354. 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. Colleges start offering 'midnight classes' for offbeat needs, by Greg Toppo – http://usat.ly/tJVA6H via @USATODAY - "About two-thirds of community college students work full or part time, and colleges are finding that many of their students work late. Others simply do their best work at night, says Community College of Baltimore County (Md.) psychology instructor Joy Goodie."

2. Plan hopes to make student loans more forgiving, by Sandra Block – http://usat.ly/t0bw4p via @USATODAY - "The Obama plan doesn't provide any relief for borrowers who have private student loans, which are issued by private lenders and aren't backed by the federal government, Ryan says. Unlike federal student loans, private loans have variable interest rates that may shoot higher after the borrower graduates. They also lack many of the protections that come with federal loans. Borrowers who are having trouble repaying these loans have few options, other than seeking relief from the lender."

3. Trustees OK pact at YSU, by Virginia Shank - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://bit.ly/vUhave via AddThis - "Both unions, which represent the university's two largest groups of employees, had been working without contracts since their previous pacts expired in August. YSU-OEA had announced plans to strike in August but called it off in time for classes to start on time Aug. 27."

4. Robert J. Zimmer on the Value of a Liberal Arts Diploma, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/u3PzmX - “There are arguments about the value of liberal arts education. Tuition costs are a major concern. There are financial and political pressures on institutions to show immediate value,” Mr. Zimmer conceded. But, ultimately, he said, such concerns should not obscure the mission of liberal arts institutions: “to help students lead fuller lives and be better citizens.”

5. That Merit-Based Aid Offer Is Final, Universities Insist, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/uP6tYf - "At Purdue University, merit-based financial aid offers are final and nonnegotiable. “We put that on our Web site — in red,” said Pamela Horne, dean of admissions and associate vice provost for enrollment management at Purdue. . . . Ultimately, the panelists agreed that the purpose of merit aid was to help the institution “shape the class,” in Ms. Horne’s words. “People think merit aid is all about rewarding the student,” she said. “Let’s face it – it’s not.” Mr. Nondorf agreed. “Getting in is the reward for all that hard work,” he said."

6. The Student Loan Proposal: What It Might Mean for You, by Mark Kantrowitz: http://nyti.ms/sHTQaM - "To help students avoid borrowing too much, the Obama administration is introducing a standardized financial aid offer form as part of a new “Know Before You Owe” campaign. This form helps students understand how much a college will cost, including how much debt they will have accumulated by the time they’ve graduated."

7. College Prices Continue to Surge Higher, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/college-prices-continue-to-surge-higher/7039/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Among states, California wins the dubious prize of boosting tuition by the greatest percentage. California residents watched helplessly as their tuition and fees jumped 21%. The states with the next highest rate hikes were Arizona (17%) and Washington (16%). States with low tuition increases included Connecticut and South Carolina that raised prices by 2.5%. Clearly, a major factor in mushrooming tuition at public universities is declining support from state governments."

8. College Costs Shifting to Families - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/26/464787uscollegecostsnlysis_ap.html - "It was a transformation that was, by historical standards, remarkably swift: The decade of the 2000s saw a fundamental shift in how Americans answer the question "Who will pay for college?" More than ever, students and their families must foot the bill at public universities. And that bill is higher than ever.Realizing higher education would be essential to succeed in the emerging economy, Americans aspired and flocked to higher education as never before over the last 10 years. But over that same span, the 50 states did less—much less, factoring in the increased demand—and asked students and parents to do more."

9. Clearing Up Some Confusion About the New Federal Student Loan Rules,by Ron Lieber - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/your-money/student-loans/explaining-new-federal-student-loan-rules.html?_r=1&hpw - "Many questions had to do with whether private loans, the kind that come from banks and often have higher and variable interest rates, are part of these changes. Nothing is changing with those loans. This is crucial, since many of the people in the worst sort of trouble — the ones you’ve read about with six-figure balances — often have both private loans and federal loans. Instead, only those with different kinds of federal loans — an estimated 5.8 million borrowers — will be able to consolidate them into one loan under the new plan and also save themselves a bit of money."

10. Editorial: The Wrong Fix for No Child Left Behind - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/opinion/the-wrong-fix-for-no-child-left-behind.html?src=rechp - "The revised No Child Left Behind Act that passed out of the Senate education committee last week goes too far in relaxing state accountability and federal oversight of student achievement. The business community, civil rights groups and advocates of disabled children are rightly worried that the rewrite of the law would particularly hurt underprivileged children."

