254.Unstack the Odds--GO TO COLLEGE: LINKS

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

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

20. GO TO COLLEGE: LINKS

Here are some other links to articles of interest, drawn from the Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP) blog, with the original posting number shown.

Miscellaneous:

48. 2010 Admission Rates
To see what percentage of all applicants were accepted to a number of public and private universities, click this link to The New York Times:http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010-admissions-tally/

To read the comments of Kevin Carey on admission rates, see his blog-post of April 19, 2010, entitled "Real College-Acceptance Rates Are Higher Than You Think," at this link:http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Real-College-Acceptance-Rates/23231/

To read a summary of the various guides that "rank" colleges, click on the post "Which College Rankings Set Should You Use," by Danielle Wiener-Bronner on The Huffington Post of 9/14/10, at this link:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danielle-wienerbronner/which-college-rankings-se_b_716526.html

56. Wait-List
Sometimes, a college or university won't either accept or reject a student's application for admission--rather, it will put them on its "wait-list." These lists can range in size from hundreds to thousands of students who still await a decision on their application's acceptance or rejection. Many students will opt not to keep a place on the wait-list and, instead, decide to accept another school's offer of admission. Other applicants, however, decide to remain on the wait-list until they hear, one way or the other, if they will be asked to enroll. To read Lynn O'Shaughnessy's blog-post "Getting Off a College Wait List: 5 Things to Do Now," click this link: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/getting-off-a-college-wait-list-things-to-do-now/1846/?tag=col1;blog-river

To read "The Early Line on Admission Yields (and Wait-List Offers)," by Jacques Steinberg in his blog of May 12, 2010, for The New York Times, click this link: http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/yield-3/#more-20099

65. Graduation Rates in Ohio
As the cost of college increases, more attention is being paid to the percentage of students who graduate from particular schools. A report entitled "Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don’t)," dated June 2009, was written by Frederick M. Hess, Mark Schneider, Kevin Carey, and Andrew P. Kelly as A Project of the American Enterprise Institute. Using 6-year percentages reported by the colleges and universities to the U. S. Department of Education for the student cohort enrolling in 2001, the authors compared graduation rates by various levels of schools' selectivity, according to groupings in Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges. The 6-year graduation rates for colleges and universities in Ohio from this report (pp. 59-61) have been copied and pasted below in this link to our MVCAP blog. The entire report can be accessed at this link:http://www.reducemycollegecosts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/graduation-rates-for-all-states-6-091.pdf

66. Transfer Admissions
Many students--approximately 1/3--will transfer from one college to another before graduating. The criteria used for transfer admissions can be different from those employed for high school seniors and can vary from private to public institutions. So, too, can admissions rates differ. A report by the National Association for College Admission Counseling discusses these topics; you can read an article from Inside HigherEd on this report at the following link:http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/04/27/transfer

67. College-Going Rates
The U.S. Department of Labor indicated on April 27, 2010, that the percentage of high-school graduates going on to college is rising. In 1999, 62.9% matriculated to higher education, while 68.6% did so in 2008. By 2009, 70.1% of U.S. graduates (ages 16-24) opted for postsecondary education. Rates varied by gender, with 66% of males matriculating compared to 73.8% of females from the high school Class of 2009.To read Sara Murphy's article, "Grads Head to College In Record Numbers," from The Wall Street Journal of April 28, 2010, click this link:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703832204575210244203411342.html?mod=e2tw

68. Who Graduates in Four Years?
To determine the impact of advising by the Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP), names from its electronic database (in the software Prep HQ) of former advisees in the Class of 2004—the first loaded online—were submitted to the Ohio College Access Network (OCAN) to check matriculation and graduation rates with the National College Clearinghouse data. Results can be seen at this link to our MVCAP blog.

