293. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Colleges boost student fees to fill gaps in state funding, by Mary Beth Marklein - http://t.co/a1pYDOo via @USATODAY - "Colleges are tacking on mandatory student fees at a time when state funding is dwindling and public universities are trying to hold the line on tuition."

2. Pell as a Paycheck, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/pHk5gG - "Many students use the check to pay for their books, or to buy a laptop or other equipment to use during their studies. For others, it covers living expenses while they are enrolled. A new project from the Institute for College Access and Success and MDRC, a policy research organization, wants to use the leftover money in a different way: as a biweekly paycheck for students."

3. Promoting Educational Opportunity: The Pell Grant Program at Community Colleges - http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Publications/Briefs/Pages/pb07212011.aspx - "In this brief, we examine the historical and programmatic nature of the Pell Grant program and investigate how it has come to form trends over time. Underlying the examination is the use and importance of the program to college students, with a focus on those attending community colleges."

4. Obscure Colleges That Produce Highly Paid Graduates, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/rhG743d via @cbsmoneywatch - "If you look at the schools producing the highest paid graduates, many of them are earning diplomas from places that you’ve never heard of. . . . You don’t have to attend a top university to earn a great salary. What you major in can be even more important than where you get that degree."

5. Debt Ceiling Victims: Colleges Could Be Forced to Close, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/flG1YFb via @cbsmoneywatch - “If Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling, the government will not be able to make new federal education loans and it is very likely that all other federal student aid programs, including the Pell Grant, will be eliminated. Most colleges would be forced to lay off some faculty and staff and many colleges would be forced to close. It would be nothing short of a national disaster, and one of man-made origin.”

6. A Sleepaway Camp Where Math Is the Main Sport, by Rachel Cromidas - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/nyregion/a-sleepaway-camp-for-low-income-ny-math-whizzes.html?_r=1&hpw - "She and 16 other adolescents are spending three weeks at Bard College here in a free, new camp for low-income students gifted in mathematics. All are entering eighth grade at New York City public middle schools where at least 75 percent of the student body is eligible for free lunches. And all love math."

7. Summer learning program seeks to close opportunity gap, by Emma Brown -http://t.co/P9F7muI via @washingtonpost - “There’s a real disconnect between how much we know about the negative impact of summer learning loss and what is actually being done in terms of policy and programming,” he said. “We spend nine months, from September through May or June, devoting enormous amounts of time and energy — not to mention resources — to promoting student achievement and learning. And then we step away for three months and allow a good portion of those gains to be lost.”

8. The 13 Worst-Paying College Majors: PayScale List - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/28/the-13-worst-paying-colle_n_911809.html#s317428&title=Children_and_Family - "Salary data site PayScale calculated the dirt on the best and worst-paying college degrees in their annual salary survey and, according to its findings, the latter career paths include things having to do with art, children and social services."

9. Common App available Aug 1st, by Jolyn Brand - http://t.co/o2kWjJj - "This year, the Common Application will be available on Aug 1st for students applying to college admissions Fall 2012. The most obvious change is the addition of a word requirement to the personal statements. Students will now be limited to 500 words.Other changes include questions about language proficiency, parents' marital status will now have an option for 'civil unions", and revised language on disciplinary problems.The Common App will also be avaiable via smartphone!"

292. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. The Problem With In-State Tuition, by Roger Pielke Jr. - http://chronicle.com/article/The-Problem-With-In-State/128371/ - ". . . Of Colorado-Boulder's approximately 26,000 undergraduates, two-thirds are Colorado residents who will pay about $7,700 in tuition for the 2011-12 school year. The other third—out-of-state residents—will pay about $29,000 per year. The result is that almost two-thirds of the university's total tuition revenue comes from one-third of its students. Thus, the financial viability of the institution depends upon securing a large proportion of nonresidents, which creates incentives to favor their admission. That is contrary to the very purpose of in-state tuition, which is to favor Colorado residents."

2. Calif. law opens private aid to illegal students - http://t.co/ULwe67B via @USATODAY -"Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed a bill that will let students who entered the country illegally receive private financial aid at California's public colleges, even as debate continues over a more contentious bill that would allow access to public funding."

3. Top Chef Dreams: Are Cooking Schools a Rip-Off? by Kayla Webley - http://t.co/HiruKHW via @TIME - "And the students flocking to attend culinary schools are paying a pretty penny. According to data recently released by the Department of Education, tuition at a culinary school can run students upward of $30,000. For example, the Le Cordon Bleu (LCB) branch in Orlando charges $35,130 for its 21-month associates degree in Culinary Arts. Thanks in part to that hefty price tag, LCB's parent company, the aforementioned Career Education Corporation, has seen their profits balloon. Last year the company reported a revenue of $1.84 billion, a 63% increase from 2007.
But the numbers aren't as good for students at culinary schools. Many enroll sold on the idea of being a chef, but wake up to the harsh reality of low-paying line cook jobs and mountains of debt upon graduation."

4. Where private foundations award education cash, by Valerie Strauss - The Answer Sheet - http://t.co/PjIIjmD via @washingtonpost - "If the foundations were supporting policies that were known to be successful, there would likely be a lot less angst at their unprecedented — and in some cases, hands-on — involvement in federal education policy, but they aren’t. That they are pursuing strategies that are not helpful and are in some areas harmful makes their questionable involvement even worse."

5. The Most Insane Cut, by Jose Cruz - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jose-cruz/pell-grant-cuts_b_906529.html - "I call it the most insane cut. Why? By age 24, the children of the wealthy are 10 times more likely to have a college degree than the children of the poor. Over the past three decades, college tuition and fees have grown at four times the rate of inflation. Against that alarming backdrop, Pell remains an essential ladder for hard-working students of modest means who seek a degree, a better life, and a chance to contribute to their communities."

6. An Introduction To Student Loans And The FAFSA, by Ross Williams - http://t.co/FX6FEqC via @sfgate - "In the United States the federal government acts as a central point in accessing financial aid for education. Therefore, for any type of financial aid (loans, grants, work-study or even parental loans) you must fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) . . . . You must also fill out an FAFSA form if you wish to apply for most state and school funded programs including college loans, state-funded grants and tuition assistance initiatives."

291. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories
about college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Recession worsens racial wealth gap, by Ben Rooney - http://t.co/i7LDA0A via @CNNMoney - "The wealth gap in the United States has grown wider in the wake of the Great Recession, with black and Hispanic American households faring much worse than white households, according to a study published Tuesday.The study, from 2009 data compiled by the Pew Research Center, found the median wealth of white households was 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households."

2. 'Class Dismissed' by Serena Golden - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/nCdWHR - "What I learned — and what I wanted to convey in the book — is the unsettling truth that if people truly care about lessening poverty and economic inequality, they should forget about education."

3. A Partial G.I. Bill Fix, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/q22v8C - "Veterans currently attending private colleges and universities that charge more than $17,500 in tuition and fees won’t see their tuition spike next month after all, after Congress approved a change to the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill on Monday night. But veterans using their benefits to attend public universities in states where they are not residents might still have to come up with thousands of dollars on their own to pay for their studies after Aug. 1."

4. Iron Cage of Accountability, By Douglas Dempster and Steven J. Tepper - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/raRUIO - "Surprisingly, 8 of the top 10 highest net-price schools are art schools (fine art, design, theater, dance) or music conservatories. In fact, almost every major private art school in America is listed in the top 5 percent of most expensive colleges in the United States."

