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."