363. 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. Part 2: Answers to Your Questions on Applying with a Learning Disability, by Marybeth Kravets: http://nyti.ms/t5W6UD - "In this second batch of answers, Ms. Kravets addresses questions on disability assessments and college accommodations. Answers to additional questions will continue this week."

3. Part 3: Learning Disabilities Q&A, by Marybeth Kravets: http://nyti.ms/tvosLk - "In this third batch of answers, Ms. Kravets addresses questions on specialized school environments and SAT-optional admissions."

4. Survey shows that as online enrollments boom, doubts about online quality persist, by Steve Kolowich Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/w0T6Jk - "Online enrollments grew 10 percent, as the number of students taking at least one online course (“online” defined here as a course where most or all content exchanges and class meetings occur virtually) crept past six million. It was the smallest bump in enrollments since 2006, and less than half the growth online programs saw last year (21.1 percent). . . . They now account for nearly a third of all enrollments in higher education."

5. Leaders at Football Powers Still Mostly White, Male Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/sf4YUa via AddThis - "Of the college presidents at the 120 institutions, 90.8 percent are white and 81.7 percent are male. Among athletics directors, 88.3 percent are white and 95.8 percent are male. Commissioners of the institutions' conferences are all white and male. In total, 91.2 percent of the 365 campus leadership positions accounted for in the report are filled by white people. Seventy-five percent and 84.2 percent of the college presidents and athletic directors, respectively, are white men (only three presidents are minority women). In contrast, black students make up the majority -- 52.1 percent -- of the athletes playing football for the colleges."

6. Michelle Obama’s tips for applying to college, by Jenna Johnson - Campus Overload - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/campus-overload/post/michelle-obamas-tips-for-applying-to-college/2011/11/08/gIQAi1EI4M_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "So on Tuesday afternoon, first lady Michelle Obama spent about an hour talking about the college application process — and how to succeed once on campus — with several dozen local high school students who are part of a Georgetown University mentoring program."

7. Admissions 101: Should AP courses have such a tight grip on college admissions? by Jay Mathews - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/admissions-101-should-advanced-placement-have-such-a-tight-grip-on-college-admissions/2011/11/08/gIQAS8Xa1M_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "Each of them said the most important factor was the quality of the students' high school courses."

8. You think your kid's school is fine? Think again, says @JonSchnur http://ti.me/tRJtp9 via @TIMEIdeas - "First, the ticket for my son and America’s children to the middle class and American dream requires much more and better education than for my generation or my parents’ generation. When I was Matthew’s age, only a quarter of the middle class had post-secondary education. Today, nearly two-thirds of middle class jobs require at least some post-secondary education. And we have seen that many of our high school graduates are leaving ill-prepared for success in college or careers."

9. Who’s Minding the Gap? by Andrew J. Rotherham - http://ti.me/sUuCyz via @TIMEIdeas - "No matter how many people try to argue that focusing on closing achievement gaps is a bad idea, it’s not. It’s still the right goal. And not merely for social reasons — although the crushed dreams, diminished opportunities, and the violence that today’s educational system does to communities and any semblance of equality should not be underestimated. Closing the gap is the right goal for economic reasons, too."

10. The Education Crisis No One Is Talking About, by Andrew J. Rotherham - http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2070930,00.html?xid=tweetbut via TIME - "Our public schools are woefully unprepared to deal with the fastest-growing ethnic group in the U.S. Only 17% of Hispanic fourth-graders score proficient or better on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (a test given to samples of students each year) while 42% of non-Hispanic white students do. Nationally, the high school graduation rate for Hispanics is just 64%, and only 7% of incoming college students are Hispanic, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education."

199. 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 coaches' fat paychecks stir controversy, by Chris Isidore - http://t.co/SJgHnBg via @CNNMoney

"The latest storm is in Lubbock, Texas, where Texas Tech football coach Tommy Tuberville is getting a 33% raise after just one year, to $2 million. The new contract is guaranteed through 2014.The school says it was making good on a verbal agreement made with Tuberville when he was hired. But the raise comes as many faculty members are going without raises, and the school prepares for expected cuts in state support."

2. Collective Bargaining Rights and Higher Education, by Maria Newman - http://nyti.ms/dFYehK

‎"Mr. Jaschik points out that most college faculty members nationally are not unionized. “A Supreme Court ruling has largely blocked faculty union organizing at private colleges, while state governments regulate collective bargaining in the public sector,” he writes. Unions are more prevalent in colleges and universities in the Northeast, Midwest and West, he said."