11. How Much Student-Loan Debt Is Too Much? by Jeff Selingo -http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2011/10/26/how-much-student-loan-debt-is-too-much/ - "More than half of the students at public and private four-year colleges are now graduating with debt, according to the College Board. The average per borrower at public colleges is $22,000; at private colleges it’s $28,100. It has been reported that the financial payoff of a bachelor’s degree is $550,000 over a person’s lifetime, so the average level of debt still seems like a good investment."

12. Why College Tuition Should Be Regulated, by Steven Goodman - http://ti.me/uEmjTD via @TIMEIdeas - "Since loans now comprise 70% of financial aid packages, the growing tuition burden falls squarely on student-borrowers who may have saved for college but who still can’t meet the high cost of attendance. Two-thirds of American undergraduates are in debt. This year, student loan debt will grow to more than a trillion dollars, outpacing credit card debt for the first time."

348. 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. Student loan debt hits record levels, by Dennis Cauchon – http://usat.ly/neJ8xx via USATODAY - "The amount of student loans taken out last year crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time and total loans outstanding will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year. Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards, reports the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Students are borrowing twice what they did a decade ago after adjusting for inflation, the College Board reports. Total outstanding debt has doubled in the past five years — a sharp contrast to consumers reducing what's owed on home loans and credit cards."

2. For-profit colleges focus of student loan issue, by Dennis Cauchon – http://usat.ly/nz5mEp via @USATODAY - "The federal government has promoted and subsidized loans as a way to help young people and workers get the education needed to succeed in a troubled economy. The government made or guaranteed more than 80% of the $1 trillion in loans outstanding and backed more than 90% of new loans this year. For-profit schools such as the University of Phoenix, DeVry University and hundreds of smaller institutions have been particularly successful in winning students and their federal aid by offering courses that focus on specific careers, often taught online and aimed at older, non-traditional students."

3. How to avoid defaulting on your student loans, by Sandra Block – http://usat.ly/oBR9h8 via @USATODAY - "While defaulting on any loan will trigger a lot of unpleasant consequences, defaulting on your federal student loan debt could be disastrous. Your wages may be garnished and your tax refunds withheld. Your credit score will be ruined, which will make it more difficult to borrow for a house or a car."

4. The Rapid Rise of Merit Aid, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/nV3X6m via @AddThis - "Many institutions – particularly those that are moderately selective – have embraced merit-based financial aid out of the belief that offering partial scholarships will help them attract paying students away from higher-profile peers. Numerous states, especially in the South, have put in place hefty aid programs based on academic merit to try to keep academically qualified students within the state’s borders for college. But many student aid experts roundly pan the approach for abandoning the historical goal of using financial assistance to draw into higher education those who would have been unlikely to attend otherwise."

5. It's Not Me. It's You. by Kevin Kiley - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/pBbRh1 via AddThis - "Since the economic recession began in 2008, state revenues have not kept pace with state funding obligations, resulting in budget shortfalls in most states and cuts to most state services. When states cut appropriations to higher education institutions in the past, colleges and universities made up the difference through tuition hikes and belt-tightening. Both lawmakers and university leaders kept quiet, knowing that appropriations would return and that large tuition increases would likely be followed by smaller hikes."

6. Tuition assistance slashed by 75 percent for Marines, by Travis J. Tritten - Marine Corps - Stripes: http://1.usa.gov/n9E4nC via @AddThis - "The Marine Corps announced Tuesday it has slashed tuition assistance by 75 percent for servicemembers who take classes on their off-duty time. The change went into effect immediately and reduces the maximum education assistance available from the Department of Defense standard of $3,500 per year to just $875 per year for Marines — about enough to cover two university courses, according to a service-wide bulletin.The Marine Corps said the new rate is equal to the average class load taken on by Marines who use the tuition assistance program and is a more focused use of the service’s tuition funds."

7. 8 Ways to Search for Great Colleges, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/8-ways-to-search-for-great-colleges/6949/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "1. Decide whether you want to attend a college or a university. Choosing between the two main types of schools will significantly narrow your search. Here are posts that can help you understand the difference between these institutions:"

8. Questions Raised About 'High-Flyers' Study, by Nirvi Shah - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2011/10/are_high-achieving_students_be.html via @educationweek - "In this massive study of tens of thousands students, children who performed in the bottom third in reading or math in grade 3 had less than a 1 percent chance of being high achievers by grade 8. Even average students in grade 3, (between 40 and 60 percentile) had less than a 5 percent chance of becoming high achievers later," they wrote recently on their blog. A high achiever in grade 3 math was 17 times more likely to be a high achiever in grade 8 than your average grade 3 student, and 142 times more likely than someone who was performing in the bottom third of students in grade 3. The results were broadly similar for reading."

