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Showing posts with label iPad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iPad. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

392. 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. Most bizarre essay questions - http://m.golocalprov.com/70548/show/7acfb5cb851c6ca4865138c70d1503a9/ - "According to the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), the importance that colleges place on student essays has been steadily increasing. While the Common Application provides standard essay prompts, individual colleges often ask additional essay and short answer questions . . . ."


3. College Early Admission Is Tougher Than Ever http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/19/college-early-admission-is-tougher-than-ever.html via @thedailybeast - "This year’s early admission applicants had it tougher than ever, reports Steve Cohen."


4. Startup raises $2.5M to put college admissions on Apple's iPad http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2011/12/19/college-admissions-ipad-app-raises-25m.html?ana=twt via @BBJNewsroom


5. Your College Advisor - End-of-the-year checklist for high school seniors - http://northjersey.com/ http://shar.es/Wmcjm


6. Teen musician, 17, graduates from UWM - JSOnline http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/teen-musician-17-graduates-from-uwm-ll3g3or-135835833.html - And a guitarist, at that!


7. Sample College Admissions Essays on a Fictional Character http://collegeapps.about.com/b/2011/12/18/new-sample-college-admissions-essay-on-a-fictional-character.htm?r=twitter - "Common Application Sample Essay - An essay for option #4 on a fictional character"


8. Achievement gap among Seattle black students Education News - The News Tribune http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/12/19/1951412/achievement-gap-among-seattle.html via @thenewstribune - "A new look at test scores by Seattle Public Schools shows American-born black students lag behind black immigrants in academic achievement."


9. The Poverty of School Reform -- In These Times: http://bit.ly/vWbuHR via AddThis


10. The Financial Aid That You Didn't Know Existed http://www.educationfact.com/blog/financial-aid-didnt-existed/ - "A blog post offering information regarding the some of the often-overlooked financial aid options to investigate"

Friday, October 7, 2011

340. 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. 'Flipped' classrooms take advantage of technology, by Greg Toppo – http://usat.ly/pZBzkm via USATODAY - "Pressed for time and struggling to reach a generation raised on YouTube, Roshan, like a growing number of teachers, digitally records her lessons with a tablet computer as a virtual blackboard, then uploads them to iTunes and assigns them as homework. In class the following day, she helps students work out exercises and answer knotty questions. It's the latest way technology is changing teachers' jobs — in this case it's literally turning their workday upside-down. But teachers say flipped, or upside-down, classes offer greater control of material and more face time with students."


2. Should universities move more aggressively into online education? by Rebecca R. Ruiz - http://nyti.ms/oaczIp - "The authors emphasize that expanding online course offerings at public institutions would expand the supply of seats – the number of students a university might accept – and expand that university’s revenue. But would such an increase in class size – not to mention the challenge of teaching and learning online – demean the quality of instruction?"

3. 25 Colleges With the Worst Professors in 2011, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/25-colleges-with-the-worst-professors-in-2011/6830/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "According to an analysis of millions of RateMyProfessors.com evaluations by an education think tank, the following 25 schools have the worst professors among 650 top schools that were surveyed."

4. Apple's Steve Jobs Was a Pioneer in Ed Tech, by Ian Quillen -http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2011/10/apple_founder_steve_jobs_passe.html -"In the less than two years since Jobs stood on stage in his characteristic black mock turtleneck and blue jeans and introduced the iPad, Apple's tablet computer has exploded on the educational scene. In the third quarter of fiscal year 2011, the iPad surpassed all of Apple's educational Mac desktop and laptop computer sales combined. Its popularity with classroom teachers, educators have said, is due to a combination of its portability, long battery life, and intuitiveness of use, especially for young students and students with disabilities such as autism."

5. For Children at Risk, Mentors Who Stay, by David Bornstein - http://nyti.ms/pCGmmd - "Samuel was out of control. He cursed at his teacher, refused to do school work, attacked other kids in the schoolyard — and Samuel was still in kindergarten. His home life was chaotic. He’d never met his father. His mother had emotional and drug problems and was unable to care for him. His grandmother did her best. His older brother was involved in violent crime and had been in and out of jail. He taught Samuel to smoke marijuana when he was 6 years old."

