368. 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 on http://paper.li/rottenbornj

2. Only One in Three Full-Time Students Pays Full Tuition, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/vuXtgU - "In a piece entitled, “College Is Cheaper Than You Think,” Ms. Scott-Clayton, an economics professor at Columbia University, asserts that a school’s sticker price, ever-rising, carries little meaning. She notes that only one-third of full-time students pay a college’s published price, writing: 'For the average full-time student, net tuition – which subtracts grants and tax-based aid – is less than half of the published price at private nonprofit four-year schools and less than a third of the published price at the typical public four-year institution.'"

3. Judith Scott-Clayton: College Is Cheaper Than You Think: http://nyti.ms/vM7IGE - "After accounting for this assistance, net tuition and fees in the public four-year sector, at $2,490, are only $170 higher today (in constant 2011 dollars) than they were five years ago. At private nonprofit four-year institutions, net prices are $500 lower than they were five years ago. And at community colleges, the average student actually faces a negative net price – meaning they receive about $800 more in aid than they are charged in tuition and fees."

4. Part 3: Answers to Your Questions on Scholarships and Student Loans, by Mark Kantrowitz: http://nyti.ms/w1ke0x - "One of the best strategies for cutting college costs is to send your children to an in-state public college. According to the College Board’s Trends in College Pricing2011, the average published charges for tuition, fees, room and board at an in-state public four-year college in 2011-12 is $17,131. This is much less than the $29,657 average for out-of-state public four-year colleges and the $38,589 average for private non-profit four-year colleges. Even if you get no financial aid, you will still save money at an in-state public college. Many public colleges are high quality, yielding an excellent return on the investment in your child’s future."

5. Tax credits for tuition growing rapidly, by Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/toF6Mt via AddThis - "When the American Opportunity Tax Credit took effect in 2009, the tax savings claimed by students and families for college expenses more than doubled, climbing from $6.6 billion to $14.7 billion, according to the College Board’s Trends in Student Aid 2011 report last month. The explosive growth of Pell Grants in the same time period generated discussion, debate and an uneasy consensus that the $37 billion program is unsustainable in its current form. The parallel climb in spending on tax credits has attracted little notice."

6. Annapolis Group survey finds high satisfaction among liberal arts college graduates, by Kevin Kiley Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/w0zs3I - "According to the results, 77 percent of alumni from liberal arts colleges rated their undergraduate experience “excellent,” compared to 59 percent of alumni from private universities and 56 percent from the top 50 public universities. Graduates of Annapolis Group member institutions also reported that their college experience made them better prepared for life after college, career changes, and graduate school than did alumni from other sectors. They also reported being as prepared for their first jobs as alumni from other institutions."

7. Erroneous Pell Grant Payments in 2011 Total $1 Billion Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/syimSh via AddThis - "The Obama administration credits the drop to new measures that linked the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to Internal Revenue Service data, making it less likely that information about students' family income would be entered improperly."

8. No More Excuses: We Can Get All Children Reading, by Robert Slavin - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/sputnik/2011/11/no_more_excuses_we_can_get_all_children_reading.html via @educationweek - "The latest NAEP results, released this month, remind us that there are far too many children who do not read well, that disadvantaged and minority children are overrepresented among poor readers, and that the inequalities in academic outcomes by race and class--our most serious social as well as educational problem--begins with reading inequalities in the early grades. Everyone knows that children who don't read well will incur huge expenses over time in remediation, special education, repeated grades, and ultimately delinquency, dropout, and unemployment."

9. 11 States Seek Relief From ‘No Child’ Provisions, in Return for Raising Standards, by Sam Dillon: http://nyti.ms/u5sJqw - "Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee asked the department for relief from some No Child provisions, including the requirement that all students be proficient in English and math by 2014."

10. Penn State case presses others on abuse laws, by Marisol Bello and Greg Toppo – http://usat.ly/s1cA1d via @USATODAY - "A key issue likely to be debated in state legislatures is whether reports should go straight to police, and whether new laws are needed to shore up vague guidelines and polices about child safety on campus."

