372. 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. Nearly 4,250 Apply to New Harvard Early Admission Program, by REBECCA R. RUIZ AND JACQUES STEINBERG: http://nyti.ms/v2Nmwd - "The college said on Monday that 4,245 students filed single choice early action applications by its Nov. 1 deadline; under that program, students are prohibited from filing early applications with other private colleges in the United States. Those 4,245 applicants represent more than double the size of Harvard’s anticipated class of 2016, and they mark a 5.9 percent increase from four years ago, when early admission was last in effect at Harvard and 4,010 students chose to apply."

3. Accreditor Questions Career Education on Placement Rates Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/sce6jn via AddThis - "A recent review by an outside law firm found that some of the company's 49 health education and art and design schools did not have sufficient documentation to back up job placements, and that 13 failed to meet the accreditor's placement rate requirement."

4. Data Driving College Preparation, by Caralee J. Adams - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/16/12data_ep.h31.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW via @educationweek - "Once Kentucky educators started sharing data about how high school students were doing after graduation, things started to change. University professors and high school teachers began comparing notes about their expectations in class. Rigor was ramped up. Transition courses were developed in high schools to help lagging students avoid remediation in college. Advanced Placement restrictions were lifted to expose more students to college-level courses."

5. Hechinger Report Should value-added teacher ratings be adjusted for poverty? by Sarah Garland: http://hechingerreport.org/content/should-value-added-teacher-ratings-be-adjusted-for-poverty_6899/#.Tsu3t0gKqjk.twitter via AddThis - "A large body of research has found that student achievement is affected not only by a student’s individual circumstances at home, but also by the circumstances of other children in the same school and classroom. Studies have found that students surrounded by more advantaged peers tend to score higher on tests than similarly performing students surrounded by less advantaged peers. To some experts, this research suggests that a teacher with a large number of low-achieving minority children in a classroom, for example, might have a more difficult job than another teacher with few such students."

6. Cutting student aid like ‘eating our own seed corn’ by Dennis Berkey - College, Inc. -http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/guest-post-cutting-student-aid-like-eating-our-own-seed-corn/2011/11/22/gIQADl11kN_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost -"But the word out of Washington is that financial aid is not viewed as investment, but as spending. Cutting aid to low-income students would be a form of eating our own seed corn. These programs contribute mightily to our nation’s bottom line. They create highly skilled workers. They stimulate our economy. They even help create jobs. Clearly, it is time for a reminder as to why these programs are so vital."

355. 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. NCAA enacts broad academic, scholarship reforms, by Andy Gardiner – http://usat.ly/uy14V7 via @USATODAY - "Athletes will be eligible for up to $2,000 annually to cover incidental expenses above their basic scholarship for room, board, books and tuition. . . . Beginning with the 2012-13 school year, teams will have to post a minimum Academic Progress Rate (APR) to be eligible for bowl games, NCAA tournaments and other NCAA championships. The cutoff will start at a score of 900 (on a scale of 1000) and rise over three years to 930, which the NCAA projects to be a 50% graduation rate."

2. Ron Paul: The truth about my student loan plan – http://usat.ly/sT8hc3 via @USATODAY"The accumulated total student loan debt in this country is over $1 trillion. Think about that for a moment. Our entire national deficit for this year is $1.5 trillion, and the cost of college education alone is two-thirds of our country's entire budget shortfall. This is staggering."

3. 'The Ideal High School Graduate,' by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/u7KJZq - "Mr. Fitzsimmons called successful applicants to Harvard “good all-arounders – academically, extracurricularly and personally,” and he stressed the importance of demonstrating humanity and three-dimensionality in one’s college application. “I want to know, what is it this person does beside chew gum and produce good grades or scores?”

4. NCAA board approves athletic eligibility rules for D-I athletes, by Allie Grasgreen Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vtRL36 via @AddThis - "Under new rules beginning in August 2016, to be eligible for competition incoming freshmen must have a 2.3 grade point average in a set of high school core courses, up from 2.0, and the appropriate standardized test score on the NCAA’s sliding scale, which has been adjusted slightly to account for the new GPA minimum. However, under a new “academic redshirt year” model, students whose GPA falls between the old and new minimums will still be eligible to receive athletic scholarships and practice with the team in their first term of enrollment, and can practice in the next term as well as long as they pass nine semester or eight credit hours."

5. High Schools, Colleges Push Financial Literacy, by Caralee J. Adams - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/28/10finance.h31.html via @educationweek - “This budget worksheet slows you down a bit and makes you realize, ‘Hey, I have to pay this money back,’ ” said the 26-year-old, who says it took just 15 minutes to meet the college’s new financial-aid requirement. Despite qualifying for Pell Grants and veterans’ benefits, Mr. Chandler estimates he will have accumulated $45,000 in debt by the time he finishes his education, including a master’s degree."

