320. College Access and Success News

Here are links to recent news on college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. How I saved $50,000 in college costs - http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/college/1109/gallery.college_savings_strategies.moneymag/ via @CNNMoney - "These three students saved themselves tens of thousands of dollars -- and a lifetime of debt -- by pursuing less conventional approaches to college."

2. Study: Gap in education plagues Valley, by Karl Henkel - Newswatch: http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/sep/08/study-gap-education-plagues-valley/?nw via Vindicator - "From 2005 through 2009, the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman region had the seventh-highest education gap among the top 100 metropolitan areas, according to the Education, Demand and Unemployment in America report released today by Brookings. Education gaps are defined as “shortage of educated workers relative to employer demand.”

3. Tuition hikes fail to stop higher-ed cuts - http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/sep/09/tuition-hikes-fail-to-stop-higher-ed-cut/ via @vindicator - "The cost shift from states to students has been going on for years, according to State Higher Education Executive Officers, a group that tracks college funding."

4. The Net Price Calculator: Financial Aid 'Game-Changer'? by Rebecca R. Ruiz : http://nyti.ms/oLcODs - ". . .Here’s a definition for the uninitiated: it is an online device that offers customized approximations of college costs based on standardized inputs − family size and savings, for example. The calculator estimates a prospective student’s financial aid; subtracts that amount from a college’s “list price,” or full cost; and spits out a “net price,” the amount a particular student must pay or borrow to enroll."

5. No spots for hundreds of NYC school kids, by Melanie Eversley - http://usat.ly/niM1YH via @usatoday - "Hundreds of public schoolchildren in New York City won't be going to class today, the first day of classes, because there are no seats for them, the NY Daily News is reporting."

6. Where community colleges go wrong, by Jay Mathews - Class Struggle - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/where-community-colleges-go-wrong/2011/09/08/gIQA5kGNCK_blog.html via @washingtonpost -“The remedial placement process is ground zero for college noncompletion in America,” she says. “If the nation is going to make any headway in helping more students graduate from college, it will have to completely overhaul the way students enrolling in nonselective colleges are tested for college readiness, and make fundamental changes in how colleges use that information to help students earn degrees.”

7. Washington Monthly - How the Other Half Tests, by Susan Headden -http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2011/features/how_the_other_half_tests031638.php -"In open admissions colleges, placement tests typically trump everything else. If you bomb the SAT, the worst thing that can happen is you can’t go to the college of your choice. If you bomb the Accuplacer, you effectively can’t go to college at all."

8. Early Decision: 10 Things You Need To Know About Applying - CBS MoneyWatch.com http://t.co/XEWM6Mo via @cbsmoneywatch

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