381. 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. Private Colleges That Keep the Average Student Debt Low, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/uXMfI9 - "While the average college student graduates with about $28,000 in personal debt and two out of every three students borrow money for school, according to the College Board, the extent to which a student is in the red at graduation can vary dramatically by institution."

3. Protecting Friendships During the College Admissions Process, by Susannah L. Griffee: http://nyti.ms/vvNeMx - "Looking back, I wish I had kept my college list completely private. It may have made me feel proud to publicly post my acceptances, but I know it made the people who didn’t get into those colleges upset and resentful. The trade-off wasn’t worth it."

4. Obama administration issues affirmative action guidance for colleges, by Scott Jaschik Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vdliEY via AddThis - "Guidance issued jointly Friday afternoon by the Departments of Education and Justice states that diversity is an important educational goal, and that colleges should be able to use a variety of methods (including the consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions) to achieve diversity."

5. Employers' 11 favorite recruiting strategies for hiring new college grads, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57332235/employers-11-favorite-recruiting-strategies-for-hiring-new-college-grads/?tag=mncol;lst;10 - "While most employers use eight to 10 recruiting methods when searching for new talent, internship programs were favored by 66% of workplaces, while career fairs came in second among job recruiters looking for new hires."

6. What employers are paying new college grads, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57332487/what-employers-are-paying-new-college-grads/?tag=mncol;lst;9 - "The survey included salaries for selected bachelor's degrees and the results clearly show that graduates with advanced math skills are at the top of the salary heap."

7. Hechinger Report For millions of college dropouts, second chances prove difficult, by Emily Hanford: http://hechingerreport.org/content/for-millions-of-college-dropouts-second-chances-prove-difficult_7065/#.TtzZdMlu4i4.twitter via AddThis - "Capece finally gave up and dropped out, becoming one of 37 million Americans who have some college credits but no degree. That’s more than 20 percent of the working-age population. At a time when there’s more of a push than ever to increase the number of Americans with college degrees, close to half of the people who start college, like Capece, end up walking away, many of them saddled with debt. College dropouts who took out loans leave with a median debt of $7,000. Some give up only a few credits away from graduation."

8. Why Does the SAT Endure? - http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/04/why-should-sats-matter via @roomfordebate - "If, as critics claim, the test can be gamed, why are the scores still so meaningful to college admissions officials, and does the SAT put students who can’t afford to take prep classes at a disadvantage?"

9. A Good Intelligence Test, by David Z. Hambrick - http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/04/why-should-sats-matter/the-sat-is-a-good-intelligence-test via @roomfordebate - "Large-scale meta-analyses by researchers at the University of Minnesota have found that SAT performance is as good of a predictor of overall college grade point average as it is of freshman grade point average, and Vanderbilt researchers David Lubinski and Camilla Benbow have documented that the SAT predicts life outcomes well beyond the college years, including income and occupational achievements."

10. Khan Academy Blends Its YouTube Approach With Classrooms, by SOMINI SENGUPTA: http://nyti.ms/s840SN - "Mr. Khan, 35, has become something of an online sensation with his Khan Academy math and science lessons on YouTube, which has attracted up to 3.5 million viewers a month. Now he wants to weave those digital lessons into the fabric of the school curriculum — a more ambitious and as yet untested proposition. This semester, at least 36 schools nationwide are trying out Mr. Khan’s experiment: splitting up the work of teaching between man and machine, and combining teacher-led lessons with computer-based lectures and exercises."

11. Why School Choice Fails, by NATALIE HOPKINSON: http://nyti.ms/vO0FWI - "Such inequities are the perverse result of a “reform” process intended to bring choice and accountability to the school system. Instead, it has destroyed community-based education for working-class families, even as it has funneled resources toward a few better-off, exclusive, institutions."

12. White House Invites College Leaders to Closed-Door Meeting on Affordability, by Collin Eaton - http://chronicle.com/article/White-House-Invites-College/130007/ - "The discussion will be a candid conversation about how higher education can remove barriers "to college access, affordability, and success for students," according to a letter of invitation, from the White House to the higher-education leaders, that was obtained by The Chronicle."