9. States, Districts Move to Require Virtual Classes, by Michelle R. Davis - http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/10/19/01required.h05.html via @educationweek - "The goal is to make sure students get an online-learning experience in a low-risk, supportive environment, Airhart says. “The reality is, when a student leaves us, whether they’re going to a four-year college, a technical college, or going into the world of work, they’re going to have to do an online course,” she says. “This helps prepare the students.” More districts and a handful of states are starting to agree with this notion. They’re requiring students to get some form of online learning on their résumés before leaving high school."

10. Parents Urged Again to Limit TV for Youngest, by Benedict Carey - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/health/19babies.html?hpw - "Parents of infants and toddlers should limit the time their children spend in front of televisions, computers, self-described educational games and even grown-up shows playing in the background, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned on Tuesday. Video screen time provides no educational benefits for children under age 2 and leaves less room for activities that do, like interacting with other people and playing, the group said."

11. Out With Textbooks, in With Laptops for an Indiana School District, by Alan Schwarz - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/education/19textbooks.html?hpw - "Unlike the tentative, incremental steps of digital initiatives at many schools nationwide, Munster made an all-in leap in a few frenetic months — removing all math and science textbooks for its 2,600 students in grades 5 to 12, and providing a window into the hurdles and hiccups of such an overhaul. . . . Munster is hardly the first district to go digital. Schools in Mooresville, N.C., for example, started moving away from printed textbooks four years ago, and now 90 percent of their curriculum is online."

12. Will new NCLB law be less test-obsessed? by Monty Neill - The Answer Sheet - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/will-new-nclb-law-be-less-test-obsessed/2011/10/18/gIQAmIx5vL_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive - "Statewide tests will continue in grades 3-8 and once in high school in reading and math, and science once each in grades 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12. The bill would pave the way for multi-state consortium tests. Based on the consortium’s applications, the “new” exams will remain mostly multiple-choice and short answer, meaning they will trivialize teaching and learning just as current NCLB tests do."

13. Ravitch: Why ‘miracle schools’ aren’t really miracles - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ravitch-why-miracle-schools-arent-really-miracles/2011/10/18/gIQAM62RuL_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive - "The lesson in all this debunking is not that poor kids can't learn. Of course, they can. Let me say that again, slowly: Yes, poor kids can learn and excel. But whether or not children are poor, education is a slow, incremental process. While it is true that a student may have a remarkable change in attitude and motivation and demonstrate large test-score gains in a short period of time, it is rare indeed when an entire school or district experiences a dramatic increase in test scores. Any huge change in scores for a school or a district in a short period of time ought to provoke skepticism and a demand for evidence, not a willing suspension of disbelief."

14. Miracleschools site, by Gary Rubinstein and Noel Hammatt - http://miracleschools.wikispaces.com/ - "Informally, a 'miracle' school is one that is significantly outperforming the nearby schools in its neighborhood despite working with the same student populations and the same limited resources. More formally, we think that a true miracle school would have the following eight characteristics:"

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

297. 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 on college access and success via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. NCAA cost-of-attendance puzzle: many schools, many methods, by Calder Silcox, Steve Berkowitz, and Jodi Upton - http://t.co/6IG4nQ3 via @USATODAY - "Instead, each school's financial-aid office makes an estimate — and each school uses its own formula. An estimate for in-state and out-of-state students is reported to the NCAA each year."

3. New school set to open, by Virginia Shank - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://bit.ly/ofUjGz - "In 1997 the state legislature passed a law allowing community, or charter schools, to operate in Ohio. According to the Ohio Department of Education, there now are some 300 such schools in Ohio, including several in the Mahoning Valley. The privately operated schools receive public dollars, and typically cater to at-risk pupils. Like other community schools, STEAM is to be funded with public money; therefore, there is no cost to the family for a student to attend."