6. Chicago to Judge High Schools by College-Readiness Metric, by Catherine Gewertz - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/10/chicago_to_judge_highn_schools.html via @educationweek - "A Power Point presentation given at the board of education's meeting yesterday makes the case for tightening the screws on high schools, noting that fewer than six in 10 students graduate, and that students' average ACT score is 17, short of the ACT's "college readiness" benchmark of 21. Only 8 percent of 11th graders are testing "college ready" in all subjects on the Prairie State Achievement Exam, which includes the ACT."

7. Should College Grads Get a Break on Their Loans? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/201...

‎"Will the Obama plan make a difference? Will it help prevent defaults or will it lead today's students to borrow more, if they view their debts as potentially negotiable and if they believe the government is assuming more of the risk? What should government do about student debt and the college loan industry?"

8. Obama's student Debt Plan Is a Good First Step, by Sandy Baum - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/tHdLme - "The strength of the anti-student-loan movement and the number of students defaulting on their student loans suggest a serious lack of awareness of the repayment protections already in place. Unemployed students don’t have to make payments. But that doesn’t help people who don’t know they have this option. And stories of people unable to wade through the bureaucratic barriers to entering the Income Based Repayment plan abound."

9. Subsidizing the College Bubble, by Richard Vedder, Ohio U. - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/s6Dtij - "Our system of federal student financial assistance is broken --and very costly. It has done little to help low-income people go to college -- a smaller percentage of college graduates come from the bottom quartile of the income distribution than in 1970, before these programs were large -- and probably has contributed to the explosion of college tuition and fees."

10. Obama's Inadequate Response on Student Debt, by Anya Kamenetz - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/sj8Ebd - "But these numbers clearly show that the relief offered by income-based repayment is inadequate to the scope of the problem. It doesn’t apply to parental PLUS loans. It doesn’t apply to private, unsubsidized student loans, which bear higher interest rates, have been growing at 25 percent a year (compared with federal loans at 8 percent a year) and are on track to match the volume of federal student loans by 2025. It doesn’t help defaulted borrowers, who face lifelong nightmares of snowballing interest rates and fees with little to no possibility of relief even through bankruptcy."

11. The Worst Lesson We Could Teach, by Neal P. McCluskey - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/v8W5YZ - "What the administration is proposing isn’t all that grand: If you have debt through both the federal direct, and now-defunct guaranteed, loan programs you’ll be able to consolidate your loans and get a modest interest rate reduction. And if you don’t earn much, your maximum monthly payment could go down, with whatever debt remains forgiven after twenty years. Taxpayers will make up the revenue shortfall. That’s lovely for you if you qualify, but relatively few people will. Only around eight million of the roughly 36 million Americans who hold federal loans will probably benefit."

12. Student Debt Plan Compounds the Suffering, by Cindy Warner - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/rE4n5H - "Obama’s new plan for student loan repayment fails to address the problem of the financial industry's failure to disclose how a for-profit lender and servicer operates with its Draconian fees and penalties under the auspices of “financial aid,” or what students perceive as assistance. The financial industry failed to disclose that student loans come with no consumer protections and will remain that way for life. They are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, and if unpaid, the balance due will continue to escalate forever."

13. Intellectual Curiosity Predicts Academic Success, Study Finds - http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/intellectual-curiosity-predicts-academic-success-study-finds/37502 - "Intellectual curiosity is a strong predictor of future academic performance, says an article in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. That conclusion was based on a meta-analysis of 200 previous studies of students who rated their own intellectual curiosity, among other factors. Intellectual curiosity has as large an effect on academic performance as conscientiousness, though not as much as intelligence, the article says."

14. How to Calculate the Real Cost of College, by Kayla Webley - http://ti.me/sNjxWk via @TIMEMoneyland - "The calculators, which are mandated by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, come up with net prices for individuals by taking the estimated costs — including tuition, fees, housing, books, transportation and other expenses — and subtracting the estimated aid a particular student is likely to receive, based on financial need and academic achievement. This aid comes in the form of scholarships from the school and grants (i.e., free money) from the federal government. After the net price is predicted, the calculators go a step further and detail the savings that could come from utilizing government-backed loans, which have low, fixed interest rates, and participating in a school’s work-study program."

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

339. 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. Getting Credit, by Paul Fain - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/phTVbd via AddThis - "The total number of degrees and certificates awarded by community colleges increased by 127 percent between 1990 and 2010, the report found, while enrollment increased by 65 percent. And credentials earned by Hispanic students, for example, increased by 440 percent compared to enrollment growth of 226 percent."

2. 25 Colleges With the Best Professors in 2011, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/25-colleges-with-the-best-professors-in-2011/6813/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "None of the Ivy league schools, for instance, crack the list of the top 25 schools with the best professors. Princeton came the closest at 57th best. According to the teacher quality rankings, Cornell fared the worst among the Ivies — it came in 445th out of 650 schools. For the second year in a row, Oklahoma Wesleyan University earned bragging rights as the school with the best professors."