5. Recession Study Finds Hispanics Hit the Hardest, by Sabrina Tavernise - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/us/26hispanics.html?_r=1&src=rechp - "The share of Americans with no wealth at all rose sharply during the recession. A third of Hispanics had zero or negative net worth in 2009, up from 23 percent in 2005. For blacks, the portion rose to 35 percent from 29 percent, and for whites, it rose to 15 percent from 11 percent. About a quarter of all black and Hispanic households owned nothing but a car in 2009. Just 6 percent of whites and 8 percent of Asians were in that situation."

6. 'It Gets Better,' Harvard Education School Tells Gay Teens, by Don Troop - http://chronicle.com/article/It-Gets-Better-Harvard/128397/ - "Adolescent bullying and harassment are central concerns of education schools, but the institutions rarely have an opportunity to speak directly to the perpetrators and victims. In a poignant video that will be unveiled on Tuesday, several students, staff members, and administrators of Harvard University's Graduate School of Education do their best to change that, describing the traumas they endured as gay and lesbian youths and the triumphs they have enjoyed since then as their careers and personal lives have flourished. The video is part of the It Gets Better Project, which the gay columnist Dan Savage started last September with his husband, Terry Miller, in the wake of a wave of suicides by teenagers who had been bullied for being gay or being suspected of it."

7. The 13 Best-Paying College Majors: PayScale List - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/the-best-paying-majors-pa_n_909472.html#s316047&title=Petroleum_Engineering - "You've worked hard in your major, now how will your major pay you back? According to salary data site PayScale, engineers of many different stripes are poised to earn the most money over the course of their careers. At mid-career, the average petroleum engineer earns a whopping $155,000 per year (perhaps more if he or she went to Princeton). Below, check out which other majors pay off over time."

8. Campus Progress Presents The History Of The Pell Grant - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/25/campus-progress-presents-_n_908937.html -"Campus Progress has handily put together a history of the diminishing Pell Grant as a handy infographic. Can you believe that in 1972, the Pell Grant covered almost the entire cost of a student's education?"

9. Education summit begins today, by Dar Danielson - http://www.radioiowa.com/2011/07/25/education-summit-begins-today/ - "Duncan says is we are serious about closing the achievement gap, how we integrate technology into learning 24-seven is important as he says we have been “far too slow to move.” He says other countries are already moving ahead with the use of technology in education."

10. Possible cuts in Pell grants raises alarms in college sports, by Andy Gardner - http://usat.ly/p43snm via @USATODAY - "Pell Grants are usually part of a larger financial aid package for students, including athletes. They can be particularly important to athletes in sports outside of football and basketball where full scholarships are not typically awarded.The program, begun more than 30 years ago to help make college more accessible to low-income students, awarded more than 8 million students nearly $30 billion in aid in 2009-10. Grants are awarded on a need basis with the current annual limit of $5,500. The Department of Education estimated that 76% of those recipients had a total family income at or below $30,000."

290. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Separate but Equal? by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/p7xxKG - "But part of Peace College's announcement was quite different from the pattern: the college announced that once it admits men, some courses will remain single sex. The official announcement said that "the new coeducational institution will continue to be student-centered. One way is ... to offer select single-gender courses in targeted disciplines where research shows that women and men learn differently and that each benefit from a single-gender classroom. As a coeducational institution, all classes will be accessible to all students."

2. Does Performance Funding Work? by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/qg9Cur - "Based on that premise, several states -- including Ohio and Indiana -- have altered their formulas for allocating state funds in recent years, but those programs are too new to offer any evidence of their efficacy. But several other states have had performance-funding programs in place for much longer, and in a paper released this spring at the annual meeting of the Association for Institutional Research, two scholars studied Tennessee's -- the country's "oldest and most stable performance funding program" -- for insights into how such programs affect retention and graduation rates. Not very much, the authors report."

3. 20 Things High School Seniors Should Be Doing Now, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/pogJ1cX via @cbsmoneywatch - "Time is running out for high school seniors, who will soon be overwhelmed with college applications. Teenagers will be less stressed if they take advantage of the last month of summer to get a jump on the college admission process. Here are 20 things they can be doing now:"

4. College Bound: Efforts to Save Pell Grants From Cuts Ramp Up, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/8L2sC2j via @educationweek - "Advocates have dubbed July 25 "Save Pell Day" to draw attention to potential reductions in the federal program that gives grants to needy students to attend college. A website dedicated to the cause encourages supporters to send elected officials tweets and emails asking them to fund the $5,550 maximum Pell Grant. The site also asks students to use blogs and Facebook to share information on the potential impact of Pell cuts."

5. South Korea to Replace All Paper Textbooks With Digital Content http://t.co/VKOLwHd via @educationweek - "France, Singapore, Japan and others are racing to create classrooms where touch-screens provide instant access to millions of pieces of information. But South Korea—Asia's fourth-largest economy—believes it enjoys an advantage over these countries, with kids who are considered the world's savviest navigators of the digital universe."

6. Amazon to Start Renting Out Electronic College Textbooks, by Christopher F. Schuetze - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/us/25iht-EDUCBRIEFS25.html?src=recg - "The company announced last week that electronic versions of textbooks would be available for rent for periods of between 30 and 360 days. Once books are rented, the lending period can be extended by as little as a day. “Tens of thousands of textbooks are available for the 2011 school year,” according to a press release from Amazon, from publishers including John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis. Amazon claims that rentals can save students up to 80 percent compared with the original price.

7. R.O.I., By Cecilia Capuzzi Simon - http://nyti.ms/pmJSnr - "So as a strictly financial calculation, does the investment pay off? . . . But if schools of applied learning aren’t asking the tough questions about the financials of a degree, potential students should, says Anthony P. Carnevale, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. “No one’s telling them what it’s worth. Certainly the colleges aren’t.”

8. Web restrictions draw ire of some educators, by Greg Toppo - http://usat.ly/olF2kS via @USATODAY - "Filtering software and school rules designed to keep out violence and pornography are also blocking key educational and otherwise useful sites, teachers say, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube — not to mention Google and National Geographic."

9. Why ‘no excuses’ makes no sense: Revisiting the Coleman report, by Gary Ravani - The Answer Sheet - http://t.co/07F3tn0 via @washingtonpost - "Perhaps the single best-known piece of social science research ever done in this country is the study produced by sociologist James Coleman in 1966 under the authority of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, commonly called “the Coleman Report.” Coleman’s work is the second largest social science research project in history, covering 600,000 children in 4,000 schools nationally. Coleman concluded that school-based poverty concentrations were negatively impacting school achievement for the minority poor."

10. Action steps can close racial gap, by Donna Y. Ford http://t.co/xeTRwIr via @Tennessean"The pervasive achievement gap is the greatest problem facing schools."

11. Racial gap hinders academic progress, by Dwight Lewis http://t.co/tUiz7Wn via @Tennessean - “Some individuals in this country still believe that the achievement gap exists because children of certain backgrounds — namely, low-income or minority children — are inherently less capable than others,” Jason Kamras, the 2005 National Teacher of the Year, has written. “Nothing could be more false.”

12. Consumer Corner: What's a college degree worth? Plenty. by Marcella S. Kreiter - http://t.co/cjjbQIc via @upi_top - "The bottom line is that getting a degree matters, but what you take matters more," said Anthony P. Carnevale, director of the Center on Education and the Workforce. Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney of The Hamilton Project agree. "Higher education is a much better investment than almost any other alternative, even for the 'Class of the Great Recession' (young adults ages 23-24)," they said on the project's Web site. "In today's tough labor market, a college degree dramatically boosts the odds of finding a job and making more money. . . ."

289. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories
about college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Numbers to Say No, by Kevin Kiley - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/mSiquY - "By tracking data related to financial aid appeals, the financial aid office at Nazareth College found that students enrolled at the same rates (or even slightly higher rates) when their appeals were denied as when the appeals were accepted. That finding has emboldened the office to reject certain appeals and reallocate money to students whose decisions really do hinge on financial questions. It also highlights a trend of "frivolous" appeals by families who don't actually need the money."

2. For-Profit Debate Redux, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/oT9zsp - "But in the Senate, debate about the for-profit sector marches on, driven by Senator Tom Harkin. The Iowa Democrat held a roundtable discussion with some for-profit college critics -- and the leaders of two private-sector colleges, including DeVry Inc.-- on Thursday, a three-hour forum that seemed to indicate that he would pursue additional legislative regulation of for-profit colleges."

3. College-going inches up from Chicago high schools, by Sarah Karp - http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/index.php/entry/1199/College-going_inches_up_from_Chicago_high_schools - "The move also shined a bright light on the stark reality of how few graduates went straight to college. In 2004, only 43.5 percent of graduates enrolled in college the following fall. Since then, the percentage has gone up each year. Of 2010 graduates, 55.7 percent enrolled, up from 54.4 percent in 2009."

4. Politics K-12: New Initiative Targets 'School-to-Prison' Pipeline, by Nirvi Shah - http://t.co/UDpeoNU via @educationweek - "A new undertaking from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education targets school discipline policies that end up pushing children into the juvenile-justice system for crimes and rule-breaking on campus—and keeping them from pursuing their education."

5. The Case Against Law School - Room for Debate, The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/07/21/the-case-against-law-school?hp - "Law school tuition is rising four times as fast as the cost of an undergraduate degree, which itself is soaring. Despite the high price, students are still flocking to law schools, even if it means going into heavy debt to enter a tight job market with few top-paying openings."

6. For-Profit Allies and Critics Discuss Ideas for Improving the Sector, by Kelly Field - http://chronicle.com/article/For-Profit-AlliesCritics/128364/ - "The proposal met with support from Holly Petraeus, director of the Office of Servicemember Affairs in the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who said for-profits often view veterans and service members as "dollar signs wearing a uniform." ". . . . The sad truth is that a lot of them are signing up based on advertising and word of mouth," she said. If the colleges "wrap themselves in the flag and say they cater to the military, they get picked."

7. College presidents, students lobby to keep Pell Grant funding, by Jenna Johnson - Campus Overload - http://t.co/1ynP8OW via @washingtonpost - "This week, dozens of university presidents, students and education advocates are on the Hill to persuade lawmakers to protect Pell Grants. Monday has been designated as “Save Pell Day” by the Education Trust, a nonprofit focused on closing education achievement gaps."

8. Hechinger Report New efforts to raise U.S. college graduation rates, by Jon Marcus: http://bit.ly/pqDTba - "The graduation problem isn’t generally evident at elite colleges and universities, both private and public, whose graduation rates are comparatively high. It’s concentrated at community colleges and lower-tier public universities, which enroll most of America’s students. Such institutions increasingly serve the fastest-growing segment of American college enrollment: low-income, nonwhite, non-native-English-speaking students who are the first in their families to go to college. Community colleges enroll much higher percentages of students who work full or part time and are considered at risk for dropping out—and who are also more likely to have children at home and have interrupted their education, in some cases for years. In addition, the vast majority arrive unprepared for college-level work, with 60 percent or more steered into remedial education, according to Thomas Bailey, director of the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University."

9. Schools’ equity efforts are promising, by Ruth Adkins - http://www.portlandtribune.com/opinion/story.php?story_id=131119485031541300 -"However, with the new Cradle to Career coalition, an unprecedented collaborative effort is under way among schools, local governments, nonprofits and the business community. The goal is that by aligning existing city, county, and private programs and resources, we can, as a community, help give Portland’s children the best possible chance for success."

288. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. The Next Gate, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/oyZSoM - "As students contemplate graduate school, their frame of reference is likely the only admissions process most have ever known: the jagged maze they followed to college as high school seniors. There are some fundamental differences between the two processes — the weeding out of grad school applicants is largely the responsibility of faculty, for example, not a centralized admissions office; and there is nothing like the Common Application (except for law school, which has a universal form). But students should take comfort in the many parallels with college admissions."

2. In College, Without a Home, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/oIFMmW - "The population is also growing, she said. The number of homeless youth has increased 69 percent in the past two years, to 1.6 million. Some are runaways; others are from chaotic family situations, maintaining contact with parents and siblings but spending the majority of nights on friends’ couches or in cars or mobile homes."

3. Paths to the Bachelor's Degree, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/ouCqN3 - "Bachelor's degree recipients in 2007-8 who began their postsecondary educations at a community college took almost 20 percent longer to complete their degrees than did those who started out at a four-year institution, those who began at four-year private colleges finished faster than did those at four-year public and for-profit institutions, and those who delayed entry into college by more than a year out of high school took almost 60 percent longer to complete their degrees than did those who went directly to college."

4. 5 Myths of Remedial Education, by Jane V. Wellman and Bruce Vandal - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/qtNqzl - "And everyone admits that remedial education is not working, with just 25 percent of community college students who receive it going on to complete a college credential. Recognizing that increasing college attainment is a linchpin in creating more jobs and growing the economy, what to do about remedial education is an issue that would benefit from clear thinking. Here are five powerful myths shared by policy makers and educators alike that clearly hinder our pursuit of college success."

5. What Are Some Mistakes to Avoid in the College Admissions Process? by Unigo - http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-admissions-experts/2011/07/20/what-are-some-mistakes-to-avoid-in-the-college-admissions-process - "For those of you who don't have older siblings, hearing about mistakes other college-bound students have made can be a huge time saver. Take a look at some of these mistakes that are completely avoidable, and if you have some of your own, share them in the comment section below!"

6. Report finds 2 of 4 tests in ACT poor predictors of college success, by Jay Mathews-Class Struggle - http://t.co/gnCRVfY via @washingtonpost - "An independent analysis of results in Ohio has concluded that two of the ACT’s four subject tests — Reading and Science — are lousy predictors of college success and should be ignored by admissions officers . . . . “Our model predicts that a student who gets an ACT composite score of 24 by getting a 26 on the Reading and Science tests and a 22 each on the Mathematics and English tests is 59 percent more likely to be a first-year dropout and 43 percent more likely to drop out by the third year of college, relative to a student who gets the same ACT composite of 24, but with a 26 each on the Mathematics and English tests and a 22 each on the Reading and Science tests,” the report said."

7. Learning to Feel Lucky to be in College, by Julia Bumke - http://t.co/hnc6JcL via @voastudentu - "One of the lessons that has really hit home for me is how many American students dismiss college because they cannot see how to navigate it financially. I came from a high school background where students who did not attend college were exceptions to the rule, but that ratio is entirely inverted with the students at ACCESS. The majority of the students working with nonprofits like ACCESS were on the fence about attending college before they met an advisor at their high school or community group."

287. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories
about college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. College budget cutbacks go outside the box, by Oliver St. John - http://usat.ly/mSPGrt via @USATODAY - "It may be hard to swallow, but budget-cutting is the new normal at the nation's 6,700-plus post-secondary schools. Creative cuts don't save much money, but they symbolize deep overall cuts. With funding down and enrollment up, state support per student hit a 25-year low last year, says Paul Lingenfelter, president of State Higher Education Executive Officers. "The current year will be lower yet."

