393. 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. Early Line on Early Admissions: http://nyti.ms/swWdAH - "High school seniors who applied to early admission programs can find an early tally providing some context for this year's process."

3. Colleges are watching applicants' online trails - http://kansascity.com/: http://bit.ly/u07ZEq via AddThis - Watch what you post!

4. New Report Analyzes Nation's Progress in Meeting College Graduation Goals: http://bit.ly/vitc5v via AddThis - "To help the nation achieve its educational goals, CollegeBoard.org recently issued a report to assess the current state of the nation's college graduates."

5. Low-income quota eyed for St. Paul schools http://t.co/wy2UiQMB http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/135900333.html

6. Malloy unveils education reform ideas for Conn. http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2011/12/20/malloy_unveils_education_reform_ideas_for_conn via @BostonDotCom - "Connecticut lawmakers will be asked next year to allow more state intervention in troubled school districts, more autonomy for high-achieving schools, changes in teacher evaluation methods. . . ."

7. Build School Systems on a Solid Foundation http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/12/20/15westervelt.h31.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW via @educationweek - "Early-childhood education must promote opportunities for needy children, Gerrit Westervelt and Cassie Schwerner say."

8. Essay: Washington college grant program favors vocational over liberal education Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/sCAoaQ via AddThis - "Last year, as Washington State faced a severe budget crisis, legislators embraced a novel way to fund student financial aid: a public-private partnership between the state and private corporations. Called the Opportunity Scholarship Fund, the fund attracts private donations and matches them. . . ."

9. The Envelope, Please: Eight High School Seniors Blog Their College Searches: http://nyti.ms/vIviRa - "Eight students from four high schools -- one each in Atlanta; New York City; Minnetonka, Minn.; and Long Beach, Calif. -- invite readers of The Choice along on their college searches, via a first-person series called "The Envelope, Please."

10. Some Early Applicants Will Wait a Little Longer: http://nyti.ms/uzzRXu - "For early applicants to the University of Michigan and Lehigh University, there is a bit more waiting for admissions decisions this year."

11. Sniffing Out Financial Aid Awards, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.thecollegesolution.com/sniffing-out-financial-aid-awards#.TvFQmxlaRZ0.twitter via AddThis - "Parents and teenagers should not apply to colleges and universities before getting a good idea how much scholarships or grants a school would provide."

12. Measuring the Generosity of Colleges, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.thecollegesolution.com/measuring-the-generosity-of-colleges#.TvFQ1pbxwus.twitter via AddThis

13. The Best Way to Study for Final Exams, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-best-way-to-study-for-final-exams#.TvFRNc6A2qU.twitter via AddThis - "Research from Purdue and Washington University suggests the best way to study for final exams for high school and college students."

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

243.Unstack the Odds--GO TO COLLEGE: STEP 2

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 2

2) Begin a college search by determining which schools may best suit desired areas of study and academic programs as well as family finances.

7. Once you've determined your career interest(s), seek schools that offer your desired area(s) of study.

8. For information on colleges in Northeast Ohio, click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/03/41-colleges-in-northeast-ohio.html

9. You may be interested in reading the Huffington Post article by Steve Leveen, "College: It's not where you get in, but how you come out," at http://bit.ly/aP1M0x

10. To read the article "When Choosing A College, What Really Matters? click: http://www.unigo.com/articles/when_choosing_a_college,_what_really_matters%5E63/?taxonomyId=760028

11. To read the article "Price of education is likely debt," click on this link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-07-23-comcol-debt_N.htm?csp=usat.me

12. To see some hazards of taking on too much loan-debt for college, click: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/03/43-student-loan-debt-part-ii.html

13. To see all Ohio colleges and universities, use that link under "OBR" in the left margin of our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

14. To see "Best Colleges 2010," use that link under "U.S. News & World Report" in the left margin of our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

15. For "Historically Black Colleges & Universities," look under "U.S. News" in the left margin of our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

16. For Part 2: "Answers on Historically Black Colleges and Universities," click this link: http://nyti.ms/bIpeWz

17. To see "National University Rankings," look under "U.S. News & World Report" in the left margin of our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

18. To see "Liberal Arts Rankings," look under "U.S.News & World Report" in the left margin of our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

19. To explore "Colleges That Change Lives," hit the link "CTCL Members" in the left margin of our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

20. To see "Christian Colleges & Universities," try the link "Member Schools" in the left margin of our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

21. For "National Catholic College Admission Assoc.,"use "Search for a school" in the left margin of our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

22. To continue your college search, think how close to home you want to stay; how large a school you'd like; & do you prefer public or private?