13. Some Asians' college strategy: Don't check box – http://usat.ly/sKy4Dq via @USATODAY - "For years, many Asian-Americans have been convinced that it's harder for them to gain admission to the nation's top colleges. Studies show that Asian-Americans meet these colleges' admissions standards far out of proportion to their 6 percent representation in the U.S. population, and that they often need test scores hundreds of points higher than applicants from other ethnic groups to have an equal chance of admission."

357. 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. Public Universities Seeking Out-of-State Students, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/vlYca7 - "In an article published on Sunday in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Eric Hoover and Josh Keller reported that public universities are escalating their recruitment of out-of-state students – students who not only bring geographic diversity to campus, but also pay higher tuition rates and improve a school’s bottom line."

3. Advocate for students chides colleges for policies on low-income students, by Doug Lederman Inside Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/11/01/advocate-students-chides-colleges-policies-low-income-students#.TrAGpcyFo4w.twitter - "Haycock and her group, which focuses on ensuring equitable education for students regardless of their race or socioeconomic status, have issued a series of reports criticizing college policies (overemphasis on standardized test scores, merit-based financial aid, etc.) that tend to benefit wealthy and white students over others. . . . Haycock (at left) did not hold back, painting a picture of increasing inequality in higher education in which, among other things, students from families in the highest quartile of family income are now 10 times likelier than those in the lowest quartile to have a bachelor's degree."

4. Emphasize the Ambitious: Q&A With Kati Haycock, by Joan Richardson - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/01/kappan_haycock.html via @educationweek - "That goal took over my life. What animated me was how we could turn around the performance of the groups of kids who were behind. I came to believe that what was happening in K-12 was important to making that change. I think of our work as helping to make our country better. When you consider the ideals upon which we were created, and you look at what the data tell us about inequality, it’s clear that our narrative as a country is far away from where we really are."

5. 12 Best and Worst 529 College Savings Plans, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/12-best-and-worst-529-college-savings-plans/7058/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "But, you may be wondering, how do you pick the best 529 plans and avoid the worst? Morningstar, the investment research firm, has made the task easier for you. In its new industry survey of 529 plans, Morningstar has selected the top five 529 plans, as well as the seven worst. Here is your 529 cheat sheet:"

6. New NAEP, Same Results: Math Up, Reading Mostly Flat, by Erik W. Robelen - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/01/11naep.h31.html via @educationweek - "One area of long-standing concern is the large achievement gaps among racial and ethnic groups, especially when comparing African-American and Hispanic students with white students. Although all groups have made academic progress over the past two decades, the achievement gaps have proved difficult to close.The 2011 reading and math results produced no statistically significant changes in the black-white achievement gap from 2009."

7. More States Flag Potential Dropouts With Warning Data, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/01/11earlywarning_ep.h31.html via @educationweek - "At minimum, researchers found that most existing systems flag what Robert Balfanz, a co-author of the study and the director of the Everyone Graduates Center, calls “the ABCs” of such systems:

• Attendance: Students who have missed either 10 percent of school days or 20 days total;

• Behavior: Students who receive two or more mild or more-serious behavior citations, which in most schools means detentions or suspensions; and

• Course performance: Students who struggle to keep up in key classes at different grades."

8. The Wrong Inequality, by David Brooks in The New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/opinion/brooks-the-wrong-inequality.html?_r=1&hp - "In these places, the crucial inequality is not between the top 1 percent and the bottom 99 percent. It’s between those with a college degree and those without. Over the past several decades, the economic benefits of education have steadily risen. In 1979, the average college graduate made 38 percent more than the average high school graduate, according to the Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke. Now the average college graduate makes more than 75 percent more. Moreover, college graduates have become good at passing down advantages to their children. If you are born with parents who are college graduates, your odds of getting through college are excellent. If you are born to high school grads, your odds are terrible."

9. In a Standardized Era, a Creative School Is Forced to Be More So, by Michael Winerip - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/education/no-child-left-behind-catches-up-with-new-hampshire-school.html?src=recg - "The intent of No Child Left Behind was to provide quality education for poor children, mainly in urban areas, but it has taken over everything. By next spring, 90 percent of New Hampshire schools are expected to be labeled as failing."

