346. 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. Creating Education Success at Home, by Marc Tucker - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/19/08tucker_ep.h31.html via @educationweek - "First, most of these top-10 nations put more money behind their hardest-to-educate students than those who are easier to educate."

2. Syracuse, Selectivity, and ‘Old Measures,’ by Eric Hoover -http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/syracuse-selectivity-and-‘old-measures’/28973 - "Generally speaking, enrolling more low-income students means emphasizing grades over ACT and SAT scores, one of the many trade-offs admissions officials often weigh. When a college enrolls more Pell-eligible students, it can expect to see standardized-test scores to go down."

3. Not Marching in Step, by Elizabeth Murphy - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/ql6mGn via @AddThis - "It reported that a majority, but not all members, recommended bringing Naval and Air Force ROTC back to Brown. Katherine Bergeron, committee chair and dean of the college, said that while the group’s main duty was fact-finding, this final recommendation did come down to a vote, with six members for a recommendation to bring Naval and Air Force ROTC back to campus and four against. “We reported the split because in effect we found it analogous or reflective of the range of opinion on campus,” Bergeron, also a professor of musicology, said. “The idea was maximal engagement.”

4. More than 100 cities, counties agree to push early literacy, by Valerie Strauss -The Answer Sheet - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/more-than-100-cities-counties/2011/10/16/gIQAMuQFqL_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.com - "The Campaign for Grade Level Reading is a collaborative effort by dozens of funders to make sure that all children, especially those from low-income families who often enter kindergarten already behind, learn to read. Signing onto the campaign are big cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Atlanta, and the entire state of Arizona. This issue is as important as any in public education; kids who don’t read have enormous difficulties later in life. To borrow a famous phrase from the campaign of former president Bill Clinton: It’s the reading, stupid."

5. Community college placement falters, by Jay Mathews - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/community-college-placement-falters/2011/10/13/gIQANywVpL_story.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.com - "All of the local two-year colleges I surveyed were aware that new research is forcing them to justify remediation. Half to two-thirds of their incoming students must pay for no-credit catch-up courses before they are allowed to take credit courses in those subjects. This requirement for remediation is contradicted by a study of thousands of community college students. Those who found ways to take for-credit courses despite flunking placement tests passed the courses 71 percent of the time. Headden said that was close to the 77 percent passing rate for all students in those courses."

6. Study Shows Parents Struggling to Save for College Education News - http://shar.es/bq5wm - "The study showed that 25% of U.S. households are contributing less toward their children’s college education — or have stopped saving entirely. 44% have not started saving at all. A meager 15 percent have reduced spending on other things to keep saving/paying for their children’s college educations."

7. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories on college access and success via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/xt4njNy8

324. 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. Rural schools draw support from their communities, by Sally Holland - #cnn http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/09/13/rural.community.education/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1 -"College enrollment is really low," she said, noting that only 17% of adults in rural communities have a college degree. Studies have shown that children with college-educated parents are more likely to attend college themselves."

2. SAT reading scores fall to lowest level on record - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://bit.ly/p5vt2c via AddThis - "The main message from the College Board was the importance of a rigorous curriculum, which is a strong and perhaps growing predictor of SAT scores."

3. Youngstown News, City schools’ rank is ‘nothing to celebrate’ by Denise Dick - http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/sep/15/city-schools8217-rank-is-8216nothing-to-/ via @vindicator - “It hurts me to look at the data,” Heffner said. “It hurts me to think about those kids.” While there have been improvements, Heffner wants things to progress faster. “Every day you delay is a day you put children at risk for not getting an education,” he said."

4. Part 4: Answers to Your Back-to-School Admissions Questions, by ROBIN MAMLET and CHRISTINE VANDEVELDE: http://nyti.ms/owpLOW - "We are in what I call the financial aid doughnut hole – too many assets to qualify for aid with one in private college now, but too little money to write those big checks without pain."

5. For-Profit Seal of Approval, by Paul Fain - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/ppuioX via @AddThis - "A for-profit-college trade group has released standards of conduct that it hopes will become a Better Business Bureau-style “seal of approval” for colleges that sign them, giving assurance and consumer protection to students. But industry observers say too few for-profit institutions have endorsed the standards from the Foundation for Educational Success to give that seal real power, at least for now."

