336. 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. AT WHAT COST: Pursuing athletic scholarships is expensive for families http://t.co/OhNiGNTc via @reviewjournal - "It doesn't pay for most families chasing the dream of an athletic scholarship. . . . "I marvel at the money parents spend over the years in the pursuit of athletic scholarships," says Beth Walker, a former college volleyball player at Kansas and now owner of College Funding Coaches. . . . "For most athletes, if they can get even 25 percent of their tuition paid, that's huge. But many of these families are sure they have the next Division I superstar and there are full scholarships coming. I don't know what they're smoking. They're not coming from a place of reality. It's scary."

2. Long Island SAT Fraud Prompts Wider Investigations, by Rebecca R. Ruiz - http://nyti.ms/rrmgXy - "When the Educational Testing Service, the company that administers the test, detects irregularities, it simply notifies the affected students that their scores are being withdrawn. Neither colleges nor high schools are ever alerted that cheating was suspected.
That happens about .04 percent of the time, Ms. Anderson reports, with about 1,000 scores being withdrawn each year out of 2.25 million. Nearly all of those withdrawals – 99 percent of them – are due to one test-taker having copied off of another."

3. Public Schools Also Lose When Online Students Fail, by Burt Hubbard and Nancy Mitchell - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/03/06enc_online.h31.html via @educationweek - "Colorado taxpayers will spend $100 million this year on online schools that are largely failing their elementary and high school students, state education records and interviews with school officials show. The money includes millions in tax dollars that are going to K-12 online schools for students who are no longer there."

4. Are Top Students Getting Short Shrift? - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/oSu0fj -"By trying to teach children of varying abilities in one classroom, is American society underdeveloping some of its brightest young people?"

5. In Classrooms, the Ideal vs. the Reality, by C. Kent McGuire - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/n8bpom - "The central challenge for American schools is to produce much higher levels of achievement for the vast majority of students. National attention to new Common Core Standards and to 21st Century Skills is based on this challenge. The policy debate we need to have is about how to accomplish this."

6. Latinos Need More Support to Raise Lagging Graduation Rates, Report Says, by Lacey Johnson - http://chronicle.com/article/Latinos-Need-More-Support-to/129247/ - "The study, conducted in 2009, found that only 19.2 percent of Latinos between the ages of 25 and 34 had earned a two- or four-year degree, compared with 41 percent nationally. To increase Latino college completion, policy makers and educators must, among other steps, improve middle- and high-school counseling, make preschool more available to low-income families, provide additional need-based grant money, and simplify the financial-aid system, the report says."

7. Two bitter education rivals begin to bury the hatchet, by Greg Toppo - http://usat.ly/o3HTwG via @usatoday - "We believe you cannot ignore poverty. We just believe right now the reason we have this problem is we're sending kids who face all these extra challenges into the same setup -- not even, because the kids in the more resourced communities have stronger schools, so we're sending them into a lesser version of the same setup that we send kids with many more privileges into, and that is why we have the achievement gap."

8. Online textbooks moving into schools, by Emma Brown - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/online-textbooks-moving-into-schools/2011/09/27/gIQAwn0KGL_story.html via Washingtonpost.com -"Starting this fall, almost all Fairfax middle and high school students began using online books in social studies, jettisoning the tomes that have weighed down backpacks for decades. It is the Washington area’s most extensive foray into online textbooks, putting Fairfax at the leading edge of a digital movement that publishers and educators say inevitably will sweep schools nationwide."

9. Best Bang For Your Buck Colleges: Unigo List - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/03/bang-for-your-buck-colleges-unigo_n_991943.html - "Want a great education but don't want to accrue tremendous debt to get it? Well, you are in luck. College information site Unigo recently named the colleges that are the best "bang for your buck" --vi.e. colleges that are relatively inexpensive that provide a first-class education."

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

334. 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. 7 arrested in alleged SAT cheating scam, by Brad Lendon – This Just In - http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/28/7-arrested-in-alleged-sat-cheating-scam/ via @cnn -"Prosecutors allege Eshaghoff impersonated six Great Neck North High students between 2010 and 2011, charging between $1,500 and $2,500 to take the SAT test for them. Eshaghoff would take the test at schools other than Great Neck, where proctors would not be familiar with the students' identity, and present fake, unofficial identification, prosecutors say."