3. Better Data Urged to Link K-12 and Postsecondary, by Caralee J. Adams - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/06/07college.h31.html via @educationweek - "If high schools are going to better prepare students for college and careers, experts say they need to track graduates enrolling in higher education, whether they take remedial courses to get up to speed, and whether they earn a degree."

4. Racial and Gender Gaps Persist in Higher Education -http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/racial-and-gender-gaps-persist-in-higher-education/36925 - "Racial and gender gaps in higher education persist among today’s students, says the latest edition of a report from the American Council on Education. The report says whites and Asian-Americans are the only groups whose members are earning significantly more degrees than did their elders, while African-Americans and Hispanics have made no progress. Women are surpassing men in earning postsecondary credentials. . . ."

5. Harvard falls from top spot in global college rankings, by Daniel de Vise - College, Inc. - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/harvard-falls-from-top-spot-in-global-college-rankings/2011/10/05/gIQARCcDOL_blog.html via @washingtonpost - "For the first time in the eight-year history of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Harvard has been displaced as the world’s top university. The No. 1 spot in the 2011-12 rankings, released Thursday in Britain, belongs to CalTech. Adding insult to injury, Harvard must share second place with Stanford."

6. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories on college access and success via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/xt4njNy8

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."

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: http://nyti.ms/mTJJTk

2. Harvard's a Bargain--If You're From the UK http://t.co/9G2GMPk via @TIME

3. Legislative Update: Higher Ed Bill Headed to Governor's Desk - La Canada Flintridge, http://patch.com/A-lGkJ

4. Many U.S. schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks – USATODAY.com: http://t.co/cUAHsLR via @USATODAY

5. Technology in Schools Faces Questions on Value: http://nyti.ms/os0ePQ

6. Before the First School Bell, Teachers in Bronx Make House Calls: http://nyti.ms/q5ewo8

7. Students Find Ways to Thwart Facebook Bans: http://nyti.ms/pqWPdI

8. The important college question that goes unanswered hometownlife.com http://t.co/icHuGkn via @Hometownlife

9. Push for a college degree based on misleading arguments (opinion) cleveland.com http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/09/push_for_a_college_degree_base.html

10. Can schools narrow the achievement gap? Lansing State Journal lansingstatejournal.com http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20110904/NEWS05/109040512/Can-schools-narrow-achievement-gap-

11. Federal government role in K-12 eduction — equity and funding - Midland Daily News: Opinion: http://t.co/kpmjxPZ via @AddThis

12. VIEWPOINTS: Summer learning loss contributes to student underachievement al.com http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-commentary/2011/09/viewpoints_summer_learning_los.html

13. The GI Bill: A passport to a better life - News - The Orange County Register http://www.ocregister.com/articles/-314706--.html

14. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/x7cmxSo

200. 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. Princeton and Harvard Reinstate Early Admissions, by Catherine Rampell - http://nyti.ms/fnhiRj

". . . Both Princeton and Harvard on Thursday reinstated their early admission programs. (The University of Virginia, which had also ended its early admission program with great fanfare, gave in last year.) . . . And from the 2006 press release in which Princeton announced it was ending the early admissions program: “We agree that early admission ‘advantages the advantaged,’” Tilghman said."

2. Jane Fonda at Vassar: College Tours, Campus Legends, by Michael Kolomatsky - http://nyti.ms/gDaVt2

"College tour season will soon heat up as high school seniors make final visits to schools at which they’ve been accepted. In search of the magic that will tip the scales toward one college or another, they’ll be joined by juniors who typically begin visiting schools about now."

3. Surrender to Early Admissions, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gCDaKu

"On Thursday, both Harvard and Princeton announced that they were restoring early admissions options. Significantly, they are restoring nonbinding "early action" options, not early decision -- and many skeptics about early admissions say that the biggest problems arise with binding programs, particularly at colleges that are not as generous with student financial aid as are Harvard and Princeton."

4. CNU: University accidentally sent 2,000 acceptance e-mails, by Samieh Shalash - http://bit.ly/dI7eXP

‎"Christopher Newport University e-mailed acceptance letters to 2,000 students Wednesday afternoon with the subject line "Welcome to CNU!"It was followed about four hours later by an e-mail saying the first e-mail was sent by mistake and apologizing for any confusion."

5. Lawsuit accuses TCU of fraud - http://es.pn/he7WmS

"The records describe how the 300-pound Jones remained in an English class even though the instructor considered him "dangerous," how Taylor was admitted to the university despite graduating 300th in his high school class of 377 and how both remained in good standing on their teams despite repeatedly being cited for misconduct on campus."

6. Using Social Media to Get Into College, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/988Af8a

‎"A Kaplan survey of admissions counselors from some of the top colleges and universities found that 80 percent visited potential students’ online profiles during their recruiting process. While counselors are checking students out online, they are also trying to engage them on the Internet. According to Tsouvalas, here are ways that high school students can take advantage of Facebook and other social media:"

7. 'Pathway to Prosperity' authors educate me - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2011/02/pathway_to_prosperity_authors.html

‎"Despite the fact that nearly all young people now say that they want to go to college and that increasing percentages of high school graduates are in fact enrolling in college, our college completion rate is stuck at about 40 percent. Many organizations are now focused on the challenge of how to increase our college completion rate and have set a very aggressive target of 55 percent by 2025. But even if this very ambitious improvement goal were to be reached, what is our strategy for getting the other 45 percent of young people the skills and credentials they will need to get launched on a career path that can enable them to earn a family-supporting wage and lead a productive life? This is the big question our report raises. . . ."

