365. 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. Last of 5 Parts: Answers to Your Questions on Applying with a Learning Disability, by Marybeth Kravets: http://nyti.ms/v4UE95 -"In this final installment, Ms. Kravets answers questions on college options for those with autism and pervasive developmental disorders."

3. Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania, Addresses High School Students, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/vREAvS - "One of four female presidents in the Ivy League, she began by describing her own high school experience. She then made a disclosure that seemed to surprise many of her young listeners: she was, she told them, the first in her family to attend college."

4. What Should Penn State Applicants Think? by Jacques Steinberg: http://nyti.ms/vG3nOS -"First, I would caution applicants not to do anything rash. This, after all, is a world-class state university, with highly regarded programs in dozens of disciplines, including those in undergraduate business and engineering. (While I don’t typically steer applicants and their families toward the U.S. News rankings, please consider this moment an exception: it is probably worth noting how high so many Penn State programs place in the annual survey.)"

5. Enrollments tumble at for-profit colleges, by Paul Fain Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vQOY6e via AddThis - "Over the last year or so, most of the major for-profits have changed their view of their target student market, to varying degrees. Companies that previously sought out lesser-prepared students, and made lots of money on them, now believe those students come with regulatory risks that outweigh potential payoffs."

6. Student veterans do better than peers when given support services, by Elizabeth Murphy Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/twxSYI via AddThis - "The study found:

Student veterans were earning an average grade point average of 3.04.

The retention rate from fall 2010 to spring 2011 was 94 percent, above the national average of 75 percent for first- to second-year retention.

About 71 percent of students earned all of the credits they pursued, with an average of 24 credits for the academic year."

7. College Bound: Europe and U.S. Share Vision and Challenge for College Goals, by Caralee Adams - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/college_bound/2011/11/in_other_international_higher_education.html via @educationweek - "Both the E.U. and U.S. will face shortages of skilled workers unless there is a significant increase in educational attainment. Both have set concrete goals: The E.U. wants 40 percent of its citizens age 30-34 to have college degrees by 2020. The U.S. aims to have 60 percent of its population with postsecondary training or a degree by 2020. And both are experiencing financial pressures that make attaining these new benchmarks difficult."

8. Professor disputes anti-AP film ‘Race to Nowhere’ by Jay Mathews - Class Struggle - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/professor-disputes-anti-ap-film-race-to-nowhere/2011/11/01/gIQA2IsK1M_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "Bauerlein was as amazed as I at Abeles’s insistence that schoolwork is ruling children’s lives “across all economic and cultural groups.” He noted that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 15- to 19-year-olds have an average of 5.69 leisure hours a day. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 8- to 18-year-olds spend 7.5 hours a day with entertainment media. A Nielsen survey counted 3,339 text messages a month sent or received by the average 13- to 17-year-old with a cellphone."

9. The GI Bill is Not Enough, by Eric Greitens - http://shar.es/bMJDD - "The fact is, many universities are still not equipped to serve the specific needs of a veteran population. As a result, Veterans register for classes, but with little direction from the school. They lack clarity about how their military experience and schooling can translate into a civilian credential, and then find themselves in programs that are unaligned to their career goals. Many leave without ever obtaining a degree."

364. 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. South Korean students' 'year of hell' culminates with exams day, by Jiyeon Lee #cnn http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/10/world/asia/south-korea-exams/index.html READ THIS. "Most South Korean students consider their final year in high school "the year of hell." It is when all students are put to the ultimate test. About 700,000 test applicants sat down in classrooms across the country Thursday to take their college entrance exams -- also known as the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). . . . For many, this one test -- which lasts a good eight hours -- will determine which university they enter. It is considered the chance to make or break one's future."

3. A New Book Argues Against the SAT, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/rMhctr - "That study broke applicants into three socio-economic classes. They found that 29 percent of students from the highest social class scored above 1400 on the SAT, compared to 24 percent of middle class students and 14 percent of lower class students. Turning that pyramid on its head, the study found that those students from lower social classes were more likely to have earned a top high school G.P.A.. . . “High school grades are the single most powerful predictor of college performance,” he said. “High SAT scores over-predict how well a student is going to do in college, and they’re inversely related to academic engagement.”