10. School Suspensions Among Boys May Be Linked to Lower College Attendance, by Dan Berrett -http://chronicle.com/article/School-Suspensions-Among-Boys/129593/ - "As the likelihood of suspensions increases, students' chances of making it to college decrease. Citing previous research, the authors note that one suspension lowers the chance of attending college by 16 percentage points, and of graduating from college by 9 percentage points. "We suggest that boys' higher tendency to act out, and develop conduct problems, might be particularly relevant to their relative absence in colleges," the authors write."

353. 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. Obama to offer help for students buried in debt, by Jennifer Liberto - http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/25/news/economy/Obama_student_loan/ via CNNMoney.com - "One of the proposals would push up the start date for more favorable terms on a special loan repayment program based on income, said White House domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes. Another measure would encourage graduates with two or more different kinds of federal loans to consolidate them and get a small break on interest rates. . . . Average student loan debt for the graduating class of 2009 at four-year nonprofit colleges was $24,000, including all private and federal loans, according to the Institute for College Access & Success."

2. See how much debt college will really put you in, by Blake Ellis - http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/26/pf/college_financial_aid/ via @CNNMoney - "Figuring out how much college is going to cost you is about to get much easier.At least that's what the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Education are hoping to do with a one-page "financial aid shopping sheet." The sheet will clearly break down the amount of aid a student will qualify for at a particular college, as well as how much debt they will end up with once they graduate."

3. College costs climb, yet again, by Kim Clark - http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/26/pf/college/college_tuition_cost/ via @CNNMoney - "The sticker price of studying and living on campus at the average public university rose 5.4% for in-state students, or about $1,100, to $21,447 this fall, the College Board estimated. . . . The sticker price of living and studying for a year at a typical private college rose 4.3% to $42,224 this year."

4. Tuition and fees rise more than 8% at U.S. public colleges, by Mary Beth Marklein – http://usat.ly/tL8dPk via @USATODAY - "That increase is more than double the inflation rate of 3.6% between July 2010 and July 2011. Family earnings dropped across all income levels. And state funding per student declined by 4% in 2010, the latest year available, and 23% over the past decade, the report says."

5. Obama proposes changes to student loan programs, by Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vkz5l3 via AddThis - "The majority of borrowers affected will be students who borrowed money under both the Federal Family Education Loan Program, when banks issued federal student loans and collected government subsidies, and the Direct Loan Program, under which the federal government lends money directly to students.The government began originating all loans through direct lending in 2010, when a provision to eliminate bank-based student lending was included in the administration’s health care overhaul. But many students who were enrolled at the time of the change have loans in both programs, meaning they make two payments."

6. Reports find student aid shift from states to federal government, by Kevin Kiley Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/tkwJXL via @AddThis - "Sandy Baum, a policy analyst for the College Board and co-author of the reports, said the federal government is stepping in to fill a financial void created by states' decreased ability and willingness to fund public colleges and universities. “In a way, the burden of paying for higher education is shifting from the states to the federal government,” she said."

7. NCAA data show more athletes graduating from college, by Allie Grasgreen Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/tHDuCL via @AddThis - "The two sports of greatest concern are also the ones that bring in the most money. While the football and men’s basketball graduation success rates this year either rose slightly or stayed steady, the rates are still significantly lower than the overall NCAA average of 82 percent. Male basketball players are graduating at a rate two points higher this year, at 68 percent, while the football GSR dropped 0.6 points to 68.6 percent."

8. Solving the Nation's Dropout Crisis, by Russell W. Rumberger, Education Week - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/26/09rumberger_ep.h31.html - "Past efforts to solve the nation’s dropout crisis have largely been unsuccessful. Government agencies and private foundations have collectively invested billions of dollars in dropout-prevention programs, comprehensive school reform models, and new charter schools. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation alone invested more than $2 billion in small high schools, yet research has identified few effective models. In a 2008 review of 22 dropout-prevention programs, the federal government’s What Works Clearinghouse did not find a single program proven to raise high school graduation rates, which is stunning."

