the biggest payment of any school: Chase paid the school $1.8 million and in the end got 77 new borrowers. The school used the funds exclusively for financial aid, according to university spokesman Dennis Brown. Meanwhile, Bank of America spent $1.5 million on the University of Southern California campus to sell 659 new accounts."

2. Book Reviews: 'Don't Stalk the Admissions Officer' and 'I'm Going to College -- Not You,' by Rebecca R. Ruiz -

"Ms. Delahunty opens with some statistics, including that the largest high school class in American history will have graduated from 2008 to 2012. Taking the measure of today’s increased number of applicants, the fixed number of seats at top universities and the high ambitions of Baby Boomer parents for their children, Ms. Delahunty writes about the extreme parental stress of the admissions process, “the crucible of anxiety.” In the anthology, she seeks to capture the “tightrope parents must walk between ‘control freak’ and ‘friend.’” There are essays from mothers and fathers, each of them writers, professors or admissions staff members who have sent their children off to school."

3. High Stakes in Ohio - Inside Higher Ed:

"Many observers suspect that the structural and other changes that Strickland put in place could be scuttled by a new governor, either because they are too expensive (with the state facing an $8 billion budget shortfall) or because they're not his own. It is uncertain whether Kasich, were he to win, would retain Eric D. Fingerhut -- a close political ally of Strickland's who carries out his agenda as chancellor of the newly created University System of Ohio -- or replace him with his own right-hand man. Some college officials worry more generally that Kasich, as a budget hawk in Congress, would take a different approach to higher education funding given Ohio's financial mess, declining to favor colleges and students as Strickland has. Yet others say the chancellor’s long-term plans have enough traction and support in the legislature that people are worrying needlessly. Fingerhut himself says higher education is a bipartisan issue in Ohio."

4. Nine Best College Radio Stations, by Danielle Wiener-Bronner

‎"Saturday marked the wrap-up of this year's College Music Journal Music Marathon and Film Festival -- an event that packed venues large and small with fledgling artists and their fans for five days. In addition to live shows and screenings, CMJ offered panels and lectures for college radio stations, and bestowed a lucky few with annual station awards. Drawing from their selection, and adding stations that have earned critical and popular acclaim from other areas, we've compiled a list of nine excellent college radio stations. Do you agree with the list, or do you think we're off-key? Weigh in below."

5. Today's Jobs Demand Updated College Education, by Jim Spohrer, IBM

‎"Services are the largest sector of the economy in most industrialized nations, and are fast becoming the largest sector in emerging markets. More than 80 percent of the world's businesses offer services rather than just products, yet most universities are only slowly shifting their focus from primarily products and manufacturing. That has to change if colleges and universities are to graduate students qualified to take on today's challenges. For that reason, IBM has been working with universities for six years on a new academic discipline called Service Science, Management and Engineering, with the goal of studying, improving and teaching services innovation. SSME also calls for academia, industry, and governments to focus on becoming more systematic about innovation in the service sector.So far, 450 universities in more than 50 countries are teaching service science related courses or degree programs that combine disciplines including computer science, operational research, engineering. . . ."

6. Out of School, Out of Work, Out of Luck: The Youth Job Crisis, by Leo Hindery -

‎"Side by side with these unemployed workers for whom the challenge of reemployment is particularly high, however, are, as I said, five million youth who are desperately seeking initial employment. And this is not by any measure a static number, for each year, in recessions and in good times alike, another 6.4 million or so young people graduate from high school and college. Five million is a huge, unprecedented number of unemployed youth -- in recent past recessions it never exceeded 1.5 to 2 million -- and the reason that this issue is so important is because a young person's prolonged delay into his first job has career-long impacts which show up as more limited job skills, fewer subsequent promotions and thus much lower lifetime income."

7. Student Credit Cards: $83 Million Dollar Pay Off, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy -

"Last year credit card companies issued more than $83 million to universities, alumni associations and foundations, according to the Federal Reserve report, which was mandated by landmark federal legislation making it much tougher for students to obtain credit cards on college campuses. In 2009, 53,164 credit card accounts were opened thanks to these higher-ed agreements. The Federal Reserve counted more than 2 million credit cards still in use that were generated by these agreements over the years.In the report, 17 financial institutions revealed a total of 1,044 credit card agreements. Forty percent of the agreements were with schools and the next biggest source were alumni associations."

8. Merging Career Tech with College Prep: Why It's Succeeding, by Kathy Baron, Edutopia, in Education Week -

"This new approach, often called career and technical education (CTE), "represents the first substantive change in high schools since they were first created in the late 1800s," observes Nancy Farnan, director of the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University. Traditional high schools, with separate departments for each academic subject, have been around since 1893, when a task force known as the Committee of Ten, appointed by the National Education Association, released its report recommending how to standardize American high schools. CTE is almost diametrically opposite in its approach. It's all about fusion and collaboration; transforming the 3 R's from reading, writing and arithmetic, to rigor, relevancy and relationships -- among students, teachers and industry. Teachers work collaboratively to create a seamless curriculum that infuses English, math, science, and history with career skills in everything from green energy to health sciences."

