254.Unstack the Odds--GO TO COLLEGE: LINKS

Unstack the Odds: Help All Kids Access College—and Graduate!
by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

20. GO TO COLLEGE: LINKS

Here are some other links to articles of interest, drawn from the Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP) blog, with the original posting number shown.

Miscellaneous:

48. 2010 Admission Rates
To see what percentage of all applicants were accepted to a number of public and private universities, click this link to The New York Times:http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010-admissions-tally/

To read the comments of Kevin Carey on admission rates, see his blog-post of April 19, 2010, entitled "Real College-Acceptance Rates Are Higher Than You Think," at this link:http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Real-College-Acceptance-Rates/23231/

To read a summary of the various guides that "rank" colleges, click on the post "Which College Rankings Set Should You Use," by Danielle Wiener-Bronner on The Huffington Post of 9/14/10, at this link:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danielle-wienerbronner/which-college-rankings-se_b_716526.html

56. Wait-List
Sometimes, a college or university won't either accept or reject a student's application for admission--rather, it will put them on its "wait-list." These lists can range in size from hundreds to thousands of students who still await a decision on their application's acceptance or rejection. Many students will opt not to keep a place on the wait-list and, instead, decide to accept another school's offer of admission. Other applicants, however, decide to remain on the wait-list until they hear, one way or the other, if they will be asked to enroll. To read Lynn O'Shaughnessy's blog-post "Getting Off a College Wait List: 5 Things to Do Now," click this link: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/getting-off-a-college-wait-list-things-to-do-now/1846/?tag=col1;blog-river

To read "The Early Line on Admission Yields (and Wait-List Offers)," by Jacques Steinberg in his blog of May 12, 2010, for The New York Times, click this link: http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/yield-3/#more-20099

65. Graduation Rates in Ohio
As the cost of college increases, more attention is being paid to the percentage of students who graduate from particular schools. A report entitled "Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don’t)," dated June 2009, was written by Frederick M. Hess, Mark Schneider, Kevin Carey, and Andrew P. Kelly as A Project of the American Enterprise Institute. Using 6-year percentages reported by the colleges and universities to the U. S. Department of Education for the student cohort enrolling in 2001, the authors compared graduation rates by various levels of schools' selectivity, according to groupings in Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges. The 6-year graduation rates for colleges and universities in Ohio from this report (pp. 59-61) have been copied and pasted below in this link to our MVCAP blog. The entire report can be accessed at this link:http://www.reducemycollegecosts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/graduation-rates-for-all-states-6-091.pdf

66. Transfer Admissions
Many students--approximately 1/3--will transfer from one college to another before graduating. The criteria used for transfer admissions can be different from those employed for high school seniors and can vary from private to public institutions. So, too, can admissions rates differ. A report by the National Association for College Admission Counseling discusses these topics; you can read an article from Inside HigherEd on this report at the following link:http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/04/27/transfer

67. College-Going Rates
The U.S. Department of Labor indicated on April 27, 2010, that the percentage of high-school graduates going on to college is rising. In 1999, 62.9% matriculated to higher education, while 68.6% did so in 2008. By 2009, 70.1% of U.S. graduates (ages 16-24) opted for postsecondary education. Rates varied by gender, with 66% of males matriculating compared to 73.8% of females from the high school Class of 2009.To read Sara Murphy's article, "Grads Head to College In Record Numbers," from The Wall Street Journal of April 28, 2010, click this link:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703832204575210244203411342.html?mod=e2tw

68. Who Graduates in Four Years?
To determine the impact of advising by the Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP), names from its electronic database (in the software Prep HQ) of former advisees in the Class of 2004—the first loaded online—were submitted to the Ohio College Access Network (OCAN) to check matriculation and graduation rates with the National College Clearinghouse data. Results can be seen at this link to our MVCAP blog.

To read the article "College students take longer to graduate," by Cliff Peale in The Cincinnati Enquirer on May 3, 2010, which lists cohort graduation rates of Cincinnati-area colleges and universities, click this link:http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100503/NEWS0102/5030326/College+students+take+longer+to+graduate
70. Space Availability Survey 2010
For those high school seniors or prospective transfer students still looking for a college, the Space Availability Survey Results 2010--issued on May 5, 2010, by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)--may be of interest and assistance; to access it, just click this link: http://www.nacacnet.org/PublicationsResources/Research/SpaceAvailabiltySurvey/Pages/SpaceSurveyResults.aspx
72. To-Do List Before Leaving for College
High school seniors heading off to college in the fall have much to do before they leave; at this link is a list of 10 things to do from the Admission Possible blog:http://blog.admissionpossible.com/uncategorized/seniors-about-to-become-college-students-10-things-you-can-do-to-get-ready-for-college/

74. Remedial Coursework
Many community colleges and public universities give admitted students tests on math and reading before they enroll. If scores are not at the school's standard, remedial courses must be completed before college-level coursework can be taken. To read an article from USA Today about the need for remedial math and reading in U.S. higher education, click this link:http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-05-11-remedial-college_N.htm

75. Is a College Degree Essential?
Many students--and their parents--wonder whether everyone really needs a college degree. Given the time, effort, and money involved, many are unsure if college is right--or necessary--for them. Well, each student's situation is unique: what is their best fit in the world of higher education and careers? For one article on this question, from the Associated Press on May 14, 2010, click this link:http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/may/14/is-college-degree-essential/

For an extended version of the same article, click this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/college-for-all-experts-s_n_575396.html