8. On Science Exams, New York’s Students Fall Short, by Fernanda Santos - http://nyti.ms/g19C6n

"New York was one of 17 large cities that agreed to have their results reported separately. A large majority of those cities scored below the nation as a whole. New York was in the middle among the large cities for its fourth graders and slightly below average for eighth graders. . . . The best of the 17 were Charlotte, N.C., Austin, Tex., and Louisville, Ky.; the worst were Detroit, Baltimore and Cleveland."

9. In the so-called School of Financial Aid, it can pay to get the lowest score, by Alice Murphey - http://nydn.us/i0KvaZ

"Everybody wants to get high marks in college, but in the so-called School of Financial Aid, it can pay to get the lowest score. That's the case with your expected family contribution. Your contribution is determined by the information on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. (There's still time to file if you haven't already, but . . .some students are starting to receive their award letters.)"

10. Harvard Tuition Rises to $52,650, by Julie M. Zauzmer - http://bit.ly/edbKMQ

"Harvard College tuition and fees will climb 3.8 percent for the next academic year, reaching a total cost of $52,650. The jump in price will be coupled with a $2 million increase in the financial aid budget, bringing the total cost of financial aid to a record high of more than $160 million.Already, more than 60 percent of Harvard undergraduates receive some financial aid from the College."

11. Panel Discusses Education Gap, by Rediet T. Abebe - http://bit.ly/gCsSJl

‎"Ferguson also noted that the gap develops rapidly as young minority students approach kindergarten. Though there is “not much of a gap” around the first birthday, a divergence in test scores is already apparent by age three, he said."

12. What to Do as Colleges Cut Back on Financial Aid, by Jane J. Kim - http://on.wsj.com/igbgKP via WSJ.com

"Amid greater financial pressures, colleges are scaling back their financial-aid packages to students in ways that are likely to give wealthier families an admissions edge.Some colleges, such as Williams College, Middlebury College and Wake Forest University, are no longer "need blind" when it comes to admitting international or wait-listed students."

• 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

190. 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. More Women Earn Bachelor's Degrees Than Men, Study Shows -http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/10/post_644_n_821577.html

"The data, mined from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth of 1997, shows that by the age of 23, 23% of women surveyed earned a bachelor's degree -- compared with only 14% of men

. . . . By the age of 23, 22% of non-Hispanic whites surveyed reported earning a bachelor's degree, as opposed to only 9% of blacks and Hispanics and 8% of Hispanics or Latinos."

2. Colleges with the Best Graduation Rates -http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/10/colleges-with-the-highest_2_n_820990.html#s236902&title=Thomas_University_100

"At the College of the Holy Cross, which has a 98.1% grad rate, V. P. for Academic Affairs & Dean Timothy Austin said graduating -- and doing so in 4 years -- is a matter of student culture. "Students here don't call themselves freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors," he said. "They call themselves class of [graduation year]. So right from the get-go they are targeting that date when they are going to cross the stage together."

3. California District Pushes Digital-Text Initiative Forward, by Katie Ash - http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/02/09/02books.h04.html

“We don’t care what the device is, just that the resources are in a format that makes sense [to the students],” McPhail says. “The kids are our customers.”

4. For-Profit Colleges Discuss How to Make the Sector More Accountable, by Goldie Blumenstyk -http://chronicle.com/article/At-Closed-Door-Summit/126331/

"Several of the colleges at the meeting are being investigated by state and federal regulators, and by their own accreditors, for abusive student-recruiting tactics; several also face lawsuits from students and former employees on similar grounds."

5. Harvard Considers Bringing Back Early Adm,by Justin C. Worland - http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/2/10/early-admissions-harvard-students/#

"Harvard decided to eliminate its non-binding early action program in 2006. At the time, College officials stated that the early admissions program—regarded by many as an advantage in the admissions process—disproportionately benefited affluent students, who were more likely to have access to resources that could help them prepare their applications for an early deadline."

6. Guide to Admissions - US News and World Report - http://www.usnews.com/education/features/guide-to-admissions

‎"Getting Into College Guide To Admissions"

7. Cleveland Scholarship Programs is now College Now Greater Cleveland - http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cleveland-scholarship-programs-unveils-new-name-college-now-greater-cleveland-115726304.html

‎"The new name emphasizes the critical need to create a college-going culture across the region, helping students reach their full potential through college education and increasing the economic vitality of Greater Cleveland. College Now assists over 20,000 students each year, through college access and success advising, financial aid counseling and scholarship services."