4. Debt, Dropouts and Degrees, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/n6DiJq - "The report, “Debt to Degree: A New Way of Measuring College Success,” was released Wednesday by Education Sector. Its authors say they aim to give a more complete picture of higher education -- rather than judging by graduation rates alone or by default rates alone -- by dividing the total amount of money undergraduates borrow at a college by the number of degrees it awards."

5. Debt to Degree: A New Way of Measuring College Success, by Kevin Carey and Erin Dillon - http://www.educationsector.org/sites/default/files/publications/Debt%20to%20Degree%20CYCT_RELEASE.pdf - "The American higher education system is plagued by two chronicproblems: dropouts and debt. Barely half of the students who start college geta degree within six years, and graduation rates at less-selective colleges oftenhover at 25 percent or less. At the same time, student loan debt is at an all-timehigh, recently passing credit card debt in total volume. Loan default rates haverisen sharply in recent years, consigning a growing number of students to yearsof financial misery. In combination, drop-outs and debt are a major threat to thenation’s ability to help students become productive, well-educated citizens."

6. Texas orders ATI to stop enrolling new students - http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9OORN3G2.htm - "The Texas Workforce Commission has ordered ATI Enterprises Inc. to halt new enrollment at its 16 careers schools and complete training programs for current students. . . . The commission in April announced the company had been put on probation and required an outside auditor to review 2010 placement results."

7. University Reveals the Secrets of Winning Merit Scholarships, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/6qmUu8v via @cbsmoneywatch - "That’s why I was excited when the University of Rochester decided to share its fascinating accounting of just what mattered when the school was deciding which applicants would get its latest round of merit awards. After the university’s freshmen class had been selected, Jonathan Burdick, Rochester’s dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid, sat down this summer and analyzed the merit scholarship numbers to determine what admission factors had influenced the scholarship decisions."

8. Bloomberg to Use Own Funds in Plan to Aid Minority Youth, by Michael Barbaro and Fernanda Santos - http://nyti.ms/qOwY7K - "Even as crime has fallen and graduation rates have risen in New York over the past decade, city officials said that black and Latino men, especially those between ages 16 and 24, remained in crisis by nearly every measure, including rates of arrest, school suspension and poverty. Although the populations of young white, black and Latino men in New York are roughly the same size, 84 percent of those in the city’s detention facilities and nearly all of those admitted to children’s and family services facilities are black and Latino youth, according to data from the Bloomberg administration. “The magnitude of the disparities is stunning,” said Linda I. Gibbs, the deputy mayor for health and human services. “It’s tragic.”

9. Teach for America 2011 acceptance rate: 11 percent, by Jenna Johnson - Campus Overload - http://t.co/TQlr2g6 via @washingtonpost - "Since 2008, Teach for America has compiled a “top contributors list” to rank schools of similar size by the number of students who are accepted into the program. This year, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor had the highest number of students selected, with 119. For medium-sized schools, Harvard led the pack with 66 placements. And for small schools with fewer than 2,999 undergraduates, Spelman College had 36 placements."

10. America's Top Colleges: Forbes List - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/03/forbes-top-colleges-for_n_917203.html#s320311&title=Williams_College - "For the second year in a row, Williams College, a small, western-Massachusetts liberal arts school, has been named as the best undergraduate institution in America. With total annual costs adding up to nearly $55,000, a Williams education is certainly not cheap, but the 2,000 undergraduates here have among the highest four-year graduation rates in the country, win loads of prestigious national awards like Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, and are often rewarded with high-paying careers."

11. HBCU Voices: Students On Why HBCUs Remain Relevant - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/03/hbcu-voices-students-on-w_n_917066.html#s320667&title=Danyelle_Gary_Hampton - "Here at HuffPost College, we asked current HBCU students to share what their schools meant to them. The response to this question was overwhelming. Many students said they were accepted to "predominantly white institutions," but chose instead HBCUs to connect to their past and present. Others said they sought the communities they found at HBCUs, or wanted to continue a family tradition of HBCU education."

283. 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. How the Recession Re-Sorted Freshmen, by Allie Grasgreen - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/r7dzVj - "A new study largely confirms what anecdotal reports had anticipated about national college enrollment patterns during the economic downturn: that enrollments of high school students swelled, that larger numbers of students chose community colleges, but that private colleges did not suffer the losses that many had predicted."

2. Easy A, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/nU5PaK - "Two critics of grade inflation have published a new analysis finding that the most common grade at four-year colleges and universities is the A (43 percent of all grades) -- and that Ds and Fs are few and far between."

