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1. How Do You Advise Your Child to Slow Down, and Wait? by Caren Osten Gerszberg - http://nyti.ms/aQlOF2

"How do you advise your child to slow down, wait and not feel the pressure, when you are running around, simultaneously juggling obligations and trying to stop and take some deep breaths yourself? As the parent, I try to be the voice of reason, to set an example, to keep balance in my life and for my family. But at times, I get caught up, too."

2. Congressional Chaos? - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/bgzzwC

"Most of the conversation focused on the potential reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, but when talk turned to higher education, the discussion was almost exclusively about the U.S. Department of Education’s regulations on “gainful employment” and other financial aid issues, and on Senator Tom Harkin’s (D-Iowa) continued push to investigate for-profit colleges as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Bethany Little, chief education counsel for the HELP committee, said that Harkin was determined to continue to scrutinize for-profit colleges. “What is going on for Americans who are in some cases being duped by these schools and being left with significant debt and no opportunity to pay it off because their diploma is either nonexistent or worthless is something [Harkin] cares deeply about,” she said. The senator, she added, “is not going to back away from an investigation that has brought to light really startling things.”

3. Washington Post’s Kaplan Faces Growing Scrutiny, by Tamar Lewin - http://nyti.ms/9VWFxd

"Over the last decade, Kaplan has moved aggressively into for-profit higher education, acquiring 75 small colleges and starting the huge online Kaplan University. Now, Kaplan higher education revenues eclipse not only the test-prep operations, but all the rest of the Washington Post Company’s operations. And Kaplan’s revenue grew 9 percent during the last quarter to $743.3 million — with higher education revenues more than four times greater than those from test-prep — helping its parent company more than triple its profits. But over the last few months, Kaplan and other for-profit education companies have come under intense scrutiny from Congress, amid growing concerns that the industry leaves too many students mired in debt, and with credentials that provide little help in finding jobs. Reports of students who leave such schools with heavy debt, only to work in low-paying jobs, have prompted the Department of Education to propose regulations that would cut off federal financing to programs whose graduates have high debt-to-income ratios and low repayment rates."

4. The Most Beautiful College Libraries (PHOTOS) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/09/the-most-beautiful-colleg_n_778614.html#s174271

"Campus Grotto compiled a list of the ultimate breathtaking study spots in America. Click through to see if yours ranks in the top 10 -- and check out Campus Grotto for the full list."

5. The Tuition Is Too Damn High, by Dan Treadway - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-treadway/the-costs-of-unaffordable_b_780803.html

‎"As I sat in the back of the room in one of my classes and listened to a fellow student drone on about how her family's summer trip to the Ozarks somehow related to media theory, I let out a sigh. As she stumbled on her point about listening to Glen Beck on the radio while driving through Oklahoma, I pulled out my calculator and began doing a little math. Lets see, the cost for Fall tuition for my major was $4,646. Divide that by the four classes I'm taking, then divide that by the 27 class meetings in a semester. The number I came up with was $43.01. That was the amount of money I spent to attend that particular class session. Even more troubling, after prorating that number I realized that I was paying about $5 to listen to the girl conclude that Glen Beck was biased. My only solace was that I qualified for in-state tuition."

6. Black Male Achievement in a 'State of Crisis,' Study Says, by Dakarai Aarons - http://t.co/1wmZtp2 via @educationweek

"As a study this summer by the Schott Foundation for Public Education pointed out, fewer than half of black males graduate from high school on time. "At almost every juncture, the odds are stacked against these young men in ways that result in too much unfulfilled potential and too many fractured lives," writes Michael Casserly, the council's executive director. The council's report suggests that the underperformance of black male youths is nothing short of a national emergency, and it calls for the convening of a White House conference."The previous efforts to ring the alarm bell have too often fallen on deaf ears, and we thought that a White House conference would help both raise the visibility of the issues and aide in attempting to martial the public will to tackle it," Casserly said in an interview."