• 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

186. MVCAP fyi

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

1. Student killed in shooting near Ohio university - http://bit.ly/gQdh1S #cnn

"Hughes said the shooting is a surprise. "It's sad because young people here are trying to turn around a lot of things," he said. "That campus is a bright shining star."

2. Tragedy at a Party, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fu8HZF

‎"A statement from Youngstown State said that university police believe that there is no threat to the campus, but that security there has been heightened as a precaution. Cynthia E. Anderson, president of the university, went to the local hospital where shooting victims were treated to talk with students and their families. In a statement, she said that the "tragic act of violence" made Sunday "a sad day for the YSU family."

3. Bad Apples or More? by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/g3gqjx

"The review finds that 53 of the 120 universities in the NCAA’s top competitive level, the Football Bowl Subdivision, were found by the NCAA's Division I Committee on Infractions to have committed major rules violations from 2001 to 2010. That number appears to have held largely constant from the previous two decades, but the 2000s show that the number of colleges that committed serious violations of the association’s academic rules nearly doubled, to 15 from 8 in the 1990s."

4. Toughen NCAA Academic Rules, by Gerald S. Gurney - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gQnAHI

‎"A more critical analysis suggests that the recent patterns of serious institutional involvement in academic fraud may be related to predictable consequences of changes in the 2003 NCAA initial eligibility legislation that certify woefully underprepared athletes as qualified to compete in the college classroom."

5. New Data Show Students at For-Profit Colleges Twice As Likely To Default On Loans - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/03/for-profit-students-default-loans-new-data_n_818507.html?ir=College

"In addition, students taking out loans at for-profit schools were responsible for nearly half of all federal student loan defaults within the three-year timeframe, even though students enrolled at such institutions made up less than 15 percent of college students nationwide."

6. What to Expect From the Revised AP U.S. History Program, by Erik Robelen: http://t.co/qaMEpuR

"Unlike the current AP U.S. history course, the new curriculum framework lays out clear expectations for what students need to understand about different periods in American history," he writes. "These understandings are written at a high conceptual level in order to allow teachers to illustrate them with appropriate examples of historical actors and events drawn from each period."

7. A Letter to My President—The One I Voted for... by Paul Karrer: http://t.co/7mGX0dN via @educationweek

"It’s not bad teaching that got things to the current state of affairs. It’s pure, raw poverty. We don’t teach in failing schools. We teach in failing communities. It’s called the ZIP Code Quandary. If the kids live in a wealthy ZIP code, they have high scores; if they live in a ZIP code that’s entombed with poverty, guess how they do?"

8. Best college essay ever? by Valerie Strauss - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/college-admissions/best-college-essay-ever.html

‎"After receiving it again recently, I found the the author, a writer named Hugh Gallagher, to find out the real history of the piece. Gallagher told me that he wrote the essay when he was 17 for a high school writing contest. He won (and the essay was published in Harper's Magazine). He did then use the essay as part of his applications when he applied to five colleges about two decades ago. He attended New York Univ. . . ."

9. Financial Aid Fundamentals: File the FAFSA Now! -

http://www.top-colleges.com/blog/2011/02/05/financial-aid-fundamentals-file-your-fafsa-now/

‎"That means it is critically important for students – those that are college bound or already enrolled in degree programs – to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as soon as possible. Almost all forms of financial aid – including scholarships, grants and student loans – use the FAFSA as the foundation for award decisions."

10. College search would end with Harvard’s ‘yes,’ by Richard O. Jones - http://t.co/EHUnnOk via @oxfordpress

"Although he’s applied to 17 colleges — large and small, near and far — if Badin High School senior Raymond Dong gets the acceptance letter he most wants, he’ll be heading to Harvard next fall."

11. Are football stars really heroes, or just famous? by Sharon Jayson -USATODAY.com http://t.co/MCFwnMm

"But are the players on the field really heroes, or just celebrities?
Those who study heroism say there is a tendency to confuse it with fame or celebrity worship, which has sparked some researchers to take a closer look at just what makes a hero in the 21st century."

12. Footballer: 'Are you OK with destroying a kid's brain for this game?' by Stephanie Smith - http://bit.ly/fakTTc #cnn

‎"Can you ever make football so that no one gets hurt? No. People are going to get hurt," said Nowinski, president of the Sports Legacy Institute. "But you can eliminate certain drills, you modify certain drills, minimize certain drills...eliminate dumb things like 'bull in the ring.'"

13. To Close Gaps, Schools Focus on Black Boys, by Winnie Hu - http://nyti.ms/gh0mHj

“I think this is a form of racial profiling in the public school system,” said the coalition’s executive director, Michael Meyers. “What they’re doing here, under the guise of helping more boys, is they’re singling them out and making them feel inferior or different simply because of their race and gender.”