9. How Far States Have to Go to Meet Obama's College-Completion Goal

"President Obama has set a goal of putting the United States first in the world by 2020 in the proportion of residents with college degrees or certificates. Here is a breakdown of the progress each state would have to make by 2020 to help meet that goal, if each state were to maintain its current share of undergraduate credentials. The calculations, by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, take into account current levels of educational attainment and projected population growth in each state."

10. Are the Ivies Worth The Price? by Sue Shellenbarger Choosing a College Unigo

‎"Old dreams of adult children earning degrees from elite, door-opening colleges or “legacy” schools attended by relatives are falling away in some families, in favor of a new pragmatism. Other parents and students are doing a tougher cost-benefit analysis of the true value of a pricey undergraduate degree. As parents wrestle privately with such emotional issues, many say they wish they’d begun years earlier to assess their values and priorities, long before their children’s college-decision deadline was upon them."

11. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily for today's top stories on college admissions & financial aid in newsletter form - http://paper.li/rottenbornj

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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

117. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. A Plea for More School Counselors, by Robert Bardwell

"If school counselors were used in more effective ways — and if there were more school counselors to help our students — then our graduation rates and college-going rates would improve, and our students would be better prepared to overcome the numerous obstacles standing in the way of their success. Research shows that comprehensive school counseling programs do indeed affect student success and achievement. Data also indicate that students who have access to quality school counseling do better on standardized achievement tests, one predictor of success in college. The percentage of students bound for higher education increases when they have access to highly trained school counselors who are not at lunch duty, completing paperwork or counting test booklets."

2. Advice for the College Interview: Girls, Dress Discreetly; Boys, Mind Those Hands, by Dave Marcus - http://nyti.ms/a5CAIN

“I’m surprised at the number of students who can’t easily articulate why they drove six hours to visit our campus,” David Kogler of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. “Was it our reputation? Did you like our mail? Grandma told you about us? You’re on your way to our chief competitor?”Any of those would at least start a dialogue, he says. When I do alumni interviews for Brown University, I look for a critical thinker, someone who has insatiable curiosity about everything from literature to science. Recently I started asking applicants to name their representative in Congress. I get quite a few dull stares. Same when I suggest that students discuss an article they’ve read in the past two days in a newspaper or magazine, in print or online.Oh, well. My questions rarely matter. Applicants don’t seem to realize that relatively brief alumni interviews hardly ever make or break a candidate’s case."

3. The New Community College Tuition Hike - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/brvVQ4

‎"Some of the college’s most popular programs, like nursing, which has a three-year waiting list, and avionics, would be among those charging a premium. Flores dismissed the notion that raising tuition for these programs might decrease student access to them.“The point is to guarantee access,” Flores said. “The access will be zero if the programs go away. I’m mindful of price elasticity and that some students might be shut out if the price goes too high.… But it’s a balancing act, and we’re a long way from shutting people out.”Flores also pitched another differential tuition idea to his board last month. He wants to give students who take any courses during “off-peak” hours a small tuition break. This, he said, would encourage better use of the college’s resources. Those taking courses during “peak” hours would just pay the standard tuition."

4. DIY U, Educational Access, and the New Elitism, by Anya Kamenetz http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anya-kamenetz/diy-u-educational-access_b_773239.html

‎". . .I have to believe that the large racial and economic gaps that persist in our educational system are the result of systematic inequality, not differences in innate ability. Therefore it follows that a massive injustice is being perpetuated on thousands of children who get crappy instruction in crappy schools and never get a decent chance to go to college, even though if you had stuck them in a top-flight public school from 1st grade they'd definitely be Ivy League material."

5. The Student Loan Disclosure Document That Every Borrower Needs to Read, by Zac Bissonnette - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zac-bissonnette/the-student-loan-disclosu_b_773222.html

‎"One of my greatest concerns about the way most students make their college financing decisions -- and one of the key reasons I wrote Debt-Free U: How I Paid For An Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, Or Mooching Off My Parents -- is this: Very, very few borrowers fully understand the potential ramifications of the loans that they are taking out. No effort is made to educate borrowers and while all borrowers do have to sign promissory notes; the disclosures are hopelessly inadequate. To help, I have put together my own disclosure document that I believe every single prospective college student should be required to read and sign before borrowing a dime to pay for college. I'm highly confident that Sallie Mae and financial aid offices around the country will adopt this disclosure statement immediately:"

6. Let's Stick to the Facts on For-Profit College Regulations, by Lanny Davis http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lanny-davis/lets-stick-to-the-facts-o_b_773305.html

"The new rules target only for-profit institutions, a relatively small section of higher education. And for reasons not explained by the DOE, it has made no effort at all to hold public and private non-profit colleges to any similar standard for student debt and repayment limitations and job placement outcomes -- particularly puzzling since these schools are subsidized by tens of billions of dollars of direct federal and state grants and are the beneficiaries of the largest share of federally-backed student loans. Even so, there remains a problem in the debate on this important issue that is fundamental -- and that is respect for the difference between ideology and facts. To put it bluntly and to paraphrase a well-known pundit, those who criticize for-profit schools are "entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts." In this spirit, I challenge three important "assertions of fact" by proponents of these regulations, including leaders at the DOE as well as some Democrats. . . ."

