321. College Access and Success News

Here are links to recent news about college access and success.

by

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Adapting to the iPad, called education's 'equalizer' by Alesha Williams Boyd: http://usat.ly/nipmmy via @USATODAY - "I think the key word for this is engagement," Barry says. "The engagement was just a lot higher. I think it's adaptive to meet the needs of individual students. I think it's an equalizer. I do think it's a game changer."

2. Part 1: Answers to Your Back-to-School Admissions Questions, By Robin Mamlet and Christine Vandevelde: http://nyti.ms/oPWt1d - "The best approach for students is to take an appropriately challenging academic course load and do the very best they can. And does it matter how students spend their time outside of class? It does."

3. More Baltimore graduates attend two-year colleges, where they are less likely to earn degree, by Erica L. Green - http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bs-md-ci-college-completion-report-20110907,0,7483796.story - "The consortium also found that only 5.8 percent of those who started at a two-year college earned a degree in six years compared with 34 percent of those at four-year-colleges."

4. Diversity and the Rankings, by Catharine Hill - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/ovwow5 via @AddThis - "It is an unfortunate characteristic of our society that achievement in high school correlates with family income. The possible explanations range from prenatal care to quality of high schools to SAT prep. Whatever the causes, the data are clear. . . . For example, our data indicate that for students with SATs (and ACT equivalents) of 1420 or above, 12.8 percent come from the bottom 40 percent of the income distribution."

5. 5 Things High School Juniors Should Be Doing Now, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/5-things-high-school-juniors-should-be-doing-now/6562/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Today, however, I want to share some advice with high school juniors, who also need to be preparing for college:"

6. Census: Education Has Greater Effect on Earnings than Race, Gender, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/09/census_education_has_greater_e.html via @educationweek - "A worker's level of education has a greater effect on his or her earnings over the course of a 40-year career than any other demographic factor, including gender or race, according to a new study released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau."

7. On Campus, It’s One Big Commercial, by Natasha Singer - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/business/at-colleges-the-marketers-are-everywhere.html?_r=1&hpw - "This fall, an estimated 10,000 American college students will be working on hundreds of campuses — for cash, swag, job experience or all three — marketing everything from Red Bull to Hewlett-Packard PCs."

8. Smartphone Game Turns College Tours, Orientations Into Scavenger Hunts, by Josh Keller - http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/mobile-game-turns-college-tours-and-orientations-into-scavenger-hunts/33114 - “People might think that they’re doing it to play this game, but in reality they’re getting better information, they’re participating in the process,” he says."

9. Civil rights icon Robert Moses promotes middle school algebra, by Bill Turque - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/civil-rights-icon-robert-moses-promotes-middle-school-algebra/2011/09/08/gIQAxbndFK_blog.html via Washingtonpost.com - "Moses is founder of The Algebra Project, a non-profit that works with schools to make algebra more available to middle schoolers as a way of fostering careers in math, science and engineering."

10. The ups and downs of U.S. News rankings, by Daniel de Vise - College, Inc. - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/the-ups-and-downs-of-us-news-rankings/2011/09/09/gIQAUN0nFK_blog.html via Washingtonpost.com - "But track the rankings over five or 10 or 20 years, and a pattern emerges of distinct winners and losers."

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178. 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. Recent grads finding jobs - in their living rooms, by Jessica Dickler -http://t.co/dMEGo9a via @CNNMoney

"She's one of a growing number of young professionals choosing to work from home as telecommuting opportunities have jumped nearly 400% in the past three years, according to job-search site FlexJobs.com."

2. Oversigning offenders won't be curbed by NCAA's toothless rule, by Andy Staples - http://bit.ly/g6iYgS /via @SI_24Seven

"When Football Bowl Subdivision schools across the nation begin signing football players on Feb. 2, they'll have to adhere for the first time to an NCAA bylaw that limits them to 28 signees between Signing Day and May 31. Unchanged is the rule that declares schools can bring in only 25 new scholarship players each academic year."