11. Are the SAT and ACT to blame for the inferiority of U.S. schools? by Jay Mathews - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/admissions-101-are-the-sat-and-act-to-blame-for-the-inferiority-of-us-schools-compared-to-those-finland-japan-singapore-and-shanghai/2011/11/14/gIQAHKAiMN_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive - "Unlike the SAT and the ACT, the content of the entrance exams in these countries is controlled by the universities and is closely tied to the content of the courses given in senior high school grades. Usually the exams must be scored by human beings since they are full of essay questions."

345. 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. College Recruiting: Blacks Squeezed Out - http://www.theroot.com/views/recruiting-trend-squeezes-out-black-students

2. How to Pay for College When Your Financial Aid is Exhausted - http://t.co/egR0ks4l via @AddThis

3. Popularity of Online Education Spurs Financial Aid Fraud - http://nyti.ms/ndhsjJ

4. Quality pre-k programs are a big part of narrowing the achievement gap in schools - http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-commentary/2011/10/our_view_quality_prekindergart.html

5. UW-Madison professor will examine ‘fallacies’ of achievement gap during Oct. 20 talk at NIU - http://bit.ly/n3KSeS

6. Report identifies ways Burlington schools can better serve minorities - http://t.co/upeLg67L via @bfp_news

7. More fodder around questions of diversity and the achievement gap - http://blogs.burlingtonfreepress.com/politics/2011/10/12/more-fodder-around-questions-of-diversity-and-the-achivement-gap/

8. The Role of A.D.H.D. Diagnoses in College Admissions - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/qtkmjL

9. Racism and Sexism in Diagnosing A.D.H.D. - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/obZvIw

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

328. 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. Students work on big ideas at Harvard's 'hack night' by Steve Kolowich: http://usat.ly/oxOLVh via @USATODAY - "HackHarvard, which is in only its second semester, operates on two premises: that most students cannot turn good ideas into operational apps, nor operational apps into successful businesses, without help; and that there are plenty of good ideas to go around. The club's leaders describe it as an incubator where students can get feedback on their ideas, learn the nuts and bolts of building Web applications, and meet with like-minded peers and potential collaborators."

2. Admissions 2011, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/n0GFUA via AddThis - "For many colleges, a top goal of admissions directors is recruiting more students who can pay more. Among all four-year institutions, the admissions strategy judged most important over the next two or three years -- driven by high figures in the public sector -- was the recruitment of more out-of-state students (who at public institutions pay significantly more)."

3. Hechinger Report Getting a college degree doesn’t have to break the bank, by Justin Snider: http://bit.ly/qfSwOV via AddThis - "Cutting college costs has thus become a priority across the socioeconomic spectrum. The good news is there are countless ways to save money on college."

4. Universities Seeking Out Students of Means, by Tamar Lewin: http://nyti.ms/qnrxAJ -"More than half of the admissions officers at public research universities, and more than a third at four-year colleges said that they had been working harder in the past year to recruit students who need no financial aid and can pay full price, according to the survey of 462 admissions directors and enrollment managers conducted in August and early September."

5. Report Profiles Student Veterans Before Passage of New GI Bill - http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/report-profiles-student-veterans-before-passage-of-new-gi-bill/36454 - "Using data from just before the passage of the new GI Bill, the report, “Military Service Members and Veterans: a Profile of Those Enrolled in Undergraduate and Graduate Education in 2007-8,” found that the same proportion of undergraduates and graduate students, 4 percent, were service members or veterans."

6. Turn Middle School Into ‘Boot Camp for Life' by Valerie Strauss - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/middle-school/middle-school-as-boot-camp-for.html - "So let’s consider a different kind of education, one that would allow kids to learn skills in unconventional ways and that would give them far more time to engage in physical activity ouside the classroom."

