363. 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. Part 2: Answers to Your Questions on Applying with a Learning Disability, by Marybeth Kravets: http://nyti.ms/t5W6UD - "In this second batch of answers, Ms. Kravets addresses questions on disability assessments and college accommodations. Answers to additional questions will continue this week."

3. Part 3: Learning Disabilities Q&A, by Marybeth Kravets: http://nyti.ms/tvosLk - "In this third batch of answers, Ms. Kravets addresses questions on specialized school environments and SAT-optional admissions."

4. Survey shows that as online enrollments boom, doubts about online quality persist, by Steve Kolowich Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/w0T6Jk - "Online enrollments grew 10 percent, as the number of students taking at least one online course (“online” defined here as a course where most or all content exchanges and class meetings occur virtually) crept past six million. It was the smallest bump in enrollments since 2006, and less than half the growth online programs saw last year (21.1 percent). . . . They now account for nearly a third of all enrollments in higher education."

5. Leaders at Football Powers Still Mostly White, Male Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/sf4YUa via AddThis - "Of the college presidents at the 120 institutions, 90.8 percent are white and 81.7 percent are male. Among athletics directors, 88.3 percent are white and 95.8 percent are male. Commissioners of the institutions' conferences are all white and male. In total, 91.2 percent of the 365 campus leadership positions accounted for in the report are filled by white people. Seventy-five percent and 84.2 percent of the college presidents and athletic directors, respectively, are white men (only three presidents are minority women). In contrast, black students make up the majority -- 52.1 percent -- of the athletes playing football for the colleges."

6. Michelle Obama’s tips for applying to college, by Jenna Johnson - Campus Overload - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/campus-overload/post/michelle-obamas-tips-for-applying-to-college/2011/11/08/gIQAi1EI4M_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "So on Tuesday afternoon, first lady Michelle Obama spent about an hour talking about the college application process — and how to succeed once on campus — with several dozen local high school students who are part of a Georgetown University mentoring program."

7. Admissions 101: Should AP courses have such a tight grip on college admissions? by Jay Mathews - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/admissions-101-should-advanced-placement-have-such-a-tight-grip-on-college-admissions/2011/11/08/gIQAS8Xa1M_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "Each of them said the most important factor was the quality of the students' high school courses."

8. You think your kid's school is fine? Think again, says @JonSchnur http://ti.me/tRJtp9 via @TIMEIdeas - "First, the ticket for my son and America’s children to the middle class and American dream requires much more and better education than for my generation or my parents’ generation. When I was Matthew’s age, only a quarter of the middle class had post-secondary education. Today, nearly two-thirds of middle class jobs require at least some post-secondary education. And we have seen that many of our high school graduates are leaving ill-prepared for success in college or careers."

9. Who’s Minding the Gap? by Andrew J. Rotherham - http://ti.me/sUuCyz via @TIMEIdeas - "No matter how many people try to argue that focusing on closing achievement gaps is a bad idea, it’s not. It’s still the right goal. And not merely for social reasons — although the crushed dreams, diminished opportunities, and the violence that today’s educational system does to communities and any semblance of equality should not be underestimated. Closing the gap is the right goal for economic reasons, too."

10. The Education Crisis No One Is Talking About, by Andrew J. Rotherham - http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2070930,00.html?xid=tweetbut via TIME - "Our public schools are woefully unprepared to deal with the fastest-growing ethnic group in the U.S. Only 17% of Hispanic fourth-graders score proficient or better on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (a test given to samples of students each year) while 42% of non-Hispanic white students do. Nationally, the high school graduation rate for Hispanics is just 64%, and only 7% of incoming college students are Hispanic, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education."

362. 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. Curriculum Matters: What It All Means: Analysis of NAEP Results Pours In, by Erik Robelen http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/11/more_analysis_rolling_in_on_ne.html via @educationweek - "With a fresh round of national test data released last week for reading and math, a variety of analysts have sought to weigh in. I'll highlight a few examples I've come across."

3. National Journal -- Parsing the Nation's Report Card, by Sandy Kress #2109245#2109245#2109245#2109245#2109245 http://bit.ly/rK3gfT via @AddThis

"The gains I will discuss below are significant, but they do not yet extend much to postsecondary readiness and success in completion after high school. The movement toward greater rigor and accountability in high school and postsecondary options must be accelerated and intensified."