7. Education Week: Study: Fewer Than Half of Black Males Graduate on Time, by Dakarai I. Aarons - http://t.co/925xfix via @educationweek

"John H. Jackson, the foundation’s president and chief executive officer, said the low national graduation rate for black males is something the country cannot afford to let persist if it is to reach President Barack Obama’s goal of leading the world in the percentage of college graduates by 2020. “It just seems to be that the U.S. is systemically failing black males,” he said, yet policymakers and educators “aren’t making the choice and the tough decisions to provide all students the opportunity to learn.”“It’s absolutely a lack of political will,” he said."

8. New Haven Offers Its Students Free College Tuition, by Winnie Hu - http://nyti.ms/9e6auW

"City and school officials announced on Tuesday that a new program, called New Haven Promise, would offer to pay eligible students’ way through any public college or university in Connecticut. The program will also pay up to $2,500 a year to those who attend a private college in the state. The program — to cost $4.5 million a year, financed primarily by Yale University — is open to students who live in the city and have attended its public schools, including charter schools, since at least ninth grade, regardless of family income. Students must also have at least a 3.0 grade point average and a 90 percent attendance rate. About 200 of the 1,000 graduates last year would have qualified, city officials said."

9. Veterans and Colleges Like New GI Benefits, Despite Rough 1st Yr, by Kevin Kiley http://chronicle.com/article/Start-Up-Woes-for-New-GI-Bill/125322/

Congress passed the Post-9/11 GI Bill in 2008, and the benefits were made available August 1, 2009. The program is designed to cover tuition expenses for veterans up to the cost of the most-expensive public university in their state of residence. The Department of Veterans Affairs pays that money directly to an institution instead of to the student, as it had done under previous laws. The bill also provides stipends for books and a monthly living stipend, and those amounts are paid directly to the student.Another benefit under the bill, known as the Yellow Ribbon Program, helps cover the costs of private institutions, matching any financial aid those institutions offer above the basic tuition benefit provided in that state."

10. In STEM Fields, How Hispanic Students Pay for Ed Affects Success, by Elyse Ashburn http://chronicle.com/article/In-the-STEM-Fields-How/125318/

"The report, "Tapping HSI-STEM Funds to Improve Latina and Latino Access to STEM Professions," argues that the Hispanic achievement gaps at the baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral levels exist in large part because of finances. "A lot of discussion about participation hasn't acknowledged that fact," said Lindsey E. Malcom, one of the co-authors and an assistant professor at the University of California at Riverside.Hispanic students are more likely than their peers to come from low-income families—and that affects not only the competing demands on their time and money but also the types of institutions they are most likely to attend. Such students disproportionately start their college educations at community colleges and Hispanic-serving four-year colleges, which typically have lower costs. In turn, the researchers say, those institutions tend to have fewer resources, often leaving them less equipped to support students and to prepare them for graduate work."

11. Student's Calling: Help Peers Spend Responsibly - http://chronicle.com/blogs/postcards/a-student-finds-her-calling-helping-others-spend-responsibly/73

‎"She said Central Michigan students have an average of $27,000 in college-loan debt—$7,000 more than the national average. What bothers her is seeing some students use loan money for spring-break trips or tanning-salon visits—especially if they’re racking up credit-card debt at the same time. The average college student has $4,000 in credit-card debt, she told me. “You spend so much more money with a card than if you use cash”—when you use a card, you don’t see the money leaving your hands. Students, she said, don’t worry about establishing a good credit history because they don’t understand how important it will be to them in the future, and most students never even bother to check their credit reports. Which is crazy, she said. “How would you like it if you went through school for four years and didn’t know your GPA?”

12. Best Jobs For College Students Unigo http://t.co/9GegVLD

‎"Consistently keeping a few extra Andrew Jacksons in your wallet will require some work on your behalf, though. And by work, we mean an actual paying job. Don’t fret; lots of students have to supplement their income with a part-time post. Whether you take an on- or off-campus job, one thing is certain: not all jobs are created equal. Not only will a job enable you to purchase the most useless and random of gifts for yourself, but it can actually be a worthwhile and enjoyable experience. Without further ado, our slate of top jobs for college students."