7. Are High Schoolers Prepared for College? New Data Says Only 43% of Class of 2011 is Ready, by Gaston Caperton - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gaston-caperton/sat-college-gpa_b_970737.html?ir=College - "It is particularly fitting that we established the benchmark in a year when the SAT reached a record 1.65 million students -- many of whom are traditionally underserved -- and only 43 percent of them met the benchmark. After analyzing the results of a diverse group of students from more than 100 institutions all over the country, we set the national SAT benchmark at a composite score of 1550. That means, if a student's critical reading, math and writing scores add up to at least 1550, they have a 65 percent chance of earning a B-minus average their first year in college. Not to mention that students who meet the new SAT benchmark are more likely to enroll in, succeed at, and graduate from college."

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

9. Youngstown schools celebrate academic progress, by Denise Dick - http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/sep/21/youngstown-schools-celebrate-academic-pr/ via Vindicator - "Superintendent Connie Hathorn acknowledges the city school system has much work to do to improve student achievement. “We got beat up for celebrating that we’re in academic watch,” Hathorn told about 200 school district employees and supporters at the Covelli Centre on Tuesday. “I’m not happy about that, but we made progress.” The district moved from academic emergency, the lowest designation, on the last two state report cards to academic watch on the one released last month."

320. 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 I saved $50,000 in college costs - http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/college/1109/gallery.college_savings_strategies.moneymag/ via @CNNMoney - "These three students saved themselves tens of thousands of dollars -- and a lifetime of debt -- by pursuing less conventional approaches to college."

2. Study: Gap in education plagues Valley, by Karl Henkel - Newswatch: http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/sep/08/study-gap-education-plagues-valley/?nw via Vindicator - "From 2005 through 2009, the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman region had the seventh-highest education gap among the top 100 metropolitan areas, according to the Education, Demand and Unemployment in America report released today by Brookings. Education gaps are defined as “shortage of educated workers relative to employer demand.”

3. Tuition hikes fail to stop higher-ed cuts - http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/sep/09/tuition-hikes-fail-to-stop-higher-ed-cut/ via @vindicator - "The cost shift from states to students has been going on for years, according to State Higher Education Executive Officers, a group that tracks college funding."

4. The Net Price Calculator: Financial Aid 'Game-Changer'? by Rebecca R. Ruiz : http://nyti.ms/oLcODs - ". . .Here’s a definition for the uninitiated: it is an online device that offers customized approximations of college costs based on standardized inputs − family size and savings, for example. The calculator estimates a prospective student’s financial aid; subtracts that amount from a college’s “list price,” or full cost; and spits out a “net price,” the amount a particular student must pay or borrow to enroll."

5. No spots for hundreds of NYC school kids, by Melanie Eversley - http://usat.ly/niM1YH via @usatoday - "Hundreds of public schoolchildren in New York City won't be going to class today, the first day of classes, because there are no seats for them, the NY Daily News is reporting."

6. Where community colleges go wrong, by Jay Mathews - Class Struggle - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/where-community-colleges-go-wrong/2011/09/08/gIQA5kGNCK_blog.html via @washingtonpost -“The remedial placement process is ground zero for college noncompletion in America,” she says. “If the nation is going to make any headway in helping more students graduate from college, it will have to completely overhaul the way students enrolling in nonselective colleges are tested for college readiness, and make fundamental changes in how colleges use that information to help students earn degrees.”

7. Washington Monthly - How the Other Half Tests, by Susan Headden -http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2011/features/how_the_other_half_tests031638.php -"In open admissions colleges, placement tests typically trump everything else. If you bomb the SAT, the worst thing that can happen is you can’t go to the college of your choice. If you bomb the Accuplacer, you effectively can’t go to college at all."

8. Early Decision: 10 Things You Need To Know About Applying - CBS MoneyWatch.com http://t.co/XEWM6Mo via @cbsmoneywatch

9. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ Today's top stories on college access and success via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/x7cmxSo

257. 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. Redefining Community College Success, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/k3IPFg - "This discussion was influenced heavily by the Education Department’s recently released “gainful employment” regulations, which will hold many programs at for-profit colleges and certificate and vocational programs at nonprofit institutions to a new federal standard on student debt and employability."