To read the article "College students take longer to graduate," by Cliff Peale in The Cincinnati Enquirer on May 3, 2010, which lists cohort graduation rates of Cincinnati-area colleges and universities, click this link:http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100503/NEWS0102/5030326/College+students+take+longer+to+graduate
70. Space Availability Survey 2010
For those high school seniors or prospective transfer students still looking for a college, the Space Availability Survey Results 2010--issued on May 5, 2010, by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)--may be of interest and assistance; to access it, just click this link: http://www.nacacnet.org/PublicationsResources/Research/SpaceAvailabiltySurvey/Pages/SpaceSurveyResults.aspx
72. To-Do List Before Leaving for College
High school seniors heading off to college in the fall have much to do before they leave; at this link is a list of 10 things to do from the Admission Possible blog:http://blog.admissionpossible.com/uncategorized/seniors-about-to-become-college-students-10-things-you-can-do-to-get-ready-for-college/

74. Remedial Coursework
Many community colleges and public universities give admitted students tests on math and reading before they enroll. If scores are not at the school's standard, remedial courses must be completed before college-level coursework can be taken. To read an article from USA Today about the need for remedial math and reading in U.S. higher education, click this link:http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-05-11-remedial-college_N.htm

75. Is a College Degree Essential?
Many students--and their parents--wonder whether everyone really needs a college degree. Given the time, effort, and money involved, many are unsure if college is right--or necessary--for them. Well, each student's situation is unique: what is their best fit in the world of higher education and careers? For one article on this question, from the Associated Press on May 14, 2010, click this link:http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/may/14/is-college-degree-essential/

For an extended version of the same article, click this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/college-for-all-experts-s_n_575396.html

217.Unstack the Odds--Where to Begin?

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

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

9. Where to Begin?

Certainly, any plan of action would begin with the individual student. Much of the foregoing discussions have dealt with groups and averages; what we know, however, is that each student is unique in his or her family background, academic preparation, information about college admissions and financial aid, social capital, etcetera. Therefore, we must start where that students is and go from there.

In a research paper written for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, Barbara Schneider, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor in the College of Education at Michigan State University, “. . . suggested that students proceed through adolescent development at varying paces, and that a one-size-fits-all approach to early marketing and communication may not yield optimal results for students or colleges. Schneider emphasized individualized college counseling in high schools, as well as a commitment to counseling in the admission office, as important tools for ensuring that admission practices do not ignore differing student interests in or perspectives on the transition to postsecondary education.” (Barbara Schneider, College Choice and Adolescent Development: Psychological and Social Implications of Early Admission, National Association for College Admission Counseling, 2009, NACAC Research Web page, in Staff Report to the NACAC Assembly: Early Notification Study, National Association for College Admission Counseling, September 2010, p. 7.) http://www.nacacnet.org/PublicationsResources/Research/Reports/Documents/EarlyNotificationStudy2010.pdf

Labeled a “key finding” of Schneider’s paper, available on the NACAC Research Web page to members, was the following: “The prospect of paying for college, the complexity of financial aid applications, and varied requirements for admission applications continue to constrain the college decision process. Between the technical nature of information requested and the procedures students are required to follow, the college decision process has become profoundly complicated, with most adolescents depending on parents and counselors to help make post-high school plans for them.” (National Association for College Admission Counseling, 2009, NACAC Research Web page.)

Another reference cited on the NACAC research web page was the Special Adolescent Development Issue of The Journal of College Admission, Number 198, Winter 2008. According to the NACAC site, all five of the featured articles “. . . stress the importance of individualized counseling in the college admission process. The key to understanding the effects of college admission practice on adolescent development, according to many of the authors, is for college admission counseling professionals to understand and appreciate the physical, social, and psychological contexts in which students exist.” (Staff Report to the NACAC Assembly: Early Notification Study, National Association for College Admission Counseling, September 2010, p. 7.) http://www.nacacnet.org/PublicationsResources/Research/Reports/Documents/EarlyNotificationStudy2010.pdf

161. 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. Congress Targets Spending, by Patrick O'Connor and Janet Hook - http://on.wsj.com/eOVkTc - WSJ.com

"Republicans aren't proposing an across-the-board cut on the government, so some departments could see deeper cuts than others. The top targets could be programs whose budgets saw a jump under Democrats, like foreign aid and Pell Grants for middle-income college students."

2. Study less, earn more--at least in the beginning, by Michael Vasquez - http://t.co/Q2ciV5a via @miamiherald

"What the numbers say: Bachelor's degree recipients from the state's 11 public universities earned an average starting salary of $36,552 in 2009. Meanwhile, those who received associate in science degrees from Florida community colleges earned an average of $47,708 -- a difference of $11,000 more per year."