9. Hechinger Report Companies, nonprofits making millions off teacher effectiveness push, by Sarah Garland: http://hechingerreport.org/content/companies-nonprofits-making-millions-off-teacher-effectiveness-push_6582/#.TqgVLnjBHSY.twitter via AddThis - "New education reforms often translate into big money for private groups. Following the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, states paid millions of dollars annually to companies to develop and administer the standardized tests required under the law. Companies also cashed in on a provision mandating tutoring for students at struggling schools. . . . In Florida, the state paid Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a for-profit textbook publisher, $4.8 million to develop classroom observation methods and nearly $4 million to the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit, to create a value-added model for grading teachers based on student test scores, according to state officials."

10. Irish Student-Athletes Again Rank Number One In 2011 NCAA Graduation Success Rates - UND.COM - Univ - http://www.und.com/genrel/102511aaa.html

11. Post Your Questions on the New Student Loan Developments, by Ron Lieber: http://nyti.ms/rGFakB - "On Wednesday, President Obama plans to announce a number of changes in the federal student loan program. The initiatives will allow people to consolidate federal loans in new ways and also make the repayment program that is based on borrowers’ incomes more generous. The White House has outlined some of the changes on its Web site. What questions do you have about how all of this will work?"

12. Counseling Parents, With Some Help From a New Calculator, by Beckie Supiano -http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/counseling-parents-with-some-help-from-a-new-calculator/29091 - "When prospective students visit campus, Mr. Gudvangen has found that most of the questions about paying the bill come from parents, since they’re the ones who understand the family’s financial position. “This is an odd time in families’ lives,” he says. “At some point, students probably need to know these things, but they probably don’t as high-school seniors.”

13. Rise in Sticker Price at Public Colleges Outpaces That at Private Colleges for 5th Year in a Row, by Beckie Supiano - http://chronicle.com/article/Rise-in-Sticker-Price-at/129532/ - "For the fifth year in a row, the percentage increase in average published tuition and fees at public four-year colleges was higher than it was at private ones, according to the report, "Trends in College Pricing 2011." The report, released on Wednesday, examines annual changes in colleges' sticker prices, as well as the net prices students pay after grant aid and tax benefits are considered. A companion report, "Trends in Student Aid 2011," looks at the money that helps students meet those growing prices. (The pricing report looks at data through this academic year, while the student-aid report has information through 2010-11.)"

14. Institutions Charging More Than $50K for Tuition, Fees, Room, and Board -http://chronicle.com/article/Sortable-Table-Institutions/129527/ - "The 50K club is getting crowded: 123 institutions now charge $50,000 or more for tuition, fees, room, and board, according to data released by the College Board. That's up from last year, when 100 colleges and universities charged that much.Here are the institutions charging $50,000 or more:"

15. College Prices Up as States Slash Budgets, by Justin Pope - http://ti.me/uvSV9C via Time.com - "The states cut budgets, the price goes up, and the (federal) money goes to that," said Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. "For 25 years we've been putting more and more money into financial aid, and tuition keeps going up. We're on a national treadmill."

16. Ravitch: ditch NCLB, not tinker with it -http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ravitch-congress-should-ditch-nclb-not-tinker-with-it/2011/10/25/gIQAtgkmHM_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost -

"The federal government does not know how to reform schools. Period. Congress doesn’t, and the U.S. Department of Education doesn’t. The fundamental role of the federal government should be to advance equality of educational opportunity. That’s a tall order. Congress should revive the commitments made in 1965, when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed: To use federal resources on behalf of the neediest students; to protect the civil rights of students; to conduct research about education; to report on the condition and progress of American education."

350. 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. Inside School Research: Study: Adolescents Can See Dramatic IQ Changes, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/10/intelligence_quotient_or_iq_te.html via @educationweek - "Yet a new brain-imaging study published this afternoon in the journal Nature finds that during adolescence, a fifth of children can gain or lose as many as 20 points in IQ, suggesting that the score may be less reliable at the same time it is likely being used to make educational decisions about a student."

2. Occupy the Classroom, by Nicholas D. Kristof - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/opinion/occupy-the-classroom.html?_r=1&hp - "But the single step that would do the most to reduce inequality has nothing to do with finance at all. It’s an expansion of early childhood education. Huh? . . . “This is where inequality starts,” said Kathleen McCartney, the dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, as she showed me a chart demonstrating that even before kindergarten there are significant performance gaps between rich and poor students. Those gaps then widen further in school. “The reason early education is important is that you build a foundation for school success,” she added. “And success breeds success.”