2. Paying for College, by Jill Schlesinger, CBS MoneyWatch.com - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/video/paying-for-college/6238758/?tag=video-roto-2;slide-cover - 3 tips are provided.

3. Hechinger Report For-profit universities: By the numbers, by Sarah Garland and Sarah Butrymowicz: http://t.co/XQyPOqs - "Below is a chart looking at federal loan repayment rates for Kaplan University, the University of Phoenix, Capella University, ITT Technical Institutes, and DeVry, along with several private and public universities for the sake of comparison."

4. Stopping Fraud at Trade Schools, editorial of 6/5/11, The New York Times - http://nyti.ms/kLUozr - "In one case, city officials say, students who paid to attend a truck-driving school spent the entire course in the classroom and were never taught to drive. At other schools, students say they were promised jobs or business contacts that never materialized."

5. How to Regulate For-Profit Colleges - The New York Times: Room for Debate, 6/5/11 - http://nyti.ms/kJQKgI - "Should the federal government block loans to borrowers who want to study at such schools? Are there other ways to discourage students from pursuing what may be a money-losing degree, or to reduce the risk of federal loan losses in these programs?"

6. For-Profit Recruiters and the 'Pain Funnel,' by Jack Conway - The New York Times: Room for Debate, 6/5/11 - http://nyti.ms/iSlcXP - "Namely, we are asking four questions about for-profits: Do they accurately represent transferability of credits? Do they adequately inform students that their cost often far exceeds that of public institutions? Do they fraudulently advertise expectations of future employment while hiding default rates? And finally, do they properly respond to complaints?"

7. For-Profit Colleges Take Advantage of the Poor, by Gaye Tuchman - The New York Times: Room for Debate, 6/5/11 - http://nyti.ms/lUlOiP - "Roughly 25 percent of today’s college students are following the traditional pattern of attending a residential college in the years just after high school. The rest commute from home, are often older and frequently attend part time because of jobs and family responsibilities."

8. The New Rules Don't Go Far Enough, by Osamudia R. James - The New York Times: Room for Debate, 6/5/11 - http://nyti.ms/mAuyD9"The real question is not whether for-profit graduates make too little money relative to their debt levels, but whether the profit-maximizing motive encourages institutions of higher education to provide a sub-par education, preying on both students and the public in pursuit of shareholder benefit."

9. Gainful Employment Rules Play Favorites, by Daniel L. Bennett - The New York Times: Room for Debate, 6/5/11 - http://nyti.ms/ijWKXG" - As matter of policy, we should limit the risk exposure to which we subject the taxpayer, but the focus of gainful employment regulations is too narrow and plays favorites. We need to hold all institutions accountable to provide educational value, regardless of tax status."

10. OSU will get through scandal, experts say, by Encarnacion Pyle, The Columbus Dispatch - http://t.co/6C5Gl7C - "For this coming school year, Ohio State received 10% more applications than last year, for a total of 29,243, Freeman said. Last year, the university also saw a 10% increase in applications.Ohio State's student body has grown steadily for years, reaching a record 64,077 students this past fall, she said. The campus anticipates it will welcome a slightly larger freshman class of 6,800 to 6,850 students in September."

11. Knowledge of financial aid is key to affording college, by Rob Jenkins - http://bit.ly/kO7Mau - “You can absolutely afford college, as long as you make smart decisions about money,” said Jared Smith, director of financial aid at Georgia Gwinnett College. “You might not be able to go to your No. 1 school, but there are plenty of affordable options for you to get a degree.”

