291. 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. Recession worsens racial wealth gap, by Ben Rooney - http://t.co/i7LDA0A via @CNNMoney - "The wealth gap in the United States has grown wider in the wake of the Great Recession, with black and Hispanic American households faring much worse than white households, according to a study published Tuesday.The study, from 2009 data compiled by the Pew Research Center, found the median wealth of white households was 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households."

2. 'Class Dismissed' by Serena Golden - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/nCdWHR - "What I learned — and what I wanted to convey in the book — is the unsettling truth that if people truly care about lessening poverty and economic inequality, they should forget about education."

3. A Partial G.I. Bill Fix, by Libby A. Nelson - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/q22v8C - "Veterans currently attending private colleges and universities that charge more than $17,500 in tuition and fees won’t see their tuition spike next month after all, after Congress approved a change to the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill on Monday night. But veterans using their benefits to attend public universities in states where they are not residents might still have to come up with thousands of dollars on their own to pay for their studies after Aug. 1."

4. Iron Cage of Accountability, By Douglas Dempster and Steven J. Tepper - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/raRUIO - "Surprisingly, 8 of the top 10 highest net-price schools are art schools (fine art, design, theater, dance) or music conservatories. In fact, almost every major private art school in America is listed in the top 5 percent of most expensive colleges in the United States."

5. Recession Study Finds Hispanics Hit the Hardest, by Sabrina Tavernise - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/us/26hispanics.html?_r=1&src=rechp - "The share of Americans with no wealth at all rose sharply during the recession. A third of Hispanics had zero or negative net worth in 2009, up from 23 percent in 2005. For blacks, the portion rose to 35 percent from 29 percent, and for whites, it rose to 15 percent from 11 percent. About a quarter of all black and Hispanic households owned nothing but a car in 2009. Just 6 percent of whites and 8 percent of Asians were in that situation."

6. 'It Gets Better,' Harvard Education School Tells Gay Teens, by Don Troop - http://chronicle.com/article/It-Gets-Better-Harvard/128397/ - "Adolescent bullying and harassment are central concerns of education schools, but the institutions rarely have an opportunity to speak directly to the perpetrators and victims. In a poignant video that will be unveiled on Tuesday, several students, staff members, and administrators of Harvard University's Graduate School of Education do their best to change that, describing the traumas they endured as gay and lesbian youths and the triumphs they have enjoyed since then as their careers and personal lives have flourished. The video is part of the It Gets Better Project, which the gay columnist Dan Savage started last September with his husband, Terry Miller, in the wake of a wave of suicides by teenagers who had been bullied for being gay or being suspected of it."

7. The 13 Best-Paying College Majors: PayScale List - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/the-best-paying-majors-pa_n_909472.html#s316047&title=Petroleum_Engineering - "You've worked hard in your major, now how will your major pay you back? According to salary data site PayScale, engineers of many different stripes are poised to earn the most money over the course of their careers. At mid-career, the average petroleum engineer earns a whopping $155,000 per year (perhaps more if he or she went to Princeton). Below, check out which other majors pay off over time."

8. Campus Progress Presents The History Of The Pell Grant - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/25/campus-progress-presents-_n_908937.html -"Campus Progress has handily put together a history of the diminishing Pell Grant as a handy infographic. Can you believe that in 1972, the Pell Grant covered almost the entire cost of a student's education?"

9. Education summit begins today, by Dar Danielson - http://www.radioiowa.com/2011/07/25/education-summit-begins-today/ - "Duncan says is we are serious about closing the achievement gap, how we integrate technology into learning 24-seven is important as he says we have been “far too slow to move.” He says other countries are already moving ahead with the use of technology in education."

10. Possible cuts in Pell grants raises alarms in college sports, by Andy Gardner - http://usat.ly/p43snm via @USATODAY - "Pell Grants are usually part of a larger financial aid package for students, including athletes. They can be particularly important to athletes in sports outside of football and basketball where full scholarships are not typically awarded.The program, begun more than 30 years ago to help make college more accessible to low-income students, awarded more than 8 million students nearly $30 billion in aid in 2009-10. Grants are awarded on a need basis with the current annual limit of $5,500. The Department of Education estimated that 76% of those recipients had a total family income at or below $30,000."

134. 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. College job market to see slight rebound MSU News Michigan State University http://t.co/122LM4m

"Overall hiring is expected to increase 3 percent, with bachelor’s-level and MBA-level hiring both surging 10 percent, said Phil Gardner, director of MSU’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute, which conducted the survey of some 4,600 employers. Geographically, the Great Lakes region, which took the brunt of the recession, will see a robust 13 percent increase in bachelor’s-level hiring, which is tops in the nation, Gardner predicts. The region consists of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.But the good news should be taken with a word of caution, Gardner said. An uptick in job growth is simply the first step out of a very deep hole, he said, and hardly represents a return to the heady economic days of the late 1990s and early 2000s."