6. Steve Jobs's Legacy to Higher Education, by Marc Prensky -http://chronicle.com/article/Steve-Jobss-Legacy-to-Higher/129297/ - "But what we can't argue about is that as a result of Steve Jobs our environment has permanently changed. His genius in making devices that are beautiful, fun, useful, and that—most of all—students and others wanted to have, essentially remade our institutions of higher learning."

7. Steve Jobs told students: ‘Stay hungry. Stay foolish.’ by Valerie Strauss - The Answer Sheet - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/steve-jobs-told-students-stay-hungry-stay-foolish/2011/10/05/gIQA1qVjOL_blog.html via @washingtonpost - “My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: ‘We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?’ They said: ‘Of course.’ “My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.“And 17 years later I did go to college."

8. 'Net Price Calculators' Give Clearer Picture On College Cost, by Justin Pope - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/net-price-calculators-giv_n_998585.html - "It sounds like a simple question: How much is a college actually going to cost?In fact, it's a slippery one. But thanks to a federal mandate, a new tool to help students and families pin down an answer is finally arriving this month: a fairly simple online calculator to estimate what you can expect to pay to attend any college in the United States."

Monday, September 12, 2011

321. College Access and Success News



Here are links to recent news about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)






1. Adapting to the iPad, called education's 'equalizer' by Alesha Williams Boyd: http://usat.ly/nipmmy via @USATODAY - "I think the key word for this is engagement," Barry says. "The engagement was just a lot higher. I think it's adaptive to meet the needs of individual students. I think it's an equalizer. I do think it's a game changer."


2. Part 1: Answers to Your Back-to-School Admissions Questions, By Robin Mamlet and Christine Vandevelde: http://nyti.ms/oPWt1d - "The best approach for students is to take an appropriately challenging academic course load and do the very best they can. And does it matter how students spend their time outside of class? It does."


3. More Baltimore graduates attend two-year colleges, where they are less likely to earn degree, by Erica L. Green - http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bs-md-ci-college-completion-report-20110907,0,7483796.story - "The consortium also found that only 5.8 percent of those who started at a two-year college earned a degree in six years compared with 34 percent of those at four-year-colleges."


4. Diversity and the Rankings, by Catharine Hill - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/ovwow5 via @AddThis - "It is an unfortunate characteristic of our society that achievement in high school correlates with family income. The possible explanations range from prenatal care to quality of high schools to SAT prep. Whatever the causes, the data are clear. . . . For example, our data indicate that for students with SATs (and ACT equivalents) of 1420 or above, 12.8 percent come from the bottom 40 percent of the income distribution."


5. 5 Things High School Juniors Should Be Doing Now, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/5-things-high-school-juniors-should-be-doing-now/6562/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Today, however, I want to share some advice with high school juniors, who also need to be preparing for college:"


6. Census: Education Has Greater Effect on Earnings than Race, Gender, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/09/census_education_has_greater_e.html via @educationweek - "A worker's level of education has a greater effect on his or her earnings over the course of a 40-year career than any other demographic factor, including gender or race, according to a new study released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau."


7. On Campus, It’s One Big Commercial, by Natasha Singer - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/business/at-colleges-the-marketers-are-everywhere.html?_r=1&hpw - "This fall, an estimated 10,000 American college students will be working on hundreds of campuses — for cash, swag, job experience or all three — marketing everything from Red Bull to Hewlett-Packard PCs."


8. Smartphone Game Turns College Tours, Orientations Into Scavenger Hunts, by Josh Keller - http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/mobile-game-turns-college-tours-and-orientations-into-scavenger-hunts/33114 - “People might think that they’re doing it to play this game, but in reality they’re getting better information, they’re participating in the process,” he says."