2. More financial help for NCAA athletes on the way, by Steve Wieberg – http://usat.ly/nHjyfJ via USAToday - "A committee weighing a number of potential changes is expected to recommend that the value of individual scholarships be raised by as much as $2,000 in the top-tier Division I, moving them closer to covering the athletes' full cost of attending school. Full grants currently cover only room, board, books and tuition. The NCAA's Division I board of directors would act on the proposal when it meets Oct. 26 and 27 in Indianapolis."

3. YSU, faculty reach deal, by Virginia Shank - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://bit.ly/qvYc6Y via @AddThis - "The two sides issued the joint statement after meeting Wednesday morning that explains they resolved the remaining provisions in the proposed contract. Union leaders said the proposal is a revision of the "best and final" offer administrators made last month that the faculty ultimately rejected. YSU-OEA and the YSU Board of Trustees are planning to review and vote on ratification of the tentative agreement early next week. They said details of the agreement would not be released until after the votes."

4. At Seton Hall, Sharp Cuts in Tuition for Those With Good Grades and SATs, by Jacques Steinberg: http://nyti.ms/qtODVZ - "How would one qualify for this discount, which Mr. Perez-Pena describes as equal to about two-thirds of this year’s $31,440 tuition? (Room, board and other fees add about $13,000, for a total annual bill of nearly $42,000.) Writes Mr. Perez-Pena:Students must graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school classes and have a combined score of at least 1,200 on their math and reading SATs — but no less than 550 on each — or an ACT score of 27. Mr. Perez-Pena says that the experts on admissions and financial aid whom he consulted “knew of no other college providing such a blanket discount for top-flight students.”

5. Going Off on Online Rankings, by Paul Fain - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/qkJb76 via @AddThis - "The publication is analyzing six types of online academic programs for the new rankings: baccalaureate degree programs and master’s degrees in business, computer information technology, education, engineering and nursing. Both for-profits and nonprofits with substantial online offerings, like UMassOnline and the University of Maryland University College, were asked to participate. (To be eligible, programs need to have coursework that is collectively at least 80 percent online, according to a web presentation by U.S. News officials.)"

6. Dump the Slump, by Allie Grasgreen - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/qMGfV2 via @AddThis - “The sophomore year is a time of transition, where students sometimes do feel like they’re in a slump. They’re not yet necessarily deeply on their track toward whatever their path is, but they’re no longer in that special moment of being the first-year class whom everybody dotes on,” said Stephen Nowicki, dean and vice provost for undergraduate education at Duke."

7. Academic Performance and the BCS, by John V. Lombardi, Elizabeth D. Capaldi, and Craig W. Abbey - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/o2zBdW - "It will come as no real surprise to those who watch our academic landscape to discover that the Big 10 leads the field with an academic distinction index of 55, followed closely by the Pac-12 with 48. The ACC falls some distance behind with an index of 28.5 and the SEC a significant distance away at 14, followed closely by the Big-Twelve and the Big East at 12. As a reference, we also constructed an index for the Ivy League, to put all this into perspective. This premier academic conference would fall into second place, after the Big-10 and before the Pac-12."

8. The Man Behind the Controversial College Rankings, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/the-man-behind-the-controversial-college-rankings/6761/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "What you probably don’t know, however, is who is responsible for the rankings’ controversial methodology. The person behind the college rankings is Robert Morse, who is US News’ director of data research. At the annual conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling last week in New Orleans, I interviewed Morse about his rankings baby. Here’s what he had to say."

9. Politics K-12: Roadmap to Winning an NCLB Waiver, by Michele McNeil - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/09/_overall_instructions_a_plan.html via @educationweek - "Then, the peer reviewers will drill down and focus on the three main commitments states have to make to get more freedom under NCLB. On adopting college and career ready standards: Judges will ask: Is there a plan to provide professional development to teachers and principals? . . . On adopting guidelines to improve teacher and principal effectiveness: Is student growth a significant enough part of the new evaluation system to differentiate among teachers who have made "significantly different contributions" (emphasis added) to student growth or closing achievement gaps?"

10. Politics K-12: Obama to Nation's Students: Aim for College, and Innovate, by Alyson Klein - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/09/obama_to_nations_students_aim.html via @educationweek - "This year's remarks were pretty innocuous. They focused on urging students to push themselves academically and set high goals, namely pursuing education or postsecondary training after high school, and finishing those studies. "If that means college for you, just getting into college isn't enough," Obama said. "You've got to graduate. ... Our country used to have the world's highest proportion of of young people with a college degree. We now rank 16th. That's not good enough. We need your generation to bring us back to the top."