2. How to Define College Readiness? Good Question, by Catherine Gewertz http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2010/11/lest_you_harbor_any_doubt.html

"What happened here? The Tribune analyzed how ACT's "college readiness benchmarks" lined up with schools' own ideas of their students' preparedness. At some of Illinois' most well-regarded high schools, as it turns out, rather substantial portions of students are falling short of the ACT's benchmarks, which are supposed to indicate how ready they are to succeed in entry-level credit-bearing college coursework.Predictably, this sort of thing can prompt some squirming and defensiveness in high schools that are used to elite distinctions. But it takes us back to that persistent question: Exactly how do you define college readiness?"

3. UVA Announces Early-Action Plan, by Eric Hoover http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/uva-announces-early-action-plan/27710

"In 2011, early applicants would apply to Virginia by November 1 and receive a decision in January. Successful applicants would have until May 1 to accept or decline their admission offers, and they would be able to apply to other colleges—under early-action, early-decision, or regular-decision programs. Several selective colleges have some version of an early-action program, but restrictions vary. Georgetown University, for instance, tells its early applicants that they may apply to other colleges’ early-action and regular-decision plans, but not to a binding early-decision plan.Greg Roberts, Virginia’s dean of admission, said he and his staff considered a variety of early programs over the last six months. “This provides the most flexibility and freedom for students,” he says. “It’s the type of plan that will result in the most diverse applicant pool.”

4. Black Students’ Proficiency: Cutting to the Chase, by John Jensen http://www.educationnews.org/ed_reports/education_organizations/102927.html

"African-American boys especially need deliberate retention of knowledge. Consider the kid and the bicycle accident we noted above. What’s the equivalent of an educational 911 call for the kindergartner already way behind? It’s to replace an osmosis model with a retention model. This becomes particularly obvious when the deficit can be clearly diagnosed and the diagnosis tells us what’s missing. If he’s missing a thousand words of vocabulary, a thousand words spelled, a thousand pages read, and a thousand number sets processed, is there a mystery here requiring a multi-year study? That his mother wasn’t swift at math, his dad is overseas, and his brothers are into sports doesn’t change his deficit. Call 911. If it’s a mystery to anyone exactly what the median, standard response is to repair the educational equivalent of a broken bone, our system is much worse off than anyone is facing. More of an osmosis model is not an adequate substitute for an effective retention model applied student by student."

5. Nearly one-third of students studied online last year - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/collegeinc/2010/11/survey_nearly_13_of_students_s.html

"The survey is a collaboration between the Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board and is "the leading barometer of online learning in the United States," according to a release. For-profit colleges and career-oriented public campuses have been swift to embrace online learning. Prestigious public and private colleges have been slower. It was a big deal last year when the University of North Carolina appeared to become the first flagship public school to require students to take a class -- Spanish 101 -- online."

6. Some sweet college essay advice (from a student) - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/campusoverload/2010/11/some_sweet_college_essay_advic.html

"Today's guest blogger is Jimmy Mayers, a senior English major at St. Lawrence University in New York. Before you tense up, close your eyes, take a deep breath. The college essay is one of the most famous parts of the college application -- and for good reason. Here you can paint a picture of yourself that stands out from the numbers in your test scores and transcripts. So, if you're nervous about writing your college essay, change gears. Suspend your disbelief, as any good literature teacher would say, and accept for a moment that you're going to write a great college essay. Here are a few pointers:"

7. The Most Political Colleges: Top 10 Schools Where Students Follow The Beltway As Closely As Their Studies Unigo http://t.co/SEJcIuu

"As students, political activism is a compelling way to bring that entire body of knowledge together and truly make a difference. While some say activism during the collegiate years is declining, over 30,000 student votes paint a different picture, one in which political activity is a vibrant, integral part of the academic experience."

8. Jocktastic! Top 10 Schools Where Sports Rule Unigo http://t.co/Hjcs3XY

"Sure, there are some students who chose to observe sports from afar (or not at all), but for most, being obsessed with college sports is a way of life. We scored 30,000 student votes to identify the Top 10 Schools where the Big Game is a Really Big Deal."

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

95. The Greatest College Sports Rivalries

Sports are a part of life on many college campuses--sometimes, for better; at other times, not so much. And rivalries have long been a part of college sports. Which rivalries are the greatest? To see but one list, click this link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/24/the-greatest-college-spor_n_624187.html