6. SAT Scores Drop, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/nlK8Ch via @AddThis -"Gaps are also evident by racial and ethnic group. Asian Americans continue to show gains -- even as this year other groups do not. Over the last three years, the combined average scores of Asian American test takers have gone up by 30 points, while every other group showed declines."

7. Not Marching in Step, Elizabeth Murphy - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/ql6mGn via @AddThis - "As it stands, Brown has maintained an agreement with Providence College to provide Army ROTC services to Brown students, a relationship the committee recommended keeping."

8. Will Saving for College Hurt Financial Aid Chances? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/will-saving-for-college-hurt-financial-aid-chances/6608/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Colleges don’t care about any savings that you’ve squirreled away in retirement accounts. A family can stash millions in retirement accounts and it won’t impact their chances for financial aid. Schools realize that parents need to save for retirement."

9. New STEM Schools Target Underrepresented Groups, by Erik W. Robelen -http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/09/14/03stem_ep.h31.html via @educationweek -"While STEM schools historically have tended to target the top math and science students in a state or district, the new wave appears to have a broader reach, with many of the schools aimed especially at serving groups underrepresented in the STEM fields, such as African-American, Hispanic, female, and low-income students."

10. Pay for Only 4 Years of College. Guaranteed. by Alan Schwarz - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/education/15fifth.html?hpw - "Four-year degree guarantees, as they have become known, are being offered at a growing number of smaller private colleges. They work as a marketing tool, giving colleges a way to ease parents’ fears that their children might enjoy college enough to stick around for five or six costly years. And they help to focus attention on the task at hand: graduating in four years."

11. Poor Are Still Getting Poorer, but Downturn’s Punch Varies, Census Data Show, by Jason DeParle and Sabrina Tavernise: http://nyti.ms/neIez9 - “There’s been a suburbanization of poverty,” said Alan Berube, a Brookings demographer, who cited the growth of service, retail and construction jobs that lured low-income Americans to the suburbs before the recession. “The notion of poverty being only in inner cities and isolated rural areas is increasingly out of step with reality.”

12. Continuing Financial Strain Dims Prospects for Public 2-Year Colleges, Report Says,by Jennifer Gonzalez - http://chronicle.com/article/Continuing-Financial-Strain/128995/ - "More importantly, the financial strain threatens to undermine the nation's college-completion agenda and overall economic prospects, the report concludes."

13. Pipeline Into Partnerships offers minority students a chance, by Sarah Garland: http://usat.ly/pnYV7l#.TnIJ_CBq1-Y.twitter via @USATODAY - "Under the program, called Pipelines Into Partnerships, the college's admissions office outsourced much of the responsibility for choosing 17 members of its incoming freshman class to KIPP, the largest charter chain in the country, as well as to a high school in Brooklyn and the Boys and Girls Club of Schenectady, N.Y."

14. What the decline in SAT scores really means, by Valerie Strauss - The Answer Sheet - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-the-decline-in-sat-scores-really-means/2011/09/14/gIQAdUzdSK_blog.html via Washingtonpost.com - "At some point, all of the evidence will start to convince policy-makers that the punitive test-driven reforms won’t improve academic achievement, especially among the growing numbers of first-generation students and English language-learners."

15. Marriage, College, Job Won't Ward Off Bankruptcy, by Eric Morath -http://on.wsj.com/qqCaw0 - "The study found that those holding a bachelor’s degree accounted for 13.58% of filings last year, up from 11.2% in 2006—a 21% increase. Those holding high school degrees still accounted for the largest percentage of filers, 36.27%, but their proportion of all filers fell by 8.6%."

16. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories about college access and success, via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/x7cmxSo

191. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. YSU tries to protect its image, by vshank@tribtoday - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://t.co/OZw3Ehj

‎''It's just to remind people, to let them know once again that YSU is safe, the campus is safe and we stand by that,'' he said. University and Youngstown city officials, including Mayor Jay Williams, have offered several reminders of YSU's safety record since one student was killed and 11 others were shot at a fraternity party near campus Feb. 6. Jamail Johnson, a 25-year-old YSU senior, died. . . ."