11. Hispanic Children in Poverty Exceed Whites, Study Finds, by Sabrina Tavernise - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/us/hispanic-children-in-poverty-surpass-whites-study-finds.html?src=rechp - "While the number of Hispanic children in poverty is the highest ever, the poverty rate — 35 percent in 2010 — is well under its 1994 peak of 41 percent. Nor do Hispanics have the largest share in poverty of all racial and ethnic groups. In 2010, 39.1 percent of black children — 4.3 million — lived in poverty, as did 12.4 percent of white children. . . . And Hispanic children in poverty are more likely to live in married couple families than either non-Hispanic whites or African-Americans, according to the report, a pattern that can help cushion an economic fall. Forty-six percent of Hispanic children lived in married couple families in 2010, compared with 41 percent of whites and 16 percent of African-Americans."

12. Coming Together to Dismantle Education Reform, by Andrew J. Rotherham - http://ti.me/mPIiso via @TIME - "As evidence of the severe disconnect between the state's high standards on paper and lax enforcement in practice, consider that 98% of schools in Virginia — a state system I know well, since I served as a member of its board of education for four years — are fully accredited under the state's rules. But just 22% of the Hispanic students and 14% of the African-American students who attend these schools are reading at the "proficient" level on the National Assessment of Education Progress by eighth grade. Hard to square that with a 98% success rate."

261. Review of 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. A college education is your best bet, by Joseph E. Aoun - http://t.co/xmXnAe1 - "In addition, a new Georgetown University study that analyzed the earning outcomes of 171 types of college degrees found that every single one generates a positive return -- even after college costs and foregone earnings are taken into account. It found that, overall, college graduates make 84% more over a lifetime than their high school-educated counterparts."

2. I'm an entrepreneur: College was invaluable, by Brian Forde - #cnn - http://t.co/nUGyUKl -"I applaud Thiel's efforts to encourage entrepreneurship, although if it is under the claim that education is better served through experience than the classroom I would disagree. If everyone took this route, the future of business would be all innovation and no operation."

3. Study shows preschool's benefits are long-lasting - USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/jaYGkh - "Better jobs, less drug abuse and fewer arrests are among advantages found in the study. The researchers tracked more than 1,000 low-income mostly black Chicago kids for up to 25 years.Those who attended public preschool at Chicago's intensive Child-Parent Center Education Program were compared with those who mostly didn't attend preschool."

4. College mulls tuition hike - TribToday.com - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://bit.ly/kZdJqm - "The proposed hike would increase a full-time student's tuition by $90 per semester, adding $6 to each credit hour. Currently, the college's tuition rate is $99 per credit hour in Ohio and $93 for Jefferson County residents due to the local levy."

5. Mind the (Scholarship) Gap, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/lSLqd1 - "The National Collegiate Athletic Association defines a “full" athletic scholarship as “financial aid that consists of tuition and fees, room and board, and required course-related books.” By contrast, the NCAA and most college financial aid offices define cost of attendance as “an amount calculated by an institutional financial aid office, using federal regulations, that includes the total cost of tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, transportation and other expenses related to attendance at the institution.”

6. Schools Strengthen Counseling on Postsecondary Options, by Mary Ann Zehr - http://t.co/tlPIQ26 via @educationweek - "But experts say many counselors get little preparation themselves on how to advise students on choosing the right four-year college—let alone other kinds of postsecondary options.“There are numerous graduate school programs around the country that don’t even have a course dedicated to developing college-counseling skills for high school counselors,” says Jim Miller, the president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling."

7. National Coalition for College Completion - http://finishhighered.org/ - "Every student – of every race and every income level – needs quality education beyond high school."

8. More Hispanic Students Graduating And Attending College, Census Says - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/09/more-hispanic-students-graduating_n_874237.html?ir=College - "A higher percentage of young Hispanic adults is finishing high school, and the number attending a two-year college has nearly doubled over the last decade, according to Census data released Wednesday."

9. Summer jobs take a back seat for teens angling for college, by Jeffrey Sheban - http://t.co/RWOIfg1 - "With the job market tight and competition keen for college scholarships, more students are forgoing summer employment to pursue activities that will give them a leg up on college admissions."

10. Write 500 Words, Get Into College: Common Application Sets Essay Length Limit, by Kayla Webley - http://t.co/Wt1fle7 via @TIMENewsFeed - "In the essays, which are now accepted by 415 colleges and universities, students choose one of five prompts to write on. One of the prompts is, "Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence."The remaining prompts and a full preview of the 2011-12 Common Application is here."