4. Part 4: Answers to Your Questions on Applying with a Learning Disability, by Marybeth Kravets: http://nyti.ms/uIDMUQ - "In this fourth round, Ms. Kravets addresses the question of physical disabilities that impact learning capacity."

5. Report Finds One in Three College Students Has Taken an Online Class, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/ssMpaB - "Nearly a third of all college students are now taking online courses, so said a new study released on Wednesday by the Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board."

6. L.I. Inquiry on Cheating Now Covers Five Schools, by Jenney Anderson - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/nyregion/sat-cheating-inquiry-on-long-island-expands-to-include-act.html?_r=1 - "At the hearing, representatives of the Educational Testing Service said that about 3,000 test scores were examined for irregularities each year — out of more than two million exams taken — and that of those, 1,000 were canceled, most after test-center supervisors reported irregularities, or because of large jumps from scores on previous tests. Suspected impersonations constituted about 150 of those canceled scores. About 700 people were turned away for questionable identification at test sites."

7. Penn State president and football coach lose jobs amid sex abuse scandal, by Kevin Kiley Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/sav1IK via AddThis - "The Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees and Graham Spanier have decided that, effective immediately, Dr. Spanier is no longer president of the University," the board said in a statement Wednesday. "Additionally, the board determined that it is in the best interest of the University for Joe Paterno to no longer serve as head football coach, effective immediately."

8. Essay on why smart people make foolish ethical choices, by Robert J. Sternberg Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/t68Gdz via AddThis - "Every time there is a new ethics scandal, whether in a university or some other setting (such as in government or the corporate world), observers wonder how those involved could have been so stupid. Could they really have done the things of which they are accused? If so, what were they thinking? In fact, there are three precipitating factors for ethics scandals that practically guarantee that they will not be going away anytime soon. The three factors are foolishness, the complexity of ethical reasoning, and ethical drift, which I discuss in turn."

9. Survey Finds Pell Grant Support Among Young Adults Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/s8id8n via AddThis - "Adults aged 18 to 34 are overwhelmingly concerned about the cost of college and levels of student debt, regardless of whether they attended college, and oppose cuts to federal student aid programs, according to survey results announced Wednesday by the Institute for College Access and Success, Young Invincibles and Demos: Ideas and Action, three advocacy groups. The survey found that 73 percent of respondents believe college students graduate with too much debt, while only 21 percent described the average debt as "manageable."

10. Digital Education: Blended Learning on the Rise, Report Says, by Katie Ash - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2011/11/blended_learning_on_the_rise_r.html via @educationweek - "The eighth annual Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning, released today at the Virtual School Symposium in Indianapolis, finds that single-district online programs—many of which include blended learning—are the fastest-growing segment of online education this year. (Single-district online programs are created by a district for the students in that district only.)"

11. Community Colleges Open an Online Doorway to Better Grades and Graduation Rates, by Josh Fischman - http://chronicle.com/article/7-Community-Colleges-Try-an/129605/ - "There are two things Clint McElroy knows about community-college students: A huge number of them don't stay in school. And many of them—who are often the first in their families to go to college, and who must juggle work and parenting—don't understand how to balance all those demands while studying at the college level. . . . And just 27 percent of all students graduated within three years of starting community college, according to "What Works in Student Retention," a 2010 report by ACT, the nonprofit education-assessment organization. The survey, of 305 colleges, reported that the leading reasons for attrition were a student's lack of readiness for college-level work, deficient study skills, and money problems."

12. Is an Ivy League education money wasted? by Brad Tuttle http://ti.me/u1FlJq via @TIMEMoneyland - "The college-selection equation today is not unlike shopping for a new car, with some consumers preferring a flashy, eye-catching model, and others seeing more value in a dependable, unexciting product that is cheaper to pay off, and that still gets you where you need to go.Continuing with this metaphor, what we’re seeing is that more students are going with the Honda Civics of higher education, rather than the Porsches and Corvettes. The Wall Street Journal reports on the trend for students to not only question the value of an Ivy League education, but to attend cheaper (or free) public colleges even though they were admitted to much “better” institutions."