7. States Set Widely Varying 'Proficiency' Bars, by Sarah D. Sparks in Education Week - http://t.co/04RanJW

"The researchers used National Assessment of Educational Progress benchmarks to compare each state’s standards against the benchmarks for the same subjects used in two international assessments, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, or PIRLS, during 2007, the most recent year all three types of assessments were administered. Researchers then analyzed the percentage of students in each state who would meet minimum proficiency according to their state standards and the common international standards. Measured against the international benchmarks, the gaps between states for students were so great, the report notes, that the difference in actual proficiency between students in states with the most and least rigorous standards was double the national achievement gap between black and white students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2007, then about two grade levels."

8. To Save Students Money, Colleges May Force Switch to E-Texts, by Jeff R. Young http://chronicle.com/article/The-End-of-the-Textbook-as-We/125044/

‎"Here's the new plan: Colleges require students to pay a course-materials fee, which would be used to buy e-books for all of them (whatever text the professor recommends, just as in the old model). Why electronic copies? Well, they're far cheaper to produce than printed texts, making a bulk purchase more feasible. By ordering books by the hundreds or thousands, colleges can negotiate a much better rate than students were able to get on their own, even for used books. And publishers could eliminate the used-book market and reduce incentives for students to illegally download copies as well.Of course those who wanted to read the textbook on paper could print out the electronic version or pay an additional fee to buy an old-fashioned copy—a book. Some for-profit colleges, including the University of Phoenix, already do something like this, but the practice has been rare on traditional campuses."

9. Top Producers of U.S. Fulbright Students by Type of Institution, 2010-11 http://chronicle.com/article/Table-Top-Producers-of-US/125073/

‎1. U. of Michigan 40; 2. Yale U. 31; 3. Brown U. 24; 4. Stanford U. 24; 5. U. of Chicago 23.

10. Early, Rolling, Regular: When Should You Apply? by Ester Bloom - College Admission Deadlines Unigo http://t.co/zM9Lah9

"In my high school English class senior year, 14 out of 15 of us got into our first choice colleges. The only one who didn’t was the only one who did not apply early. Case closed? Not exactly. Some of my classmates regretted landing where they did, while the one girl who went to the state school she got into Regular Decision not only had a great time—she also managed to save a huge amount of money. The truth is, there is no one answer to the question of Early vs. Regular, and feel free to walk away from anyone who tries to tell you otherwise. What is right for you will depend on your unique combo of circumstances, ambitions, and constraints. Check out the different options broken down below."

11. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily for today's top stories on college admissions & financial aid in newsletter form - http://paper.li/rottenbornj






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Monday, October 25, 2010

116. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. Average College Debt Rose 6 Percent to $24,000 in 2009, by Jacques Steinberg - http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/debt-3/
"Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access & Success, the research and advocacy group that operates the debt project, provided a piece of advice worth passing on to readers of The Choice: “If you’re going to borrow, you should take out federal loans first, because federal student loans come with far more repayment options and borrower protections than other types of loans.”

2. So Far, So Good - Inside Higher Ed http://t.co/Yc68u2C
"Three and a half months after legislation took effect that ended the origination of student loans by banks, and several weeks into the first fall semester of the New World Order in student lending, even many who opposed what they saw as the Obama administration's heavy-handed push to kill the lender-based guaranteed student loan program acknowledge that the transition has gone smoothly. "They've done a good job," says John Dean, the longtime counsel to the Consumer Bankers Association, which fought the Obama proposal. "I'm not aware of a single student whose educational plan was disrupted because of the transition.... [Department officials] should be proud of what they did."

3. Recent US College Grad's Face Job Problems, by Andrew Sum - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-sum/the-labor-market-problems_b_768617.html

"Young college educated workers, particularly those 25 and under, however, have not fared very well over the past three years. They have experienced rising joblessness, underemployment, and malemployment problems (i.e., working in jobs that do not require a college degree). During the January-August period of 2010, we estimate that fewer than 50 of every 100 young B.A.-holders held a job requiring a college degree. The labor market difficulties of many young bachelor degree holders in the U.S. can best be seen in the types of jobs in which they were employed in the first eight months of the current calendar year. Of the 20 individual occupations employing the largest number of young, college graduates (25 and under), seven typically did not require any type of college degree to be employed. There were 175,000 young college graduates working as cashiers, retail clerks, and customer service representatives versus only 146,000 employed in all computer professional professions. . . ."