2. A Numbers Game? by Kevin Kiley - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/q7uFc8 - "And that is what some people worry has been happening at Edison State College, in Florida, where an internal investigation found that about 75 percent of students in three particular programs were allowed to substitute elective credits for required courses -- with many of the substitutions approved in the week before graduation -- so that students could graduate on time and enroll in baccalaureate degree programs. Awarding degrees to students who don’t meet the set requirements would violate state law and accrediting standards, as well as raise questions about the value and integrity of the degrees."

3. Stepping Out, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/pM6ij3 - "But all of a sudden, groups of career colleges are rushing to team up to align themselves as accountable, transparent and all the other things that consumer advocates and critical policy makers have been accusing the worst of them of not being. The latest to emerge is a collection of 20 regionally accredited for-profit institutions that have adopted a "pledge of public accountability," under which they will publish information about themselves (prices, curriculums, and faculty qualifications) and their students (debt levels, loan repayment, and employment outcomes), with the goal of making the institutions "more transparent to students before they enroll."

4. Save Pell Day (July 25) website: http://www.savepell.org/ - "Stand up for students. Take action on July 25."

5. When Student-Loan Payments Are Due: A Borrower Shares His Experience, by Beckie Supiano - http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/when-student-loan-payments-are-due-a-borrower-shares-his-experience/28473 - "The borrower, Terron Austin, graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2008 with a degree in journalism. Mr. Austin lived at home during much of his college career to cut down his costs, and he had a job lined up at graduation. So, when his grace period ended six months after college, and his first bill was due, Mr. Austin was able to manage the payments.But then, Mr. Austin was laid off."

6. 'Report card' finds most students weak in geography, by Douglas Stanglin - http://usat.ly/nAPjuA via @USATODAY - "Less than one-third of the nation's students achieved at or above the proficient level in geography, according to the latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the s0-called Nation's Report Card. Although fourth-graders made gains in achievement since 2001, The Nation's Report Card: Geography 2010 shows that performance by eighth-graders remained flat, and achievement by 12th-graders declined from 1994."

7. The Fiske Guide's Most Interesting Colleges - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/19/the-fiske-guides-most-int_n_902401.html#s311311&title=Cooper_Union_New - "The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2012 made a special effort to include a good selection of four types of institutions that seem to be enjoying special popularity at present: engineering and technical schools, those with a religious emphasis, those with an environmental focus, and those located along the Sunbelt."

8. 10 CHEAPEST Public Colleges For Out-Of-State Students - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/10-cheapest-public-colleg_n_883762.html#s297444&title=New_Mexico_Highlands - "US News and World Report rated the cheapest public colleges for out-of-state students on Tuesday and apparently, the more snow there is, the cheaper the school. 8 out of the 10 schools in the list were located in North Dakota, South Dakota or Minnesota."

286. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Column: Combat pay for teachers will help students, DeWayne Wickham - http://usat.ly/oYQfub via @USATODAY - "Those good teachers who take on the job of educating young people in neighborhoods where the body count of underachieving students rivals that of Afghanistan's killing fields deserve combat pay."

2. Frustration with the Feds, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/o8eId5 - "Most notable, of course, was the shift from a mix of bank-based and government lending to 100 percent government lending last summer, which changed the way the majority of student loans were issued. But the past year has also brought the end of the summer Pell Grant, the controversial rules on program integrity and the fight over the “gainful employment” regulation. Many new regulations will take effect in the coming months, including new measures of default rates and the hefty disclosure requirements for institutions that sponsor vocational programs subject to the gainful employment regulations."

3. Online and Incomplete, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/pDffVx - "But a new study urges caution to those who believe that online education is a panacea for educating more community college students. The study finds that students who enrolled in online courses -- controlling for various factors that tend to predict success -- were more likely to fail or drop out of the courses than were those who took the same courses in person. Notably, there was not a gap in completion between those enrolled in hybrid and in-person courses."

4. Bowdoin Says No Need for SAT While Buying College Board Scores, by Janet Lorin - http://t.co/aHSc3Kk via @BloombergNews - "Colleges from Bowdoin in Maine to Pitzer in California dropped the SAT entrance exam as a requirement, saying it favors the affluent, penalizes minorities and doesn’t predict academic success. What they don’t advertise is they find future students by buying names of kids who do well on the test . . . . The company and its competitor, Iowa City, Iowa-based ACT Inc., both nonprofit, sell names for 33 cents apiece."

5. 10 Most Expensive State Universities for Outsiders, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/1MRTusS via @cbsmoneywatch - "Beware of extremely expensive out-of-state public universities. When you include tuition, fees and room/ board, the most expensive state universities for nonresidents are costing more than $50,000 a year . . . . The University of Michigan happens to be the most expensive public university in the nation for nonresidents, according to US News & World Report. Here are the top 10:"

6. Half of Texas' Students Have Been Suspended, Study Finds, by Nirvi Shah - http://t.co/d94aVpy via @educationweek - "Also, the study raises concerns about how nearly half the students disciplined 11 or more times also were in contact with the Texas juvenile justice system, raising the specter of the so-called “school-to-prison” pipeline . . . . Some groups of students were more vulnerable to suspension or expulsion than others, the study found. For example, 75 percent of African-American students were expelled or suspended, compared to 50 percent of white students.Also, 75 percent of students with disabilities were suspended or expelled, compared with 55 percent of students without a disability."

7. School Discipline Study Raises Fresh Questions, by Alan Schwarz - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/education/19discipline.html?_r=1&hp - "The study linked these disciplinary actions to lower rates of graduation and higher rates of later criminal activity and found that minority students were more likely than whites to face the more severe punishments."

8. A Sociologist Returns to the Mean Streets of His Youth, by Peter Monaghan - http://bit.ly/q4UNeZ - "In the boys' world, he says, "instead of feeling that you can graduate high school and go to college as a coming-of-age ritual, now you might grow up thinking that in order to show your manhood, you have to get locked up."

9. MinnPost - Admission Possible: Closing a disturbing divide in Minnesota's educational landscape, by Sharon Schmickle : http://bit.ly/pQ8t0v - "A disturbing divide cuts through Minnesota’s educational landscape. On one side, middle- and upper-income kids thrive academically in keeping with the state’s longstanding emphasis on quality education. On the other side, low-income minority kids can’t seem to get a toehold on success.Not only is this a breach of social justice. It also is a serious economic problem."

285. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories
about college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Loans and the Deficit, by Libby A. Nelson and Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/qeubRC - "The federal government is making a lot of money on students and on parents," says Becky Timmons, assistant vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education. "There’s a risk of almost treating students like an ATM machine."

2. More Default Danger Ahead, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/nsoXw0 -"While they recommended several strategies, including financial literacy classes, advising students to borrow as little as possible and requiring counseling sessions for those who are borrowing a large amount of money, they also said that many of the factors that go into defaults are ultimately outside of institutions’ control -- except for one. Students who complete college are far less likely to default than are those who drop out, said Jacob Gross, policy and planning research analyst at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. “The most important thing we can do to help students not default is to help them finish their credential,” Gross said at one of two default-rate sessions Sunday."

3. At Two-Year Colleges, Less Scrutiny Equals Less Athletic Equality, by Katie Thomas - http://nyti.ms/r6ujU1 - "Even as they play an increasingly vital role in American higher education — enrolling more than eight million students nationwide last fall, a 20 percent jump since the fall of 2007, just before the start of the recession — community colleges are routinely failing to provide enough athletic opportunities to women, as required under Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in education. Many community colleges offer an array of options for men but just a single team for women. And dozens of colleges over the years had no women on their athletic rosters, according to federal education statistics."