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

125. MVCAP fyi

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1. When Listing Extracurricular Activities, No Need To Fill All Blanks, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/bqSxIL

"Here’s how Monica C. Inzer, the dean of admissions at Hamilton College in New York and a member of the Common Application board, put it: We’d rather see depth than a longer list. I think students think we want well-rounded kids. We do. But we really want a well-rounded class. That could be lots of people who have individual strengths. Distinction in one area is good, and better than doing a lot of little things."

2. The Rise of the 'Edupunk' - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/9azAXt

“We're still trying to fit the Web into our educational paradigm. I just don't think that's going to work,” said Mary Spilde, president of Lane Community College, in Eugene, Ore. Today's students are “pretty bored with what we do,” she added. In a notable acknowledgment of the tail wagging the dog, several panelists alluded here to the possibility that if colleges don't change the way they do business, then students will change the way colleges do business.College leaders don't yet know how to credential the knowledge students are gaining on their own, but they may soon have to, said Mark David Milliron, deputy director for postsecondary improvement at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We are not far from the day when a student, finding unsatisfactory reviews of a faculty member on ratemyprofessors.com, will choose to take a class through open courseware online and then ask his home institution to assess him, Milliron said. Colleges need to prepare for that reality, he said."

3. When Social Media Is Irrelevant - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/bW8sTL

"In an admittedly limited study of 65 students (mostly from graduate programs) -- presented Thursday to a packed room here at the Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning -- university officials discovered that the students cared mainly that their instructors clearly communicated the expectations and requirements for a class and responded in a timely manner to their questions. They cared less about getting to know their classmates, looking at instructor profiles, having real-time chat sessions, and simulating face-to-face communication with video. Also, students who had previous experience learning online were more likely to be relatively indifferent toward social intimacy with their instructors and classmates. The notion that “social presence” might help with retention in online programs has prompted vendors to infuse their online learning platforms with more social media tools, particularly synchronous text- and video-chat features."

4. Veterans who go back to school want more support, by Jenna Johnson - http://t.co/XTPoFI4

"Researchers with the National Survey of Student Engagement interviewed nearly 11,000 student veterans who were first-year students or seniors at four-year schools. The veterans reported interacting less with their instructors than did classmates who had not enlisted, and they were less likely to partake in educational opportunities such as internships or study abroad. The Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research produces the survey each year to measure how students and faculty interact and learn. The latest, results of which will be released Thursday, found that colleges should "seek ways to more effectively engage student veterans in effective educational practices and provide them with the supportive environments that promote success."

5. Banks Spend $83 Million to Promote Student Credit Card Use, by Scott Gamm http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-gamm/banks-spend-83-million-to_b_778709.html

‎"According to a new report released by the Fed, credit card issuers paid a whopping $83,462,712 to colleges, universities and institutions of higher education to promote student credit cards. As a result of this $83 million+ spent, credit card issuers gained an extra 53,164 college credit card accounts in 2009. Let me get this straight: $83 million was spent to encourage college students to open up credit card accounts, which allow students to spend beyond their means and rack up huge amounts of credit card debt (the average per student is over $4,100, according to Sallie Mae). You may think that college students use credit cards for books and groceries. But when 50% of college students have 4 credit cards or more, according to Sallie Mae, it's hard to believe that only necessities are being charged on their credit cards! Irresponsible credit card use in college will not only ruin the credit score of students, but it will instill poor spending habits for years to come."

6. College Applications Continue to Increase. When Is Enough Enough? by Eric Hoover - http://nyti.ms/dARwf9

"For this fall’s freshman class, the statistics reached remarkable levels. Stanford received a record 32,022 applications from students it called “simply amazing,” and accepted 7 percent of them. Brown saw an unprecedented 30,135 applicants, who left the admissions staff “deeply impressed and at times awed.” Nine percent were admitted. The biggest boast came from the University of California, Los Angeles. In a news release, U.C.L.A. said its accepted students had “demonstrated excellence in all aspects of their lives.” Citing its record 57,670 applications, the university proclaimed itself “the most popular campus in the nation.”