9. Civil rights icon Robert Moses promotes middle school algebra, by Bill Turque - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/civil-rights-icon-robert-moses-promotes-middle-school-algebra/2011/09/08/gIQAxbndFK_blog.html via Washingtonpost.com - "Moses is founder of The Algebra Project, a non-profit that works with schools to make algebra more available to middle schoolers as a way of fostering careers in math, science and engineering."


10. The ups and downs of U.S. News rankings, by Daniel de Vise - College, Inc. - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/the-ups-and-downs-of-us-news-rankings/2011/09/09/gIQAUN0nFK_blog.html via Washingtonpost.com - "But track the rankings over five or 10 or 20 years, and a pattern emerges of distinct winners and losers."


11. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories on college access and success via

Monday, September 5, 2011

316. Labor Day 2011



Here are some links to recent stories about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)




1. A School District Mimics Charters, Hoping Success Will Follow:


2. Harvard's a Bargain--If You're From the UK via


3. Legislative Update: Higher Ed Bill Headed to Governor's Desk - La Canada Flintridge,


4. Many U.S. schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks – USATODAY.com: via


5. Technology in Schools Faces Questions on Value:


6. Before the First School Bell, Teachers in Bronx Make House Calls:


7. Students Find Ways to Thwart Facebook Bans:


8. The important college question that goes unanswered hometownlife.com via


9. Push for a college degree based on misleading arguments (opinion) cleveland.com


10. Can schools narrow the achievement gap? Lansing State Journal lansingstatejournal.com


11. Federal government role in K-12 eduction — equity and funding - Midland Daily News: Opinion: via


12. VIEWPOINTS: Summer learning loss contributes to student underachievement al.com


13. The GI Bill: A passport to a better life - News - The Orange County Register


14. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories via

Monday, February 14, 2011

191. MVCAP fyi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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










Monday, January 24, 2011

176. 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. The Sinking States, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fCFyHE

"Thirty-two states reported declines in state support for higher education for the year, with drops ranging from 0.3 percent to 13.5 percent. Another 16 states saw gains, from 0.2 percent to 24.7 percent. (Two states saw no change.)"

2. For-Profit Colleges Open Another Front, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fu87wi

"On Friday, the colleges formally unveiled the third part of their strategy: asking the courts to block several of the administration's regulations. . . . The three disputed rules relate to state authorization of colleges, incentive compensation for recruiters, and misrepresentation of colleges' programs and results."

3. The Flaw of Overall Rankings, by Robert J. Sternberg - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gRVSNd

‎"But such global assessments miss the qualities that make institutional differences, like individual differences, interesting. They actually can fool people into missing what is most important in distinguishing entities, whether individuals or institutions."

4. Would JFK Get Into Harvard Today? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/xlRmA34

"I looked at the college application that JFK sent to Harvard in the 1930s, which the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum recently released. JFK’s college application was dreadful."

5. Public Universities Relying More on Tuition Than State Money, by Tamar Lewin - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/education/24tuition.html?_r=1&hpw

"But tuition bargains are fading as the nation’s public universities undergo a profound shift, accelerated by the recession. In most states, it is now tuition payments, not state appropriations, that cover most of the budget."

6. State Spending on Higher Education Edges Down, as Deficits Loom, by Eric Kelderman - http://chronicle.com/article/State-Spending-on-Colleges/126020/

‎"But the stimulus package, which allocated nearly $40-billion to states to prop up spending for public schools and higher education, will run out at the end of this fiscal year, leaving state and college leaders wondering how they will fill the budget gaps looming in more than two-thirds of the states. Nearly $9-billion of the federal stimulus money went directly to higher-education budgets from the 2009 to 2011 fiscal years, accounting for 4 percent of total state support for colleges during that period."

7. As the Web Goes Mobile, Colleges Fail to Keep Up, by Josh Keller - http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Search-for-Their/126016/

‎"Hand-held devices like smartphones and tablets are fast becoming the primary way many people use the Internet. Half of all college students used mobile gear to get on the Internet every day last year, compared with 10 percent of students in 2008, according to Educause, the educational-technology consortium. But many colleges still treat their mobile Web sites as low-stakes experiments."