14. New NAEP Science Scores Reveal Significant Achievement Gaps, by Jasmine Harley - http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2011/02/1140-naep.html

"Black 4th-graders and 8th-graders scored on average 36 pts lower than their White counterparts and Black 12th-graders scored on average 34 pts lower than their White counterparts; Hispanic 4th-graders scored on average 32 pts lower than their White counterparts. The gap decreases to 30 pts in 8th grade and to 25 pts in 12th grade. . . ."

15. Why the stakes are so much higher now, by Audrey Kahane - NorthJersey.com http://t.co/CNn1zIg via @NorthJerseybrk

"The college admission process wasn't nearly as anxiety-producing 30 years ago. As I often tell parents, we probably wouldn't be admitted if we had to apply to our alma maters today. Parents have heard enough stories from friends and relatives whose high-achieving children have been turned down by schools that would have been considered "safe" 30 years ago to know that this is true, but they still don't understand why things are so different now."

16. What Is The Achievement Gap? Education Equality Project: http://t.co/64ElJ3h

"The huge difference in academic performance between students from different economic circumstances and racial/ethnic backgrounds is what we call the achievement gap."

17. Educators missed lesson on segregation, by Tony Norman - http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11035/1122872-153.stm

"At McCaskey East High School in Lancaster, 11th-grade black students were placed in separate homerooms with black teachers for six minutes a day, starting in December. The theory was that black students are more likely to take education seriously if they have a mentor who shares their racial background."

18. The Harvard Effect, by Timothy Noah - http://www.slate.com/id/2283744/

"At the end of 2007, Harvard announced that it would limit tuition to no more than 10% of family income for families earning up to $180,000. (It also eliminated all loans, following a trail blazed by Princeton, and stopped including home equity in its calculations of family wealth.) Yale saw and raised to $200,000, and other wealthy colleges weighed in with variations."

19. 8 Big Changes to College Admissions in 2010 and 2011, by Kim Clark - US News and World Report: http://t.co/uVIryt4

"Interviews with admissions officers at some of the nation's most popular colleges reveal recent and important shifts in the weighting of traditional admission factors. . . . College officials outline 8 major changes to their admissions practices that will affect applicants from now on:"

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183. MVCAP fyi--San Diego ed.

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1. For kids getting ready for college, FAFSA is a must, by Sandra Block -http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20110201/yourmoney01_st.art.htm

"That means it's more important than ever for families of college-bound seniors to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, as soon as possible. This application is the foundation for almost all forms of financial aid, from scholarships to student loans."

2. Rules fail to curb schools from oversigning football players, by Kelly Whiteside - http://usat.ly/eBCfQv via @USATODAY

"Many players assume scholarships are guaranteed for as long as five years. In fact, athletic scholarships are one-year, "merit-based" awards."He wanted to have my scholarship for another player. I had no idea that they could do that," Chamorro says."

3. Signing Day 2011: Who will be the top winners in recruiting? http://usat.ly/g1vbzJ -RT @USATODAY

"The usual cast of characters are expected to have successful days with Florida State and Alabama the front-runners to earning the coveted No. 1 ranking followed closdly by Texas, LSU and Southern California."

4. Washington Wrapup, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gfsyTK

‎"Durbin was not subtle about attributing his concern about for-profit colleges in large part to the role they've played in driving up federal spending on Pell Grants, which have soared from a program worth about $16 billion in 2008 to one approaching $40 billion in 2011."

5. Top 25 State Universities for Graduating on Time, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/aUGLeDd

‎"Private colleges and universities have better, but not great four-year grad rates. Nearly 48% of students graduate in four years from private schools. The vast majority of students in this country, however, attend public institutions where the average four-year grad is a measly 27%."

6. Harvard Report Questions Value of 'College for All,' by Catherine Gewertz - http://t.co/CigeF3J via @educationweek

"By concentrating too much on classroom-based academics with four-year college as a goal, the nation’s education system has failed vast numbers of students, who instead need solid preparation for careers requiring less than a bachelor’s degree, Harvard scholars say in a report issued today."

7. Pathways to Prosperity -http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/features/2011/Pathways_to_Prosperity_Feb2011.pdf

"Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century"--Report issued by the Pathways to Prosperity Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

8. Pell Grants Are in Jeopardy, Sen. Durbin Says, in Warning to Nonprof Colleges, by Kelly Field - http://chronicle.com/article/Pell-Grants-Are-in-Jeopardy/126176/

‎"You cannot come to Congress to ask for more funding for Pell Grants while looking the other way as billions of dollars of our current investment is wasted." "I'm not talking only about low-performing for-profit colleges," he added. "There are public colleges and private nonprofit colleges that are also failing students."

9. Obstacles to better counseling--and what to do about it, by Patrick O'Connor - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/obstacles-to-better-school-cou.html

‎"The obstacles to better counseling are well known. There aren’t enough counselors (the average caseload is over 450 students), many tasks assigned to counselors have nothing to do with counseling (like a last-minute sub for a chemistry class), and most counselors start their careers with absolutely no training in how to be good college advisers."