3. On education reform, safe is for losers, by Richard Whitmire - http://usat.ly/eD79K7 - RT @USATODAY

"On this round of the trusted National Assessment of Educational Progress, only one in five high school seniors scored proficient in science. Worse, only a handful scored at the advanced level — not an encouraging sign as the nation faces international economic competition based more on brains than brawn."

4. A January Deadline Met, but the Applications Continue, by Uyanga Tamir - http://nyti.ms/gwqYWP

"So here I am, a second semester senior still filling out applications and writing good old essays. Since the bigger wave of applications has passed, I also have started my scholarship search. Most of the scholarships that are available have deadlines in the second semester, which is convenient for all students. To those other students who believe that second semester of senior year is going to be a breeze, it really will not be if you are serious about your future. Life does not get easier, only more challenging – something that I anticipate with enthusiasm and readiness."

5. Shielding Education and Research, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fhRsZM

‎"The president's speech was relatively short on details about programs he would seek to shield from the overall five-year freeze on domestic spending he proposes; it made no mention of Pell Grants or other financial aid (which many college leaders fear could face cutbacks if Republicans stick to their goal of slashing domestic spending) . . . ."

6. The Same Boxes to Check, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fitseI

"The Common Application has rejected a proposal that it add optional questions on sexual orientation and gender identity. The board of the organization issued a statement suggesting that colleges have other ways to indicate support for applicants who are gay or who don't identify with traditional gender categories, and that adding the questions could pose problems."

7. Deal Stopped in Its Tracks, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fDrCtZ

"Though Cuyahoga would keep all tuition from in-county students in this program, it would have to give 70 percent of tuition from out-of-county students to Academic Partnerships. Ross noted that the college would pilot two course offerings of 30 students to see if the model made financial sense, then expand it if deemed appropriate."

8. Enrollment Management, Inc.: External Influences on Our Practice -http://www.usc.edu/programs/cerpp/docs/EnrollmentManagementInc.ReportFINAL_002.pdf

A report on the enrollment management industry, by Scott Andrew Schulz and Jerome A. Lucido, both of the University of Southern California

9. Top Schools See Record Applications for 2015 - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/top-schools-see-jump-in-a_n_812455.html#s227215&title=University_of_CaliforniaLos

‎"This year, the ten University of California campuses all attracted large volumes of applicants, with UCLA topping the list with a record 61,498 applications. Among private schools, Columbia University saw a massive 32 percent increase in applicants from last year, for a total of 34,587 applications."

10. Is College Tuition Too Low? by David Leonhardt - http://nyti.ms/fBBp08

‎"In essence, Mr. Becker and Mr. Posner are calling for a higher list price for public colleges. Well-off families would be able to pay this higher list price. Their children would still go to college, graduate and, far more often than not, earn enough of a wage premium to make college a fabulously good deal. Middle- and lower-income families, on the other hand, would not have to pay more than they’re now paying."

11. Census Data Show Rise in College Degrees, but Racial Gaps in Education, by Alex Richards-http://chronicle.com/article/Census-Data-Reveal-Rise-in/126026/

"For instance, the census estimates that in 2009, 28 percent of Americans 25 and older had at least four-year degrees. But the rate for black Americans was just 17 percent, and for Hispanic Americans only 13 percent."

12. Proficiency Eludes U.S. Students on Science NAEP, by Erik W. Robelen - http://t.co/2J5jeSL via @educationweek

‎"Only one in five high school seniors scored at least proficient on the exam. Meanwhile, 34 percent of 4th graders and 30 percent of 8th graders were deemed proficient or better in science on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as “the nation’s report card.”

13. Application Boom Begets a New Strategy, by Eric Hoover - http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/the-application-boom-begets-a-new-strategy/27800

"So Rutgers decided to allow applicants to submit their academic information—courses, grades, grade-point averages, and class rank—via an online form called the Self-Reported Academic Record. Students who decide to enroll must then ask their high schools to send an official copy of their transcript by July 15, so the admissions staff can verify the information they had submitted. In other words, the university must process transcripts only for those students who enroll."

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