3. High Demand for Science Graduates Enables Them to Pick Their Jobs, Report Says, by Paul Basken - http://chronicle.com/article/High-Demand-for-Science/129472/ - "Among its findings, the study, from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, shows that science and engineering graduates enjoy high demand in a variety of fields, with a bachelor's degree in a science major commanding a greater salary than a master's degree in a nonscience major.And, the new report says, English-speaking science graduates are much less likely than foreign-born science graduates to take a job in a traditional science career, which American graduates often view as too socially isolating."

4. Community-College Dropouts Cost Taxpayers Nearly $1-Billion a Year, Report Says, by Lacey Johnson - http://chronicle.com/article/Community-College-Dropouts/129475/ - "Students who drop out of community college before their second year have cost taxpayers nearly $1-billion annually, says a report released today by the American Institutes for Research. From 2004 to 2009, the study found, federal, state, and local governments spent almost $4-billion in student aid and appropriations to community colleges that benefited full-time, first-year students who never made it to graduation day."

5. ‘Fair Practices’ in Admissions, by Eric Hoover - http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/fair-practices-in-admissions/29027 - "Some people call them crucial enrollment-management tools for these uncertain times. Others call them big, bloated symbols of institutional priorities gone wild. Either way, more colleges are using them: wait lists. According to the 2011 “State of College Admission” report released today by National Association for College Admission Counseling, 48 percent of institutions surveyed used a wait list for fall 2010, up from 39 percent the previous year. Forty-two percent of colleges reported that they placed more applicants on wait lists last year than they did in 2009."

6. Scariest Student Loan Debt Numbers Ever: $100 Billion, $1 Trillion, by Brad Tuttle - http://ti.me/pK7u0N via @TIMEMoneyland - "For the first time ever, the total amount of student loans taken out last year in the U.S. topped $100 billion. And sometime this year, it’s expected that outstanding student loan debt will hit $1 trillion—also for the first time ever. . . . Students today are borrowing double the amount they did ten years ago—after adjusting for inflation."

7. No Child Left Behind Reaches Senate Floor As Sens. Paul, Harkin, Bennet Spar (VIDEO) - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/19/no-child-left-behind-markup-rand-paul-tom-harkin_n_1020190.html - "Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) then spoke. "The senator speaks of the tragedy of this process," Bennet said, referring to Paul's remarks. "I'll tell you what a tragedy is. The tragedy is that only nine of 100 children living in poverty in this country in 2011 can expect to get a college degree. That's a tragedy." Bennet pointed to "the fact that when I became superintendent in the Denver public schools, on the 10th-grade math test there were 33 African-American students proficient on that test and 61 Latino students proficient on that test."
8. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories on college access and success via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/xt4njNy8

349. 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. How colleges use, misuse social media to reach students, by Umika Pidaparthy - #cnn - http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/20/tech/social-media/universities-social-media/index.html -"For universities competing to attract top students, it's no longer enough to have a glossy brochure and a sleek website. Schools like Johns Hopkins are reaching out to engage with applicants on Facebook and Twitter. They're also finding that a robust social media campaign, along with such creative features as student-run blogs, can lure prospective students while a stale online presence can turn them off. College admissions officers are indeed learning to interact with students where they hang out: online. According to a recent study by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, 100% of universities surveyed use social media to communicate with students, up from 61% in 2007-08. The study found that 98% of the responding colleges have a Facebook page and 84% have a Twitter account."

2. Law aims to give more accurate tally of college costs, by Brandon James Smith – http://usat.ly/plFaea via @USATODAY - "Now, due to a federal law that kicks in on Oct. 29, there's an online tool required on college websites — a net price calculator — intended to to help give students and families a more accurate estimate of real costs."Universities all cost different amounts, so it's hard to know what the family might be responsible for until much later in the process and after they've applied for financial aid. This helps them to find what the real final cost will be early in the process," said Nanci Tessier, vice president of enrollment management of the University of Richmond."