4. School Counselors Stretched at a Time When Needed Most, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/rrX5uoM

‎"Although the American School Counselor Association recommends a 250-to-1 ratio of students to school counselors, the national average is actually 457 (2008-09 school year). Click here to see how the individual states stacks up. The reason for the gap in the association's recommendations and reality? A combination of financially strapped schools and lack of mandates for counselors, says Jill Cook, assistant director at ASCA . "They are not as a big of a priority," she says. "When the budget gets tight, that's where the cuts are made. "Proper staffing is even more important today as the job of the school counselor has expanded to serve all students, says Cook. Rather just helping those with discipline problems or those headed to college, as was the case 20 years ago, counselors today are expected to work with all students on academic, career, and social issues. The options are now more varied, too, helping students with the transition to community college, four-year institutions, or work...."

5. It Pays to Comparison Shop When It Comes to College, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/IucUMst

"The takeaway for K-12: Guidance counselors should be aware of the variation in success rates at schools to help students make the best choices, says Schneider. "Students should be sent to schools with high graduation rates," he adds. "It really, truly matters. "In this research, two findings stand out. Attending a more selective school increases the student's payoff by an average of 6 percent to 11 percent. Among the public institutions, there was no big difference among those at the lowest level of selectivity. Second, public institutions have a consistent advantage over private not-for-profits at every level of selectivity. Any wage boost that students get from private colleges, on average, isn't enough to overcome the high cost of getting that degree, Schneider found. The findings are based on averages, and there was wide variation among schools at the same level."

6. Athletic fees are a large, and sometimes hidden, cost at colleges, by Daniel de Vise - http://t.co/p77a7JJ

"University leaders say that without the fee, they wouldn't be able to offer high-quality intercollegiate athletic programs. Schools with fewer students and deep-pocket donors have to charge correspondingly larger fees. "I have 4,800 students. If I raise [the fee] by one dollar, I get $4,800," said Kathy Worster, vice president for administration and finance at Longwood. School officials say they don't list individual fees on their Web sites out of concern for burying parents in minutiae. The schools generally report prices as a comprehensive fee - a single figure that represents everything a student should expect to pay. "What we're saying is, this is our total cost for our total experience," Worster said. Critics say parents might be surprised at how much of that cost goes toward athletics."

7. The Myth of the R.O.T.C. Ban, by Diane H. Mazur - http://nyti.ms/9c5yqf

"The answer is that in all my research on the subject, I have found no universities that ban R.O.T.C., nor has the military initiated action against any institution for banning the program. We have grown accustomed to saying there are bans only because it fits with the assumption that certain colleges are unfriendly to the military. It is true that many Ivy League colleges do not have R.O.T.C. detachments today. Forty years ago, the military started to close detachments in the Northeast and establish programs in the West and South."

8. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ http://paper.li/rottenbornj



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Friday, October 22, 2010

115. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. Your Comments on High-Octane Parents, and their Blessedly Decaffeinated Children, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/9uzzqd

‎"I’ve been moderating your comments on Dave Marcus’s essay, “A Father’s Acceptance: His Son Won’t Follow His Ivy Footsteps,” and I’m having a bit of trouble keeping up. So many of you have been prompted to tell heartfelt stories of your own families, and the divergent, oft-rocky paths taken by parent and child. It’s obvious that Mr. Marcus touched a nerve, and that many of you saw yourselves in what he wrote about his relationship with his son, Benjie. (By the way, Benjie reviewed the essay in advance and gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up, his father says.)By contrast, some of you had a dissenting view from Mr. Marcus, which we’ll get to in a moment.I can’t possibly do justice to all your comments — you’ve posted more than 70, and counting, and the entire stream is probably worth savoring over a cup of coffee — but I’ll try to touch on a representative sampling."

2. Student Debt and the Class of 2009 http://projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/classof2009.pdf

"College seniors who graduated in 2009 had an average of $24,000 in student loan debt, up 6 percent from the previous year, according to data released Thursday by the Project on Student Debt. At the same time, unemployment for recent college graduates climbed from 5.8 percent in 2008 to 8.7 percent in 2009 – the highest annual rate on record for college graduates aged 20 to 24."

3. For-Profit Lobbying Escalates - Inside Higher Ed http://t.co/k3cOgYV

‎"As federal scrutiny of the sector has spread from the U.S. Department of Education's in-the-weeds negotiated rule-making process last winter to the high-profile series of hearings by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that began in June, for-profit higher education has responded by spending increasingly more on lobbying the Education Department, the White House and members of Congress. From the first quarter of the year (January-March) to the third (July-September), based on Inside Higher Ed's analysis of public disclosure data, for-profits' federal lobbying spending nearly doubled, from slightly more than $1.3 million to just short of $2.6 million."

4. Changing Course - Inside Higher Ed http://t.co/cRc7JE4

"Some nonprofit institutions that partner with companies on online education have been careful to emphasize their commitment to keeping a wall between the business and technology of online course delivery and the actual instruction. “Some things, we would never turn over to the private sector,” Philip Regier, dean of Arizona State University’s online programs, said earlier this month, after his institution announced it was going into business with Pearson to help boost its online offerings. But Blackboard and K12 are betting that remedial education will be an exception. About 75 percent of first-year students at community colleges need at least one remedial course, according to a report released earlier this year by the The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. And yet the percentage of students who end up moving beyond such courses is typically less than half. Under the circumstances, it might be hard for faculty to reject outsourced courses on territorial grounds."