4. Law School Economics - Job Market Weakens, Tuition Rises, by David Segal - http://nyti.ms/nxcd2n -"Legal diplomas have such allure that law schools have been able to jack up tuition four times faster than the soaring cost of college. And many law schools have added students to their incoming classes — a step that, for them, means almost pure profits — even during the worst recession in the legal profession’s history. It is one of the academy’s open secrets: law schools toss off so much cash they are sometimes required to hand over as much as 30 percent of their revenue to universities, to subsidize less profitable fields."

5. After The Recession, Students Borrow Reluctantly, by Lisa Lambert - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/18/after-the-recession-stude_n_901381.html - "To cope, many students turn to federal loans. In the 2009-10 school year, 35 percent of all undergraduate students took out a federal Stafford student loan, compared to 23 percent 10 years before, Draeger said. Students may also use private loans and parents can take federal "PLUS" loans. Paying for college has usually involved many parties, Draeger said, including universities themselves pitching in."We're seeing this gradual shift in the burden for paying for college to individual students and families and the way that students do this is through loans," he said."

6. Concern grows about default rates on student loans in Kentucky - http://www.kentucky.com/2011/07/17/1814399/concern-grows-about-default-rates.html - "They quit school last year because of day care problems with their son and defaulted on the loans. That buried them in debt. They haven't filed for bankruptcy, in part because changes to bankruptcy law make it difficult to erase student loans. Daymar College financial aid officials "signed us up" for the loans and controlled access to the accounts, Donald Lee said last week as he prepared to start another shift washing dishes at a Chinese restaurant."It's an awful lot of money for just two years at this little school," he said. "When the loan papers came in, they just handed them to us, told us to sign them and took them back. We never saw them again."

284. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. 4 Out of 5 in Community College Want to Transfer, Report Says, by Lily Altavena - http://nyti.ms/rdKwU4 - "The popularity of community colleges can be attributed to a number of factors, including proximity to home and rising tuition at four-year institutions. The average tuition at a public community college is 36 percent of that at a public four-year university, according to the report."

2. Improving Student Transfer from Community Colleges to Four-Year Institutions -The Perspective of Leaders from Baccalaureate-Granting Institutions, The College Board http://advocacy.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/11b3193transpartweb110712.pdf - "Twenty-one higher education leaders were interviewed at 12 four-year institutions that are known for theircommitment to transfer students; these leaders possess expertise in one or more facets of institutionaladministration, including outreach and recruitment, admission and enrollment, financial aid, and student and academic affairs."

3. Remedial Plus, by Derek Quizon - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/mRoIsC - "CASH-to-ROI isn't meant to replace remedial courses but to supplement them with group study sessions, which some Daley students were required to attend during the spring 2011 semester. Students in the CASH-to-ROI program are divided into groups of 7 to 10, with each group assigned a part-time staff member as a "tutor-facilitator" to lead discussions."

4. Saving Money With a College’s Summer Melt, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/vO0XBUI via @cbsmoneywatch - "Thanks to enrollment practices, a school often will only give a student just enough of an award in its original financial aid/merit aid package that it assumes it will take to seal the deal. To see if you can increase your award, contact the financial aid office and be nice when asking for more money. And don’t mention that you’re calling because of summer melt."

5. 20-Year Hispanic Academic Gaps Persist in Math, Reading, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/07/13/36hispanic-2.h30.html?tkn=QPUFlV74RrfKI8%2FemRDWoTx6Rhu5TVxmmlsX&cmp=clp-edweek"While growing numbers of Hispanic students have changed the face of American education in the past two decades, the gap between them and their white classmates in math and reading remains as wide as it was in the 1990s, says a new federal study."

6. Bringing Girls Into the Science-Major Pipeline, by Nancy Linde - http://chronicle.com/article/Bringing-Girls-Into-the/128099/ - "Finding the right messages for New Image for Computing meant conducting some deep research on collegebound high-school girls. Working with two professional marketing firms from New York, the group created a national online survey. One thousand girls responded."

7. The Most Hipster Colleges - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/the-most-hipster-colleges_n_898059.html#s308137&title=Grinnell_College - "This year, we scoured the country for campuses where skinny jeans, American Spirits and Moleskins are de rigueur. Check out our winners below -- and let the intellectual debate rage in the comments section."

283. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories
about college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. How the Recession Re-Sorted Freshmen, by Allie Grasgreen - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/r7dzVj - "A new study largely confirms what anecdotal reports had anticipated about national college enrollment patterns during the economic downturn: that enrollments of high school students swelled, that larger numbers of students chose community colleges, but that private colleges did not suffer the losses that many had predicted."

2. Easy A, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/nU5PaK - "Two critics of grade inflation have published a new analysis finding that the most common grade at four-year colleges and universities is the A (43 percent of all grades) -- and that Ds and Fs are few and far between."

3. How Freshman Picked Their Colleges, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/5rhgwOQ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Nearly one third of freshmen say they aren’t heading to their No. 1 choice of colleges in the fall because they couldn’t afford these schools. More than half of the teenagers (56%) received financial aid, but 82% said they didn’t receive as much as they had hoped.To keep costs down, 22% of teenagers ultimately selected schools nearby so they could commute from home."

4. Recession Reshaped College Enrollment Patterns, but the Sky Didn't Fall, by Eric Hoover - http://chronicle.com/article/Recession-Reshaped-College/128223/ - "A major story line of the past five years has been the increase in traditional-age students who enrolled in community colleges. In 2006, 41.7 percent of traditional-age students enrolled at two-year colleges; in 2009, 44.5 percent did so. Between 2008 and 2009, enrollments of traditional-age, first-time students at two-year colleges increased by 8.3 percent.The report suggests that this trend was driven by two groups of students: those who, in a better economy, might have chosen to attend other (and costlier) types of institutions, and those who otherwise would have joined the work force after graduating from high school."

5. Admission dean pulls back curtain on merit aid, by Daniel de Vise - College, Inc. - http://t.co/ksAzir3 via @washingtonpost - "So, I was surprised to see the admission dean at University of Rochester pen an unusually candid list of 12 “steps that mattered” in merit awards at his school this year, and the approximate dollar value of each factor in shaping the merit award. Jonathan Burdick, dean of admission and financial aid at Rochester, analyzed merit award data at his school to discern “some rules of thumb about how the mythical ‘average’ student succeeded in earning a scholarship this year,” he writes in the June 11 post, titled “What kind of scholarship can I get?”Here are some of the dozen variables:"

6. “What kind of scholarship can I get?” by Jonathan Burdick, U. of Rochester Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid - http://enrollment.rochester.edu/eblog/?p=2356 - "12 steps that mattered for earning merit scholarships in the UR Class of 2015."

282. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. The End of Subsidized Loans? by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/onGy8i -"During talks Monday, Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican majority leader, reportedly proposed making students responsible for paying the interest their loans accrue while they’re enrolled in college, a change that would save the government $40 billion over 10 years.The proposal would end the subsidized Stafford loan program, in which the federal government pays the interest that accrues while students are enrolled in school."

3. 'State Authorization' Struck Down, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/qmk46W - "Tuesday's ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia came in a lawsuit that the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities filed in January on behalf of the for-profit colleges it represents. The career college group had challenged the state authorization regulation and two of the other "program integrity" rules -- those that effectively bar incentive compensation for recruiters, and that hold colleges accountable if they misrepresent their programs and results."