7. Education Department to Review U. of Phoenix’s Federal Student Aid http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/education-dept-to-review-u-of-phoenixs-federal-student-aid/28111

"Phoenix, like many for-profit colleges, relies heavily on federal student aid, and its prediction last month that by 2011 such aid would exceed 90 percent of its revenue—breaking a federal threshold—helped send the company’s stock price into a tailspin. According to recently released data from the department, last year Phoenix took in $1-billion in federal Pell Grants, the first institution, for-profit or otherwise, to receive that much."

8. NCAA Puts U. of Michigan on Probation for Rules Violations in Football Program

http://chronicle.com/blogs/players/ncaa-puts-u-of-michigan-on-probation-for-rules-violations-in-football-program/27703

"The Division I Committee on Infractions announced its decision in the closely watched case Thursday afternoon, when it released a 29-page report detailing the allegations—and sanctions—against head coach Rich Rodriguez’s football program. In addition to placing the institution on probation, the committee also upheld Michigan’s self-imposed penalty that would reduce the amount of practice time allotted to its football team through the end of the 2011-12 academic year. In the report, the NCAA faulted Rodriguez for allowing his program to run afoul of the association’s rules in several areas, including the number of coaches he had on staff and the amount of practice time athletes were required take part in. The NCAA also said the head coach—as well as the athletic department at large—failed to monitor the football program, and directed Rodriguez to participate in an upcoming seminar about NCAA rules."

9. 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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1. Banks spend big to sell credit cards to students, by Amy Haimeri money.cnn.com/2010/10/26/pf/…

"In total, the report showed that credit card companies spent $82.4 million to net 53,164 new student accounts. The University of Notre Dame got the biggest payment of any school: Chase paid the school $1.8 million and in the end got 77 new borrowers. The school used the funds exclusively for financial aid, according to university spokesman Dennis Brown. Meanwhile, Bank of America spent $1.5 million on the University of Southern California campus to sell 659 new accounts."

2. Book Reviews: 'Don't Stalk the Admissions Officer' and 'I'm Going to College -- Not You,' by Rebecca R. Ruiz - http://nyti.ms/amEgDd

"Ms. Delahunty opens with some statistics, including that the largest high school class in American history will have graduated from 2008 to 2012. Taking the measure of today’s increased number of applicants, the fixed number of seats at top universities and the high ambitions of Baby Boomer parents for their children, Ms. Delahunty writes about the extreme parental stress of the admissions process, “the crucible of anxiety.” In the anthology, she seeks to capture the “tightrope parents must walk between ‘control freak’ and ‘friend.’” There are essays from mothers and fathers, each of them writers, professors or admissions staff members who have sent their children off to school."

3. High Stakes in Ohio - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/aEB772

"Many observers suspect that the structural and other changes that Strickland put in place could be scuttled by a new governor, either because they are too expensive (with the state facing an $8 billion budget shortfall) or because they're not his own. It is uncertain whether Kasich, were he to win, would retain Eric D. Fingerhut -- a close political ally of Strickland's who carries out his agenda as chancellor of the newly created University System of Ohio -- or replace him with his own right-hand man. Some college officials worry more generally that Kasich, as a budget hawk in Congress, would take a different approach to higher education funding given Ohio's financial mess, declining to favor colleges and students as Strickland has. Yet others say the chancellor’s long-term plans have enough traction and support in the legislature that people are worrying needlessly. Fingerhut himself says higher education is a bipartisan issue in Ohio."

4. Nine Best College Radio Stations, by Danielle Wiener-Bronner http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/26/9-best-college-radio-stat_n_773720.html

‎"Saturday marked the wrap-up of this year's College Music Journal Music Marathon and Film Festival -- an event that packed venues large and small with fledgling artists and their fans for five days. In addition to live shows and screenings, CMJ offered panels and lectures for college radio stations, and bestowed a lucky few with annual station awards. Drawing from their selection, and adding stations that have earned critical and popular acclaim from other areas, we've compiled a list of nine excellent college radio stations. Do you agree with the list, or do you think we're off-key? Weigh in below."