12. Loan defaults put local colleges at risk, by cmagan@coxohio.com - http://m.daytondailynews.com/dayton/db_101691/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=FzKYxMcl&detailindex=0&pn=0&ps=8&full=true#display - "Serious students call them “check babies,” students who enroll in college or trade school just long enough for their financial aid stipend checks to clear. “Some of these kids come in here for the checks, and that’s it,” said Cheryl Davis, a health sciences student at Lincoln College of Technology in Dayton. “They get their checks and they don’t come back. They figure they can get away with not paying it back.”

184. 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 federal spending cuts trickle down to you, by Charles Riley - http://t.co/G8Pf7VK via @CNNMoney

"Take, for example, the Department of Education. It made $36 billion in grants and other payments to states in fiscal year 2008 -- before the Recovery Act kicked in -- according to the Census Bureau. . . . Once the funds make their way from the Education Department to state and local governments, they are used to fund special education, vocational, English language acquisition and adult literacy programs."

2. High Enrollers, by Steve Holowich - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/hpanE4

"In fall 2009, during one of the most devastating years of the current financial crisis, 7.1 percent more students enrolled in college than had the previous fall, according to data released Wednesday by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). And while all types of institutions -- public, private nonprofit, and private for-profit -- saw a bump, for-profit institutions easily outpaced the other sectors, growing their rolls by nearly 25 percent and their revenues by 21 percent, the federal study found."

3. Slip-Sliding Away: An Anxious Public Talks about Today's Economy and the American Dream - http://j.mp/gJnRS0

"Not surprisingly, the struggling are dramatically more worried about their financial well-being. Fully 77 percent of the struggling who are also parents say they're "very worried" about paying for their child's college education."

4. Honesty on Application Essays, by Scott Anderson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/egYvh9

"When I received Dean Blackburn’s invitation to join the university’s first-year class, what I could not see was the unwritten acknowledgment hidden between the lines of his gracious welcome: I was admitted in spite of my writing, not because of it."

5. Pathways To Prosperity Report: Students Need More Paths To Career Success - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/02/pathways-to-prosperity-re_n_817374.html

‎"What I fear is the continuing problem of too many kids dropping by the wayside and the other problem of kids going into debt, and going into college but not completing with a degree or certificate," said Robert Schwartz, who heads the project and is academic dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education."

6. Top Schools For The Peace Corps - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/02/peace-corps-top-schools_n_817153.html#s234130&title=University_of_Colorado

"Below, check out the top five colleges and universities in the large, medium and small categories, and see how many of their grads are currently serving. The Peace Corps (PDF) has additional rankings. Did your school make the cut? Let us know in the comments section."

7. 25 Universities With the Worst Graduation Rates, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/5M61cEC

"I’d argue that what these schools do excel at is producing students who end up leaving college with no degree, but lots of student debt and that’s disgraceful."

8. One College Applicant Puts Her Testing Gripes On Film, by Eric Hoover: http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/one-college-applicant-puts-her-testing-gripes-on-film/27821

"Mr. Kauffmann says he and his daughter hope the film will convince students and parents that admissions entrance exams are “unfair, biased, and illogical.” To that end, the Kauffmanns have started an online petition urging colleges to stop using the ACT and SAT."

9. What the NFL Can Teach Teachers, by Andrew J. Rotherham - reading from @time Super Bowl School: http://bit.ly/glOXDo

"We evaluate everything. When we start training camp, we watch every practice with the players, and at the end of the day, we give a numeric grade to each player, so two practices a day means two grades. During the regular season, we don't grade practice but grade every play of every game. We grade on technique, and we grade on production. Players have each other's grades in front of them as we go through this."

10. 8 subtle ways to prepare middle schoolers for college, by Jay Mathews - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2011/02/8_sneaky_ways_to_ready_middle.html

‎"I have asked several college admissions and education experts about positive steps that middle-school parents can take. Some of the ideas don’t sound like college prep at all, but they are. If you help a preteen get ready for life, there will be some preparation for college in there somewhere. Here are eight suggestions:"

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124. 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. Your College Major May Not Be As Important As You Think, by Zac Bissonnette - http://nyti.ms/atSuAa

"A University of Texas at Austin professor, Daniel Hamermesh, researched career earnings data sorted by choice of major and concluded that: Perceptions of the variations in economic success among graduates in different majors are exaggerated. Our results imply that given a student’s ability, achievement and effort, his or her earnings do not vary all that greatly with the choice of undergraduate major. A study conducted by PayScale Inc. found that history majors who pursued careers in business ended up earning, on average, just as much as business majors."