13. Did Penn State officials violate the Clery Act? by Jenna Johnson - Campus Overload - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/campus-overload/post/did-penn-state-officials-violate-the-clery-act/2011/11/09/gIQAh0CZ6M_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "The Clery Act requires colleges and universities to annually disclose campus crime statistics and, in some cases, to warn the community if a crime poses a safety threat. The education department oversees compliance of the act, and notified the university of its investigation on Wednesday. “If these allegations of sexual abuse are true then this is a horrible tragedy for those young boys. If it turns out that some people at the school knew of the abuse and did nothing or covered it up, that makes it even worse,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement. “Schools and school officials have a legal and moral responsibility to protect children and young people from violence and abuse.”

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."

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

347. 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. Who Needs to Know? by Steve Kolowich - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/ofP0PY via AddThis - "The small, private college in upstate New York recently teamed up with Starfish Retention Solutions to institute an electronic “flagging” system that allows a student’s instructors, adviser and other officials to keep each other apprised if the student begins to fall behind on grades, attendance, health or financial aid forms, or any other obligations the student needs to fulfill to stay enrolled."

2. Higher Education Associations to Convene Commission on Attainment - http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Releases2&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=42893 - "While the precise work of the commission will be defined by the participants, the topics to be explored will include: The changing nature of students seeking a degree or credential; The ability of higher education to attract, retain and graduate the increasing number of adults seeking a degree or credential; The current capacity of higher education to accommodate the large number of students who will need to enroll if we are to increase the number of graduates; and The opportunities to increase efficiency and enhance productivity in meaningful ways."

3. The White Man's Trick Bag, by Roy L. Beasley - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/qyQvOv via AddThis - "The problem deniers are still out there, still encouraging us to send our children buck naked into the world's jungles like so many black Harry Potters protected only by maternal fantasies that they can be anything they want to be. No, they can't. It still takes a hell of a lot more guts and talent and other resources for a black man or a black woman to achieve the same level of success as for a white man or a white woman."

4. Do You Know What Your EFC Is? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/do-you-know-what-your-efc-is/6916/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "You can find your preliminary EFC by heading to the College Board’s website. In the upper right-hand corner just type EFC calculator into the search box. You’ll need your latest income tax return and non-retirement account statements to use the calculator. It should take just a few minutes to obtain your EFC."

5. 3 Reasons Why Law Schools Are Under Fire, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/3-reasons-why-law-schools-are-under-fire/6935/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "The scholarship programs at law schools across the country often look more like bait-and-switch operations. Eighty percent of law schools offer merit scholarships, but many of these scholarships disappear after the recipients finish their first year of law school. Schools are accused of rigging the scholarships so most students can’t keep them. Here’s a New York Times‘ expose from earlier this year that explains how this works: Law Students Lose the Grant Game as Schools Win."

6. Student progress can be tied to teacher's school, by Donna Gordon Blankinship - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WA_TEACHER_TRAINING_WAOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT - "The academic progress of public school students can be traced, in part, to where their teachers went to college, according to new research by the University of Washington Center for Education Data & Research."

7. 'Capturing Kids' Hearts' Initiative Focuses on Relationship Building, by Ian Quillen - http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/10/19/01conversionside-relationships.h05.html via @educationweek"Imagine a misbehaving student and a stressed-out teacher during the final period of the day. But imagine that THE teacher, instead of giving in to anger, poses—in a gentle tone—four questions for the student to answer. What are you doing? What are you supposed to be doing? Are you doing it? What are you going to do about it?"

8. Building the Digital District, by Ian Quillen - http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/10/19/01conversion.h05.html via @educationweek - "Since the digital conversion began, the district has seen an improvement of 20 percentage points—from 68 percent to 88 percent—in the portion of its students who scored “proficient” on all core-subject state exams, in the subjects of reading, math, and science. Six of eight schools achieved Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, up from two of seven schools during the conversion’s first year. And its 2010-11 graduation rate rose to 91 percent, up 14 percentage points from four years ago."