3. Cuomo Names Developers of a Student Loan Center, by Kareem Fahim - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/nyregion/01student.html?_r=1

"Mr. Cuomo said Friday that $13 million in settlements paid by dozens of colleges and lenders in the case would be used to finance a national student loan center, to help young borrowers and their parents navigate the complexities of the college lending process."

4. Winter break is high season for dropouts, by Alan Tripp - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/college-inc/2010/12/winter_break_is_high_season_fo.html

"Their reasons are many. Students are naturally likely to reassess their college choices and careers at the end of their first semester. Also, and not surprisingly, our coaches have found that freshmen at traditional colleges returning home for their first extended break can have heightened feelings of homesickness. Other students have second thoughts after underestimating the rigors of college and how to balance those with everyday life.
Whatever the reason, these students will join the 800,000 each year who begin a bachelor's program yet never graduate. When 40 percent of our college students fail to graduate, there's a crisis -- one that impacts their lives, the lives of those around them and a country quickly falling behind."

5. Delaying College to Fill in the Gaps, by Sue Shellenbarger - http://on.wsj.com/hVPfkp - WSJ.com

"Gap-year activities range from doing volunteer work or taking classes, to working for pay, traveling or tackling outdoor adventures."

6. For-Profit Colleges Charging More While Doing Less for Poorest, by John Lauerman - Bloomberg http://t.co/DNSz190 via @BloombergNow

"The industry, including Washington Post Co.’s Kaplan University, has tripled enrollment to 1.8 million in the past decade by pouring billions of dollars into marketing and recruiting, offering flexible online classes and outfitting more-modern campuses while states slash funding for

for community colleges. As much as 90 percent of revenue at each for-profit college comes from federal student aid.
Today, one in seven minority students attends a for-profit college, as does one in four poor students who receive federal Pell grants for low-income families, according to the U.S. Department of Education and an industry group."

7. College grade inflation feared as GPAs gradually rise, by Diane Smith http://t.co/RzpAudV

"Rojstaczer, who has been tracking GPAs for years, lists his finding on gradeinflation.com--a website with links to GPA data. His findings were also presented in a research paper that was published in March. Rojstaczer said the average GPA nationwide at all schools has gone from 2.93 during the 1991-92 academic year to 3.11 in 2006-07."

8. Universities Are Challenged as Demographics Shift, by Reeve Hamilton and Jon Marcus - http://nyti.ms/hganF7

"Although the changing demographics of college campuses may be grabbing the headlines, the more compelling issue is how the growing number of minority students presents serious social and academic challenges for financially strapped universities, even as the schools are under pressure to boost graduation rates.

Nationally, 52 percent of Hispanic students and 58 percent of black students are unable to earn a bachelor’s degree in six years, compared with 40 percent of white students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics."

9. Study: TRIO Programs May Ease College Racial Gaps, But Parent Support Still Needed, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://t.co/C2JjW5o

"In fact, adolescent interventions brought the college-going rates of low-income Hispanic and black students up to the level of middle-income white students. "Upward Bound and Talent Search are examples of adolescent intervention programs that can benefit African-American and Hispanic students immensely when properly implemented," Ms. Walsh concludes.
The downside? The programs still do not make up for family support and resources in the college-planning process, a critical intent of the programs."

10. 10 ways to pay tuition in 2011, by Christina Couch - http://www.bankrate.com/finance/college-finance/10-ways-to-pay-college-tuition-in-2011-1.aspx

"With 529 plans fluctuating, financial-aid budgets getting slashed and tuition rising at an alarming rate, the landscape of college financing is changing fast. Fortunately, you still have options. Here are the best college finance tips for 2011."

11. High School Counselors Lack Training in College Admissions, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/2T3hZA5

"High school counselors, particularly those in poorer urban and rural districts, often don't have the training needed to help students navigate the college admission system. And this can hinder access to higher education for first-generation, minority students, says Patrick O'Connor, past president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling in an recent op-ed essay that appeared in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.
While 466 colleges offer training for school counselors, fewer than 45 of these programs offer a course showing future counselors how to help students and families select, apply, and pay for college, writes O'Connor."

12. Applying Early Decision: 6 Things to Do When You're Deferred, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/VfRBYzp

"A dear friend of mine’s son recently learned that the University of Chicago had deferred his application and he was devastated. Here, however, are six things that you can do to boost your chances of still getting into your dream school:"

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