3. Roadblocks for ROTC? by Dan Berrett - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/epTDUE

"Opponents generally fall into two camps -- one opposing ROTC because of whom it excludes, the other because of what the military does (a third line of criticism arises from faculty concerns over the academic quality of ROTC programs)."

4. Professors in the Crosshairs, by Mary Hoeft - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/dHoim0

‎"Frequently, during class, he would turn to the young woman seated next to him and engage in a conversation. After asking him repeatedly to focus his attention on what I was saying, I finally asked him to switch seats. I made the request three times before he got up and moved. As he slowly walked across the room, I saw on his face what I had seen only one other time in my teaching career: hate."

5. HEARING: Preventing Abuse of the Military's Tuition Assistance Program - http://bit.ly/g9OyeW

"The hearing will examine the state of the Department of Defense's (DOD) Tuition Assistance Program, which provides tuition assistance benefits to active duty military personnel who wish to take classes while concurrently fulfilling their active duty service requirement. In Fiscal Year 2009, 376,759 service members participated in th...e program and DOD spent over $517 million on the benefit."

6. The Top Jobs For 2011: NACE Salary Survey - http://huff.to/dIRjRV

"College seniors studying accounting are in luck -- accounting firms are doling out more offers to members of the class of 2011 than companies in any other area, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers' Winter 2011 Salary Survey. . . ."

7. Value of College-Admissions Test-Prep Classes Unclear, by Caralee J. Adams - http://bit.ly/fGQl1B

‎"Test-prep programs generally include three elements: a review of test content, practice on test questions, and orientation to the format of the test. In 2009, in cooperation with NACAC, Mr. Briggs reviewed three national data sets and found the average effect of commercial coaching is positive, but slight. Test-score bumps were more in the neighborhood of 30 points (on a 1,600-point scale at the time). . . ."

8. Can universities keep the minority students they woo? by Sarah Butrymowicz - Hechinger Report: http://t.co/Q9XFx2A

"But a study released last summer by the Washington D.C.-based Education Trust, which analyzed data from 456 colleges and universities, found a disturbing gap in graduation rates when disaggregated by race. At private institutions, 73.4 percent of white students earned their degrees within six years, while only 54.7 percent of black students and 62.9 percent of Hispanic students made it through the schools they started."

9. FAFSA frustrations? Financial aid expert online Thursday to answer questions, by Jenna Johnson - http://wapo.st/gB5pYC

"Starting at 1 p.m/ Thursday, I will be online to answer questions with Mark Kantrowitz, a leading financial aid expert and the publisher of Fastweb.com and FinAid.org. Mark has written three books about financial aid, including "Secrets to Winning a Scholarship." Please send us your questions now!"

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


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• "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

186. 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. Student killed in shooting near Ohio university - http://bit.ly/gQdh1S #cnn

"Hughes said the shooting is a surprise. "It's sad because young people here are trying to turn around a lot of things," he said. "That campus is a bright shining star."

2. Tragedy at a Party, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fu8HZF

‎"A statement from Youngstown State said that university police believe that there is no threat to the campus, but that security there has been heightened as a precaution. Cynthia E. Anderson, president of the university, went to the local hospital where shooting victims were treated to talk with students and their families. In a statement, she said that the "tragic act of violence" made Sunday "a sad day for the YSU family."

3. Bad Apples or More? by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/g3gqjx

"The review finds that 53 of the 120 universities in the NCAA’s top competitive level, the Football Bowl Subdivision, were found by the NCAA's Division I Committee on Infractions to have committed major rules violations from 2001 to 2010. That number appears to have held largely constant from the previous two decades, but the 2000s show that the number of colleges that committed serious violations of the association’s academic rules nearly doubled, to 15 from 8 in the 1990s."

4. Toughen NCAA Academic Rules, by Gerald S. Gurney - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gQnAHI

‎"A more critical analysis suggests that the recent patterns of serious institutional involvement in academic fraud may be related to predictable consequences of changes in the 2003 NCAA initial eligibility legislation that certify woefully underprepared athletes as qualified to compete in the college classroom."

5. New Data Show Students at For-Profit Colleges Twice As Likely To Default On Loans - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/03/for-profit-students-default-loans-new-data_n_818507.html?ir=College

"In addition, students taking out loans at for-profit schools were responsible for nearly half of all federal student loan defaults within the three-year timeframe, even though students enrolled at such institutions made up less than 15 percent of college students nationwide."