5. Somewhere Along the Line - Inside Higher Ed http://t.co/8kzMErN

"A greater share of students who began at higher levels of remediation -- in other words, those levels closest to “college-ready” -- were “of traditional college age when they entered community college,” and they “aspired to more ambitious academic goals,” “enrolled full time during their first year,” “completed college-level coursework beyond the [remediation] sequence,” and “transferred or completed a degree or certificate. ”At the other end of the spectrum, few students who began at the lower levels of remediation “completed the last course in the remedial sequence or beyond.” Black and Hispanic students “were overrepresented” in these lower levels."


"The report reveals that northeastern states have the highest concentration of debt, with averages across states ranging from $13,000 to $30,000. The report looked at graduates of private and public non-profit four-year colleges. Institute for College Access & Success President Lauren Asher told the New York Times that the "consistent growth in debt over the last few years really adds up." She said students should consider federal loans over private loans as they come with more repayment options and borrower protections."

7. New Measurements For Success At Community Colleges? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/21/new-measurements-for-succ_n_771488.html

"Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System currently publishes degree attainment for first-and full-time students who graduate within four years. Those who support a new means of measurement argue that the IPEDS falsely deflates the success of two year institutions by failing to report on students who transfer to a four year college before graduating, as well as on students who never intend to gain a degree (i.e. individuals who seek a certificate or retraining)....The study found that 50 percent of students who passed English classes within their first two years graduated, compared with only 20 percent of students who failed such courses, and that 55 percent of students who passed math classes in their first two years attained a degree -- as opposed to a graduation rate of 21 percent for those who did not earn passing marks. The report's authors contend that such figures should encourage states to make a nuanced effort to increase graduation rates. . . ."

8. Students Applying to More Colleges and More Online, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/myyrqtW via @educationweek

"The 2010 State of College Admission Report shows that nearly 75 percent of students now apply to three or more colleges, an increase of 14 percent in the past two decades. The percentage of students who submitted seven or more applications reached 23 percent last year, up from 9 percent in 1990. Although most colleges reported increases in the number of applications for fall 2009, the largest proportion since 1996 (29 percent) reported decreases. The process is becoming electronic. About 80 percent of four-year colleges and universities received applications online for the fall 2009 admission cycle, up from 72 percent in 2008, 68 percent in 2007, and 58 percent in 2006."


"At the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s annual conference last month, several counselors discussed what they described as an increasingly common scenario: students using a fast-track application to apply to a college that’s a member of the Common Application. In such cases, high schools cannot electronically submit students’ supporting documents—transcripts, secondary-school reports, and letters of recommendation—to colleges. Why not? Because a member college isn’t able to download those documents until (or unless) a student submits his or her application through the Common Application’s Web site. In other words, a student can bypass the Common Application’s system by submitting a fast-track app, but that student’s counselor cannot do the same. In those instances, counselors say they must send supporting documents through the mail— and they must rely on students to tell them that they’ve filed a fast-track app in the first place."

10. When Choosing A College, What Really Matters? by Abby McCartney Choosing a College Unigo http://t.co/tXRts1I

"The process of matching yourself to a school is different for everyone, and I’m no expert. But I’ve been through it a few times now, with myself, my friends, my sister, and her friends, and we all made a lot of the same mistakes. So, whether you’re compiling an initial list or making a final choice, here are some tips from someone who’s been there before. Three things that do not matter as much as I once thought:"





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Thursday, October 21, 2010

114. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. Over All, Colleges Accept an Average of 2 of 3 Applicants, by Jacques Steinberg on The Choice: Demystifying College - http://nyti.ms/brt1HG

‎"In its annual “State of College Admission” report, which is being released Wednesday afternoon, the National Association for College Admission Counseling has tallied a fresh statistic that underscores the above point: The average acceptance rate at four-year colleges and universities was 67 percent for last fall’s freshmen class. For those families fixated on the nation’s most selective colleges — some of which accepted fewer than 10 percent of those who applied last year — such figures are probably of little comfort. But for others seeking to take a broader view, that 67 percent acceptance rate should be of some solace."

2. A Father's Acceptance: His Son Won't Follow His Ivy Footsteps, by Dave Marcus - http://nyti.ms/asjPrF

"For seven years, I’ve crisscrossed the country, discussing what I learned while writing two books about teenagers. Help your children find their hidden talents, I advise parents. Teach your children to be independent. Don’t live your dreams through your son or daughter.... Somewhere in my files, I have a photo of my son, Benjie, and me on the steps of the admissions office of my alma mater, Brown University. We were framed by glowing yellow forsythia, and I was beaming. Benjie was two weeks old."