2. Veterans, Less Engaged but Satisfied - Inside Higher Ed http://t.co/7N0QQKM

"The veterans are predominantly male and more likely than non-veterans to be "older, enrolled part-time, first-generation students, transfer students, and distance learners." Also, they are twice as likely as non-veterans to report "at least one disability." Finally, veterans are less likely to attend what the survey deems "baccalaureate arts and sciences colleges" and "the most research-intensive doctorate-granting universities" than their peers. Most enroll in medium and large master's degree-granting institutions. Despite the fact that they spend as much time studying as their non-veteran peers, veterans do not "participate equally in other forms of engagement," even when the surveyors statistically control for certain demographic traits and institutional characteristics. For instance, freshman and senior veterans reported that they are "less engaged with faculty" and perceive "less campus support" than non-veterans."

3. 11 Best-Value Liberal Arts Colleges: Kiplinger List http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/03/best-value-liberal-arts-kiplinger_n_777108.html

‎"Kiplinger relied on data from Peterson's, whittling down its final lists down from 600 schools and reviewing each for value based on quality, competitiveness and cost, among other factors.Below, check out the 11 best values in liberal arts colleges, and see the Kiplinger website for a sortable lis of schools, which includes a complete data profile for each college. Does your school rank? Share your thoughts and reactions below."

4. Internships: Opportunity or Obstacle for Low-Income Students? by Michael Laracy - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-laracy/internships-gateway-to-op_b_777951.html

"But many internships today create or perpetuate serious inequalities, especially for students from families of modest means. Because so many internships are unpaid, the current system favors students from wealthier families. Unpaid internships require students to forego wages and finance a living without a paycheck, putting them out of reach for many low-income students."

5. College Admission Cheat Sheet: 8 Things Seniors Need To Do Now, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/Ra1KDw0

"To help keep your sanity during these hectic weeks, here’s a college admission cheat sheet that includes eight things you should be be doing now:"

6. Tax-Credit Changes Could Broaden Access to College, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/kdFoNFP

‎"Last year, the federal stimulus package gave families a welcome break with the creation of the American Opportunity Tax Credit. This temporarily replaced and expanded the Hope Credit from the 1990s. Now families can claim a $2,500 credit, instead of $1,800—and claim it for four years instead of two. The credit also applies to course-related expenses, such as books and supplies rather than just tuition and fees. The AOTC also made the credit partially refundable—allowing low- and moderate-income families to receive a credit of up to $1,000. This means that families could get an upfront payment, regardless of whether they had a tax liability. To expand access to more low-income students, Huelsman proposes the credit be fully refundable and allow families to use that money to invest in 529 college-savings plans when the child enters 8th grade. This way, families could seed accounts with tax credits and have four years to build up their balances before their child enters college."

7. Major & Veteran Status Affect Students' Experience in College, Survey Finds - by Sara Lipka http://chronicle.com/article/Choice-of-MajorVeteran/125254/

‎"The report examines what it calls educationally purposeful activities and high-impact practices, finding that they vary significantly by major. About half of all seniors, for example, participate in service learning, but three-quarters of nursing and physical-education majors do. One-third of students complete a senior project, whereas half of history and political-science majors do. And half of all seniors have held internships, compared with three in four education and journalism majors and two in five accounting and business-administration majors. Business-administration students, according to the report, do more class presentations and group projects but are less likely to discuss career plans with faculty than students in three other popular majors: biology, English, and psychology. English majors most often discuss ideas with professors outside class, and psychology majors are most likely to engage in "reflective learning. . . ."

