356. 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. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories on college access and success via @rottenbornj ▸ http://paper.li/rottenbornj

2. Tips on Finding and Securing Scholarships, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/vLFbCd - "His principal tip was volume. “The trick to winning is to apply to lots of scholarships,” he said. All students – including the “very lucky and very skilled” – will get far more rejections than they will get wins, he said."

3. Your Common Application Essay, Uncut - The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/vmfPUd - ". . . The Common Application now asks that essays be between 250 and 500 words long. That upper limit was reimposed — after four years without one — amid feedback from admissions officers that essays had grown too long. But unlike other parts of the online application, which may cut off students midword when they exceed character limits, the essays are sent to colleges in full, and aren’t even labeled with word counts. Many seniors are pondering: to cut or not to cut?"

4. Pentagon Pledges Not to Change Tuition Reimbursement Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/t1ikrK via AddThis - "The Pentagon on Friday pledged not to change tuition reimbursement policies for active duty military at this time. Cuts in benefits have been expected (and the Marine Corps indicated earlier in the month that it was ready to make cuts), causing concern to many active duty military members who are enrolled in various programs."

5. Schooled in Sports: NCAA Raises Minimum GPA for Incoming Student-Athletes, by Bryan Toporek - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2011/10/ncaa_raises_minimum_gpa_for_incoming_student-athletes.html via @educationweek - "Starting in August 2015, high school student-athletes who hope to play sports in college will be held to a higher academic standard. While freshmen only need a 2.0 GPA to be eligible for competition now, the new rules require student-athletes to have a 2.3 GPA to have immediate access to competition.
If a student-athlete meets the current 2.0 GPA requirement but falls short of the 2.3 GPA required for competition, the NCAA approved a proposal that will allow him/her to still remain on his/her athletic scholarship. The NCAA is calling this an "academic redshirt" year."

6. More Students Migrate Away From Home, by Eric Hoover and Josh Keller -http://chronicle.com/article/The-Cross-Country-Recruitment/129577/ - "Public universities across the country are engaged in an all-out war for out-of-state students. Deep cuts in support are driving the search for revenue, and in many states, a stagnating pool of local applications has pushed colleges to recruit broadly. The winners, like Arizona State, bring in higher out-of-state tuition and get to skim from a larger pool of prospective students. . . . Randy Hodgins, the former chief lobbyist for the University of Washington, said he once told a joke to his counterpart at the University of California that has more than a grain of truth. "The answer to both of our budget problems is, I take your kids and you take mine, and then they're both nonresidents," Mr. Hodgins said."

7. Where Does Your Freshman Class Come From?http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547#id=204796 - "Ohio State University was the 1st most popular in-state university for Ohio freshmen in 2010."

8. Bottom of the Heap - The New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/10/29/opinion/29blow-ch.html?ref=opinion "Selected measures from the report "Social Justice in the OECD--How Do the Member States Compare?" Includes some categories of index ratings and some raw data."

9. Want to earn more money? Study STEM. by Daniel de Vise - College, Inc. - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/want-to-earn-more-money-study-stem/2011/10/28/gIQALikjPM_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.com - "Math-science majors can earn more than humanities majors even with a lesser degree. Carnevale believes the economy has shifted over the past 30 years to reward academic fields over educational attainment. In other words: It doesn’t matter how long you have studied; it matters what you study. . . . 63 percent of STEM workers with associate’s degrees earn more than non-STEM workers with bachelor’s degrees."

10. Know Before You Owe: Student Loans - http://www.consumerfinance.gov/students/knowbeforeyouowe/