3. Measuring 2-Year Students' Success - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/awMeel

‎"Supporters and critics of community colleges alike question the merits of the primary success metric currently produced by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System: the "federal graduation rate," the completion rate for first-time, full-time students who earn credentials within 150 percent (recently changed to 200 percent) of the generally accepted amount of time it takes to complete. (In other words, four years for a two-year degree, and eight years for a four-year degree.) Supporters say the current data don't reflect the good work the colleges do, failing to account for the many students who transfer to four-year institutions without degrees, and the many students who come to the institutions for something less than a degree -- a certificate, or even just some retraining -- and get what they wanted. Critics argue that better data would simply provide clearer evidence that community colleges are failing in their mission, reinforcing what are terribly low completion rates. . . ."

4. Early Decision Bounces Back - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/aq0xAh

"During 2009, 47 percent of colleges reported an increase in the number of early decision applications they received, about the same proportion as the previous two years. But 65 percent of colleges with early decision reported admitting more students through the process in 2009, compared to only 43 percent reporting such increases the year before. And the gap is growing between the admissions rates for early decision and regular applicants at the same institutions. Colleges with early decision admit on average 55 percent of all applicants, but 70 percent of early decision applicants.In another data point on the return of early decision, in 2009 only 5 percent of colleges with the option reported admitting fewer applicants that way than they did the year before. In each of the previous three years, more than 30 percent of colleges reported such a shift."


"According to the American Council on Education's analysis of 2008 data, 33 percent of men aged 25 to 34 hold postsecondary degrees, compared to 40 percent of men aged 55 to 64. Women, on the other hand, continue to exceed older generations in levels of higher education -- 42 percent of 25 to 34 year old females have a college degree, as opposed to 34 percent of those aged 55 to 64. This pattern is consistent across ethnic groups, with the exception of Asian-Americans, for whom both younger men and women earn undergraduate degrees at higher rates than their older counterparts."

6. The Latest Scoop on College Admissions, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy http://t.co/OEtFKI9

"The number of graduating high school students peaked at 3.3 million in 2009 while at the same time the recession made it more difficult for families to afford colleges. Higher-ed observers had predicted that students would limit their college choices and, sure enough, a significant minority of colleges have experienced that retrenchment. Twenty nine percent of colleges and universities said they experienced a drop in applications in 2009. That is the largest number of colleges to report fewer applications than at any time since 1996."

7. 10 Reasons to Attend Canadian Universities, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/hJVul1N

". . .To help get some answers about Canadian colleges, I sought out Whitney Laughlin, a veteran college consultant who is a leading expert on universities north of the border. Here are 10 reasons why Laughlin, who has offices in Santa Fe, NM, and Victoria, British Columbia, believes American teenagers should explore universities in Canada."

8. Early-Decision Programs May Lift Odds of College Admission, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/9RwQk3

"A report released Wednesday by an association of guidance counselors and admissions officers could be worth a look. It provides new evidence for those who believe that applying to college early in the academic year — or, more specifically, submitting applications under binding early-decision programs — increases the likelihood of acceptance. Nearly three of every four students who applied last year under such programs, which are offered by many of the nation’s most selective colleges, were accepted, compared with just over half who applied to the same colleges in the main application round, according to the annual report, “The State of College Admission,” by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. All told, the percentage accepted last year in the early-decision round, in which those accepted are compelled to withdraw all other applications and enroll, was 15 points higher than in the main phase. And that gap is rising, the authors said. In fall 2006, 61 percent, on average, were accepted early, compared with 53 percent in the regular pool."

9. The Economy and College Admissions, by Beckie Supiano http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/the-changing-state-of-college-admissions/27569

"During the 2009 cycle, the number of students graduating from high school in the United States reached a peak of 3.33 million; the number of high-school graduates is projected to decline through 2014-15. In recent years, many colleges have seen their application numbers increase as more students graduated from high school and as students applied to more colleges. This year, 65 percent of colleges reported an increase in the number of applications received. But despite the peak number of high-school graduates, 29 percent of colleges reported a drop in the number of applications they received, the highest share reporting a decline since 1996. That finding, the report’s authors suggest, could be the result of changed student behavior because of the recession. In a survey the association conducted last year, many counselors reported that more students were considering two-year colleges or were looking at public colleges rather than private ones because of cost considerations."
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

113. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. For family of high-achieving kids, only one holds the keys to college - http://bit.ly/ditHuL #cnn

"This month, Javier faced a new barrier in his quest to attend college -- something Emily will never have to worry about. He had just celebrated completing his application to Georgia State University when he learned the University System of Georgia passed a policy that prohibits five public universities from taking undocumented students. Georgia State University is one of them. Georgia law also bars undocumented students from receiving in-state tuition.Georgia is one of three states that prohibit undocumented students from accessing in-state tuition rates, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. One state, South Carolina, completely bans undocumented students from all public universities. In contrast, 11 states make access to college easier for illegal immigrants by allowing them to receive in-state tuition. New Mexico and Texas also help undocumented students by providing state financial aid, the state legislatures group reported."