10. Pell grant set at $5,550 for next year, by Daniel de Vise - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/college-inc/2011/02/in_a_dear_colleague_letter.html

"In a "Dear Colleague" letter today, the U.S. Department of Education set the maximum Pell Grant award at $5,550 for the 2011-12 academic year, signaling that the largest grant program for low-income students will be fully funded."

11. Critics say top-rated Chinese education system has a flaw, by Kathy Chu - http://t.co/EtvirW3 - USATODAY.com

"To put the results into perspective, "If (the U.S.) doubles its efforts, it would still take us decades to catch up to Hong Kong students" in math, says John Winn, chief program officer for the National Math and Science Initiative, a public-private partnership."

12. Top 10 Colleges For Campus Housing, by Brian Burnsed - US News and World Report: http://bit.ly/fabLP5 - RT @usnews

‎"The following table highlights the top 10 national universities ranked by the percentage of their undergraduate student body living on campus:"

13. Top University Endowments - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/31/colleges-and-universities_n_815646.html#s231446&title=Harvard_University_27557404000

"Below, check the postsecondary institutions with the largest endowments -- and see how much their savings grew from 2009 to 2010. Click over to Inside Higher Ed for more data."

14. www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/blogs/wp-content/www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/uploads/File/proprietary-schools-loans.pdf

15. Tiger mom adds to stereotype that burdens Asian-Am students, by Mitchell J. Chang - http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/tiger-moms-191465.aspx

‎"Parenting strategies aside, what has been overlooked is how this essay unintentionally undermines Asian American college applicants by perpetuating an erroneous stereotype."

16. A Preventable Danger for Athletes, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://t.co/1xElTj0

"It's a big red flag for 13 student-athletes to be hospitalized at the same time," said Ramogi Huma, president and founder of the National College Players Association. "Every program out there needs to re-evaluate their training regimen."

17. Scholarship Tips from the Financial Aid Office, by Martha C. Merrill and Elaine Solinga - http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/tip-sheet-conn-college/

"Do your taxes early. In most cases, the financial aid deadline comes before the federal tax deadline. If you can’t prepare your tax return by the deadline date, it is O.K. to use estimated figures. A preliminary award will be determined based on those estimates."

18. Applications Rise at Dozens of Selective Colleges, by Jacques Steinberg and Eric Platt - http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/total-apps-2011/

"One trend, though, does seem some obvious: the increase in applications reported by Columbia University (32 percent) and the University of Michigan (18 percent, as the Feb. 1 application deadline looms) would seem, at least in part, to be a function of those institutions’ choosing to accept the Common Application this year for the first time."

19. Economy Changed Freshmen's Plans but Didn't Shake Their Confidence, by Sara Lipka - http://chronicle.com/article/Economy-Changed-Freshmens/126069/

"Over all, students show reliance on multiple sources to pay for college,according to the report. More than half of freshmen reported using loans, and almost three-quarters said they'd received grants and scholarships, the highest proportion since the survey began asking that question, in 2001."

20. Our view on kids: When unwed births hit 41%, it's just not right - http://usat.ly/fBkHkc - RT @USATODAY

"In 2009, 41% of children born in the USA were born to unmarried mothers (up from 5% a half-century ago). That includes 73% of non-Hispanic black children, 53% of Hispanic children and 29% of non-Hispanic white children. Those are not misprints. . . ."

21. Young and Mixed in America - Video Library - The New York Times http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/01/2...

Here is an interesting video about mixed-race students on U.S. college campuses.

22. Educators Zero In on What Lumina's Degree-Qualification Template Would Mean, by David Glenn - http://chronicle.com/article/Educators-Zero-In-on-What/126080/

"The profile—which is referred to by its authors as a "beta version"—is based loosely on "quality assurance" frameworks that have been adopted in Britain, Australia, and other nations. It sketches broad skills that should be universally acquired at each degree level."

23. Freedom Riders look back after 50 years, by Cassandra Spratling - http://t.co/RQER0li - USATODAY.com

"In a sense, you could say Dr. Silas Norman Jr. is still doing the work he began doing as a freedom fighter in the South.He is associate dean for admissions, diversity and inclusion at Wayne State University's College of Medicine. But during the summer of 1964, he was a 23-year-old graduate student at the University of Wisconsin who went to Selma, Ala., to be part of a five-member Selma Literacy Project. . . ."

24. Hall of Fame coach would trade in all his victories, by Steve Politi - http://bit.ly/fEq1QP #cnn

"Bob has a passion to help young men get the opportunities they would never have gotten unless he and basketball entered their lives," Krzyzewski said. "He should be in the Hall of Fame not for the number of wins, but for the number of lives he's changed."

25. Despite Obama’s Call, No Rush in ROTC’s Return to Campus,by Katharine Q. Seelye - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/education/28rotc.html?hpw

"But that is no guarantee that such programs will materialize. For one thing, the military has limited resources for new R.O.T.C. units. For another, the level of student interest is extremely low..., with no more than 10 to 20 students at these campuses participating. . . ."