9. Vocational Training Can Prompt Unemployment Later in Life, Study Finds - http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/vocational-training-can-prompt-unemployment-later-in-life-study-finds/37294 - "Pursuit of a vocational education may help students in the short term, getting them a job when they might otherwise be unemployed, but by the time they reach the age of 50, they are more likely to be unemployed than are students who had pursued a general education, according to a working paper published on Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research."

10. Learning-disabled students get firmer grip on college, by Mary Beth Marklein – http://usat.ly/nAnonG via @USATODAY - "Nearly nine out of 10 of the nation's two- and four-year colleges enroll students with disabilities, and of the 86% of those that enroll students with learning disabilities, only 24% say they can help disabled students "to a major extent," says an Education Department report published in June. That's why a growing number of short-term opportunities are cropping up to help college students with learning disabilities hone the skills they will need on a mainstream campus."

11. What “no excuses” model really teaches us about reform, by Matthew Di Carlo - The Answer Sheet - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-no-excuses-model-really-teaches-us-about-reform/2011/10/17/gIQAuiirsL_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "In the Houston implementation, “no excuses” consists of five basic policies: a longer day and year, resulting in 21 percent more school time; different human capital policies, including performance bonuses and firing and selectively rehiring all principals and half of teachers (the latter is one of the “turnaround models” being pushed by the Obama administration); extensive 2-on-1 tutoring; regular assessments and data analysis; and “high expectations” for behavior and achievement, including parental contracts."

12. "CREATING NO EXCUSES" (TRADITIONAL) PUBLIC SCHOOLS:PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE FROM AN EXPERIMENT IN HOUSTON, byRoland G. Fryer, Jr -http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectEnglish/Images/Apollo/apollo20whitepaper.pdf -"The racial achievement gap in education is an important social problem to which decades of research have yielded no scalable solutions. Recent evidence from "No Excuses" charter schools – which demonstrates that some combination of school inputs can educate the poorest minority children – offers a guiding light. In the 2010-2011 school year, we implemented five strategies gleaned from best practices in"No Excuses" charter schools – increased instructional time, a more rigorous approach to building human capital, more student-level differentiation, frequent use of data to inform instruction, and a culture of high expectations – in nine of the lowest performing middle and high schools in Houston, Texas. We show that the average impact of these changes on student achievement is 0.276 standard deviations in math and 0.059 standard deviations in reading, which is strikingly similar to reportedimpacts of attending the Harlem Children’s Zone and Knowledge is Power Program schools – two strict “No Excuses” adherents. The paper concludes with a speculative discussion of the scalability of the experiment."

13. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily on http://paper.li/rottenbornj

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

2. Why you want to go to college: In 140 characters or less, by Luke Kerr-Dineen and Natalie DiBlasio - http://usat.ly/qOERgx via @USATODAY - "At the University of Iowa, a good tweet is worth $37,000. That's the price of a full scholarship, and that's exactly what a student hopeful can win in a contest the university has dreamed up that takes electronic communication to a new level. The university is asking prospective students to submit a 140-character tweet in place of a second essay."

3. AFT teachers union to defend educators in cheating scandals, by Greg Toppo - http://usat.ly/nyANPN via @USATODAY - "Weingarten noted that local union affiliates in Atlanta and elsewhere have been among the first to ferret out cheating among their ranks.In Atlanta, the union in 2005 "blew the whistle on this, and it was ignored because there was this enormous pressure to meet (testing) targets," she said. "Targets became more important than learning and a climate, as the governor said, that was intimidating and that was fearful and that was retailiating against anyone who came forward."

4. Colleges replacing loans with no-pay grants for their neediest students, by Daniel de Vise - http://t.co/vqM8MXh via @washingtonpost - “They’re essentially chasing after the same group of low-income students who are academically talented,” said Mark Kantrowitz, an industry expert who is tracking 73 colleges that have eliminated or capped student loans. “If you get in, these schools are a great deal.”