253.Unstack the Odds--GO TO COLLEGE: LINKS

Unstack the Odds: Help All Kids Access College—and Graduate!

by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)
20. GO TO COLLEGE: LINKS

Here are some more links to articles of interest, drawn from the Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP) blog, with the original posting number shown.

Cost (continued):

58. Shopping for Student Loans
Before a student takes out loans to pay for college, he or she and their family should investigate available options. Specifically, they should consider the kinds of loans offered as well as interest rates and repayment obligations. To become aware of these possibilities, read the blog-post by Lynn O'Shaughnessy entitled "Find the Right Student Loan" at this link: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/find-the-right-student-loan/371/?tag=col1;blog-river

59. How Much Should a Student Borrow for College?
A question students ask in regard to college loans is "How much should I borrow?" With the hazards of loan-debt so publicized today, this is an important question to ponder. Lynn O'Shaughnessy addresses this issue in her blog-post "College Debt: Don’t Borrow More Than $27,000" at this link:http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/college-debt-dont-borrow-more-than-27000/1521/?tag=col1;blog-river

60. How Much Should Parents Borrow for College?
Even after considering all elements a student may receive in his/her financial-aid package, they may still need more money to pay for a particular college or university. In that case, parents often consider taking out loans to assist their child. However, how much parents should borrow is often not addressed. Lynn O'Shaughnessy confronts this issue in her blog-post "College Loans: How Much Should Parents Borrow?" at this link: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/college-loans-how-much-should-parents-borrow/1510/?tag=col1;blog-river

61. Do Many Students Take Out College Loans?
Borrowing to pay college expenses is becoming a necessity for more students. The percentage of students who have college loans is growing, as Lynn O'Shaughnessy discusses in her blog-post "The Soaring Popularity of College Student Loans" at this link: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/the-soaring-popularity-of-college-student-loans/545/?tag=col1;blog-river

62. Discounts for College Tuition
Many private colleges and universities give students a cut in the price they must pay to attend. This practice, called "discounting," comes through the financial-aid package granted--which may amount to several thousand dollars and can enable a student to afford that school. The extent of these discounts and reasons for them are addressed by Lynn O'Shaughnessy in her blog-post "College Tuition: Schools Cutting Prices at Historic Levels" at this link:http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/college-tuition-schools-cutting-prices-at-historic-levels/1905/?tag=col1;blog-river

63. Unusual Scholarships
From time to time, you'll hear someone say this: "There are lots of scholarships out there!" Unfortunately, many of them stay out there--rather than in some student's pocket. Nonetheless, there do exist scholarships that are, in fact, awarded for unusual reasons--sometimes, unrelated to academics. Jilian Mincer wrote in The Wall Street Journal of April 16, 2010, about such scholarships in an article entitled "If You're a Tall Vegan Named Zolp, Your Tuition Worries Are Over." You can read her account at this link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304198004575172073856320424.html?KEYWORDS=If+you%27re+a+tall+vegan+named+zolp

64. Who Borrows the Most?
Borrowing for college is an important issue today, as student loan-debt increases--sometimes to scary levels. To read a report by Sandy Baum and Patricia Steele for The College Board entitled "Who Borrows Most? Bachelor's Degree Recipients with High Levels of Student Debt," click this link:http://advocacy.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/Trends-Who-Borrows-Most-Brief.pdf

To read Lynn O'Shaughnessy's highlights of this report, check out her blog-post: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/college-debt-12-facts-about-student-loan-borrowers/1961/?tag=col1;blog-river

69. Government or Private Loans?
Students and their parents who need to borrow to pay for college should research their options for loans--specifically, whether they are better off taking out federal student loans or private loans. More than simply interest rates and terms of repayment are involved in this consideration. To see some comparisons between government and private loans, read the post by Sandra Block on May 4, 2010, in USA Today at this link:http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2010-05-04-yourmoney04_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

71. Still Need Money For College?
If you're still seeking money to pay for college, read Kim Clark's "11 Steps to Raise Last-Minute Cash for College," posted April 29, 2010, at the US News & World Report online site; just click this link:http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/paying-for-college/2010/04/29/11-steps-to-raise-last-minute-cash-for-college.html

73. Plan B
Sometimes, a student's college plans fall through--because of finances, an emergency in their family, or other reasons. Then, he or she needs a Plan B--to still attend college, though under different circumstances, perhaps, than they had previously envisioned. If that's your situation, you may be interested in reading the May 6, 2010, post "When college dream derails, time for Plan B," by William Hageman in the Chicago Tribune, at this link: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/05/1927547/when-college-dream-derails-time.html#ixzz0nGnv7O3M