5. Today's Jobs Demand Updated College Education, by Jim Spohrer, IBM http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-spohrer/todays-jobs-demand-an-upd_b_774244.html

‎"Services are the largest sector of the economy in most industrialized nations, and are fast becoming the largest sector in emerging markets. More than 80 percent of the world's businesses offer services rather than just products, yet most universities are only slowly shifting their focus from primarily products and manufacturing. That has to change if colleges and universities are to graduate students qualified to take on today's challenges. For that reason, IBM has been working with universities for six years on a new academic discipline called Service Science, Management and Engineering, with the goal of studying, improving and teaching services innovation. SSME also calls for academia, industry, and governments to focus on becoming more systematic about innovation in the service sector.So far, 450 universities in more than 50 countries are teaching service science related courses or degree programs that combine disciplines including computer science, operational research, engineering. . . ."

6. Out of School, Out of Work, Out of Luck: The Youth Job Crisis, by Leo Hindery - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-hindery-jr/out-of-school-out-of-work_b_774211.html?ir=College

‎"Side by side with these unemployed workers for whom the challenge of reemployment is particularly high, however, are, as I said, five million youth who are desperately seeking initial employment. And this is not by any measure a static number, for each year, in recessions and in good times alike, another 6.4 million or so young people graduate from high school and college. Five million is a huge, unprecedented number of unemployed youth -- in recent past recessions it never exceeded 1.5 to 2 million -- and the reason that this issue is so important is because a young person's prolonged delay into his first job has career-long impacts which show up as more limited job skills, fewer subsequent promotions and thus much lower lifetime income."

7. Student Credit Cards: $83 Million Dollar Pay Off, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/b…

"Last year credit card companies issued more than $83 million to universities, alumni associations and foundations, according to the Federal Reserve report, which was mandated by landmark federal legislation making it much tougher for students to obtain credit cards on college campuses. In 2009, 53,164 credit card accounts were opened thanks to these higher-ed agreements. The Federal Reserve counted more than 2 million credit cards still in use that were generated by these agreements over the years.In the report, 17 financial institutions revealed a total of 1,044 credit card agreements. Forty percent of the agreements were with schools and the next biggest source were alumni associations."

8. Merging Career Tech with College Prep: Why It's Succeeding, by Kathy Baron, Edutopia, in Education Week - edweek.org/ew/articles/20…

"This new approach, often called career and technical education (CTE), "represents the first substantive change in high schools since they were first created in the late 1800s," observes Nancy Farnan, director of the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University. Traditional high schools, with separate departments for each academic subject, have been around since 1893, when a task force known as the Committee of Ten, appointed by the National Education Association, released its report recommending how to standardize American high schools. CTE is almost diametrically opposite in its approach. It's all about fusion and collaboration; transforming the 3 R's from reading, writing and arithmetic, to rigor, relevancy and relationships -- among students, teachers and industry. Teachers work collaboratively to create a seamless curriculum that infuses English, math, science, and history with career skills in everything from green energy to health sciences."

9. How Far States Have to Go to Meet Obama's College-Completion Goal http://chronicle.com/article/Chart-How-Far-States-Have-to/64361/

"President Obama has set a goal of putting the United States first in the world by 2020 in the proportion of residents with college degrees or certificates. Here is a breakdown of the progress each state would have to make by 2020 to help meet that goal, if each state were to maintain its current share of undergraduate credentials. The calculations, by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, take into account current levels of educational attainment and projected population growth in each state."

10. Are the Ivies Worth The Price? by Sue Shellenbarger Choosing a College Unigo unigo.com/articles/are_t…

‎"Old dreams of adult children earning degrees from elite, door-opening colleges or “legacy” schools attended by relatives are falling away in some families, in favor of a new pragmatism. Other parents and students are doing a tougher cost-benefit analysis of the true value of a pricey undergraduate degree. As parents wrestle privately with such emotional issues, many say they wish they’d begun years earlier to assess their values and priorities, long before their children’s college-decision deadline was upon them."