4. College Bound: Designing Policies to Encourage Early High School Graduation, by Caralee Adams http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/college_bound/2011/11/designing_policies_to_encourage_early_high_school_graduation.html via @educationweek - "There is a lot of money to be saved when high school students graduate early, so many states are offering incentives for high-achieving students who take this route. But as states craft policies, researchers at Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based national nonprofit, looked into the best way to encourage this education fast-track."

5. INCENTIVES FOR EARLY GRADUATION - http://www.jff.org/sites/default/files/IncentivesForEarlyGraduation_PolicyBrief_080311.pdf

"Research has found that the most reliable predictor of college successis the quality and intensity of the high school curriculum(Adelman 2006)."

6. Lumina Foundation Will Provide $7-Million to Help More Latino Students Graduate,by Jennifer Gonzalezhttp://chronicle.com/article/Lumina-Foundation-Will-Provide/129674/

"The Lumina Foundation for Education is turning its attention to a segment of the population projected to be a key driver in meeting the nation's college-completion goals: Latino students. . . . The project is part of Lumina's Goal 2025 effort, which aims to increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025."

7. Obama will mandate Head Start competition, by David Jackson and Richard Wolf – http://usat.ly/sxC9Ed via @USATODAY - "Nationally, there are nearly 1,600 Head Start and Early Head Start programs providing early learning services to nearly 1 million low-income children."

8. What does being "college and career ready" mean? by Valerie Strauss - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/no-child-left-behind/what-is-being-college-and-care.html -“ACT defines college readiness as acquisition of the knowledge and skills a student needs to enroll and succeed in credit-bearing, first-year courses at a postsecondary institution, such as a two- or four-year college, trade school, or technical school,” she said. “Simply stated, readiness for college means not needing to take remedial courses in postsecondary education or training programs.”

9. Things to think about as students begin applying to colleges http://t.co/KqofhQY7 via @everettherald

10. N.J. must address achievement gap between rich, poor students http://t.co/VyzyxGfU http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2011/11/njersey_must_address_achieveme.html

11. Q&A: Student loan concerns for parents - JSOnline http://t.co/1C09p9M4

361. 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. Part 1: Answers to Your Questions on Applying With a Learning Disability, by Marybeth Kravets: http://nyti.ms/vPrzii - "In this first batch of answers, Ms. Kravets addresses questions on test scores and foreign language requirement waivers. Answers to additional questions will continue this week."

3. Gender Gaps in Higher Ed Around the World Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/t1VBCF via AddThis - "New data from the World Economic Forum show that gender gaps in higher education leave some countries (including the United States and many other developed nations) with female enrollments significantly outpacing male enrollments, while other countries face the opposite situation."

4. What Spurs Students to Stay in College and Learn? Good Teaching Practices and Diversity, by Dan Berrett - http://chronicle.com/article/What-Spurs-Students-to-Stay-in/129670/ - "Good teaching and exposure to students from diverse backgrounds are some of the strongest predictors of whether freshmen return for a second year of college and improve their critical thinking skills, say two prominent researchers."

5. Washington-area schools confront the ‘gifted gap,’ by Kevin Sieff -http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/2011/11/06/gIQAeYImtM_story.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive - "Most of the city’s students are black or Hispanic. Most in gifted programs are white. This imbalance in classes tailored to gifted and talented students is echoed across the region and the nation, a source of embarrassment to many educators."

6. For many middle-income families, college is no longer within reach http://t.co/faGpVcuC via @freep

7. Calculators for tuition vary Business Dallas Business, Texas Business, Fort Worth Bu...: http://t.co/htnQjg7t via @AddThis

8. Students, staff frustrated as classmates skip off with financial ... - http://t.co/1qDU5fCn http://www.bakersfield.com/archive/x1454911303/Students-staff-frustrated-as-classmates-skip-off-with-financial-aid

9. How colleges make admission decisions http://shar.es/bUTSy

10. Athletics in the Admission Process http://bit.ly/uJTZkU

11. Selling higher education to those who aren’t buying it http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Selling+higher+education+those+aren+buying/5659967/story.html