78. Interest Rates Vary for Private Student Loans!
Students--and their parents--often have to borrow money to pay for college. Despite taking out all federal student loans for which they qualify, some still consider private student loans. To get the best (lowest) rates of interest on these loans, shop around! In a blog-post, dated 5/14/10, Lynn O'Shaughnessy states: "The interest rates that lenders offer on private student loans are wildly different even for borrowers with the same credit scores." To read her entire post, click this link:http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/private-student-loans-the-good-bad-and-ugly/2078/?tag=col1;blog-river

80. How to Get More Financial Aid
Perhaps the most frequent question students and parents ask about paying for college is "Do you know of any scholarships out there?" What they're really wondering is how can I get more--and pay less--to attend college. Financial aid can help. But to maximize a student's financial-aid package, some tips may be useful. Jane J. Kim wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal on May 22-23, 2010, that offers such advice; you can access it at this link:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703612804575222303415618316.html

81. Athletic Scholarships Can Be Revoked.
What many student-athletes and their parents often don't realize is that Division I "full-ride" scholarships can be revoked after one year. This revocation can cause students to have to "walk on"--or, if they decide to, transfer to another institution. For more information, click this link to an article by Alan Scher Zagier on The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/revoked-scholarships-surp_n_586854.html

83. Paying Off Federal Student Loans

If you accept federal student loans, you're obligated to repay them--whether you graduate from college or not. Consequently, you should limit the amout of loan-debt you acquire. For information on repaying your federal loans, see this article, dated May 25, 2010, by Sandra Block in USA Today, at this link: http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2010-05-25-yourmoney25_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

84. Sticker Price vs. Net Cost of a College
Often, students and parents are scared off from applying to a particular college or university because it seems high-priced. Rather than focusing on the stated "sticker price," however, a prospective applicant needs to determine their own "net cost"--that is, what they would have to pay after all financial aid for which they are eligible has been deducted from the published cost of attendance (i.e., "sticker price"). To read Lynn O'Shaughnessy's post on this issue, click this link to her blog:http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/biggest-financial-aid-myth-i-cant-afford-this-college/2143/?tag=col1;blog-river

85. Federal Direct Loan Program
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which takes effect July 1, 2010, requires that all federal student loans be offered through direct lending rather than from private lenders. Government fees previously paid to lending banks are to be used to expand the federal Pell Grant program, raising the full grant-award to an estimated $5,975 by 2017. To read an explanatory article, dated May 26, 2010, by Caralee Adams in Education Week, click this link:http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/05/26/33college.h29.html?tkn=UXUFeF%2Bl%2BNo%2BoNZRjwa8Sz4pGgHC6QMrLm8o&cmp=clp-edweek

86. Who is to Blame for Student Loan-Debt?
When a student graduates from college with a huge loan-debt, people may ask: "Who is to blame?" You can decide responsibility after reading this case study by Ron Lieber in The New York Times of May 29, 2010, at this link:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html?hpw

97. New Rules on Federal Student Loans
Effective July 1, 2010, new rules go into effect for those taking out federal student loans. Now, only the U.S. Dept. of Education will offer these loans. In addition, interest for subsidized Stafford loans will decrease to fixed rate of 4.5% for undergraduates. The federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) will have a fixed rate of 7.9%. For other information on these loan changes, see the article "Student Loans Get a Makeover," by Jane J. Kim in The Wall Street Journal of July 3-4, 2010, at this link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704334604575338883122321008.html
98. Yearly Cost of College Per Student

The cost per year to educate a college student can be expensive. And that cost varies, depending on the type of educational institution. For example, U.S. community colleges spend almost $10,000 per year, while private research universities spend $35,000 per year; the average cost in the United States is about $19,000 per student. For these and other data, see the article "Share of College Budgets For Recreation Is Rising," by Sam Dillon in The New York Times of July 10, 2010, at this link:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/education/10education.html?ref=tuition

81. Athletic Scholarships Can Be Revoked.

What many student-athletes and their parents often don't realize is that Division I "full-ride" scholarships can be revoked after one year. This revocation can cause students to have to "walk on"--or, if they decide to, transfer to another institution. For more information, click this link to an article by Alan Scher Zagier on The Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/revoked-scholarships-surp_n_586854.html