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

108. MVCAP fyi

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1. White House pushes to extend college tuition credit http://t.co/0sAHzmk

"The tax break, introduced under the government's 2009 Recovery Act and applicable to 2009 or 2010 college tuition, expands the existing Hope Credit to include more lower- and higher-income Americans. Unlike the Hope Credit, the AOTC is also partially refundable and covers more of the expenses associated with sending a child to college, like textbooks and computers. It is available for the first four years of post-secondary education, up from two years under the Hope Credit. More money is also doled out to students and parents under the AOTC. Students with incomes of $80,000 or less qualify for a credit of up to $2,500 a year, an increase of $700 from the previous Hope Credit. If the tax break is made permanent, a student would be able to receive a credit of up to $10,000 over four years."

2. Your Comments on Admissions Essays - http://nyti.ms/d6gPHB

"Several of you wondered whether admissions officers can tell if an essay has been largely written by an adult (presumably a parent or independent consultant), or, at the least, extensively revised in a pass through a grown-up’s computer. I would suggest, having read dozens of essays alongside some admissions officers and interviewed many others, that they can often distinguish the voice of a young person from that of someone who, say, has put a few more miles on the odometer. Some admissions have read upwards of 1,000 essays a year over the course of several decades; they’re critical readers, and, as a gut-check, they might try to compare the writing sample in front of them to everything else they know about the applicant, such as his or her grades in English or what the student’s teachers say. Is it possible to put one over on them? Of course, but is that any way to start a college education?"

3. Higher Power - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/a8pUGo

"Under a typical arrangement with Higher One, a university will require students to go through the company as the processor of financial aid disbursements that go directly to students for expenses -- even if a student ultimately decides to have the company place the money in an account with another bank. In practice, however, most students end up sticking with Higher One. In 2009, for instance, 76 percent of the students at participating colleges chose to bank with the company for financial aid, rather than choosing another bank, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Washington Post called attention to Higher One in a recent article, outlining student disenchantment about banking fees, including a 50-cent charge for using the debit card as, well, a debit card. Customers can avoid that fee by running the card as a credit card during purchases, and the company boasts on its website that “over half” of account holders get stung with the fee only once."

4. Where For-Profit and Nonprofit Meet - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/9P7qk8

‎"Earlier this year, the Princeton Review signed a deal with Bristol Community College, in Fall River, to offer accelerated health science degree programs to students willing to pay a higher tuition. These programs are offered in hybrid fashion, combining online coursework with in-person lab time. They are taught by Bristol faculty members but delivered by the Princeton Review, which pays for the expensive lab equipment and new teaching facilities. Otherwise, the only difference between these and traditional health science programs at Bristol is that the Princeton Review-sponsored programs can be completed in about half the time, but only if students fork over $100 more per credit hour -- $246 instead of $146. This tuition differential is then given to the Princeton Review."

5. Online Colleges as a Policy Bloc? - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/ccAB9E

‎"The dominant concern coming from the leaders of online programs at the seventh meeting of the Presidents’ Forum -- a group of institutions that serve adult students primarily online -- was proving they offer quality and value as the U.S. Department of Education and Congress begin roundabout efforts to measure those things. “We need to again use better data to make our case … to tell our story in credible ways,” said Margaret Spellings, who served as secretary of education during George W. Bush’s second term. She is now senior adviser to the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and consults for Education Management Corporation. “We’re seen as wild-eyed, often profit-making, the wild west of higher education, and often don’t get credit for what we do.”