12. Nancy Berk: College Anxiety: Modern Families Caught in The Middle http://t.co/hKNqZhXo via @AddThis

13. The Tutor's Tips: The college application rush http://t.co/VtWUCQmL

360. 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. Online calculators aim to ease burden of choosing college http://t.co/DSIJlVmX (via @http://www.newsadvance.com)

3. The Dartmouth: College extends early decision app. deadline http://t.co/auVBoKEH via @AddThis

4. Shawnee schools receive mixed results from standardized tests http://shar.es/b8AP2

5. Latino youths lead way in turning academic trends around (@deseretnews) http://desne.ws/tA7ju6

6. The China Conundrum: http://nyti.ms/tja4zJ

7. College admissions using Facebook as a tool for perspective - http://timesdelphic.com/2011/11/02/college-admissions-using-facebook-as-a-tool-for-perspective

8. Hard Decisions for Learning Disabled: http://nyti.ms/siWlfJ

9. For struggling graduates, some help keeping student loan payments in check The Republic: http://t.co/JBKW5BcH via @AddThis

359. 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. Average student loan debt tops $25,000, by Blake Ellis - http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/03/pf/student_loan_debt/ via CNNMoney.com - "College seniors who took out loans to fund their college education owed an average of $25,250, 5% more than the class of 2009 owed, according to a report from the Institute for College Access & Success' Project on Student Debt."

3. U.S.-born children take fight over tuition to court, by Alan Gomez – http://usat.ly/uj42II via @USATODAY - "Now a Florida lawsuit is highlighting a rare practice of forbidding U.S.-born students — citizens by birth — from getting in-state tuition because their parents are illegal immigrants. Five students, all born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant parents, sued the state last month for denying them in-state tuition rates even though they'd lived in Florida, graduated from state high schools and were entering state colleges and universities."

4. American Students Gaze Across the Atlantic and See College, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/tcSYKl - "At a time when more international students are choosing to study in the United States, a separate phenomenon is on the rise: that of American students choosing to spend their entire college experience abroad. Some international institutions have noted American students’ increased willingness to travel farther from home, which has prompted the schools to bolster their outreach efforts."

5. Report Finds Colleges Fail to Disclose Information, by Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/uHHnRt via AddThis - "Three years after the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which included new disclosure requirements for institutions, the majority of colleges are failing to provide public information on graduation rates for low-income students, and many do not adequately disclose other required information, according to a study published today by Education Sector and the American Enterprise Institute."

6. Essay: Focus student success efforts on what happens in the classroom, by Vincent Tinto Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/uHOQca via AddThis - "It is one thing to hold high expectations; it is another to provide the support students need to achieve them. At no time is support, in particular academic support, more important than during the critical first year of college when student success is still so much in question and still malleable to institutional intervention."

7. NAEP Scores Flat, Sun Rises Again, by Robert Slavin - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/sputnik/2011/11/naep_scores_flat_sun_rises_again.html - "Recent research from Don Hernandez shows that for students not reading on grade level by 3rd grade, one in six did not graduate from high school on time. This rate is four times greater than that for proficient readers. If this doesn't sound an alarm, I don't know what will. Reading well is a fundamental necessity for learning in all other subjects from math to history, even art. Children who are not reading on grade level simply cannot reach their full potential in any other subject. Economically, this leads to immeasurable loss in untapped potential of our future workforce."

8. College Graduates’ Debt Burden Grew, Yet Again, in 2010, by Tamar Lewin - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/education/average-student-loan-debt-grew-by-5-percent-in-2010.html?_r=1&hpw - “Student debt goes up and it doesn’t ever go down,” said Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of Finaid.org and Fastweb.com, two Web sites that offer advice on paying for college. “We’re clearly heading in the direction of decreased college affordability. Among lower-income students, the canaries in the cage that squawk first, we’re already seeing a decline in enrollment in four-year colleges and an increase in lower-cost two-year institutions,” he said. Mr. Kantrowitz estimated that for the class of 2011, average debt was $27,200 — or, if parent loans were included, $34,000."

9. Is community college the best value in academia? by Daniel de Vise - College, Inc. -http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/is-community-college-the-best-value-in-academia/2011/11/03/gIQA9xabiM_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost -"Have you considered community college as a pathway to a four-year degree?"