3. How Freshman Picked Their Colleges, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/5rhgwOQ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Nearly one third of freshmen say they aren’t heading to their No. 1 choice of colleges in the fall because they couldn’t afford these schools. More than half of the teenagers (56%) received financial aid, but 82% said they didn’t receive as much as they had hoped.To keep costs down, 22% of teenagers ultimately selected schools nearby so they could commute from home."

4. Recession Reshaped College Enrollment Patterns, but the Sky Didn't Fall, by Eric Hoover - http://chronicle.com/article/Recession-Reshaped-College/128223/ - "A major story line of the past five years has been the increase in traditional-age students who enrolled in community colleges. In 2006, 41.7 percent of traditional-age students enrolled at two-year colleges; in 2009, 44.5 percent did so. Between 2008 and 2009, enrollments of traditional-age, first-time students at two-year colleges increased by 8.3 percent.The report suggests that this trend was driven by two groups of students: those who, in a better economy, might have chosen to attend other (and costlier) types of institutions, and those who otherwise would have joined the work force after graduating from high school."

5. Admission dean pulls back curtain on merit aid, by Daniel de Vise - College, Inc. - http://t.co/ksAzir3 via @washingtonpost - "So, I was surprised to see the admission dean at University of Rochester pen an unusually candid list of 12 “steps that mattered” in merit awards at his school this year, and the approximate dollar value of each factor in shaping the merit award. Jonathan Burdick, dean of admission and financial aid at Rochester, analyzed merit award data at his school to discern “some rules of thumb about how the mythical ‘average’ student succeeded in earning a scholarship this year,” he writes in the June 11 post, titled “What kind of scholarship can I get?”Here are some of the dozen variables:"

6. “What kind of scholarship can I get?” by Jonathan Burdick, U. of Rochester Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid - http://enrollment.rochester.edu/eblog/?p=2356 - "12 steps that mattered for earning merit scholarships in the UR Class of 2015."

280. 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. Mixed News on State Student Aid, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/opfhDm - "State spending on financial assistance to students increased by 3.8 percent in 2009-10, even as many governments struggled with recession-driven cuts in many programs. But nearly half of all states cut back on their all-important spending on need-based financial aid, even as enrollments boomed and as many students and families struggled to keep pace with tuitions that public colleges (or their legislatures) raised sharply."

3. Despite Fiscal Woes, Spending Rose on Student Aid in Many States in 2010, by Eric Kelderman - http://chronicle.com/article/Despite-Fiscal-Woes-Many/128173/ - "Ohio cut need-based grants the most last year, with a 66-percent decrease, while Alaska and Michigan cut them by more than half. Both Hawaii and Utah slashed need-based grants by nearly a third."

4. Jobless College Graduates Struggle Under Ongoing Recession, by Amanda M. Fairbanks and Andrew Lenoir - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/08/college-graduates-jobs-unemployment_n_893495.html - "Seventy-five job applications. Forty cover letters. Twelve interviews. Zero job offers.Since graduating from Wellesley College four years ago, Kayla Calkin, 25, has yet to get a break.In May, Calkin completed a master's degree in public policy from George Washington University. Like so many her age, she believed a graduate degree might guarantee a more stable future.Calkin now works as a full-time nanny in Washington, D.C., while continuing to scour for an eventual dream job in politics. Her two degrees make her overqualified for even the most basic, entry-level position."

5. Grants and student loans are the trend when paying for college tuitions, by Maegan Clearwood - herald-mail.com http://t.co/bVwt9tS - "According to a College Board report, the average in-state public tuition and fees increase was 7.9 percent in 2010-11. With other expenses, such as room and board, total annual charges average at $16,140."Frankly, students are not prepared at all," said Britney Carter, student financial aid counselor at Hagerstown Community College."

248.Unstack the Odds--GO TO COLLEGE:STEP 11

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

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

18. GO TO COLLEGE: STEP 11

11) Both student and parent undertake the online PIN application process, complete and submit, by priority deadlines for financial aid, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on the web (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/).

73. To be considered for financial aid, including federal and state grants, you must file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

74. To start your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), student and parent apply for a PIN at http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp

75. To see a Draft FAFSA for 2010-2011, click that link under FAFSA in the left margin of our MVCAP blog at http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

76. To see which documents students and parents will need to file the FAFSA, they can check out this link: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before003.htm

77. If your goal is to file a FAFSA by February 1 for priority consideration for financial aid, prepare your IRS Form 1040, 1040 EZ, or 1040 A now!