2. Bypass the Bookstore: ‘Fiske Guide’ Goes iPad, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/evin8E

‎"My colleague Eric Platt, who is closer in age to the college-going generation than I am, used the arrival of the Fiske app as an opportunity to take a whirl around the Apple store in search of other admissions-related apps. Here are a few that caught his eye, along with his thumbnail impressions:"

3. Spending Showdown, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/h0is6j

"The distance between their positions on spending for higher education and similar debates over many other parts of the government could, at its worst, lead to a shutdown of the federal government between now and March 4, when the current continuing resolution to fund federal operations for 2011 expires. If Congress does not pass and the president does not sign new legislation by then, the government would shut down."

4. The $10,000 Question, by Steve Kolowich - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/eO2J1E

“Today, I’m challenging our institutions of higher education to develop bachelor’s degrees that cost no more than $10,000, including textbooks,” said Perry on Tuesday in his “State of the State” address. “Let’s leverage Web-based instruction, innovative teaching techniques and aggressive efficiency measures to reach that goal,” he said."

5. How Athletes Spend Their Time, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/i9tanm

‎"The average Division I baseball player missed 2.3 classes per week last year, and the average Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) football player missed 1.7 classes per week last year. In both sports, this is an increase of 0.5 classes missed per week from 2006. The average number of classes missed by athletes in all other sports remained relatively unchanged from 2006."

6. College Application Rates for 2011: Which Schools Saw a Decline? - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/11/college-application-rates_n_821530.html#s237964&title=Tulane_University_1336

‎"Perhaps Tulane was hit so hard because the school received the most applications of any U.S. school in 2009, and so they added an additional essay question to their application form in 2010 to weed out uncommitted prospies. (Columbia, conversely, switched to the Common Application and received record applications this year.)"

7. Triplets, Twins, Quadruplets: Your Hidden College Discount, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/Ep17TRK

‎"Here’s great news for the mom with triplets: Parents with multiple students in college at the same time often enjoy a substantial price break. The more students in college simultaneously - they don’t have to be twins, triplets or Octo Mom’s kids - the greater the ultimate price discount. . . . Here’s why: parents’ Expected Family Contribution will drop with each additional child in college."

8. Facebook Keeps Class In When School Is Out at Ky. School, by Jenna Mink: http://t.co/mMUOlow via @educationweek

‎"It's a way to keep students on schedule, especially high-achieving students who are taking Advanced Placement classes. Thomas Jones, a social studies teacher at Warren East High School, has been communicating with students on Facebook during snow days. Jones, who teaches an AP European history course, posts videos, articles, discussion topics and test reminders. "It's just a way to keep us going. It's a way to communicate," Jones said."

9. Ronald Ferguson Works to Close Educational Achievement Gap, by Michael Winerip - http://nyti.ms/gifcwL

"His research indicates that half the gap can be predicted by economics: even in a typical wealthy suburb, blacks are not as well-to-do; 79 percent are in the bottom 50 percent financially, while 73 percent of whites are in the top 50 percent.
The other half of the gap, he has calculated, is that black parents on average are not as academically oriented in raising their children as whites. In a wealthy suburb he surveyed, 40 percent of blacks owned 100 or more books, compared with 80 percent of whites. In first grade, the percentage of black and white parents reading to their children daily was about the same; by fifth grade, 60 percent to 70 percent of whites still read daily to their children, compared with 30 percent to 40 percent of blacks."

10. Apply early, carefully for college financial aid, by Alyson Cunningham - http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20110213/NEWS01/102130312

‎"Her advice for parents and seniors is simple: Start early. Take your time and don't wing it," she said. "Think ahead and apply early, but make sure it's good, comprehensive, complete and quality applications."

11. A year at Brown U. will cost more next year - http://www.projo.com/business/content/Brown_Corporation_Meets_02-13-11_91MFIB3_v7.133c4d8.html

"The cost of a Brown University education will increase by 3.5 percent next year, to $53,156. . . .Brown, which relies on tuition and fees for about 55 percent of its revenue, will next year charge $41,328 for tuition, $6,748 for room and $4,148 for meals."

