367. 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. 529 college savings plan a great gift, by Sandra Block – http://usat.ly/u0eHfQ via @USATODAY - "Saving for college has never been more important. Federal and state budget deficits could lead to cuts in traditional sources of financial aid, which means there's a good chance there won't be as much available when your child goes to college, says Joseph Hurley, founder of SavingforCollege.com. Meanwhile, tuition continues to increase much faster than the rate of inflation. Tuition and fees at public colleges and universities rose more than 8% this year, according to a recent report by the College Board."

3. Program helps prepare kids for kindergarten, by Bob Coupland - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://bit.ly/vLsGOE via AddThis - "Called SPARK Ohio (Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids), the program works with families, schools and the community to ensure children's readiness and schools' readiness to receive children and families, according to its website. . . . The program is designed to help 4-year-olds increase communication, language, literacy and math skills."

4. Part 2: Answers to Your Questions on Scholarships and Student Loans, by Mark Kantrowitz: http://nyti.ms/tcJAdo - "The unsubsidized Stafford loan and the Parent PLUS loan, both federal education loans, are available without regard to financial need. Even wealthy families may qualify for these loans. The Stafford loan is a student loan while the Parent PLUS loan is, as the name suggests, a loan borrowed by parents of undergraduate students. The unsubsidized Stafford loan has a fixed 6.8 percent interest rate and the Parent PLUS loan has a fixed 7.9 percent interest rate."

5. Occupy protests focusing increasingly on student debt, by Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vXcfBn via AddThis - “Student loan debt has been rising inexorably, and college students in the last couple of years are entering one of the worst job markets in a generation,” Kamenetz says. “There’s a real feeling of betrayal that hits a lot of people when they find out that the debt they were told was good debt is not paying off.”

6. Survey finds that counselors question effectiveness of schools, by Scott Jaschik Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/spuyVP via AddThis - "In function after function that the counselors found important -- such as helping students understand the kind of preparation they would need for colleges and careers, or promoting good understanding of the college application process -- relatively few found their schools to be doing well in them."

7. Report Links College to Promising 'Career Clusters' Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/tsmCx9 via AddThis - "The report argues that while there will be some jobs in the future for which only a high school diploma is required, those positions will be few and far between -- and will have limited advancement potential. The clusters in which students are likely to see the greatest number of jobs and advancement potential require a college education, the report says."

8. Georgetown U. Report on Career Clusters -- http://cew.georgetown.edu/clusters/ - "Here are several key highlights from the report:

While jobs for workers with high school diplomas are in decline, they still exist.

Jobs for middle skill workers (jobs for workers with some college, a certificate, or an Associate's degree) will make up 29 percent of the workforce by 2018.

Manufacturing will continue to decline in total employment, but retiring Baby Boomers will create 2 million job openings.

The gender gap in wages varies greatly from cluster to cluster. For example, the gap in Architecture and Construction is $2,000; in Health Science, it is $69,000."

9. Counselors See Conflicts in Carrying Out Mission, by Catherine Gewertz - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/15/13counseling.h31.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW via @educationweek - "Nine in 10 counselors, for instance, said that two objectives should top their schools’ priority lists: ensuring that all students have access to high-quality education and that they graduate well-equipped for college and careers. But fewer than four in 10 said their schools actually operated as if those goals were central to their mission."

10. Bachelor's Degree Is Still Best Path to Middle-Class Jobs and Earnings, Report Says, by Jennifer Gonzalez - http://chronicle.com/article/Bachelors-Degree-Is-Still/129784/ - "The study also concludes that women need education beyond high school to earn the same wages as men with only a high-school diploma. For example, a man can earn $35,000 annually with a high-school diploma in the manufacturing sector, while a woman must obtain a postsecondary credential and work in health care to earn as much, the report concludes. "A woman just can't make it with only a high-school diploma," said Anthony P. Carnevale, a research professor at Georgetown who directs the Center on Education and the Workforce."

11. Research doesn’t back up key ed reforms, by Valerie Strauss - The Answer Sheet - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/research-doesnt-back-up-key-ed-reforms/2011/11/12/gIQAPRoWFN_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "There is no solid evidence supporting many of the positions on teachers and teacher evaluation taken by some school reformers today, according to a new assessment of research on the subject. The Education Writers Association released a new brief that draws on more than 40 research studies or research syntheses, as well as interviews with scholars who work in this field."