6. What to Expect From the Revised AP U.S. History Program, by Erik Robelen: http://t.co/qaMEpuR

"Unlike the current AP U.S. history course, the new curriculum framework lays out clear expectations for what students need to understand about different periods in American history," he writes. "These understandings are written at a high conceptual level in order to allow teachers to illustrate them with appropriate examples of historical actors and events drawn from each period."

7. A Letter to My President—The One I Voted for... by Paul Karrer: http://t.co/7mGX0dN via @educationweek

"It’s not bad teaching that got things to the current state of affairs. It’s pure, raw poverty. We don’t teach in failing schools. We teach in failing communities. It’s called the ZIP Code Quandary. If the kids live in a wealthy ZIP code, they have high scores; if they live in a ZIP code that’s entombed with poverty, guess how they do?"

8. Best college essay ever? by Valerie Strauss - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/college-admissions/best-college-essay-ever.html

‎"After receiving it again recently, I found the the author, a writer named Hugh Gallagher, to find out the real history of the piece. Gallagher told me that he wrote the essay when he was 17 for a high school writing contest. He won (and the essay was published in Harper's Magazine). He did then use the essay as part of his applications when he applied to five colleges about two decades ago. He attended New York Univ. . . ."

9. Financial Aid Fundamentals: File the FAFSA Now! -

http://www.top-colleges.com/blog/2011/02/05/financial-aid-fundamentals-file-your-fafsa-now/

‎"That means it is critically important for students – those that are college bound or already enrolled in degree programs – to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as soon as possible. Almost all forms of financial aid – including scholarships, grants and student loans – use the FAFSA as the foundation for award decisions."

10. College search would end with Harvard’s ‘yes,’ by Richard O. Jones - http://t.co/EHUnnOk via @oxfordpress

"Although he’s applied to 17 colleges — large and small, near and far — if Badin High School senior Raymond Dong gets the acceptance letter he most wants, he’ll be heading to Harvard next fall."

11. Are football stars really heroes, or just famous? by Sharon Jayson -USATODAY.com http://t.co/MCFwnMm

"But are the players on the field really heroes, or just celebrities?
Those who study heroism say there is a tendency to confuse it with fame or celebrity worship, which has sparked some researchers to take a closer look at just what makes a hero in the 21st century."

12. Footballer: 'Are you OK with destroying a kid's brain for this game?' by Stephanie Smith - http://bit.ly/fakTTc #cnn

‎"Can you ever make football so that no one gets hurt? No. People are going to get hurt," said Nowinski, president of the Sports Legacy Institute. "But you can eliminate certain drills, you modify certain drills, minimize certain drills...eliminate dumb things like 'bull in the ring.'"

13. To Close Gaps, Schools Focus on Black Boys, by Winnie Hu - http://nyti.ms/gh0mHj

“I think this is a form of racial profiling in the public school system,” said the coalition’s executive director, Michael Meyers. “What they’re doing here, under the guise of helping more boys, is they’re singling them out and making them feel inferior or different simply because of their race and gender.”

14. New NAEP Science Scores Reveal Significant Achievement Gaps, by Jasmine Harley - http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2011/02/1140-naep.html

"Black 4th-graders and 8th-graders scored on average 36 pts lower than their White counterparts and Black 12th-graders scored on average 34 pts lower than their White counterparts; Hispanic 4th-graders scored on average 32 pts lower than their White counterparts. The gap decreases to 30 pts in 8th grade and to 25 pts in 12th grade. . . ."

15. Why the stakes are so much higher now, by Audrey Kahane - NorthJersey.com http://t.co/CNn1zIg via @NorthJerseybrk

"The college admission process wasn't nearly as anxiety-producing 30 years ago. As I often tell parents, we probably wouldn't be admitted if we had to apply to our alma maters today. Parents have heard enough stories from friends and relatives whose high-achieving children have been turned down by schools that would have been considered "safe" 30 years ago to know that this is true, but they still don't understand why things are so different now."

16. What Is The Achievement Gap? Education Equality Project: http://t.co/64ElJ3h

"The huge difference in academic performance between students from different economic circumstances and racial/ethnic backgrounds is what we call the achievement gap."