23. An important consideration in any college search is whether you can afford--with need-based & merit financial aid--a particular college.

24. One of the hazards in doing a college search today is neglecting to consider the "mountain of debt" you may be accumulating at some schools.

25. Maybe the key question to ask yourself about a college search is this one: in which school(s) can I not just survive--but really thrive!

26. Learn about your schools of interest at a free Virtual College Fair; register at http://www.collegeweeklive.com

27. GoodSearch or Google the Common Data Set for schools you're interested in; pay attention to Part C and H. To find out more, click this link:http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/03/42-common-data-set-cds.html

28. If you are considering Ohio State, you can access its Common Data Set (CDS): http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/03/42-common-data-set-cds.html

29. If you are considering Miami (OH), you can access its Common Data Set (CDS): http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/03/42-common-data-set-cds.html

30. If you are considering Ohio U., you can print out its Common Data Set (CDS): http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/03/42-common-data-set-cds.html

144. 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. Grief Interrupts an Idyllic Freshman Year, by Ann Derry - http://nyti.ms/hEfnhZ

"You can spend four years preparing for college, get into the college of your choice, set off on your big adventure, and yet your life can change permanently along the way."

2. Information Unstacks the Deck, by Dan Berrett - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gbv053

‎"Bridget Terry Long, professor of education and economics at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, says that, while the economic benefits of a postsecondary degree have been well documented, the escalating price tag and rates of default on student loans make the prospect of attending college an increasingly risky proposition. “Giving students and their families better information would enable them to avoid unworthy college investments that would leave them with substantial debt and little in the form of skills,” Long writes in her paper, "Grading Higher Education: Giving Consumers the Information They Need."

3. New Data, No Better Results, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/e6RpZO

"Men and women graduated at roughly comparable rates, but there were significant differences by race: 45.5 percent of Asian students had earned bachelor's degrees in six years, compared to 36.4 percent of white students, 16.9 percent of Hispanic, 16.7 percent of black, and 27.3 percent of mixed race students."

4. University of Phoenix Lays Off 700 http://www.freep.com/article/20101130/BUSINESS07/101130017/1002/business/University-of-Phoenix-lays-off-700-nationwide

"The Phoenix-based company expects new-student enrollments to decline roughly 40% in the current quarter, which ends Nov. 30, as it changes the way it compensates admissions counselors and introduces new student orientation meetings. The meetings are designed to ensure that a larger proportion of beginning students are qualified to complete their degree programs but also might result in some dropouts."

5. The 10 Brainiest Cities: Portfolio Study - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/01/the-10-brainiest-cities-p_n_790503.html#s196031

"Which American cities boast the most cerebral residents? According to Portfolio, Boulder, Colo. takes the No. 1 spot. Using new American Community Survey data, Portfolio assessed the average level of higher education obtained by the residents of 200 cities, coupled with their relative earning power of adults who live in them."

6. More Students with Disabilities Attending College, Volunteering, by Christina Samuels - http://t.co/3mpo08X via @educationweek

‎"The researchers compared student information gathered in 1990 to reports gathered in 2005. According to the report, within four years of leaving high school, 46 percent of young adults in 2005 were reported to have enrolled in a postsecondary school versus 26 percent in 1990. The gains spanned across a broad range of postsecondary programs: an 18 percentage-point increase in community college enrollment, a 13 percentage-point increase in postsecondary vocational, business, or technical school enrollment and a 9 percentage-point difference in enrollment at four-year universities."

7. A Mission to Transform Baltimore’s Beaten Schools, by Sabrina Tavernise - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/education/02baltimore.html?_r=1&hp

"Not everyone likes Dr. Alonso’s methods, and many find that his brassy self-confidence can grate. But few are arguing with his results. Since he was hired, the dropout rate has fallen by half, more students are graduating and for the first time in many years, the system has gained students instead of losing them."