3. Are Too Many Americans Earning Four-Year Degrees? by Rebecca R. Ruiz - http://nyti.ms/pDUsO7 - "The debate, held by Intelligence Squared in Chicago as part of that city’s Ideas Week, featured Peter Thiel, PayPal founder and entrepreneur, and Charles Murray, a political scientist, arguing that the college market is flooded with too many students. Arguing against them were Henry S. Bienen, president emeritus of Northwestern University, and Vivek Wadhwa, a director of research at Duke University."

4. Questions for The Times's Adam Liptak on the Future of Affirmative Action, by Jacques Steinberg and Adam Liptak - http://nyti.ms/oQmbUD - "As things stand now, under the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision, admissions officers may take account of race and ethnicity as one factor among many in a “holistic review” of applications. A hypothetical decision overturning Grutter might forbid direct consideration of those factors but continue to allow consideration of, say, economic hardship or knowledge of a second language."

5. More Applications, More Waiting Lists, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/qiXSU0 via @AddThis - "Most four-year colleges saw an increase in applications in 2010, and more colleges used waiting lists than they did the year before, with smaller proportions of students admitted off the waiting lists, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. . . . The average selectivity rate (the percentage of applicants who are offered admission) at four-year colleges was 65.5 percent for fall 2010, down about one percentage point from the previous year. So all those reports about the few elite colleges with single-digit selectivity rates (while true) are about as unrepresentative as you could get."

6. Reframing the 'Stem Shortage' Debate, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/mVCM3B via AddThis - "The country is still producing lots of workers with what the report calls "STEM competencies," including investigative and problem solving tendencies, the authors state. But those skills are increasingly in demand in other non-STEM fields such as health care management and professional and business services, and because those fields typically pay more and often offer some rewards that core science and engineering jobs may not -- such as social or entrepreneurial interests, or a chance to manage other people -- workers with STEM skills are increasingly being "diverted" to non-STEM jobs."

7. STEM full report, by Anthony Carnevale, Nicole Smith, and Michelle Melton - http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/stem-complete.pdf - "We find that the disagreement between those who argue thatSTEM workers are undersupplied and those who argue theyare oversupplied can be resolved by the fact that large numbersof people with STEM talent or degrees divert from STEMoccupations either in school or later in their careers."

8. Lastest Trends in College Admissions: 15 Things You Should Know, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/lastest-trends-in-college-admissions-15-things-you-should-know/6967/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "14. The average public high school counselors spend just 23% of their time on college counseling, while the average private school counselors devote about 55% of their time to college issues.15. Only 26% of public schools have at least one counselor who works exclusively on college counseling issues. In comparison, 73% of private schools have a dedicated college counselor."

9. New report: Dropout rates five times higher for poor students, by Nick Pandolfo - http://p.ost.im/p/eMn2Hx - "According to the report, the “event dropout rate,” which estimates the percentage of high school students who left school between the beginning of one school year and the beginning of the next, is five times greater for low-income teenagers than it is for those from affluent families. The difference in the dropout rate between white and minority teenagers also remains stark. The rate is twice as high for black teens (4.8 percent) as it is for white teens (2.4 percent). It is even higher for Hispanics, at 5.8 percent."

10. Illinois high school test scores fall to a new low, by Diane Rado and Tara Malone - http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-state-test-scores-1020-20111020,0,5375024.story - "About half of Illinois public high school students flunked state exams in reading, math and science this year, the worst performance in the history of the 11th-grade Prairie State Achievement Examination, statewide test results show. The record-low results, scheduled to be released Thursday, come after Illinois closed loopholes that kept academically weak juniors from taking the exams, a practice revealed in a 2009 Tribune analysis. Some local school officials attributed their declines in part to the larger testing pool that included less-prepared students."

266. 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. Trendless Summer, by Allie Grasgreen - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/klJb14 - "While many colleges are reporting declines in summer enrollment for the first time since the economic downturn, a few institutions are reaping the benefits of concerted marketing efforts – which, in one of the most extreme cases, boosted new student enrollment by 70 percent."

2. New study says university dropout rates tied to preparedness, not laziness - http://communications.uwo.ca/com/media_newsroom/media_newsroom_stories/new_study_says_university_dropout_rates_tied_to_preparedness,_not_laziness_20110615447540/ - "According to new research from The University of Western Ontario, approximately 40 per cent of students who drop out of university do so because of what they learn about their own academic ability, based primarily on the grades they receive after arriving on campus."