8. As Late as April, Students Choosing a College Still Think of Stretching to Pay -http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/even-in-april-plans-to-stretch-to-pay-for-college/27664

"Richard A. Hesel, a principal of the Art & Science Group, said he was consistently surprised by how unrealistic students and families can be about college costs.That families are willing to stretch to pay for college can be a retention risk, Mr. Hesel said. “Institutions have to work much harder to monitor what’s going on with students and stay in touch.”The students who responded in April were more likely to have discussed the cost of college with their parents than those surveyed in the winter, and they were more likely to have considered net cost. But they still did not have a sense of what their education might cost in the long run: Nearly 40 percent said they had “no idea” what their likely monthly payment on student loans would be after graduation."

9. Bridge Programs for Underprepared Adults Could Improve College Completion, by Jennifer Gonzalez http://chronicle.com/article/Bridge-Programs-for/125260/

"Fifty-seven percent of adults in bridge programs possess educational skills below the 10th-grade level, with 19 percent having skills below the sixth-grade level. Sixty-seven percent of survey respondents said people who complete their programs are likely to enroll in further education or training within six months. Sixty percent of respondents report that they structure their programs in a "learning by doing" format. By 2018, the report said, two-thirds of the jobs in the American economy will require a postsecondary credential. At the same time, says the National Commission on Adult Literacy, 80 million to 90 million adult workers have low basic skills and are not prepared for those jobs because they lack a high-school degree or its equivalent. Low-skilled adults represent a huge potential reservoir of workers to meet the future work-force needs of employers, Mr. Alssid said."

10. Will John Boehner Be Good for Education? by Andrew J. Rotherham http://bit.ly/aLjB73

"As a result of his policy initiatives, Boehner is well regarded by many in the education community. Though he started his career as a bomb-thrower, he evolved into someone even Democrats describe as a sincere legislator interested in practical solutions to education problems. He's "very adult, in the sense that he's a tough negotiator, but he realized always where he needed to find middle ground and was willing to reach that middle ground after making his case," observes Charlie Barone, a former top education aide to George Miller, the current chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. Boehner headed that committee from 2001 to 2006, and his rise to chairman highlights his formidable political skills and tenacity — he'd been booted out of the House leadership in the 1990s."

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

105. MVCAP fyi

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

1. Pay for 8 years of college on 1 salary http://t.co/iLu6eyd via @CNNMoney

‎"Spend the kids' assets first. Aid offices assess money in a student's name at 20%, vs. up to 6% for a parent's money. So Amy should spend her kids' savings accounts and bonds before the 529s--the latter is typically considered a parental asset."

2. Drafting a College List in a Tough Economy#more-23659#more-23659 - http://nyti.ms/aGdtcK

‎“When I started as a counselor in 1981, kids would apply to two reach colleges, two targets and two safeties,” said Eileen Connolly, who oversees guidance at John F. Kennedy High in Bellmore, on Long Island. Now she estimates that most of her students apply to 15, not including those who apply early to one and get in."

3. http://huff.to/cOMO6R Huffpost - Celebrating Community Colleges and Their Students

"But the American Dream is more than access to college. It's about a complete education and the better future that comes with it: a steady income, a rewarding career, a home in a nice neighborhood where you'd want to raise your family. Increasingly, to achieve those goals, students have to get a college degree or a professional certificate after high school. According to every measure -- employment rates, wage premiums, labor forecasts -- students who get those credentials can seize opportunities that those who stopped their education with high school can't. In 1973, only about one-quarter of the American workforce needed a postsecondary degree or credential in order to get or hold on to a job. In 2007, that figure hit 57 percent. New research predicts that, by 2018, 63 percent of jobs in America will require an education beyond high school. Unable to find enough skilled workers here, U.S. businesses are outsourcing millions of high-skill, high-wage jobs to Germany, Japan, Singapore, Korea."