26. 'National History Day' Lifts Achievement, Study Finds, by Erik Robelen - http://t.co/eftZyg6 via @educationweek

"The first-ever national evaluation of National History Day suggests that students who participate in the yearlong academic program and competition perform better on standardized tests, are better writers, and are more confident and capable researchers."

27. Going Global, Going Liberal Arts - Inside Higher Ed, by Scott Jaschik - http://t.co/ZIM34im

"While Chinese universities are discussed in the United States as science and engineering-focused, narrowly so, Sun Yat-sen University is part of a growing movement in China to promote general education -- which includes global (meaning Western) philosophy and culture."

28. UC Irvine serves chicken and waffles on Martin Luther King Jr. Day - http://t.co/1rxxZ10 via @lanow

‎"The menu and a sign reading "MLK Holiday Special: Chicken and Waffles" were thrown together at the last minute and not in the "best taste," she said."

29. WU students protest speaking invitation to Bristol Palin - http://stlbeacon.org/region/107785-wu-students-protest-bristol-palin-

"Students are upset because the money for the event comes from the annual activity fee all students pay to fund campus groups. They said it's a waste of their money to fund a speech by a politically polarizing figure on a subject for which she has no professional credentials."

30. In High School and Alone in a Homeless Shelter, by Andrew Keh - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/nyregion/27neediest.html

"With nowhere to turn, Ms. Masondo ended up last fall in a homeless shelter in the Bronx. She was the youngest person there and often finished her homework on the hallway floor after the lights had been turned off ...in the sleeping quarters. . . .Today, Ms. Masondo is at a shelter in Midtown."

31. How to Assess a College’s Mental Health Offerings, by Michael Winerip - http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/mental-health/

"What follows is an exchange with Mr. Winerip, in which I sought guidance from him on how students and parents might assess the mental health offerings at individual colleges. — Jacques Steinberg"

32. Texas assistants set to be highest paid in 2011, by Steve Berkowitz - http://t.co/W61pkAo - USATODAY.com

‎"Texas' nine full-time assistants will be guaranteed nearly $3.65 million for the 2011 season, an increase of about 20% over what Texas paid in 2010, when it had the nation's third-highest-paid group of assistants, according to USA TODAY's survey of assistant coaches' compensation."

33. Pennsylvania school experiments with 'segregation' - http://bit.ly/fNnFeD #cnn

‎"The junior class at McCaskey East is voluntarily segregated by the students, who organize themselves "by gender, race and/or language," said school spokeswoman Kelly Burkholder."

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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."

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174. MVCAP fyi

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1. Book Review of Donna Y. Ford, Reversing Underachievement Among Gifted Black Students, 2nd Ed, by Dick Kantenberger - http://exm.nr/fhLds7

“Blacks represent some 20% of public school enrollment, [yet] they constitute only 4% of students who perform at the 95th percentile or above on standardized tests,” says Dr. Donna Y. Ford in her recently released 2nd edition of Reversing Underachievement Among Gifted Blacks, published by Prufrock Press, Inc."

2. For Many, College Isn't Worth It, by Richard Vedder - Inside Higher Ed http://t.co/gXu3iBA

"An even-handed interpretation of the data is that college is “worth it” for some significant number of young people, but is a far more problematic investment for others. The call by President Obama, the Lumina and Gates Foundations, and many higher education advocates to rapidly and radically increase the number of college graduates is fundamentally off-base."

3. 7 Ways to Improve SAT and ACT Scores, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - The College Solution (usnews.com): http://t.co/ZpG7ooI

‎"Here are seven ways for teenagers to improve their SAT and ACT scores or limit the damage of mediocre results:"

4. 'Apocalyptic' Budget Sends Waves of Fear Across Texas Higher Education, by Katherine Mangan - http://chronicle.com/article/Apocalyptic-Budget-Plan/125997/

"No new applicants would be accepted for the state's largest financial-aid program for low-income students, the Texas Grant program. It served 87,000 students this year with grants of up to $6,780 per year, but it would serve only 27,000 students in 2013 under the House plan. Joseph P. Pettibon, associate vice president for academic services at Texas A&M, said he worried that low-income students either would not be able to attend four-year colleges or would take on too much debt if lawmakers approved the proposed cuts."

5. Texas Inks $300-Million Deal With ESPN for New TV Network, by Libby Sander - http://chronicle.com/article/Texas-Inks-300-Million-Deal/126000/

"The timing of the announcement was sobering: Also on Wednesday, Texas lawmakers wrestled with proposed cutbacks of nearly $772-million in the state's two-year budget, including nearly $100-million for the Austin campus."

6. Harvard’s unofficial early admission process, by Valerie Strauss - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/harvards-unofficial-early-admi.html

"Sometimes students will approach Harvard and ask for some indication of whether they will be accepted. They are given one of three responses, he said: likely, possible or unlikely to be admitted. Likely responses essentially means a student will be admitted, assuming they don’t flunk out of senior year in high school. Last year, he said, Harvard issued about 300 “likely” notifications."

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