2. Hearing the Voice of a 51-Year-Old Man in the Essay of a 17-Year-Old Girl by Rachel Toor - http://nyti.ms/b2aIcl

‎"Parents who have raised good kids should trust them. Because the essay is not an essential part of the process, and frankly, because most admissions officers know that they don’t know whose fingerprints are all over it, parental interference — except by people who really do know how to write — can be more demoralizing and divisive than useful.It’s hard to come up with good topics. Parents who haven’t had the benefit of reading thousands of essays don’t know the clichés of the genre and steer children away from anything that might be “risky,” though essays that deal with hard stuff — sex, drugs, religion, family strife — are often the most affecting. I can understand how difficult it is for parents not to be able to advise their children. But in this case, my advice is to step back and let them express themselves. If you’ve done a good job, so will they."

3. Keeping Quiet About a Daughter’s College Choices by Caren Osten Gerszberg - http://nyti.ms/bRmGOE

"Last December, I wrote a post about secrecy during the college application process. I had come across several parents in my community who felt it was important to keep secret the names of the colleges where their child — who in some cases was not the same year in school as mine — was applying. While I accepted this practice as a sign of our competitive, helicopter-parenting times, it still seemed like a foreign notion to me. When it’s my daughter’s turn, I thought, I’m going to shout it from the rooftops. It hasn’t exactly turned out that way. Fast forward nearly a year, and I’m the one keeping the secret. I’m not really comfortable with the idea, but it makes more sense to me now. And out of respect for my daughter and her desired privacy, I must oblige."


"Closing the educational gaps among racial/ethnic groups and by gender is essential for raising the education level of the overall U.S. population. However, the 2009 supplement finds that gaps among these groups remain substantial, and for some races/ethnicities the younger generation is less likely to attain college degrees than its predecessors. Other highlights include: the high school completion rate for young people has been at a standstill, while college enrollment gaps have widened among racial/ethnic groups during the past two decades."

5. Golden State's Transfer Guarantee - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/9JG5dB

"The new legislation charges California community college districts to develop and grant associate degrees explicitly meant for transfer. It stipulates that these degrees should consist of 60 credit hours, all of which must be eligible for transfer to CSU. The degrees must consist of courses to meet the CSU general edu...cation breadth requirement. Also, at least 18 credit hours should be within a single major or area of interest. The legislation explicitly states that no additional local graduation requirements may be added. Under the California law, if a student completes one of these associate degrees with at least a 2.0 grade point average, then CSU must guarantee him admission with junior status. The legislation states that students with these degrees should be given priority admission, ahead of those who transfer without such a credential. There is, however, a catch. Admission to specific majors or campuses is not guaranteed. . . ."

6. Proctor or Gamble - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/b3yAgG

"So the results of a new meta-study on cheating, published in this fall’s edition of the Journal of Distance Learning Administration, might come as no surprise: Online courses that rely heavily on unproctored, multiple-choice exams are at greater risk of being cheated on than similar face-to-face courses, the study concluded. And while there are mechanisms available to forfend dishonesty in online exams, they can be costly and inconvenient, and may not be widely used. The meta-study, conducted by researchers at University of Connecticut and Union Graduate College, looked at three prior studies examining cheating as it applies to online courses versus face-to-face, and three studies that looked at cheating as it applies to proctored exams compared to unproctored ones. “The six studies, considered as a group, imply cheating risk is less correlated with instructional format (online v. face-to-face), and more correlated with unproctored online assessments,” the authors write."

7. Clean the Slate: Michael Mazer wanted forgiveness - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/9mUPGl

"Though Mazer said he had changed, and had a newfound appreciation for learning and for the value of a college degree since dropping out of Camden all those years ago, his transcript remained exactly the same. The two Ds and an F he’d earned in politics and history classes back then meant that even if he earned all As for the remainder of his time at Camden, he could do no better than a 3.5 grade point average.But, for Mazer, forgiveness came in the form of a pamphlet he read as he sat waiting to meet with his adviser for the first time. It detailed the college’s Academic Forgiveness Program, which allows students who haven’t been enrolled at the college for at least five years to exclude previously earned grades below a C from their cumulative G.P.A. The past classes don’t disappear from the record entirely; they remain on college transcripts but come with a notation that they’ve not been factored in the official G.P.A."

8. 'The Lost Soul of Higher Education' - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/cgs9SX

‎"Let me begin with three (or at least two and a half) cheers for American higher education. For all its flaws – and they are many – it is still a remarkably diverse, exciting, and innovative enterprise that not only stretches the boundaries of our knowledge and broadens the American mind, but also serves as the main source of social mobility within the United States. That said, it is also a system that reflects and to some extent increases the inequalities within our society. Its flaws, it must be noted, do not stem from some uniquely academic shortcomings, but are the product of larger social and political forces. In other words, our universities are mirrors of our society. So, if we are seeing an increasingly inegalitarian, competitive, and stressed-out academic community, welcome to the world of 21st century America.The issue, of course, is money. Since the financial crunch of the late 1960s and 1970s, American colleges and universities have worried about their bottom lines."