6. The Best College Football Towns (PHOTOS) http://huff.to/cq1xUW Huffpost

"With some help from AP Top 25 voters, the 12 best college football towns:"

7. Confessions of an agent - http://bit.ly/bkJD1Y

"­Between 1990 and '96 I'd estimate that I paid more than 30 players. Joel Steed of Colorado; Rob Waldrop, the Outland Trophy winner from Arizona; and Travis Claridge of USC all took my money but signed with someone else, as did many others. When I called those players and asked them why they didn't sign with me, they always had the same line: "Sorry, I gotta do what is best for me and my family. "One of the misconceptions about the agent business is that the kids are victims, preyed on by people like me. When Alabama coach Nick Saban and others rail against the agent business, they don't mention that most of the time the player or someone from his family approaches us. Guys see that one of their teammates has some cash, ask him about it, and suddenly my phone rings. It was rare to find a player who wouldn't take the money. I put $10,000 cash in front of Kansas's Dana Stubblefield, and he wouldn't take it. I tried to pay UCLA's J.J. Stokes and USC's Keyshawn Johnson, and they said, "No...."

8. Student Loan Debt Traps Grads in Dead-End Jobs http://www.nsfreepress.com/story/student-loan-debt-traps-grads-dead-end-jobs

“I don’t know what I expected,” said Lang grad Garret Hurley, who received his B.A. in digital media last December but now, almost a year later, still waits tables. And he may be lucky. A new study by the Economic Policy Institute shows the unemployment rate for recent college graduates up from 5.4 percent in 2007 to 9 percent in 2009. Worse, according to the EPI, these statistics “do not indicate whether they are employed in a job that matches their skill level.” They estimate that grads working outside their field will earn 30-35 percent less. According to Yale economist Lisa Khan, this is a big problem. Those who compromise early can’t shift into better jobs after the economy picks up. Her data suggest that a higher unemployment rate at graduation means lower income immediately after graduation and long afterward. Each 1 percent rise in unemployment will cost students 6-7 percent of their income the first year, and 2.5 percent fifteen years out."

9. The World Changed, Colleges Missed It http://huff.to/bcbuvr Huffpost

‎"Art Levine, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, sees three major change forces: new competition, a convergence of knowledge producers, and changing demographics. The explosion of online learning from new and existing providers is changing the landscape of higher education. More broadly, everybody is getting into the learning business and providing some kind of instruction: YouTube, iTunes U, the neighborhood library, and closet hackers like Kahn Academy. To make the landscape even more confusing, Levine points out that less than a fifth of higher ed students are traditional -- young adults that went straight to college from high school. The new majority in higher ed are working adults and they view college as just another part of their life. They want a relationship with college like the one with the bank or the electric company -- convenient, service on demand, quality support, and cheap."

10. Will Picture Books Hurt Your Child's Chances for Harvard? http://t.co/Mz2ASmj

‎"Parents worry that if their children aren’t early readers, they will be far behind other kids when they begin kindergarten. And falling behind in grade school could mean they will some day get rejected by their top college choices.A recent front-page story in The New York Times chronicled this irrational trend. It’s stunning to me that parents of young children believe that ditching wonderful picture books like The Hungry Little Caterpillar and Curious George will give their kids an edge in school. My two kids, who are now in college, loved picture books like Good Night Moon, The Ugly Duckling, The Little Engine That Could and a slew of enchanting books by such authors as William Steig, Jan Brett and Eric Carle. Some of my fondest moments as a mom of young children came when I was sharing picture books with my children. I can’t imagine a better way to fuel a preschooler’s imagination than exploring a picture book."

11. In Harlem Children’s Zone Schools Have Their Own Problems - http://nyti.ms/cIfsUF

"The parent organization of the schools, the Harlem Children’s Zone, enjoys substantial largess, much of it from Wall Street. While its cradle-to-college approach, which seeks to break the cycle of poverty for all 10,000 children in a 97-block zone of Harlem, may be breathtaking in scope, the jury is still out on its overall impact. And its cost — around $16,000 per student in the classroom each year, as well as thousands of dollars in out-of-class spending — has raised questions about its utility as a nationwide model.
Mr. Canada, 58, who began putting his ideas into practice on a single block, on West 119th Street, in the mid-1990s, does not apologize for the cost of his model, saying his goals are wider than just fixing a school or two. His hope is to prove that if money is spent in a concentrated way to give poor children the things middle-class children take for granted — like high-quality schooling, a safe neighborhood, parents who read to them, and good medical care — they will not pass on the patterns of poverty to another generation."