4. Price Points, by Kevin Kiley - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/omVmuz - "These officials prefer to focus on "net tuition revenue" -- the amount of money derived from each student after aid is subtracted from sticker price. They want to shift the conversations away from the discount rate toward a more integrated approach to tuition, literally striking "discount rate" from strategic plans, and make the concepts of net revenue and the actual price of college more apparent to the public, lawmakers, and potential students."

5. Critical Choices: How Colleges Can Help Students and Families Make Better Decisions about Private Loans - http://projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/critical_choices.pdf - "There is general consensus that students should exhaust all available federal financial aid, including federal loans, before considering other forms of financing like private student loans. Federal loans are available to students regardless of their or their family’s income. Private student loans are one of the riskiest ways to pay for college, and they are not financial aid any more than a credit card is when used to pay for textbooks or tuition. They typically have uncapped, variable interest rates and cost the most for those who can least afford them, while federal student loans have fixed interest rates that are not affected by the borrower’s income or credit score."

6. 5 Great Ways to Succeed in College, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/X1T7Ryw via @cbsmoneywatch - "According to the academics who conducted the research, 46% of students don’t improve in their writing skills or critical thinking and reasoning abilities after two years in college. More than a third of students who graduate never improve.How can you avoid that happening to you? Here are five tips to help you succeed in college."

7. Ohio picks interim as state superintendent - The Herald Dispatch: http://bit.ly/re7R4j - "The 15-0 vote to hire interim Superintendent Stan Heffner meant the board passed over Robert Schiller, who became the lone finalist from the board’s top three picks on Sunday after a second contender dropped out. Four board members abstained on the Heffner hiring vote.“A funny thing happened on my way to Texas,” Heffner said after the vote. He had been slated to begin a new job with Educational Testing Service’s office in San Antonio on Aug. 1."

8. A College Education for All, Free and Online, by Kevin Carey - http://chronicle.com/article/A-College-Education-for-All/128162/ - "UoPeople strives to serve the vast numbers of students who have no access to traditional higher education. Some can't afford it, or they live in countries where there are simply no good colleges to attend. Others live in rural areas, or identify with a culture, an ethnicity, or a gender that is excluded from public services.UoPeople students pay an application fee of between $10 and $50 and must have a high-school diploma and be proficient in English. There are also small fees for grading final exams. Otherwise, it's free."

9. Cal State University approves 12% tuition hike - http://usat.ly/ntvN2L via @USATODAY -"With a 13-2 vote, the CSU Board of Trustees passed the annual tuition hike of $588, which comes on top of a previously approved 10 percent increase for 2011-2012."

10. Moving past excuses from the no-excuse reform crowd, by Barnett Berry- The Answer Sheet - http://t.co/iAQRw8V via @washingtonpost - "[Paul] Tough argues that if we are to educate all children to achieve high academic standards, we must tackle the challenges of poverty head-on.He highlights tactics that have repeatedly been proven effective on a small scale: “supplementing classroom strategies with targeted, evidence-based interventions outside the classroom; working intensively with the most disadvantaged families to improve home environments for young children; providing high-quality early-childhood education to children from the neediest families; and, once school begins, providing low-income students with a robust system of emotional and psychological support, as well as academic support.”

11. The FRIENDLIEST Colleges - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/the-friendliest-colleges_n_896867.html#s306756&title=Carleton_College - Which college in Ohio made this list?

12. Don't spread these myths about college admissions, by Lee Bierer CharlotteObserver.com: http://bit.ly/niweTO - "Parents who have recently "graduated" from the college admissions process freely dispense advice and sometimes misinformation. To dispel many of these untruths, let's focus on some of the most popular myths about college admissions."

13. ON COLLEGE: The do's and don'ts of helping your high school senior, by Purvi S. Mody - San Jose Mercury News http://t.co/KxyWdL5 - "Don't call colleges on your child's behalf. If you and your child have a question about admissions or anything at all, let your child take the lead. It will develop self-confidence, and colleges like to hear from the students rather than the parents."

281. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories
about college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. Why you want to go to college: In 140 characters or less, by Luke Kerr-Dineen and Natalie DiBlasio - http://usat.ly/qOERgx via @USATODAY - "At the University of Iowa, a good tweet is worth $37,000. That's the price of a full scholarship, and that's exactly what a student hopeful can win in a contest the university has dreamed up that takes electronic communication to a new level. The university is asking prospective students to submit a 140-character tweet in place of a second essay."

3. AFT teachers union to defend educators in cheating scandals, by Greg Toppo - http://usat.ly/nyANPN via @USATODAY - "Weingarten noted that local union affiliates in Atlanta and elsewhere have been among the first to ferret out cheating among their ranks.In Atlanta, the union in 2005 "blew the whistle on this, and it was ignored because there was this enormous pressure to meet (testing) targets," she said. "Targets became more important than learning and a climate, as the governor said, that was intimidating and that was fearful and that was retailiating against anyone who came forward."

4. Colleges replacing loans with no-pay grants for their neediest students, by Daniel de Vise - http://t.co/vqM8MXh via @washingtonpost - “They’re essentially chasing after the same group of low-income students who are academically talented,” said Mark Kantrowitz, an industry expert who is tracking 73 colleges that have eliminated or capped student loans. “If you get in, these schools are a great deal.”

5. The 12 best college financial aid policies - College, Inc., by Daniel de Vise - http://t.co/66dHIwK via @washingtonpost - "In today’s paper, I write about the trend toward “no-loan” financial aid pledges at some of the nation’s top universities. More than 70 schools have replaced loans with grants in at least some of their aid awards, focusing on the neediest students.I resisted the temptation, in that story, to rattle off a list of the schools with the best aid policies. So, why not do it here?"

6. Financial Aid Pledges to Reduce Student Debt (2009-10), The Project on Student Debt - http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php - "A number of colleges have developed financial aid policies that limit or eliminate student loans from financial aid packages, reducing costs for students and families. We have analyzed each of these programs and include information here for the programs that meet our guidelines."

7. Preparing for college with a learning disability - Campus Overload, by Meghan Benzel - http://t.co/VUpOrWy via @washingtonpost - "I am a non-visual learner, and I have AD/HD and components of Asperger’s Syndrome. For those of you preparing for college with a learning disability: I understand. I’ve been there."

8. The PREPPIEST Schools Of 2011, by Lindsay Dittman - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/11/the-preppiest-schools-of-_n_894320.html#s305674&title=University_Of_Virginia - Which university in Ohio made this list?

9. Education Needs to Break With Tradition - Room for Debate: How to Improve Summer School - http://nyti.ms/nMFuzw - ". . . Is there a way to make summer school more cost effective or, with tight budgets, does it make sense to cut them? What are the best methods for making sure students are learning what they need to learn in the summer and not losing ground?"

10. How to Save on College Tuition, by Princess Clark-Wendel -http://t.co/dgO4nrq via @foxbusiness - "At a time when many families are strapped for cash, the cost of college tuition is steadily climbing. New research shows that the median income in the United States has held steady around $33,000 since 1998 while college tuition has more than doubled.Here are nine ways to help cover the cost of tuition."

11. Hechinger Report Two years after Obama’s college graduation initiative, major obstacles remain, by Jon Marcus: http://bit.ly/pbgf3C - "Only one in five of those who enroll in community colleges—and, in some states, barely one in 10—graduates in three years, while only about half of students who go to universities get their bachelor’s degrees within six. That has helped to push the United States from first to 10th in the world in the proportion of the population that has graduated from college, threatening to make this generation of college-age Americans the first to be less well-educated than their parents."

280. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. Mixed News on State Student Aid, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/opfhDm - "State spending on financial assistance to students increased by 3.8 percent in 2009-10, even as many governments struggled with recession-driven cuts in many programs. But nearly half of all states cut back on their all-important spending on need-based financial aid, even as enrollments boomed and as many students and families struggled to keep pace with tuitions that public colleges (or their legislatures) raised sharply."

3. Despite Fiscal Woes, Spending Rose on Student Aid in Many States in 2010, by Eric Kelderman - http://chronicle.com/article/Despite-Fiscal-Woes-Many/128173/ - "Ohio cut need-based grants the most last year, with a 66-percent decrease, while Alaska and Michigan cut them by more than half. Both Hawaii and Utah slashed need-based grants by nearly a third."

4. Jobless College Graduates Struggle Under Ongoing Recession, by Amanda M. Fairbanks and Andrew Lenoir - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/08/college-graduates-jobs-unemployment_n_893495.html - "Seventy-five job applications. Forty cover letters. Twelve interviews. Zero job offers.Since graduating from Wellesley College four years ago, Kayla Calkin, 25, has yet to get a break.In May, Calkin completed a master's degree in public policy from George Washington University. Like so many her age, she believed a graduate degree might guarantee a more stable future.Calkin now works as a full-time nanny in Washington, D.C., while continuing to scour for an eventual dream job in politics. Her two degrees make her overqualified for even the most basic, entry-level position."

5. Grants and student loans are the trend when paying for college tuitions, by Maegan Clearwood - herald-mail.com http://t.co/bVwt9tS - "According to a College Board report, the average in-state public tuition and fees increase was 7.9 percent in 2010-11. With other expenses, such as room and board, total annual charges average at $16,140."Frankly, students are not prepared at all," said Britney Carter, student financial aid counselor at Hagerstown Community College."

279. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories
about college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. A Nudge for the Neediest, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/orO8tv - "Wisconsin Scholars Grant recipients were no more likely to persist in college than were students who received Pell Grants alone, and on average, they did not complete more college credits than did students who did not receive the grant."

2. Courting Valedictorians, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/nW45e8 - "Ivy Tech Community College announced last month that it was awarding every high school valedictorian in Indiana a scholarship valued at 15 credit hours, or about $1,500. Officials at the 24-campus community college system know better than to think they'll lure all 373 of these high-performing students away from four-year institutions with such a modest merit award. They merely hope the students will pass through to pick up some spare credits to transfer along their route to a baccalaureate degree, and that their presence will help promote the state’s two-year colleges to more households."

3. Unlocking the Gate: What We Know About Improving Developmental Education, by Elizabeth Zachry Rutschow &Emily Schneider - http://www.mdrc.org/publications/601/execsum.pdf - "Enrolling over one-third of all postsecondary education students, community colleges have become a centerpiece of America’s efforts in recent years to improve the quality of its workforce and maintain its competitiveness in the global market. However, community colleges have often struggled to graduate their students, with just over three in ten community college students earning a degree or credential within six years of first enrolling. Over half of thesestudents are academically underprepared for college-level work, and improving the success of these developmental, or remedial, students is one of the greatest challenges that community colleges face in the efforts to increase overall graduation rates –– very few of these students end up completing their required sequence of developmental coursework needed to enroll in college-level courses, let alone graduating from college with a diploma or certificate."

4. The 25 Cheapest Universities: Are They a Bargain? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/rS5bCe2 via @cbsmoneywatch - "Are these schools, however, really inexpensive? Before you decide, here are the 25 cheapest schools, based on net prices, among all four-year state universities in the United States."

5. Education Week: Advocates See Pre-K-3 as Key Early Education Focus, by Sarah Garland - http://t.co/6ZG61eH via @educationweek - "Among the revelations, the kindergarten teachers told the preschool teachers that their 5-year-olds, many of them immigrants, struggled with stories covered in the kindergarten reading curriculum. They weren’t hearing English-language classics like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” or “Humpty Dumpty” at home. So the preschools began incorporating those stories into their curricula, to help better prepare their students."

6. Students Least Likely to Persist Benefit Most From Extra Financial Aid, Study Finds, by Beckie Supiano - http://chronicle.com/article/Students-Least-Likely-to/128159/ - "When the researchers considered students' expected persistence, they saw that receiving the additional grant did make a difference. For example, 72 percent of students who were least likely to persist and received the grant were still in college three years into the program, compared with 55 percent of students who were least likely to persist and did not receive the money.The students most likely to persist had a very different experience, however: Seventy-nine percent of grant recipients in this group were still in college three years later, compared with 94 percent of nonrecipients."

7. Shocking details of Atlanta cheating scandal, by Valerie Strauss - The Answer Sheet - http://t.co/Jz4Ixr3 via @washingtonpost - "I found a copy of the report on this Web site of CBS Atlanta affiliate. Here are some of the revelations, taken directly from the report, which give you an idea of how the cheating was done:"

8. The MOST RADICAL Colleges, by Lindsay Dittman - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/the-most-radical-colleges_n_892463.html#s304228&title=Occidental_College - "From ultraliberal hippie dippie environmentalists to uber-conservative religious squares, we bring you the students that are canceling school to lead pro-life marches or shutting down a speaker for the Israeli PR campaign. The ones well-acquainted with social and political activism. Whether they live by a strict moral code or no code at all, these students are radical."

9. College grads’ salary offers up 4.8%, by Francine Knowles - Chicago Sun-Times: http://bit.ly/nYmMaL - "The average starting salary offer to the Class of 2011 rose 4.8 percent to $51,018, compared with offers extended to the Class of 2010, according to the latest survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers released Wednesday.The increases overall are a good indication that the job market for new college graduates is gaining strength, according to Marilyn Mackes, the association’s executive director. Still, salaries lag previous increases. In fall 2008, the average salary offer increase was 7.6 percent higher than in 2007."

10. Ohio to begin ranking all schools from best to worst, by Catherine Candisky - http://t.co/PjJzYn6 via @vindicator - "Starting next year, Ohio’s 3,500 public schools will be ranked best to worst in annual reports issued by the state.The lists will show parents and others how schools — traditional, charter and vocational — stack up based on student performance, per-pupil expenditures, percent of funding spent on classroom expenditures and other measures.The recently passed state budget included a provision requiring the Ohio Department of Education to issue annual school performance and expenditure reports. The first ones should come out in 2012."

278. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories

about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. The changing face of America's youth, by John D. Sutter - #cnn http://t.co/fgXh3Qp - "For the first time in national history, the majority of young people in two states -- California and New Mexico -- now identify as Hispanic, according to census data released this year.In eight additional states -- Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Maryland and Hawaii -- white children are in the minority compared with peers from other racial and ethnic groups combined, according to data analyzed by William Frey at the Brookings Institution."

2. When a Part-Time Job Is Your Extracurricular Activity, By Lily Altavena - http://nyti.ms/oKPWW1 - "Similarly, Ann McDermott, the director of admissions for the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, said that she looked favorably on any summer job, especially when there was a financial need.“I applaud any student who is either helping themselves or helping their family,” she said. “You do still need to pay attention to the bottom line, and that is a dollar amount.”