12. Special Report: Getting That Perfect College Fit, by Natalie Kaplan - http://patch.com/A-c4m6

"According to a New York Times chart, students admitted versus the number of applicants to a particular school in 2010 ranged from a low of 7 percent at the likes of Yale University to a high of 83 percent at University of Colorado, Boulder."

13. College Bound? The Financial Aid Application Period Begins, by Frank Medina - http://patch.com/A-cXDT

"The ONLY way to apply for financial aid is through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). After a student submits their FAFSA, they will receive their Student Aid Report (SAR) either in the mail or through email. The SAR will explain the types of awards the student is eligible for. . . . In order to complete the FAFSA, dependent applicants will need to utilize their parent's tax information."

14. Warning: You May Receive A College Rejection Letter Soon, by Frank Medina - http://patch.com/A-dQTx

‎"In general, Ivy League universities and other high level institutions often reserve admission spots for the children or relatives of famous alumni or donors with deep pockets. They also offer some top notch students the ability to apply through the early admission program. Often, these schools also have sports teams and so they reserve spots for incoming athletes as well as for cheerleaders."

15. Students learn to overcome financial obstacles to college, by Richard O. Jones - http://t.co/4o2UlbH via @oxfordpress

‎"The occasion was Hamilton High’s first FAFSA Day, in which 450 seniors and their parents were invited to the Media Center to meet with Dave Murray from the Indiana-based National Center on College Costs, who walked them through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the form required to receive federal financial aid, including the federal Pell grant, student loans and need-based state grants."

16. Yale increasing tuition and board fees - http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/connecticut/Yale-increasing-tuition-and-board-fees

‎"The Ivy League school says tuition for 2011-12 for undergraduates at Yale College will be $40,500. Students will also pay $12,200 for their room and board. Yale Provost Peter Salovey said the average Yale scholarship will be $36,000 and that students who receive financial aid will get scholarship awards to cover the increased costs...."

17. Minneapolis schools go after the language gap, by Corey Mitchell StarTribune.com: http://t.co/dW5NVDE

"Fewer than 30% of Andersen's students are proficient in reading, state test scores indicate. Scores on math tests, where understanding English also is required, are even lower. That is not surprising at a school where 70% of students are classified as second language learners, educators say."

18. ‘Race to Nowhere’ documentary questions education system, by Jody Feinberg - Brockton, MA - The Enterprise: http://t.co/nUomrIk

"Since its release last year, this film about the harmful effects of stress on students has become must-see viewing in communities where the push for success and pressure to attend top colleges are strong. . . . The film presents a disturbing view of childhood and adolescence: overstressed students who become physically ill and emotionally depressed and cheat or take prescription drugs to get good grades."

19. From China, More Students Pursue Dream of American Education, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/fF4XFB

"At rural Grinnell, nearly one of every 10 applicants being considered for the class of 2015 is from China. Dozens of other American colleges and universities are seeing a surge in applications (and similar brochures) from students in China, where a booming economy means that more families can pursue the dream of an American higher education."

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137. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. Poor Ratings for 'U.S. News' Rankings, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/etzstP

‎"The National Association for College Admission Counseling conducted the survey, part of a series of research efforts related to the rankings and leading to a full report next year. The survey was conducted both of high school counselors and of college admissions officials -- and both groups expressed low regard for the U.S. News rankings, while acknowledging their impact, which may even be growing."

2. Modest Gains for Black Colleges Online, by Steve Kolowich - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gtOGhG

“In their search for ways to increase their enrollments,” Beasley writes, “the private HBCUs that hitherto have shown little or no interest in meeting the continuing education needs of non-traditional African American students are now giving serious consideration to online programs, not only as a potential source of sorely needed additional revenue, but also as a source of additional enrollments that would help them justify their continued existence. ”Still, the growth in the number of private HBCUs that offer online programs — from two to six since 2006 — has been modest. And the overall proportion of historically black institutions offering online degree programs (defined as having 80 percent or more of the coursework of at least one academic program delivered online) remains low. Of the nation’s 105 HBCUs, only 19 offer online degrees — 18 percent. (Of the 40 public HBCUs, 13 have at least one online program, up from 10 in 2006.)"