78. To view "The Five Minute FAFSA Video" for an introduction to completing that form, check out a link: http://www.finaid.org/fafsa/video.phtml

79. To search for a Federal School Code before filing your FAFSA online, check out this link: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/FOTWWebApp/FSLookupServlet

80. Start completing a 2011-2012 FAFSA on the Web Worksheet from your guidance office--or download one at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before012.htm

81. To learn more about financial aid, click this link to our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/1-confused-about-college-financial-aid.html

82. To begin understanding the concept of "financial need," click this link to our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/2-financial-need.html

83. To get an overview of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/3-fafsa.html

84. To learn about the Student Aid Report (SAR) you'll receive after filing the FAFSA, click here: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/4-sar.html

85. To learn about the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) you'll get from filing a FAFSA, click: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/5-efc.html

86. To learn about a Financial-Aid Package a college will award you, click here: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/6-financial-aid-package.html

87. To learn about Gift-Aid a college may put in your financial-aid package, click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/7-gift-aid.html

88. To learn about Self-Help colleges may put in your financial-aid package, click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/8-self-help.html

89. See how students with an EFC of $0 can go to college locally: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/21-efc-of-0-go-to-college-in-valley-for.html

90. To see an outline of common criteria for merit aid, click this link to our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/14-merit-aid.html

91. To read an explanation of need-based aid, click this link to our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/15-need-based-aid.html

92. To calculate how much a college may cost you, check out this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/16-how-much-will-college-cost-me.html

93. To read an update from Money on college costs, click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/22-college-more-expensive-than-ever.html

94. To see a survey on how U.S. families pay for college, click: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/23-survey-finds-that-many-families-dont.html

95. To learn about saving for college with a 529 plan, click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/24-529-savings-plan-for-college.html

96. To compare the tuition of 168 colleges in Ohio, click:
http://www.collegeview.com/SearchSchools.do?state=48&location=1500&referLocation=4860

97. To see tax credits for college in the stimulus bill, click: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/25-stimulus-bill-offers-tax-credit-for.html

98. Watch an ABC 20/20 video and decide "Is College Worth It?" here: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/26-john-stossel-is-college-worth-it.html

99. To read about students choosing colleges in this recession, click: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/28-college-applicants-forego-dream.html

100. See factors--including finances--that stress college dropouts: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/31-college-dropouts-cite-low-money-and.html

101. Read an article on the average loan-debt of college seniors: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/32-average-debt-for-graduating-college.html

102. To access the information on financial aid of FinAid! just click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/38-financial-aid-websites.html

103. To find information on financial aid from the College Board, click here: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/38-financial-aid-websites.html

104. To find information on financial aid from Peterson's, access this site: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/38-financial-aid-websites.html

105. To see information on financial aid from the U.S. Dept. of Ed., click here: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/38-financial-aid-websites.html

106. For student accounts of loan-debt from college, hit this from HuffPost College: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/39-student-loan-debt.html

107. Lindsay Carroll, 21, Pitt, has $15,000 loan-debt; see why at HuffPost College: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/39-student-loan-debt.html

108. To seek scholarship opportunities that may fit you, investigate fastweb at http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/40-search-for-scholarships.html

147. 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. Study: Graduation rates between blacks, whites widening - http://usat.ly/g32Jxk RT @USATODAY

"The graduation success rate for black players went from 58% to 60% this year among the 70 bowl teams. But for white players, the graduation rates increased from 77% last year to 80% this year."

2. Colleges take another look at merit-based aid, by Mary Beth Marklein - http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-03-14-merit-aid_N.htm?csp=hf

‎"For small regional colleges that struggle just to fill seats, merit aid can be an important revenue-builder because many recipients still pay enough tuition dollars over and above the scholarship amount to keep the institution running. But for rankings-conscious schools in between, merit aid has served primarily as a tool to recruit top students and to improve their academic profiles. "They're trying to buy students," says Skidmore College economist Sandy Baum."

3. Somehow, the Age on My Driver's License Says It's Time for College, by Jessica Ray - http://nyti.ms/f10e22

‎"For me, the most difficult part of this process is the brutal variation in its tempo. One moment, I’m frenetically writing, rereading, editing, and coercing my friends into checking my applications, and the next, I find myself contemplating a five-month gap with no action and, worse, no news whatsoever."