17. Educators missed lesson on segregation, by Tony Norman - http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11035/1122872-153.stm

"At McCaskey East High School in Lancaster, 11th-grade black students were placed in separate homerooms with black teachers for six minutes a day, starting in December. The theory was that black students are more likely to take education seriously if they have a mentor who shares their racial background."

18. The Harvard Effect, by Timothy Noah - http://www.slate.com/id/2283744/

"At the end of 2007, Harvard announced that it would limit tuition to no more than 10% of family income for families earning up to $180,000. (It also eliminated all loans, following a trail blazed by Princeton, and stopped including home equity in its calculations of family wealth.) Yale saw and raised to $200,000, and other wealthy colleges weighed in with variations."

19. 8 Big Changes to College Admissions in 2010 and 2011, by Kim Clark - US News and World Report: http://t.co/uVIryt4

"Interviews with admissions officers at some of the nation's most popular colleges reveal recent and important shifts in the weighting of traditional admission factors. . . . College officials outline 8 major changes to their admissions practices that will affect applicants from now on:"

• 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

183. MVCAP fyi--San Diego ed.

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. For kids getting ready for college, FAFSA is a must, by Sandra Block -http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20110201/yourmoney01_st.art.htm

"That means it's more important than ever for families of college-bound seniors to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, as soon as possible. This application is the foundation for almost all forms of financial aid, from scholarships to student loans."

2. Rules fail to curb schools from oversigning football players, by Kelly Whiteside - http://usat.ly/eBCfQv via @USATODAY

"Many players assume scholarships are guaranteed for as long as five years. In fact, athletic scholarships are one-year, "merit-based" awards."He wanted to have my scholarship for another player. I had no idea that they could do that," Chamorro says."

3. Signing Day 2011: Who will be the top winners in recruiting? http://usat.ly/g1vbzJ -RT @USATODAY

"The usual cast of characters are expected to have successful days with Florida State and Alabama the front-runners to earning the coveted No. 1 ranking followed closdly by Texas, LSU and Southern California."

4. Washington Wrapup, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gfsyTK

‎"Durbin was not subtle about attributing his concern about for-profit colleges in large part to the role they've played in driving up federal spending on Pell Grants, which have soared from a program worth about $16 billion in 2008 to one approaching $40 billion in 2011."

5. Top 25 State Universities for Graduating on Time, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/aUGLeDd

‎"Private colleges and universities have better, but not great four-year grad rates. Nearly 48% of students graduate in four years from private schools. The vast majority of students in this country, however, attend public institutions where the average four-year grad is a measly 27%."

6. Harvard Report Questions Value of 'College for All,' by Catherine Gewertz - http://t.co/CigeF3J via @educationweek

"By concentrating too much on classroom-based academics with four-year college as a goal, the nation’s education system has failed vast numbers of students, who instead need solid preparation for careers requiring less than a bachelor’s degree, Harvard scholars say in a report issued today."

7. Pathways to Prosperity -http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/features/2011/Pathways_to_Prosperity_Feb2011.pdf

"Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century"--Report issued by the Pathways to Prosperity Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

8. Pell Grants Are in Jeopardy, Sen. Durbin Says, in Warning to Nonprof Colleges, by Kelly Field - http://chronicle.com/article/Pell-Grants-Are-in-Jeopardy/126176/

‎"You cannot come to Congress to ask for more funding for Pell Grants while looking the other way as billions of dollars of our current investment is wasted." "I'm not talking only about low-performing for-profit colleges," he added. "There are public colleges and private nonprofit colleges that are also failing students."

9. Obstacles to better counseling--and what to do about it, by Patrick O'Connor - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/obstacles-to-better-school-cou.html

‎"The obstacles to better counseling are well known. There aren’t enough counselors (the average caseload is over 450 students), many tasks assigned to counselors have nothing to do with counseling (like a last-minute sub for a chemistry class), and most counselors start their careers with absolutely no training in how to be good college advisers."

10. Pell grant set at $5,550 for next year, by Daniel de Vise - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/college-inc/2011/02/in_a_dear_colleague_letter.html

"In a "Dear Colleague" letter today, the U.S. Department of Education set the maximum Pell Grant award at $5,550 for the 2011-12 academic year, signaling that the largest grant program for low-income students will be fully funded."

11. Critics say top-rated Chinese education system has a flaw, by Kathy Chu - http://t.co/EtvirW3 - USATODAY.com

"To put the results into perspective, "If (the U.S.) doubles its efforts, it would still take us decades to catch up to Hong Kong students" in math, says John Winn, chief program officer for the National Math and Science Initiative, a public-private partnership."