5. The 12 best college financial aid policies - College, Inc., by Daniel de Vise - http://t.co/66dHIwK via @washingtonpost - "In today’s paper, I write about the trend toward “no-loan” financial aid pledges at some of the nation’s top universities. More than 70 schools have replaced loans with grants in at least some of their aid awards, focusing on the neediest students.I resisted the temptation, in that story, to rattle off a list of the schools with the best aid policies. So, why not do it here?"

6. Financial Aid Pledges to Reduce Student Debt (2009-10), The Project on Student Debt - http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php - "A number of colleges have developed financial aid policies that limit or eliminate student loans from financial aid packages, reducing costs for students and families. We have analyzed each of these programs and include information here for the programs that meet our guidelines."

7. Preparing for college with a learning disability - Campus Overload, by Meghan Benzel - http://t.co/VUpOrWy via @washingtonpost - "I am a non-visual learner, and I have AD/HD and components of Asperger’s Syndrome. For those of you preparing for college with a learning disability: I understand. I’ve been there."

8. The PREPPIEST Schools Of 2011, by Lindsay Dittman - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/11/the-preppiest-schools-of-_n_894320.html#s305674&title=University_Of_Virginia - Which university in Ohio made this list?

9. Education Needs to Break With Tradition - Room for Debate: How to Improve Summer School - http://nyti.ms/nMFuzw - ". . . Is there a way to make summer school more cost effective or, with tight budgets, does it make sense to cut them? What are the best methods for making sure students are learning what they need to learn in the summer and not losing ground?"

10. How to Save on College Tuition, by Princess Clark-Wendel -http://t.co/dgO4nrq via @foxbusiness - "At a time when many families are strapped for cash, the cost of college tuition is steadily climbing. New research shows that the median income in the United States has held steady around $33,000 since 1998 while college tuition has more than doubled.Here are nine ways to help cover the cost of tuition."

11. Hechinger Report Two years after Obama’s college graduation initiative, major obstacles remain, by Jon Marcus: http://bit.ly/pbgf3C - "Only one in five of those who enroll in community colleges—and, in some states, barely one in 10—graduates in three years, while only about half of students who go to universities get their bachelor’s degrees within six. That has helped to push the United States from first to 10th in the world in the proportion of the population that has graduated from college, threatening to make this generation of college-age Americans the first to be less well-educated than their parents."

166. 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. Quarterback Andrew Luck to Stay at Stanford, by Pete Thamel - http://nyti.ms/flZpE1

"True to his low-key nature, and according to the wishes of his family, Andrew Luck released a one-sentence statement. “I am committed to earning my degree in architectural design from Stanford University and am on track to accomplish this at the completion of the spring quarter of 2012,” he said."

2. Rethinking Advanced Placement, by Christopher Drew - http://nyti.ms/f31z6y

"As A.P. has proliferated, spreading to more than 30 subjects with 1.8 million students taking 3.2 million tests, . . . many of the courses, particularly in the sciences and history, have also been criticized for overwhelming students with facts to memorize and then rushing through important topics."

3. Certificate Programs Proliferate, by Motoko Rich - http://nyti.ms/eFRPfw

"In an economy that increasingly rewards specialization, more and more institutions — from the ones that advertise on late-night cable to the most elite of universities — are offering these programs, typically a package of five or six courses, for credit or not, taken over three to 18 months. Some cost a few thousand dollars, others tens of thousands.

Are they worth the paper they’re printed on?
Not always. "

4. The almighty essay is a tough assignment, by Trip Gabriel - http://nyti.ms/dX7pNw

"What if, like most 17-year-olds, a high school senior sounds wooden or pretentious or thunderously trite when trying to express himself in the first person? Prose in which an author’s voice emerges through layers of perfectly correct sentences is the hardest kind of writing there is. Plenty of professional authors can’t manage it. How reasonable is it to expect of teenagers?"

5. Does Helping Out Help You? by Pamela Paul - http://nyti.ms/hu8ekS

"The admissions teams distinguished among the type and duration of service seen on college applications. Seventy percent of them, it turns out, were more impressed by long-term local grunt work than a summer of volunteer work abroad."