8. Half of All First-Time Students Earn Credentials Within 6 Years, by Beckie Supiano - http://chronicle.com/article/Half-of-All-First-Time/125585/

"By the end of the six-year period, 9 percent of the students earned certificates, 9 percent associate degrees, and 31 percent bachelor's degrees. The numbers are similar to those of the last cohort the department followed, which began college in 1995-6.
Among students who began at public two-year colleges, 9 percent earned certificates, 14 percent associate degrees, and 12 percent bachelor's degrees. Among those who began at four-year colleges, 2 percent received certificates, 5 percent associate degrees, and 58 percent bachelor's degrees."

• Follow the most important stories on college admissions and financial aid on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rottenbornj


• For links to articles on college admissions and financial aid, you can "friend" Joe Rottenborn at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23325544


• "Like" the MVCAP fan page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23325544#!/pages/Mahoning-Valley-College-Access-Program-MVCAP/284002915922


• You can join the group MVCAP Financial-Aid Friends at this page: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=126580419181


• Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily for today's top stories on college admissions/financial aid in newsletter form - http://paper.li/rottenbornj

141. 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. Court filing reveals for-profit college recruiting tactics, by Paul Koepp http://www.desnews.com/700085300/ - (@deseretnews)

"White said Everest College would buy "leads," or contact information of potential students, for $80 apiece. He was required to call each new lead three times a day for a week, then once a day for the next month. White made up to 600 phone calls each week. He said his managers told him not to delete the numbers of people who asked not to be contacted anymore."

2. What Makes a University Great? by Robert J. Sternberg - Inside Higher Ed - http://t.co/EX9u0TQ

"Typically, land-grant institutions willingly and even gladly will take students with a wider range of grades and test scores because their mission is to provide access, not to restrict entry. A necessary qualification, of course, is that the students admitted are able to do the work, either upon admission or with remediation and enrichment."

3. Kansas Seniors Achieve Perfection on SAT and ACT, by Susanna Baird - http://www.gnn.com/article/kansas-seniors-achieve-perfection-on-sat/1421736

"There must be something in the Kansas corn, because three other current seniors in the town of Blue Valley received 36 on the ACT out of a possible 36 points. Charlie also earned a 2400 out of 2400 on the SAT, placing him in the top 1 percent of college test-takers in America."

4. Universities Tell High Schools Valuable Logos Are Off Limits, by Adam Himmelsbach - http://nyti.ms/fuwUf9

"Universities steadfastly protect their trademarked logos, which appear on everything from oven mitts to underwear, and their reach is increasingly stretching toward high schools. If a school’s logo can be confused with a university’s, or if it is capable of diluting its value, the universities often demand changes."

5. If your child resists college search, by Jay Mathews - http://t.co/gfqnSLw via @washingtonpost

"I call this the boy problem, although I suspect some girls have it, too. When I speak or write on admissions issues, I encounter parents who envy the college eagerness displayed by other students and are driven to despair by the fact that their kid can't be bothered. These reluctant college applicants, at least in my experience, are usually male. We guys mature more slowly. I certainly did."

6. What Tom Friedman got wrong about schools, by Valerie Strauss - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/what-tom-friedman-got-wrong-an.html

"It does mean that leaders who ignore the effects of poverty fail to see the importance of providing proper supports for these children -- meals for the hungry, glasses for the seeing-impaired, etc. And it means that teachers wind up getting blamed for conditions outside the school that greatly affect a child’s ability to progress in algebra."

• Follow the most important stories on college admissions and financial aid on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rottenbornj


• For links to articles on college admissions and financial aid, you can "friend" Joe Rottenborn at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23325544


• "Like" the MVCAP fan page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23325544#!/pages/Mahoning-Valley-College-Access-Program-MVCAP/284002915922


• You can join the group MVCAP Financial-Aid Friends at this page: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=126580419181


• Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily for today's top stories on college admissions/financial aid in newsletter form - http://paper.li/rottenbornj

136. 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

Follow the most important stories on college admissions and financial aid on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rottenbornj

For links to articles on college admissions and financial aid, you can "friend" Joe Rottenborn at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23325544

"Like" the MVCAP fan page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23325544#!/pages/Mahoning-Valley-College-Access-Program-MVCAP/284002915922

You can join the group MVCAP Financial-Aid Friends at this page: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=126580419181

1. Four Sure-Fire Ways to Derail Your College Search, by Sue Biemeret http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/22/biemeret-3/#more-24669