8. These Kids are Better Than Yours: Tennessee School Requires iPads for All Students, by Nick Carbone - http://t.co/up2EWhw via @TIMENewsFeed

‎"The Webb School in Knoxville, Tenn. is looking to harness the power of Apple's latest gadget in the classroom. All students from 4th to 12th grades will be required – not suggested, or recommended, or even encouraged – but required to have an iPad. And if the price is too prohibitive, students can lease the device from the school."

9. Top 10 Most Loved Schools, by Katy Hopkins - US News and World Report: http://t.co/Oim1xqU

"Alumni school spirit can manifest itself in many ways—from sideline support at athletic events to networking with current students—but a more objective gauge of enthusiasm is the percent of graduates who give money back to their school."

10. An Ailing Mother Eases Her Daughter's Pain, and Conscience, by Sophia Gimenez - http://nyti.ms/h2pMPn

"Last month, the thrill of my acceptance to Knox College and Mills College was cut short by my mother’s diagnosis of multiple sclerosis."

11. University of Notre Dame: Reports on Experiment to Replace Texts with iPads - http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/notre-dame-u-reports-on-experiment-to-replace-textbooks-with-ipads/29192

"Mr. Angst’s class was the first of several at the university to replace traditional textbooks with iPads as part of a yearlong study by the university’s e-publishing working group into the use of e-readers. Many colleges and universities are in the midst of similar experiments, but Notre Dame is one of the first to report results from its effort.
The professor said students were more connected in and out of the classroom because of their use of the tablet device."

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

172. 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. Report: First two years of college show small gains, by Mary Beth Marklein - http://usat.ly/eajgcx - RT @USATODAY

"After two years in college, 45% of students showed no significant gains in learning; after four years, 36% showed little change. Students also spent 50% less time studying compared with students a few decades ago, the research shows."

2. Can college students learn as well on iPads, e-books? by Mary Beth Marklein - http://usat.ly/cWw5WH - RT @USATODAY

"Compared with traditional textbooks, the iPad and other devices for reading digital bookshave the potential to save on textbook costs in the long term, to provide students with more and better information faster, and — no small matter — to lighten the typical college student's backpack."

3. Part 5: Answers to Readers' Questions on Financial Aid, by Mark Kantrowitz - http://nyti.ms/gCr1LA

"Most parent assets are sheltered by the need analysis formula, and the worst-case impact is a reduction of up to 5.64 percent of the asset. Money in the student’s name, on the other hand, reduces aid eligibility by 20 percent of the asset value."

4. Part 6: Answers to Readers’ Questions on Financial Aid, by Mark Kantrowitz - http://nyti.ms/eViPpM

"The asterisk next to your EFC means that your Fafsa has been selected for verification. The college will ask you for copies of the documents corresponding to the information submitted on the Fafsa, such as a copy of your federal income tax return and W-2 and 1099 statements. The purpose of verification is to ensure the accuracy of the information provided on the Fafsa. It is not the same as an audit."

5. Last of 7 Parts: Answers to Readers’ Questions on Financial Aid, by Mark Kantrowitz - http://nyti.ms/fZRh0O

"If a dependent student’s parent fails to file a required federal income tax return, the Fafsa will be rejected and the student will be ineligible for federal student aid until the parents file their tax returns. Likewise, if the parents provide some income figures on the Fafsa but are unable to supply a federal income tax return when the Fafsa is selected for verification, the student will be ineligible for federal student aid if their income is above the threshold at which a federal income tax return is required."

6. How Much Do College Students Learn, and Study? by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/ieTUIA

"They note, for example, that students “who spent more hours studying alone” had greater gains on the standardized exam being used as a benchmark, as did students who took courses requiring “significant” reading and writing."

