272. 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. A Pre-College Summer To-Do List, by Lynn F. Jacobs and Jeremy S. Hyman - http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/summer-to-do/ - "As the next class of college freshmen prepare to pack for college, I asked Lynn F. Jacobs and Jeremy S. Hyman, authors of The Secrets of College Success, to compile some tips for getting ready academically. What follows are excerpts. –Jacques Steinberg"

2. The Case for More College Grads, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/jqIUMu - "In their new report, "The Undereducated American," Carnevale and his co-author, Stephen J. Rose, acknowledge that "with many college graduates unsuccessful in finding work in the current economic climate, the temptation to reject postsecondary education as a viable economic option grows stronger, especially among working families for whom college costs are always a stretch." But they aim to use historical data to show that the analysts (and parents of recent graduates who may feel that way) are engaged in short-term thinking."

3. The Wrong Message, By Roy L. Beasley - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/kamSC5 - "However, I have serious reservations about some of the policy inferences the authors draw from their findings that gaps in these skills between black students and white students grow larger during the first two years of undergraduate study."

4. For San Diego Schools, a Fear That Larger Classes Will Hinder Learning, by Michael Winerip - http://nyti.ms/jVlRLp - "San Diego’s decision to set a class size of 17 at its poorest schools was based on the most influential study in the field, the Tennessee STAR project. That research, done in the 1980s, concluded that students in small classes (13 to 17 children) outperformed those in regular classrooms (22 to 25) in kindergarten to third grades. The gains were biggest among poor minority children, and that advantage continued for years to come."

5. U.S. Will Need Another 20 Million Workers With Some College Education, Report Says - http://chronicle.com/article/US-Will-Need-Another-20/128059/ - "It finds that across the job market—even in positions that normally do not require a degree—education has benefits. But if the nation continues to underproduce college-going workers, it says, "the large and growing gap between the earnings of Americans of different educational attainment will grow even wider."

6. The Surprising Task of Getting Your Child Ready for College, by Tom Morris - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-morris/the-surprising-task-of-ge_b_882647.html - "Here's something you may not have thought about yet: What happens next fall at the first stage of the college adventure and in the semester after that will likely be in some way crucial for determining or charting out the possibilities for every subsequent opportunity your child will face."

7. More Central New York high school graduates picking community college, other affordable colleges, by Elizabeth Doran - http://t.co/M5bOY6m - "The college “was the furthest thing from my mind when I started applying to colleges,” Wilson said. “But the bottom line became how much is it going to cost me, and OCC became the best choice by far. I can take my general education classes there and then transfer after two years.”

8. As schools cut budgets, strains on counselors grow, by Christine Armario -http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/06/24/general-us-broken-budgets-a-counselor-apos-s-life_8533889.html - "In all, Wagner has to register 600 freshmen in this high school in a suburb north of Miami for their next year's classes, and help another 200 12th grade students through college applications and graduation. There are recommendation letters to write, crises to handle. On the one hand, she must monitor low performing students; on the other, she must shepherd a bevy of meticulous students at this A-rated school vying to get into the nation's most prestigious colleges.There's just not enough time . . . ."

229. Unstack the Odds--Success, Part 3

Unstack the Odds: Help All Kids Access College—and Graduate!

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

14. Success, Part 3

“Moreover, we find that learning in higher education is characterized by persistent and/or growing inequality. There are significant differences in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills when comparing groups of students from different family backgrounds and racial / ethnic groups. More important, not only do students enter college with unequal demonstrated abilities, but their inequalities tend to persist—or, in the case of African-American students relative to white students, increase—while they are enrolled in higher education.”--Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010, excerpt pp. 121-25. http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/028569.html

What are some recommendations to increase the chances of success in college for underrepresented students? The Latino Roadmap report suggested the following [emphasis in original]: “Increase student retention efforts for working students in good standing. The majority of Latino college students work while enrolled. Given changes in the economy, more students in good standing encounter shifts in their work schedules after they begin a semester that can decrease their retention or the quality of education they receive." (Roadmap for Ensuring America’s Future By Increasing Latino College Completion, Excelencia in Education, March 2011, p. 14.) http://www.edexcelencia.org/initiatives/EAF/Roadmap

"Require a simplified transfer pathway to colleges and universities. About half of all Latino undergraduates are enrolled in two-year institutions. Unfortunately, too few complete an associate degree or transfer to a college/university. To encourage completion of an associate degree and continuation to a bachelor degree, the confusing pathway to transfer from one institution to another should be simplified." (Ibid., p. 16.) http://www.edexcelencia.org/initiatives/EAF/Roadmap

173. 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. Help with Financial Aid as Reimagined by the MTV Generation, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/gN8U5r

‎"Those three ideas are the finalists in the “Get Schooled Affordability Challenge.” It is a national competition staged by MTV and the College Board, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in which current and aspiring college students were asked to devise better ways to administer and award financial aid."