12. Top 10 Colleges For Campus Housing, by Brian Burnsed - US News and World Report: http://bit.ly/fabLP5 - RT @usnews

‎"The following table highlights the top 10 national universities ranked by the percentage of their undergraduate student body living on campus:"

13. Top University Endowments - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/31/colleges-and-universities_n_815646.html#s231446&title=Harvard_University_27557404000

"Below, check the postsecondary institutions with the largest endowments -- and see how much their savings grew from 2009 to 2010. Click over to Inside Higher Ed for more data."

14. www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/blogs/wp-content/www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/uploads/File/proprietary-schools-loans.pdf

15. Tiger mom adds to stereotype that burdens Asian-Am students, by Mitchell J. Chang - http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/tiger-moms-191465.aspx

‎"Parenting strategies aside, what has been overlooked is how this essay unintentionally undermines Asian American college applicants by perpetuating an erroneous stereotype."

16. A Preventable Danger for Athletes, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://t.co/1xElTj0

"It's a big red flag for 13 student-athletes to be hospitalized at the same time," said Ramogi Huma, president and founder of the National College Players Association. "Every program out there needs to re-evaluate their training regimen."

17. Scholarship Tips from the Financial Aid Office, by Martha C. Merrill and Elaine Solinga - http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/tip-sheet-conn-college/

"Do your taxes early. In most cases, the financial aid deadline comes before the federal tax deadline. If you can’t prepare your tax return by the deadline date, it is O.K. to use estimated figures. A preliminary award will be determined based on those estimates."

18. Applications Rise at Dozens of Selective Colleges, by Jacques Steinberg and Eric Platt - http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/total-apps-2011/

"One trend, though, does seem some obvious: the increase in applications reported by Columbia University (32 percent) and the University of Michigan (18 percent, as the Feb. 1 application deadline looms) would seem, at least in part, to be a function of those institutions’ choosing to accept the Common Application this year for the first time."

19. Economy Changed Freshmen's Plans but Didn't Shake Their Confidence, by Sara Lipka - http://chronicle.com/article/Economy-Changed-Freshmens/126069/

"Over all, students show reliance on multiple sources to pay for college,according to the report. More than half of freshmen reported using loans, and almost three-quarters said they'd received grants and scholarships, the highest proportion since the survey began asking that question, in 2001."

20. Our view on kids: When unwed births hit 41%, it's just not right - http://usat.ly/fBkHkc - RT @USATODAY

"In 2009, 41% of children born in the USA were born to unmarried mothers (up from 5% a half-century ago). That includes 73% of non-Hispanic black children, 53% of Hispanic children and 29% of non-Hispanic white children. Those are not misprints. . . ."

21. Young and Mixed in America - Video Library - The New York Times http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/01/2...

Here is an interesting video about mixed-race students on U.S. college campuses.

22. Educators Zero In on What Lumina's Degree-Qualification Template Would Mean, by David Glenn - http://chronicle.com/article/Educators-Zero-In-on-What/126080/

"The profile—which is referred to by its authors as a "beta version"—is based loosely on "quality assurance" frameworks that have been adopted in Britain, Australia, and other nations. It sketches broad skills that should be universally acquired at each degree level."

23. Freedom Riders look back after 50 years, by Cassandra Spratling - http://t.co/RQER0li - USATODAY.com

"In a sense, you could say Dr. Silas Norman Jr. is still doing the work he began doing as a freedom fighter in the South.He is associate dean for admissions, diversity and inclusion at Wayne State University's College of Medicine. But during the summer of 1964, he was a 23-year-old graduate student at the University of Wisconsin who went to Selma, Ala., to be part of a five-member Selma Literacy Project. . . ."

24. Hall of Fame coach would trade in all his victories, by Steve Politi - http://bit.ly/fEq1QP #cnn

"Bob has a passion to help young men get the opportunities they would never have gotten unless he and basketball entered their lives," Krzyzewski said. "He should be in the Hall of Fame not for the number of wins, but for the number of lives he's changed."

25. Despite Obama’s Call, No Rush in ROTC’s Return to Campus,by Katharine Q. Seelye - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/education/28rotc.html?hpw

"But that is no guarantee that such programs will materialize. For one thing, the military has limited resources for new R.O.T.C. units. For another, the level of student interest is extremely low..., with no more than 10 to 20 students at these campuses participating. . . ."