7. The Growth of For-Profits, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/evB8sW

"The rise in the for-profit sector is not the only notable shift. Within the category of "undergraduate instructional program," the new edition shows the shift among institutions toward a greater pre-professional focus. There was an increase of 115 institutions -- or 17 percent -- in the grouping of institutions that (while having some liberal arts offerings) awarded more than 60 percent of their bachelor’s degrees in professional fields."

8. 'Academically Adrift,' by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/f8Kc4j

‎"Students majoring in liberal arts fields see "significantly higher gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills over time than students in other fields of study." Students majoring in business, education, social work and communications showed the smallest gains."

9. 4 Hints to Avoid Missing Scholarship Deadlines, by Matt Konrad - The Scholarship Coach (usnews.com): http://t.co/63SymAr

"Virtually every scholarship has its own deadline, and it can seem like there's no rhyme or reason to when they fall—all of which makes keeping track of them turn into more work than applying. Fortunately, there are some good tools and useful rules of thumb that can help keep you on track:"


‎"There are ways to avoid the insanely expensive textbook trap. . . . here are nine things you can do to save money . . . ."

11. Study Suggests U.S. Colleges Fail to Challenge Undergrads, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/cW8qr8E

"When freshman were interviewed for the study, they often said they were were surprised at how easy college was. They also were often driven more by getting a degree than by obtaining knowledge. "Students have become increasingly obsessed with the idea of a credential that can be traded for labor market success," Arum said. "They are finding ways to navigate the system with minimal effort."

12. Carnegie Class Update Shows Boom in For-Profit and Professional Ed, by Scott Carlson -http://chronicle.com/article/Carnegie-Classification-Update/125982/

"Since 2005, when the foundation last made major revisions in its classification system and updated its list, it has added 483 institutions, for a total of 4,633. Of those new institutions, 77 percent were private, for-profit entities, while 4 percent were public and 19 percent were private, nonprofit. (The vast majority of the new for-profit institutions were two-year colleges.)"

13. 'Trust Us' Won't Cut It Anymore, by Kevin Carey - http://chronicle.com/article/Trust-Us-Wont-Cut-It/125978/

"The results for black students were particularly sobering. It turns out that the racial achievement gaps that shock the conscience in K-12 education get worse when students go to college."



Tuesday, January 11, 2011

167. 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. Auburn football team champs on field but not in graduation rates - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/sports/auburn-football-team-champs-on.html

"According to the Academic Progress Rate, a four-year assessment by the NCAA of the movement toward graduation for a team’s players, Auburn has dropped from No. 4 to No. 85 among the 120 major college football programs."

2. 'Sad Day For California,' by Jack Stripling - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/eWdkpb

"In an effort to tackle an estimated $28 billion budget shortfall, the newly elected governor would strip $1.4 billion from public higher education institutions. The reductions would include $500 million each in cuts for the University of California and California State University. Additionally, $400 million would be carved from the budgets of the California Community Colleges."

3. Young People Say Sex, Paychecks Come In Second To Self-Esteem: http://bit.ly/hauxJ4

‎"One of the items they were asked about was self-esteem building experiences, such as receiving a good grade or receiving a compliment. “We found that self-esteem trumped all other rewards in the minds of these college students,” Bushman said."

4. 7 Prestigious Undergrad Scholarships, by Michelle Showalter - http://t.co/lJD4xMQ - The Scholarship Coach (usnews.com)

‎"Here are seven of the more well-known and lucrative scholarships available to high school students:"

5. 5 Reasons Not to Get a Law Degree, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/W4EqIKJ

"For most young grads, the answer is a resounding no. At least that’s the conclusion you could easily draw from a lengthy story in The New York Times on Sunday. The article, Is Law School a Losing Game?, provided a devastating look at how law schools market themselves and manipulate their employment statistics to make their law degrees look like a great investment."

6. As Mental Troubles Arise, Limited Options for Institutions, by Benedict Carey - http://nyti.ms/fC3lXA

“It wasn’t a case of ‘Gee, no one saw this coming,’ ” Dr. Borum said. “People saw it. But the question then was what do you do about it? Who do you call? The whole thing speaks to the need for some coordinated way to detect such threats.”