3. 10 Hottest Jobs in America for 2011, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/x1n0pw2 via @cbsmoneywatch - "The University of California San Diego Extension recently released its annual report of the hottest jobs for Americans with college degrees.Looking at the list of the top 10 careers, healthcare is huge and possessing technical skills is also a major plus among the hot careers."

4. RT @USATODAY Study: More college freshmen feel 'above average,' by Martha Irvine - http://usat.ly/kLVTdQ - "When it came to social self-confidence, about half of freshmen questioned in 2009 said they were above average, compared to fewer than a third in 1966. Meanwhile, 60 percent in 2009 rated their intellectual self-confidence as above average, compared with 39 percent in 1966, the first year the survey was given."

5. Colleges add net price calculators to school prospective students on degree costs, by Darla Slipke -http://okne.ws/kEH8EY - "Beginning this fall, colleges and universities that enroll first-time, full time students and receive federal financial aid will be required to post a net price calculator on their websites."

143. 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. Student Protests Paralyze City Centers In Italy - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/italy-student-protests_n_789632.html#s194317

‎"They claim funding cuts means faculty positions are going unfilled. Similar protests snarled other cities, including Milan, Turin, Naples, Venice, Palermo and Bari. In Genoa, students protested under the slogan "they block our future, we block the cities."

2. 25 Colleges With the Worst Professors, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/fNtziyB

"The upper Midwest is a hot bed for bad professors, according to data an education think tank culled from millions of RateMyProfessor teacher evaluations. Among the top 25 schools with the worst professors, six of them hail from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Nearly a third come from all parts of the Midwest."

3. 25 Colleges With the Best Professors, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/8ep9aYq

"What do the colleges on this list share in common? All of them are small private institutions. Most of the schools are liberal arts colleges with student bodies well under 4,000 students. And that’s not surprising since liberal arts colleges tend to offer smaller classes and the prime focus of professors at these schools is teaching not research."

4. Bill Gates Listens to the Wrong People, by Diane Ravitch - http://t.co/TWHufcK via @educationweek

"These are the people who teach our children, these are the members of the public who serve their local schools without compensation year after year. They and their children and their children's children will be here long after the corporate reform crowd has moved on and been forgotten. These are the people on whom our public schools depend. They care deeply about their children, their communities, and their public schools."

5. State Student-Aid Policies Drive College Prices, Researchers Say - http://chronicle.com/article/State-Student-Aid-Policies/125569/

"The researchers who conducted the study found that an increase in need-based aid resulted in higher tuition and fees at both public and private institutions in the state. Public colleges also lowered their average institutional-aid awards, while there was no change at private colleges."

6. Early college admission applicants: Have Plan B - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/college-admissions/early-college-admissions-appli.html

‎"The reality is that early decision good news or bad news will come, regardless of whether the student has a Plan B. But the bad news is a lot more difficult to deal with when there is no alternate plan."

7. Dropout Rates Dropping, but Don't Celebrate Yet, by Andrew J. Rotherham - http://bit.ly/gVhooK - reading from @time

"According to the report, by Johns Hopkins University, along with two education-oriented groups, America's Promise Alliance and Civic Enterprises, eight states had graduation rates below 70% in 2008, and 2.2 million students still attend dropout factories. An achievement gap also persists: only 64% of Hispanic students and 62% of African Americans graduated in 2008, while 81% of white students did."

8. Announcing the Release of the Best Colleges 2011 Rankings, by Greg Scott Neuman - http://t.co/lwfNRhQ

"According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual income of workers who hold a bachelor's degree is now almost $20,000 more than those who hold only a high school diploma. Over a 40-year working life, that’s a difference of more than $700,000 – quite a significant pay increase!"