26. 'National History Day' Lifts Achievement, Study Finds, by Erik Robelen - http://t.co/eftZyg6 via @educationweek

"The first-ever national evaluation of National History Day suggests that students who participate in the yearlong academic program and competition perform better on standardized tests, are better writers, and are more confident and capable researchers."

27. Going Global, Going Liberal Arts - Inside Higher Ed, by Scott Jaschik - http://t.co/ZIM34im

"While Chinese universities are discussed in the United States as science and engineering-focused, narrowly so, Sun Yat-sen University is part of a growing movement in China to promote general education -- which includes global (meaning Western) philosophy and culture."

28. UC Irvine serves chicken and waffles on Martin Luther King Jr. Day - http://t.co/1rxxZ10 via @lanow

‎"The menu and a sign reading "MLK Holiday Special: Chicken and Waffles" were thrown together at the last minute and not in the "best taste," she said."

29. WU students protest speaking invitation to Bristol Palin - http://stlbeacon.org/region/107785-wu-students-protest-bristol-palin-

"Students are upset because the money for the event comes from the annual activity fee all students pay to fund campus groups. They said it's a waste of their money to fund a speech by a politically polarizing figure on a subject for which she has no professional credentials."

30. In High School and Alone in a Homeless Shelter, by Andrew Keh - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/nyregion/27neediest.html

"With nowhere to turn, Ms. Masondo ended up last fall in a homeless shelter in the Bronx. She was the youngest person there and often finished her homework on the hallway floor after the lights had been turned off ...in the sleeping quarters. . . .Today, Ms. Masondo is at a shelter in Midtown."

31. How to Assess a College’s Mental Health Offerings, by Michael Winerip - http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/mental-health/

"What follows is an exchange with Mr. Winerip, in which I sought guidance from him on how students and parents might assess the mental health offerings at individual colleges. — Jacques Steinberg"

32. Texas assistants set to be highest paid in 2011, by Steve Berkowitz - http://t.co/W61pkAo - USATODAY.com

‎"Texas' nine full-time assistants will be guaranteed nearly $3.65 million for the 2011 season, an increase of about 20% over what Texas paid in 2010, when it had the nation's third-highest-paid group of assistants, according to USA TODAY's survey of assistant coaches' compensation."

33. Pennsylvania school experiments with 'segregation' - http://bit.ly/fNnFeD #cnn

‎"The junior class at McCaskey East is voluntarily segregated by the students, who organize themselves "by gender, race and/or language," said school spokeswoman Kelly Burkholder."

• 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


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1. NCAA football: All dollars, no sense, by Frank Deford - http://bit.ly/dZyc3A /via @SI_24Seven

"Why should any of this be surprising? College football is a billion dollar enterprise now, and everybody involved is making money -- sometimes millions -- except the players themselves."

2. Presidents Plot Push for Aid Changes, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/hZqEzI

"A 2008 study by the Institute for College Access and Success found that four-year colleges were distributing $3.3 billion in institutional aid to one group of students in excess of those students' proven financial need, while first-year students at those same institutions had $2.4 billion in unmet need over and above their grants, subsidized loans and work study funds."

3. Athletes and Students Graduate Comparably, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/f4uleP

"Released Thursday by the NCAA, results from a representative, division-wide sample of 115 institutions show that 66 percent of athletes who enrolled as freshmen in 2003 graduated within six years. This is comparable to the 65 percent graduation rate for all students at the 444 Division III member institutions."

4. Verbal Commitments Challenged, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gaExv8

"Some coaches of high-profile sports teams occasionally make verbal scholarship offers to potential recruits as early as the eighth grade. For example, last February, a 13-year-old quarterback verbally committed to play football at the University of Southern California. The prospect would most likely not be able to enter college until 2015."

5. 6 Great College Resolutions for the New Year, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/1Z7EwRU

"Many parents focus on getting their teens into college rather than making sure that their children are well prepared to succeed in college. The latter is far more important."

6. Georgia Facing a Hard Choice on Free Tuition, by Kim Severson - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/us/07hope.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

"Part of it is the program’s popularity. A majority of freshmen in Georgia have grades good enough to qualify for Hope, which covers tuition, some books and fees — but not housing costs — at any Georgia university or technical school."