7. NCAA Proposal Would Give Companies More Latitude to Use Athletes' Images in Ads, by Libby Sander - http://chronicle.com/article/NCAA-Proposal-Would-Give/125914/

"Existing rules generally bar companies from using an athlete's name, image, or "likeness" in advertisements, promotions, or other ventures. The proposed measure would allow corporate sponsors to feature game clips of current athletes in their TV ads, for instance, as long as the ads include the name of the athlete's institution."

8. Expert Predicts a Deluge of Tablet Computers on Campus, by Josh Fischman - http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/walt-mossberg-says-colleges-will-deal-with-a-deluge-of-tablets/28889

"And tablets will matter in higher education, Mr. Mossberg said, because students will bring them to campus, and colleges and—in particular—publishers will need to meet their needs. “The actual users, like students and faculty, will barge in,” he said."

9. U. of Arizona junior Daniel Hernandez helped Rep. Giffords Moments After Shooting - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/campus-overload/2011/01/u_of_arizona_junior_helped_rep.html

"Then he saw that Giffords (D-Ariz.) had a "severe gunshot wound to the head" and worked to reposition her body so she could breath without the risk of inhaling blood, Hernandez told the Wildcat. He applied pressure to stop her blood loss and gave others instructions. "She was my main focus so I stayed with her and tried to help her as much as possible," Hernandez, 20, told the campus newspaper."

10. The Education Reform Book Is Dead, by Jay P. Greene - http://educationnext.org/the-education-reform-book-is-dead/

"The problem is that education reform thinking is being shaped less and less by books. As we are seeing in other policy areas, blogs, articles, and other new media are displacing books as the primary means by which intellectual policy movements are formed and sustained."

Thursday, January 6, 2011

164. 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. How Will Students Communicate? by Steve Kolowich - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gNpFbe

"If students are in fact moving away from e-mail in their personal lives, institutionally provided student e-mail accounts will probably diminish in popularity over the next few years, campus technologists say, and that could force colleges to rethink the most reliable ways to stay in touch with their students."

2. 'Living as They Live' by Dan Berrett - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/ed9NMj

"In recent years, however, a small but growing number of public universities -- from the University of California at Berkeley to Appalachian State University -- have installed faculty members in residence halls to live among students."


"In today’s Academic Minute, the University of Notre Dame's Corey Angst explains how use of the iPad is evolving and becoming increasingly relevant in higher education."

4. Government Cashes In On Defaulted Student Loans - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/05/government-cashes-in-on-d_n_804582.html

"Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid.org, provided the Journal with an example of how the government profits from defaults: According to Kantrowitz, the government stands to earn $2,010.44 more in interest from a $10,000 loan that defaulted than if it had been paid in full over a 20-year term, and $6,522.00 more than if it had been paid back in 10 years."


"Let's be honest. The University majors that exist today are not necessarily job related. More importantly, a degree of any kind is no guarantee of a job. What is important is that young people "learn how to learn" (acquire genuine thinking skills) in college; and if possible, find out what they can be passionate about."

6. 3 Ways Applying for Financial Aid Will Be Easier in 2011, by Kim Clark - US News and World Report - http://t.co/k4tcwJt

"But at least it will take less time to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is the form that qualifies students for federal student loans and grants, as well as most other scholarships and aid. Three factors are making the FAFSA less ulcer-inducing:"

7. Another Look at PISA, by Diane Ravitch - http://t.co/MtR3wTT

"Researchers for the National Association for Secondary School Principals disaggregated the PISA results by income and made some stunning discoveries. Take a look at this link ("PISA: It's Poverty Not Stupid"). It shows that American students in schools with low poverty rates were first in the world when they were compared with students in nations with comparably low poverty levels."


"Schools in the United States with less than a 10% poverty rate had a PISA score of 551. When compared to the ten countries with similar poverty numbers, that score ranked first."