9. 10 steps to take if you can't pay your student loan bills - http://b.globe.com/bM4Oon

"Boston-based nonprofit American Student Assistance offers these 10 things you should know about your student loan payments if you're unemployed - or barely getting by."

10. Higher One: The Next College Campus Rip-Off? http://t.co/KWCVn1F

"About 1.2 million students now possess Higher One cards with a MasterCard logo that bears the name of their college. Despite the MasterCard logo, these cards are not credits cards. The Higher One cards allow students to tap into their financial aid money to make purchases for anything they want from textbooks to six-packs. Many students take out students loans in excess of tuition and room and board to pay for such things as textbooks and living expenses. Colleges have routinely issued checks to the students for the excess amounts. Now students at many campuses are being told to access their money through these Higher One cards."

11. In Digital Age, Students Still Cling to Paper Textbooks by Lisa W. Foderaro - http://nyti.ms/99nku8

"Textbooks are expensive — a year’s worth can cost $700 to $900 — and students’ frustrations with the expense, as well as the emergence of new technology, have produced a confounding array of options for obtaining them. Internet retailers like Amazon and Textbooks.com are selling new and used books. They have been joined by several Web services that rent textbooks to students by the semester. Some 1,500 college bookstores are also offering rentals this fall, up from 300 last year. . . . According to the National Association of College Stores, digital books make up just under 3 percent of textbook sales, although the association expects that share to grow to 10 percent to 15 percent by 2012 as more titles are made available as e-books. In two recent studies — one by the association and another by the Student Public Interest Research Groups, a national advocacy network — three-quarters of the students surveyed said they still preferred a bound book to a digital version."

12. Educational Difficulties of Men & Immigrants Hinder Efforts to Improve College Attainmt http://chronicle.com/article/Educational-Difficulties-of/125015/

"The overarching finding of this report is that the United States is no longer gaining ground in the educational attainment of its population from one generation to the next," Molly Corbett Broad, the council's president, said at a recent news conference to discuss the report's findings. "In general, each generation of younger women in the United States is continuing to reach higher levels of attainment, while that of younger men is falling," Ms. Broad said.Nearly all of the gains among women are being driven by those who are white or Asian-American, says the report, the 24th edition of "Minorities in Higher Education" issued by the council. The gains being made by black and Hispanic women are not nearly as large, and, on the whole, members of those two minority groups in the 25-to-34 age bracket have lower college attainment rates than they did a generation ago, according to the report, which can be purchased on the council's Web site."

13. 'Full Ride' Athletic Scholarships Sue Shellenbarger answers readers' Questions - http://on.wsj.com/bYng1i

"Less than 1% of all athletic scholarships are "full rides" covering all of a student's costs, including tuition, room and board, books and fees, says Dion Wheeler, a scout for the National Collegiate Scouting Association. The largest number of full scholarships go to Division I football players, where a coach is permitted a maximum of 85 scholarship athletes on the team. While coaches don't have to give full rides in football, "it is likely that if you get one, it will be a full ride," says Mr. Wheeler, author of a 2009 book on the topic, "The Sports Scholarship Insider's Guide." Smaller numbers of scholarship athletes are permitted in men's and women's basketball and ice hockey, and in women's gymnastics, tennis and volleyball, Mr. Wheeler says. In Division II sports and other Division I sports, such as track and field, scholarships may be split among any number of athletes; while full-ride awards can be given, they are usually reserved for top recruits coaches consider "must-haves," . . . ."

14. How to Tame College Costs—It's Not Just Tuition by Anna Prior WSJ http://on.wsj.com/anDUxh

‎"With all the added costs associated with the academic side of college, it can pay greatly to look for ways to cut back in different areas of college life. According to the College Board, students at four-year universities spent an average of about $12,500 for the 2009-10 school year on things not related to tuition and fees. Here are five areas where you can cut college costs."


"Earlier this year, Forbes named Sarah Lawrence College as the most expensive school in America, with tuition, room and board adding up to $57,556. But what are the most expensive schools in the country when you just look at tuition costs? Campus Grotto ranked 100 of them. See the top 13 most expensive colleges according to tuition prices below, and for the full list, check out Campus Grotto."


"Now, imagine I'm taking a philosophy course online as part of my degree program. I'm just beginning a unit on epistemology, the study of knowledge and how we justify our beliefs. In my classroom, I've built a detailed profile, and I've been a student for 6 months, so the systems knows a good bit about me: I enjoy working in a learning team, I prefer podcast to video content, my GPA is .5 away from my goal, and, well, I struggle to turn things in on time. At the end of the unit, I am to write a reflection David Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. My instructor has offered an introduction to epistemology, and now it's time to dive into the material. My hyper-personalized online classroom directs me to the text, which I read in sections, rating each one to mark my level understanding. With my cursor, I hover over unfamiliar words to reveal their meaning and make electronic notes in the margin. The system remembers which words stumped me and refreshes my memory in game-style...."



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