2. New Research Examines Parent and Student Experiences with the Federal Financial Aid Process - http://advocacy.collegeboard.org/college-affordability-financial-aid/rethinking-student-aid/news/cracking-the-code

"Based on extensive focus-group and survey research with parents & students, the study found that nearly half of the parent respondents did not know the cost of attending a public college in their home state, & only 44% of Latino parent respondents were aware of the Pell Grant."

3. So, Students Don't Learn -- Now What? by Allie Grasgreen - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/eAoleW

‎"The book and its corresponding report document the findings of research that followed 2,300 undergraduates through four years of college, at 24 unidentified but academically representative institutions, to measure progress in their critical thinking and analytic reasoning skills. The measurement tool was the Collegiate Learning Assessment, which the students took during their freshman, sophomore and senior years."

4. The Financial Aid Information Gap, by Sam Petulla - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/dHUt1C

"The report from the College Board's Advocacy and Policy Center, "Cracking the Student Aid Code," finds that many parents have little understanding of how much it costs to attend college and of financial aid options -- and that the knowledge deficit is biggest for those who already have the least access to higher education: students from Latino families and from low-income backgrounds."

5. Texas budget draft cuts $13.7 billion in spending, by April Castro - http://t.co/sUAUhbO via @washingtonpost

"The budget draft . . . would cut funding entirely to four community colleges and would generally eliminate financial aid for incoming freshmen and new students. The Texas Grants scholarship program would drop by more than 70,000 students over the next two years."

6. Paying for College With a Duffle Bag Stuffed With Cash, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/Zgl9dmU

"Do you feel sorry for Ramos? I don’t. And here’s why: If Ramos — or his parents - didn’t want to pay top dollar to attend a public university, the Sacramento resident should have stayed in California where he would have qualified for in-state tuition. Out-of-state flagships like CU are eager to admit students like Ramos, who hail from elsewhere, because they can gouge them. The tuition for Colorado residents is $8,511. For non-residents it’s $29,493."

7. College Board: Families Need Earlier Education About Costs, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/T0zCYfg

"Knowing about the Pell Grant program depended on level of education and ethnicity. While 82 percent of African-Americans and 81 percent of Caucasians said they knew about the program, just 44 percent of Latino parents did. About 91 percent of parents with a bachelor's degree were aware of Pell Grants, 85 percent of parents with an associate's degree, and 62 percent of parents with a high school education or less, the survey found."

8. Breaking the 'Cruel Cycle of Selectivity' in Admissions, by Jerome A. Lucido - http://chronicle.com/article/Breaking-the-Cruel-Cycle-of/125935/

"For colleges, the cycle is a relentless drive for status, prestige, and revenue, in which the metrics are unequivocal: Applications must increase, test scores must rise, acceptance rates must fall, and enough full payers must attend to finance the institution's goals and aspirations."

9. The 2010 Broad Prize - http://www.broadprize.org/asset/0-30largedistsbetterperform2010.pdf

"30 Large Urban School Districts Show Better Relative Academic Performance Than Their States for African-American, Hispanic, or Low-Income Students."

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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:"

10. 9 Ways To Save On Textbooks - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/17/9-ways-to-save-on-textboo_n_809905.html#s224991&title=OpenSource_It

‎"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."

• Follow the most important stories on college admissions and financial aid on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rottenbornj


• For links to articles on college admissions and financial aid, you can "friend" Joe Rottenborn at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23325544


• "Like" the MVCAP fan page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23325544#!/pages/Mahoning-Valley-College-Access-Program-MVCAP/284002915922


• You can join the group MVCAP Financial-Aid Friends at this page: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=126580419181


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