‎"My mantra is simple: “The school that fits you best is the best school for you.” When a student finds a college that fits him academically, socially, emotionally and financially — and the college feels the exact same way about that student — fit happens and the college admission “game” is a win/win. But it’s so easy to stray off course, to make things other than fit matter. And when that happens, the college search can get messy, uncomfortable and just plain wrong. In that spirit, here are four easy ways to derail the college search:"

2. Consensus or Groupthink? - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/9p5Pet

"The convergence around the "college completion agenda" -- put simply, the now widely held view that the country must in the next 10-15 years significantly increase the number of Americans with a quality postsecondary credential -- has been driven by many factors, most notably the imprimatur of President Obama within the first weeks of his term. But arguably even more important has been the fact that the country's highest-profile foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the most visible foundation focused primarily on higher education, the Lumina Foundation for Education, have both thrust college completion to the top of their agendas."

3. Colleges Ask Prospective Students Creative Essay Questions http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/19/most-creative-college-ess_n_785443.html

"The University of Chicago is also famous for its unorthodox questions. According to the school's admissions homepage, the admissions essay is "an opportunity for students to tell us about themselves, their tastes, and their ambitions. They can be approached with utter seriousness, complete fancy, or something in between."

4. Top 10 Ways to Improve Students' Achievement and Create Learners - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pam-lowe/top-10-ways-to-improve-st_b_786205.html

"One of the major negatives is that change is rarely welcome. People tend to like the status quo and do not want the apple cart overturned. Our first year was fraught with change; change in vision, strategies, instructional methods and materials. Through it all, our staff preserved as we worked on our improvement. Over the course of my educational experience I've collected a list of criteria that I believe create an atmosphere ripe for improving student achievement. Here I will call it: Top 10 Ways to Improve Student Achievement and Create LearnersDisclaimer: This is by no means all that schools should be doing. Note that these are broad actions; there are many more detailed actions that need to be taken."

5. Early Decision Applications Are Soaring: Here's Why, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/d7Dtu6J

"Many elite schools that accept early decision and/or early action applications are experiencing more students applying to college through the early bird options. Vanderbilt University, for instance, received 1,666 early decision applications this year, which represents a 30% jump. Northwestern University’s early decision applications (2,127) soared 26% and the University of Chicago’s early action applications increased 18.5%.Students are applying earlier because at many schools they enjoy a greater chance of acceptance. Some schools are filling half of their classes with students who apply to college early."

6. Rise in College Applications Raises Concerns About Access, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/2C5IHhX via @educationweek

"With the rise in applications for admission, more colleges are rejecting more students and becoming more selective. The report suggests this could close doors of opportunity for more low-income, first-generation students in all sectors, as these students typically are less certain of their academic goals, received less rigorous college preparation, and have more difficulty negotiating the college bureaucracies. Applying to more schools only to be rejected by more institutions also makes the application process more costly for students and schools, the report notes. While applying to more schools may give students more options for the best fit or the best financial aid package, the report shows growing evidence that financial aid investments are outstripping investments in teaching and learning in the classroom, ultimately canceling out the students' advantage."

7. Teaching for America, by Thomas L. Friedman - http://nyti.ms/dp5tJa

"Here are a few data points that the secretary of education, Arne Duncan, offered in a Nov. 4 speech: “One-quarter of U.S. high school students drop out or fail to graduate on time. Almost one million students leave our schools for the streets each year.... One of the more unusual and sobering press conferences I participated in last year was the release of a report by a group of top retired generals and admirals. Here was the stunning conclusion of their report: 75 percent of young Americans, between the ages of 17 to 24, are unable to enlist in the military today because they have failed to graduate from high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit.” America’s youth are now tied for ninth in the world in college attainment."

8. Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction -http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?pagewanted=1&ref=general&src=me

"Researchers say the lure of these technologies, while it affects adults too, is particularly powerful for young people. The risk, they say, is that developing brains can become more easily habituated than adult brains to constantly switching tasks — and less able to sustain attention. “Their brains are rewarded not for staying on task but for jumping to the next thing,” said Michael Rich, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and executive director of the Center on Media and Child Health in Boston. And the effects could linger: “The worry is we’re raising a generation of kids in front of screens whose brains are going to be wired differently.”

9. Download or print the free MVCAP Powerpoint presentation "Paying for College" at our site: http://issuu.com/mvcap/docs/paying_for_college

10. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily for today's top stories on college admissions/financial aid in newsletter form - http://paper.li/rottenbornj