4. http://huff.to/djphS8 Huffpost - College: It Pays

‎"According to a College Board report released earlier this month, college graduates on average earned about $22,000 more than those with just a high school diploma ($55,700 compared to $33,800) in 2008. What's more troubling is that the gulf between the two has increased by 13 percent since 2005. And with the economy in tatters, there's probably little doubt who's suffering more. Unemployment has jumped for both college graduates and for those with a high school diploma. However, the gap in the unemployment rate between the two groups has more than doubled in the last five years. The point is if you don't have a college degree you're far more likely to be unemployed."

5. http://huff.to/cja9EW Huffpost - College Squeezing Out the Middle Class

"The cost of higher education is spiraling out of control. It is squeezing middle class families out and making America less competitive. We pride ourselves on the best higher education in the world, but we're coasting on the reputation of three dozen selective institutions. Most students pay too much, get too little, and half drop out. For students being priced out of the market, there are a growing number of cheap or free alternatives and many are personal digital learning options."

6. At Rallies Across the US, Students Turn Out in Defense of Public Education http://chronicle.com/article/Students-Turn-Out-in-Defense/124853/

"Students are becoming the cash cow for the institution because the university is banking on whatever they can pay," Mr. Chapela said. "They're standing up for what they believe to be wrong budgetary policies in both the state and the nation."

104. MVCAP fyi

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1. When a College Visits Your High School#more-23569 - http://nyti.ms/dAVQym

"A few weeks ago, I joined a producer and crew from the “Today” Show on NBC as they shadowed Seth Allen, the dean of admission at Grinnell College in Iowa. We watched Mr. Allen as he visited two New York City public high schools, the Bronx High School of Science and DeWitt Clinton. The segment — which is something of a primer for students on such information sessions — was shown today on “Today,” and can be viewed above."

2. Hello Again: A Field Guide to Parents’ Weekend by Susan Stewart #more-23627 - http://nyti.ms/dhQIzp

"Blogger’s Note: Periodically on The Choice, we look past the college search to the college experience itself. No matter how old (or young) their children, I suspect many parents will relate to this essay. –Jacques Steinberg

Parents’ weekend at college is for parents to admire the ivy-covered fairyland where most of their income is going, and for their children to get away from it."

3. How Much Will Parents Pay for College? http://t.co/91ld49m

"Considering that college represents the second biggest expense for many families, parents and teenagers aren’t spending a lot of time talking about this milestone. According to the survey, only half of parents have had detailed discussions with their teenagers about college by the time their children are half way through their senior year in high school. Most of the rest of the families have had general conversations, while 3% haven’t discussed college at all."

4. Tracking Early Progress Could Boost College Completion http://t.co/CuH6UNG via @educationweek

"Solid indicators of success include completing 20 credits in a certain period, such as a year, and completing summer credits, says Jeremy Offenstein, a research specialist with the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy, California State University, Sacramento, and co-author of the report. Also, making it through the first college level math and English courses is a good sign."

5. How to Help Students Complete a Degree on Time http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-Help-Students-Complete/124839/

"From the 1970s to the 1990s, the proportion of students who completed a bachelor's degree in four years shrank by 13 percentage points, said Sarah Turner, a professor of economics and education at the University of Virginia and the author of the research. These days earning a bachelor's degree takes at least five years, Ms. Turner said. The decline, however, was found mostly at public four-year universities that are not flagship institutions, she said. In fact, at highly selective private institutions, the number of students completing their degrees in four years increased by 8 percent between 1972 and 1992." This is very much a story of stratification," Ms. Turner said. One explanation for the decline at public colleges, Ms. Turner suggested, is that students today often find it hard to finance their educations and have to work during college. Work is crowding students' time to take courses."

71. Still Need Money For College?

If you're still seeking money to pay for college, read Kim Clark's "11 Steps to Raise Last-Minute Cash for College," posted April 29, 2010, at the US News & World Report online site; just click this link:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/paying-for-college/2010/04/29/11-steps-to-raise-last-minute-cash-for-college.html