3. Student Debt and the Class of 2009 - http://projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/classof2009.pdf

4. 13 Colleges That Won't Leave You In Massive Debt - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/22/13-low-debt-colleges_n_786237.html#s187212

"The Project on Student Debt's recent report (PDF) on student debt and the class of 2009 examined which schools left their students owing the most money -- and which schools left students with their pockets a little fuller. According to the report, members of the class of 2009 graduated school owing an average of $24,000 -- a six percent increase from the previous year. If you're looking for a college that won't break the bank, gaze westward: most of the low-debt schools can be found in the on the left side of the Mississippi. Below, we outline the 13 institutions that had the lowest per-student debt averages last year."

5. How Are the Kids? Unemployed, Underwater, and Sinking, by Mark Paul and Anastasia Wilson: http://t.co/AzzbQvM

"The U3 measure also does not count underemployment, yet with only 50% of B.A. holders able to find jobs requiring such a degree, underemployment rates are a telling index of the squeezing of the 18-30 year old Millennial generation. While it appears everyone is hurting since the financial collapse, young adults bear a disproportionate burden, constituting just 13.5% of the workforce while accounting for 26.4% of those unemployed. Even with good credentials, it is difficult for young people to find work and keep themselves afloat. . . . Jobs aren’t the whole story. Recent college graduates, those in the labor force with the freshest batch of knowledge and skills, are currently underwater and sinking fast with unprecedented student loan and personal debt. Average student debt for the class of 2008 was $23,200, an increase over four years of about 25%, meaning that students are knee deep in negative equity between their educational investment and actual earnings."

6. Kelli Space, $200,000 In Debt, Starts Site to Solicit Donations - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/22/kelli-space-two-hundred-thousand-in-debt_n_787074.html

‎"I was 18 and the first person in my family (including extended family!) to attend college. Therefore, not only was excitement consuming me, but my parents didn't exactly know how college would or wouldn't affect my salary in the future. We applied for scholarships during the summer but they heard -- as much as I did -- that cost of tuition should never keep you from attending a great school. So... we made the mistake of following such romantic advice. Cue regret."

7. 10 Cheapest and Most Expensive College Towns, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/tGrZI0r

‎"A growing number of parents, according to a Coldwell Banker survey, believe it’s a better idea to buy a house when their child goes off to college rather than picking up the tab for room and board. A Coldwell Banker survey of real estate agents who sell property in college towns reports that 64% of them have seen a significant number of parent investors. If the idea intrigues you, here are the top 10 cheapest and most expensive college town markets among the 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The prices are based on the average listing price of a four-bedroom, two-bath home."

8. College Costs, the Sequel, by Stanley Fish - http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/22/college-costs-the-sequel/

"The list price is the tuition published in the catalog, and frequently this list price bears little relationship to the price that the student’s family actually pays. Much of this charge is covered by grants of some kind: private scholarships, and tuition discounts offered by the schools themselves. The net tuition is the price paid after all discounts. DGA explained this very well. Alarm over rising list price is misplaced angst.In addition, much of the “crisis” people perceive is driven by stories of astronomical tuition at elite private schools. But fewer than 10 percent of the students enrolled at four-year universities attend schools whose list-price tuition and fees exceed $33,000. Over 47 percent attend schools whose published tuition and fees total less than $9,000 per year."

9. "College wasn’t even a part of my vocabulary," by Teng Yang http://chronicle.com/article/Say-Something-From-a-Refugee/125454/

"In this episode, we hear from Teng Yang, a senior at Brown University, about his journey from a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand, to the United States (with 20 brothers and sisters), to college."

• Follow the most important stories on college admissions and financial aid on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rottenbornj


• For links to articles on college admissions and financial aid, you can "friend" Joe Rottenborn at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23325544


• "Like" the MVCAP fan page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23325544#!/pages/Mahoning-Valley-College-Access-Program-MVCAP/284002915922


• You can join the group MVCAP Financial-Aid Friends at this page: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=126580419181


• Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily for today's top stories on college admissions/financial aid in newsletter form - http://paper.li/rottenbornj


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