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136. 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

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

1. Four Sure-Fire Ways to Derail Your College Search, by Sue Biemeret http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/22/biemeret-3/#more-24669

‎"My mantra is simple: “The school that fits you best is the best school for you.” When a student finds a college that fits him academically, socially, emotionally and financially — and the college feels the exact same way about that student — fit happens and the college admission “game” is a win/win. But it’s so easy to stray off course, to make things other than fit matter. And when that happens, the college search can get messy, uncomfortable and just plain wrong. In that spirit, here are four easy ways to derail the college search:"

2. Consensus or Groupthink? - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/9p5Pet

"The convergence around the "college completion agenda" -- put simply, the now widely held view that the country must in the next 10-15 years significantly increase the number of Americans with a quality postsecondary credential -- has been driven by many factors, most notably the imprimatur of President Obama within the first weeks of his term. But arguably even more important has been the fact that the country's highest-profile foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the most visible foundation focused primarily on higher education, the Lumina Foundation for Education, have both thrust college completion to the top of their agendas."

3. Colleges Ask Prospective Students Creative Essay Questions http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/19/most-creative-college-ess_n_785443.html

"The University of Chicago is also famous for its unorthodox questions. According to the school's admissions homepage, the admissions essay is "an opportunity for students to tell us about themselves, their tastes, and their ambitions. They can be approached with utter seriousness, complete fancy, or something in between."

4. Top 10 Ways to Improve Students' Achievement and Create Learners - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pam-lowe/top-10-ways-to-improve-st_b_786205.html

"One of the major negatives is that change is rarely welcome. People tend to like the status quo and do not want the apple cart overturned. Our first year was fraught with change; change in vision, strategies, instructional methods and materials. Through it all, our staff preserved as we worked on our improvement. Over the course of my educational experience I've collected a list of criteria that I believe create an atmosphere ripe for improving student achievement. Here I will call it: Top 10 Ways to Improve Student Achievement and Create LearnersDisclaimer: This is by no means all that schools should be doing. Note that these are broad actions; there are many more detailed actions that need to be taken."

5. Early Decision Applications Are Soaring: Here's Why, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/d7Dtu6J

"Many elite schools that accept early decision and/or early action applications are experiencing more students applying to college through the early bird options. Vanderbilt University, for instance, received 1,666 early decision applications this year, which represents a 30% jump. Northwestern University’s early decision applications (2,127) soared 26% and the University of Chicago’s early action applications increased 18.5%.Students are applying earlier because at many schools they enjoy a greater chance of acceptance. Some schools are filling half of their classes with students who apply to college early."

6. Rise in College Applications Raises Concerns About Access, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/2C5IHhX via @educationweek

"With the rise in applications for admission, more colleges are rejecting more students and becoming more selective. The report suggests this could close doors of opportunity for more low-income, first-generation students in all sectors, as these students typically are less certain of their academic goals, received less rigorous college preparation, and have more difficulty negotiating the college bureaucracies. Applying to more schools only to be rejected by more institutions also makes the application process more costly for students and schools, the report notes. While applying to more schools may give students more options for the best fit or the best financial aid package, the report shows growing evidence that financial aid investments are outstripping investments in teaching and learning in the classroom, ultimately canceling out the students' advantage."

7. Teaching for America, by Thomas L. Friedman - http://nyti.ms/dp5tJa

"Here are a few data points that the secretary of education, Arne Duncan, offered in a Nov. 4 speech: “One-quarter of U.S. high school students drop out or fail to graduate on time. Almost one million students leave our schools for the streets each year.... One of the more unusual and sobering press conferences I participated in last year was the release of a report by a group of top retired generals and admirals. Here was the stunning conclusion of their report: 75 percent of young Americans, between the ages of 17 to 24, are unable to enlist in the military today because they have failed to graduate from high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit.” America’s youth are now tied for ninth in the world in college attainment."

8. Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction -http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?pagewanted=1&ref=general&src=me

"Researchers say the lure of these technologies, while it affects adults too, is particularly powerful for young people. The risk, they say, is that developing brains can become more easily habituated than adult brains to constantly switching tasks — and less able to sustain attention. “Their brains are rewarded not for staying on task but for jumping to the next thing,” said Michael Rich, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and executive director of the Center on Media and Child Health in Boston. And the effects could linger: “The worry is we’re raising a generation of kids in front of screens whose brains are going to be wired differently.”

9. Download or print the free MVCAP Powerpoint presentation "Paying for College" at our site: http://issuu.com/mvcap/docs/paying_for_college

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

31. "College Dropouts Cite Low Money and High Stress"

Here's an article of importance on why college students drop out from The New York Times at this link:

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/agenda/?src=twt&twt=NYTimesCollege