9. Auburn Is First in One Ranking, 85th in Another, by Pete Thamel - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/sports/ncaafootball/06auburn.html?_r=1&hp

"The decline came after the university closed several academic loopholes following a NY Times article in 2006 that showed numerous football players padded their grade-point averages and remained eligible through independent-study-style courses that required little or no work."

10. At Elite Colleges, Legacy Status Counts More Than Previously Thought, Study Show, by Elyse Ashburn - http://chronicle.com/article/Legacys-Advantage-May-Be/125812/

"A researcher at Harvard University recently examined the impact of legacy status at 30 highly selective colleges and concluded that, all other things being equal, legacy applicants got a 23.3-percentage-point increase in their probability of admission. If the applicants' connection was a parent who attended the college as an undergraduate, a "primary legacy," the increase was 45.1-percentage points."

11. How Do Grad Rates of Division III Athletes Measure Up? Quite Well, NCAA Says - http://chronicle.com/blogs/players/how-do-grad-rates-of-division-iii-athletes-measure-up-quite-well-ncaa-says/27966

"Using the federal graduation rate calculated by the Education Department, 66 percent of Division III athletes finished college within six years of enrolling, compared with 63 percent of the overall student body."

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

163. 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


"Below, check out which majors are most wanted by employers in 2011, and what percent of respondents said they would be hiring candidates with these qualifications. Are you surprised? Let us know in the comments section."

2. Where CEOs at America's Largest Companies Went to College, by Brian Burnsed - US News and World Report: http://t.co/OM3TzHV

"While usual suspects like Harvard (15 total degrees), Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania (seven degrees each) boast the most Fortune 100 CEO graduates, there were a few outliers that yielded multiple CEOs."


"Barbara Duffield, policy director of the Washington, DC-based National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, told the Star Tribune: "In 2009, 47,204 college students applying for financial aid checked a box that identified themselves as homeless."

4. Schools Examine Content, Delivery of Online AP Courses, by Michelle R. Davis - http://t.co/L7SaWKY via @educationweek

‎"The College Board, which audits all AP courses and authorizes them with its stamp of approval, does not track how many students are taking those offerings online. However, nearly 18 percent of the 17,000 high schools that offer AP courses offer at least one of them as an online option."

5. Math That Moves: Schools Embrace the iPad, by Winnie Hu - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/education/05tablets.html?_r=1&hpw

“There is very little evidence that kids learn more, faster or better by using these machines,” said Larry Cuban, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, who believes that the money would be better spent to recruit, train and retain teachers."

6. Historians Continue to Face Tough Job Market, by Peter Schmidt - http://chronicle.com/article/Historians-Continue-to-Face/125794/

‎"The report, published in the group's Perspectives on History, a newsletter, in advance of its annual conference this week, said the number of jobs posted with the association fell by more than 29 percent—from 806 to 569—during the 2009-10 academic year. Since two years ago, when the association posted an all-time high of 1,059 job openings, the number of jobs advertised with it has dropped by more than 46 percent, to the lowest level in 25 years."

7. Minorities are now the majority at UT-Austin, by Jon Marcus and Reeve Hamilton - Hechinger Report http://t.co/7JnZQJJ

"Whites are in the minority this year for the first time in the history of the flagship Texas school, which was segregated until the 1950s. Fifty-two percent of the Class of 2014 is nonwhite. Black and Hispanic students represent about 5 percent and 23 percent, respectively. Asians account for 17 percent of freshmen. The demographic shift at U.T. is a bellwether of what is about to happen—and, with little notice, already has, at other universities in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and New York—in a country where new Census figures confirm that nonwhites are by far the fastest-growing proportion of traditional-age university students."

8. Video essays are a hot topic in college admissions as more schools allow them, by Jenna Johnson - http://t.co/ZpYxGip via @washingtonpost

"A few colleges are hoping to harness that love for video and have created channels for students to submit video essays, although most schools do not accept them in place of a written one."