3. E-phemeral E-Books, by Steve Kolowich - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/q4Q7bw - "At a time when many customers are making decisions with one hand on their wallets, academic presses are looking to stoke interest in their electronic versions by offering digital rentals for a reduced price. For example, instead of buying a paperback or e-book for $20 at the Stanford University Press website, students and scholars can pay $5 to access an e-book for 14 days, or $10 for 60 days."

4. 25 Colleges With the Highest Hidden Price Tags, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy -http://t.co/9DYYdTg via @cbsmoneywatch - "When my friend Betsy asked me for advice a few months ago, I told her that Alex should stay away from art schools and apply to regular colleges and universities that offer art degrees instead.Why? Many art schools, as well as schools of music, are extremely expensive, but their financial aid packages are often laughable."

5. District Dossier: Investigators Offer a Look Inside Atlanta's Cheating Scandal, by Christina Samuels - http://t.co/zAKt2z3 - "The conclusion in the report is scathing and unequivocal: "Without question, cheating occurred in [Atlanta Public Schools] on the CRCT in 2009 and previous years. The erasure analysis is no longer a mere red flag, but is supported by confessions and other evidence of cheating in 78.6 percent of the elementary and middle schools we investigated."

6. The 10 Most Expensive Public Business Schools For In-State Students, by Lindsay Dittman - http://huff.to/mS3Gdg - "Though all ten business schools are good (all ten made it into the top 40 best business schools rankings and seven made it into the top 25), the prices are still astronomically high (and figures don’t even include room and board, books, and other miscellaneous costs). The survey noted that four of the ten schools charged state resident more than $40,000 for the school year."

7. The NERDIEST Colleges, by Lindsay Dittman - http://huff.to/rjkYOL - "Modern nerds fit into a more important category: people that pursue what they want with all their heart. They confidently participate in what they love, even if what they love is totally bizarre. They're the future Nobel Laureates, astronauts and engineers, but also the champions of bygone eras, the lovers of mustaches, bike-jousting and campus-wide Rube Goldberg machines."

8. How Can I Find the Right Extracurricular Activities for Me? - College Admissions Q&As (usnews.com) - http://t.co/TbkooLK - "It's no secret that colleges are seeking students who involve themselves with activities outside the classroom. Sports, community service, and student organizations are all great ways to supplement a strong GPA. However, some students often find it challenging to identify an activity they're passionate about. Tami G. from Pine Bluff, Ark., wants to know how that specific scenario could impact her college application and if there are other ways to find groups she might find exciting."

9. Is the White House Committed to Addressing the Role Poverty Plays in the Achievement Gap? by Liz Dwyer - http://su.pr/2GPNL2 (@GOOD stuff) - "More money is coming to the U.S. Department of Education's year-old Promise Neighborhoods program. Modeled after Geoffrey Canada's successful Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) initiative, the Promise Neighborhoods program awarded $10 million in 2010 to 21 mostly nonprofit and higher education-based applicants . . . . In comparison, over the past year and a half, the Obama Administration has put more than $4 billion toward its Race to the Top (RTTT) competition, making it the single-largest discretionary program in the history of the USDOE."

277. Summer College News

Here are some links to today's stories
about college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily on http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. Dozens of Atlanta educators falsified tests, state report confirms #cnn - http://t.co/En0SGWx - "I think the overall conclusion was that testing and results and targets being reached became more important than actual learning for children," Deal said. "And when reaching targets became the goal, it was a goal that was pursued with no excuses."

3. NCAA could see 'fundamental changes' in way it operates, by Steve Wieberg - http://usat.ly/q0MqFN via @USATODAY - "The system is bent. If not broken."There's a lot of motive to make some fundamental changes . . . more sweeping changes than we've probably seen in the past," Big 12 Conference commissioner Dan Beebe says."

4. Roundup: Michigan Admissions, Student Loans and Prospects for Film Graduates, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/qREYEI - "Summer is typically a slow season on the admissions news (and news-you-can-use) front. But several articles over the holiday weekend caught our eye, and we wanted to bring them to the attention of those readers — especially future applicants and their families — who may have missed them."

5. Teacher Beat: UPDATED: NEA Delegates Take Swipe at Teach For America, by Stephen Sawchuk - http://t.co/kavQ4kb via @educationweek - "In the union's strongest stance yet against the popular Teach For America alternative-certification program, National Education Association delegates approved an item that accuses TFA of taking jobs from other teachers in locales with job shortages."

6. District Dossier: State Investigation Reveals Widespread Cheating in Atlanta Schools, by Christina Samuels - http://t.co/SmaUtWO - "Beverly L. Hall, the former superintendent of Atlanta schools, knew about cheating allegations on state standardized tests and either ignored or tried to hide them, the Associated Press reported after obtaining a copy of an 800-page state investigation report.
Earlier today, Gov. Nathan Deal's office released a synopsis of the report's findings, which noted that investigators found evidence of cheating at close to 80 percent of the Atlanta schools where they examined the 2009 administration of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, or CRCT. Teachers and principals at more than four dozen schools are accused of helping students, or changing the answers once students handed in their test sheet."

7. Running a Race Against Ourselves, by Jonathan Plucker & David Rutkowski - http://t.co/qXtKqhE via @educationweek - "As would be expected, many of these reforms have been touted as the silver bullets that will result in major improvements in American education. However, the dirty little secret among researchers is that these reforms will almost certainly have little to no effect on the performance of most students.Volumes of nonpartisan research over the past 20 years suggest that most reforms (e.g., vouchers, charters, merit pay) have marginal effects on student achievement."

8. Tight Budgets Whittle Away School Days, by Sam Dillon - http://nyti.ms/jChMUm - "For two decades, advocates have been working to modernize the nation’s traditional 180-day school calendar, saying that the languid summers evoked in “To Kill a Mockingbird” have a pernicious underside: each fall, many students — especially those who are poor — return to school having forgotten much of what they learned the previous year. The Obama administration picked up the mantra: at his 2009 confirmation hearing, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared, “Our school day is too short, our school week is too short, our school year is too short,” but its efforts in this realm have not been as successful as other initiatives."

9. Top 10 YouTube Videos Posted by Colleges, and What They Mean, by Rachel Wiseman - http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/top-10-youtube-videos-posted-by-colleges-and-what-they-mean/32070 - "More than 400 colleges and universities have set up channels on YouTube as part of the YouTube EDU section of the popular video site, but university officials admit they are still experimenting with the service and learning what types of videos resonate with off-campus audiences.With data provided by YouTube, The Chronicle has determined the 10 most popular videos on YouTube EDU of the 2010-11 academic year (from June 2010 to June 2011)."

10. The 24 Most and Least Affordable Public Colleges, by Kayla Webley - http://moneyland.time.com/2011/07/06/the-24-most-and-least-affordable-public-colleges/ - "Last week, the U.S. Department of Education released a new web tool that lets users calculate the costs of getting a college degree. While much has been made of the highest and lowest tuition rates, you can also use the tool to calculate the “real” cost for an academic year, often called the net price. That includes the cost of attendance (tuition, required fees, books, supplies, average room and board and other expenses) minus grant and scholarship aid. Using the data, TIME Moneyland assembled a list of 24 of the most and least affordable U.S. public colleges."

11. As would-be students ‘melt,’ colleges try to keep cool, by Wayne Washington - TheState.com: http://bit.ly/pecBEU - "Based on her 32 years in higher education, Perry Wilson, director of admissions at Florence’s Francis Marion University, said schools face a melt percentage of about 10 percent — that is, one in 10 students tell a college or university they plan [to enter] in the fall but end up not enrolling."