4. Thinking of College as a Tattoo, a Decision Not Easily Erased, by Sophia Gimenez - http://nyti.ms/eVyxNx

"Choosing a college is like choosing a tattoo. As with body art, you want an institution that is authentically you and, at the same time, one that allows you to flaunt all of your best attributes to the world. When searching for a tattoo (or a college) you must, if necessary, exhaust yourself looking for the perfect fit because a flop now is a flop forever — with regret etched everlastingly onto your skin."

5. Cherry Creek High: Six Seniors Blog Their College Quest, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/ijqPkG

‎"There, I have asked six seniors at Cherry Creek High, an idyllic-sounding public school in the small suburb of Greenwood Village, to write an occasional series of first-person essays for this blog about their college application process."

6. The Certificate Solution, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/feMdkS

"The report, issued by Complete College America and prepared by FutureWorks, argues that it may be more viable for many Americans with limited time to earn a certificate than to earn a college degree. And the report notes that while those who take some courses toward a degree but do not finish are unlikely to gain much economically from their efforts, there is substantial evidence that certificates do advance people economically."

7. The Completion Shortfall Complete College America - http://t.co/ybOFn0S

‎"To name only a few of the many reasons: inadequate academic preparation, poorly designed and delivered remediation, broken credit transfer policies, confusing financial aid programs, a culture that rewards enrollment instead of completion, and a system too often out of touch with the needs of the today’s college student."

8. Graduation Rates Between Blacks, Whites Widening, by Antonio Gonzalez - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/06/grad-rates-between-blacks_n_792687.html

"The growing gap is and has been my biggest concern with graduations rates for some time," he said. "It's like in the economy if income for Latinos and African-American grows at 2 percent but increases 3 percent for whites. Yes, it's getting better. But it's still not great for everybody."

9. Unemployment Up Among College Graduates - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/06/unemployment-up-among-col_n_792399.html

"The jobless rate for Americans with at least a bachelor's degree rose to 5.1%, the highest since 1970 when records were first kept, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. October's 4.7% rate was up from 4.4% in September. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate last month rose to 9.8% from 9.6%."

10. Getting Ready for the FAFSA, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/z7n9MUO

"You can’t begin filling out the FAFSA application until Jan. 1, but there are some things you can do now to get a head start on the financial aid process."

11. Study: Most Students Fail to Meet Common-Standards Bar, by Catherine Gewertz - http://t.co/hugFRFg via @educationweek

"The resulting profile is one of a student body largely unprepared for the common standards. The problem was worse in mathematics than in English/language arts, and worse for racial and ethnic minority students than for their white peers."

12. More college students taking degree programs online, by Kara Spak - Chicago Sun-Times: http://bit.ly/dOtcjB

‎"Nearly 30 percent of all higher education students take at least one class online. More than 60 percent of chief academic officers said that online education was critical to their long-term strategy, according to a Sloan Consortium report, "Class Differences, Online Education in the United States, 2010." In autumn 2002, 1.6 million students were taking an online class. That number jumped to nearly 4 million in fall 2007, the group reported.
And in the past two years, the dismal economy pushed even more students into online classes. Universities responded to meet the demand.
More than 5.6 million students were taking at least one online class in 2009, an increase of nearly 1 million students from 2008, the report said."

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14. Merit Aid

Decided by each college or university, based on its own applicant pool

Usually called a “scholarship”—though, often, a discount on the price to be paid

Common Criteria for Merit Aid

1. Grade-Point Average (GPA)—“The higher, the better!”

The rigor of courses on a student’s high school transcript is determined by:

The more Advanced Placement (AP) courses taken, the more rigorous the curriculum is regarded.

The more higher-level courses in math and lab science taken, the more rigorous the curriculum is regarded.

2. Class Rank— “The higher, the better!”

The larger a senior class, the more impressive a high class rank is.

The higher-achieving a school is, the more impressive a high class rank is.

3. ACT Composite Score— “The higher, the better!”

ACT scores range from 0 to 36; the national average is approximately 21.

A student’s score is compared to the state and national averages.

A score in the 30s put a student’s score in the highest 5% of test-takers.

4. Distinctions

Academic

Arts

Leadership in extracurriculars

5. Under-representation

6. Division I recruited athlete—particularly, in a major revenue-producing sport

1% of all U.S. athletes will receive a Division I “full ride” grant-in-aid.