10. Grab college major or lose career, by Jay Mathews - Class Struggle - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/grab-college-major-or-lose-career/2011/11/02/gIQARHF5gM_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "Using a sample of 62,218 first-time community college students in Washington state, researchers Davis Jenkins and Madeline Joy Weiss noted that students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, on average less likely to graduate, were also “less likely than higher SES students to enter a concentration, which we define as taking and passing at least three courses in a single field of study.”They were slowed by remedial courses, but even when they had a chance to pick majors, they weren’t quick and often did not see what choices would help them get jobs. The only majors with good career prospects that low-income students chose in large numbers were in nursing and other health fields."

358. 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. Advice on Whittling Your Admissions Essay, by Alan Gelb: http://nyti.ms/rORahK - "Most first drafts I see are several hundred words beyond that mark. That is to be expected, but by the second and third drafts, they are very close to the 500 word count. I almost never encounter essays that justify exceeding that limit. The extra verbiage usually reflects problematic writing choices, so I would like to offer a few tips on how to keep your essay concise with no sacrifice of meaning or impact:"

3. Home States of College Freshmen: Why They Matter, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/home-states-of-college-freshmen-why-they-matter/7074/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Fifty two percent of students attend colleges within 100 miles of them home, according to a UCLA study. Actually most students never leave their own state. New government statistics illustrate just how popular the home state is with many college students."

4. Curriculum Matters: Study: Pre-K Crucial to Best 3rd Grade Reading Outcomes, by Catherine Gewertz - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/11/in_the_face_of_state.html via @educationweek - "They found consistently that children who attended preschool and half-day kindergarten had substantially greater chances of doing better on the reading test than those who had attended only full-day kindergarten. The benefits were particularly strong for Hispanic and low-income students and those learning English."

5. Excellence Without Equity Is Neither, by Eric Witherspoon - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/02/10witherspoon.h31.html via @educationweek - "For every student to succeed, everyone must believe that success for all is possible and that failure is not an option for any student. This belief is fundamental and must be shared by every student and adult in a school. Expectations correlate directly with results."

6. Experts: Half of foster kids quit high school - US news - http://www.mail.com/news/us/808440-experts-half-foster-kids-quit-high-school.html via @maildotcom - "Sommer, 19, is among the roughly 50 percent of the nation's 500,000 foster kids who won't graduate from high school, experts say. Nearly 94 percent of those that do make it through high school do not finish college, according to a 2010 study from Chapin Hall, the University of Chicago's research arm."

7. NAEP scores rise, but income gap sees little change, by Nick Pandolfo - http://hechingered.org/content/naep-scores-rise-but-income-gap-sees-little-change_4485/ - "Fourth- and eighth-graders’ scores showed modest improvement and racial achievement gaps narrowed on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” which was released Tuesday. The gap between disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers remained largely unchanged, however, and widened in fourth-grade reading."

8. Since 1990s, U.S. Students’ Math Has Sharpened, but Reading Lags, by Sam Dillon - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/education/us-students-math-skills-sharpen-but-reading-lags.html?_r=1&hpw - "Mr. Driscoll and other officials and experts put forward several hypotheses to explain the trends. Children learn most of their math in school, and even though math instruction in the United States in general lags behind that in some high-performing countries, the experts said, it has improved over the past two decades. Reading achievement, in contrast, reflects not only the quality of reading instruction in school classrooms, they said, but also factors like whether parents read to children and how much time students read on their own outside school. And many children in the United States are spending less time reading on their own."

9. Putting Zuckerberg’s Millions to Work for Schools, by Jodi Rudoren - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/giving/putting-zuckerbergs-gift-of-millions-to-work-for-newark-schools.html?src=recg - "In a school district of 40,000 students, 62 percent receive free or reduced-price lunches. Nearly half of those who enter high school do not finish. Among those who go on to college, 98 percent need remediation."

10. U.S. students make gains in math but stall in reading, by Lyndsey Layton - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/us-students-make-gains-in-math-but-stall-in-reading/2011/10/31/gIQATYdYcM_story.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive - "The tests, often referred to as the nation’s report card, also showed minimal progress in narrowing the achievement gap between white students and their black and Latino counterparts, despite nearly 10 years of federal law designed to close that margin."

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."