6. College’s Value Added, by Amanda M. Fairbanks - http://nyti.ms/hFx5x3

"Since graduating, 60 percent have full-time jobs, nearly 36 percent have moved back home to live with either their parents or relatives and nearly one-tenth are carrying more than $60,000 worth of debt. Of those who have jobs, more than two-thirds were making less than $35,000 a year and 45 percent were earning $15,000 or less."

7. Students who found new ways to give back, by Katie Zezima, Abby Ellin, and Inyoung Kang - http://nyti.ms/gJhxhr

"He returned home to New Smyrna Beach, Fla., raised $10,000 from family and friends, found Web developers and began INeedaPencil.com, a Web site that offers free SAT prep, including lessons that use conversational language and sports analogies and full practice exams."

8. Colleges for students with learning disabilities, by Abby Goodnough - http://nyti.ms/eRq5PQ

"Ms. Nelson is paying most of her own way at Landmark, a two-year college exclusively for students with learning disabilities and A.D.H.D. She wants to graduate on time this spring, and with tuition and fees alone at $48,000 a year — more than any other college in the nation — she cannot give in to distraction."

9. Is college athletics a sweatshop? by Bob Greene - http://bit.ly/fWCB6C #cnn

"There are various and conflicting reports on exactly how much money college sports brings in. The NCAA, on its website, says: "Overall annual revenue for college athletics programs is estimated at around $10.6 billion."

10. D.C. tops rankings for USA's most literate cities, by Mary Beth Marklein - http://usat.ly/hcrUkX - RT @USATODAY

"The study identifies "worrisome trends" consistent with other national research, including declines in newspaper circulation and book-buying, along with sluggish growth in educational attainment. Increases in Internet usage and stable library patronage aren't offsetting those declines, it says."

11. Seeking Your Questions on Financial Aid, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/hBhOJd

"Now that most students applying to college for next fall’s freshman class have submitted their applications, they will soon turn to the question of paying for that education. Perhaps the most important form they will fill out will be the Free Application For Federal Student Aid, or Fafsa."

12. For-Profit College Grads Also Earn a Life of Debt, by John Hechinger- http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_03/b4211018017031.htm

"The bottom line: Students at for-profit colleges graduate with higher debt loads and loan default rates than those who attend conventional schools."

13. For Law School Graduates, Debts if Not Job Offers, by David Segal - http://nyti.ms/iixD2u

". . . J.D.’s face the grimmest job market in decades. Since 2008, some 15,000 attorney and legal-staff jobs at large firms have vanished, according to a Northwestern Law study. Associates have been laid off, partners nudged out the door and recruitment programs have been scaled back or eliminated."

14. Study Finds Family Connections Give Big Advantage in College Admissions, by Tamar Lewin - http://nyti.ms/fE2S11

". . . Applicants to a parent’s alma mater had, on average, 7 times the odds of admission of nonlegacy applicants. Those whose parents did graduate work there or who had a grandparent, sibling, uncle or aunt who attended the college were, by comparison, only twice as likely to be admitted."

15. Lifetime Chits Would Allow Athletes to Be Students, Too, by Bruce Smith - http://chronicle.com/article/Lifetime-Chits-Would-Allow/125863/

"An NCAA survey from a couple of years ago reported that football players devoted more than 40 hours a week to practicing, playing, and training. Only 20 hours could be mandatory (not including travel time and time rehabilitating from injury), but it's widely known that much more time running, weight training, and practicing informally is necessary to be successful. Playing college sports easily becomes the functional equivalent of a full-time job. But we also ask these young people—both in the revenue-generating sports and in the equally time-consuming "minor" sports—to be full-time college students."

16. Achievement gap slow to close, by Diana Lambert - http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/10/3311645/achievement-gap-slow-to-close.html

"In 2009 there was a gap of 27% points between fourth-grade white students and African American students, and a gap of 22% points between white and Latino students in math. There also was a 28% gap between white and African American fourth-graders in reading."

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