7. Do Legacy Preferences Count More Than Race? by Richard Kahlenberg - http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/do-legacy-preferences-count-more-than-race/28294

‎"How does the 45-percentage-point increase given to primary legacies compare with other preferences such as those for under-represented minorities? Hurwitz’s study doesn’t say. But Bowen and colleagues (using earlier data, from a smaller set of schools and controlling just for SAT scores) found that being an under-represented minority increased one’s chances by 27.7 percentage points."

8. Pittsburgh mentors, money fuel education, by Mary Beth Marklein - http://usat.ly/gv4iIb RT @USATODAY

"It centers on the Pittsburgh Promise, a 3-year-old scholarship — worth up to $40,000 over four years — for public school graduates. Students can use the scholarship at just about any college or trade school in the state. Their only requirements: attend class regularly and maintain a 2.5 grade point average."

9. A Tough Job Outlook, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/gIjYqu

"For those seeking jobs teaching English or foreign languages, the job market remains bleak -- but what passes for good news may be that the number of openings is flat this year, and isn't dropping further after dramatic declines in the previous two years."

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1. Gunfight at the For-Profit Corral, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/ghlBJV

"The damaging information in the GAO report knocked career college officials back on their heels, giving credence to Democratic politicians' assertions that "bad actors" in the sector needed significantly more regulation, and implying (because the inquiry uncovered problems at all 15 of the colleges visited) that there might actually be a lot of tainted players. The report's release also, not unimportantly to some observers, drove down the companies' stock prices sharply."

2. An Unequal Burden, by Dan Berrett - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/hd06eL

“Divorced or separated parents contributed significantly less than married parents -- in absolute dollars, as a proportion of their income, and as a proportion of their children’s financial need,” Ruth N. López Turley, associate professor of sociology at Rice University, and Matthew Desmond, a junior fellow at Harvard University, say in their article, “Contributions to College Costs by Married, Divorced, and Remarried Parents.”

3. Unconventional Wisdom, by Jack Stripling - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fzbfFE

"The paper lays out in stark detail one of higher education’s most vexing questions: How is it that a nation can spend more than it did 20 years ago on postsecondary education, admit more students to college, and still have stagnant if not worsening completion rates? Perhaps, the authors argue, it’s because colleges invest in what sounds good instead of figuring out what works well."

4. For-Profit Colleges Cash In On Veterans, by Chris Kirkham - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/09/vets-enrollment-in-forpro_n_794555.html?ir=College

"A report released today by the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has been examining aggressive recruitment practices and high student loan default rates in the burgeoning for-profit education industry over the past several months, shows the share of their revenue coming from veterans has increased fivefold from 2008 to 2010."

5. Public Blames Graduation Rates On College Students: Poll - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/09/public-blames-grad-rates-_n_794255.html

"The AP-Stanford University poll also shows that people mostly blame students and their parents for poor college graduation rates. And they give high marks to all sectors of American higher education including for-profit colleges, despite recent criticism of dubious recruiting tactics, high student loan default rates and other problems at some schools. Asked where the blame lies for graduation rates at public four-year -year colleges, 7 in 10 said students shouldered either a great deal or a lot of it, and 45 percent felt that way about parents. Between about a quarter and a third blamed college administrators, professors, teachers, unions, state education officials and federal education officials."

6. The Highest-Paid College Football Coaches - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/09/the-highest-paid-college-football-coaches_n_794387.html#s202436

"Below, see the 13 highest-paid football coaches based on their total compensation (some coaches are afforded lucrative maximum bonuses, which can increase their salary package by hundreds of thousands of dollars.) Check out USA Today for the full list."

7. Virginia Tech Violated Clery Act In 2007 Mass Shooting, by Dena Potter - http://huff.to/i6f6fn Huffpost

"Virginia Tech's failure to issue timely warnings about the serious and ongoing threat deprived its students and employees of vital, time-sensitive information and denied them the opportunity to take adequate steps to provide for their own safety," the report stated."

8. Poverty affected U.S. PISA scores, by Stephen Krashen - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/research/how-poverty-affected-us-pisa-s.html

"But data available now tells us that poverty, as usual, had a huge impact on PISA reading test scores for American students. American students in schools with less than 10% of students on free and reduced lunch averaged 551, higher than the overall average of any OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] country. Those in schools with 10% to 25% of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch averaged 527, which was behind only Korea and Finland. In contrast, American students in schools with 75% or more of children in poverty averaged 446, second to last among the 34 OECD countries."

9. Key Senator Raises Concerns on Veterans' Benefits to For-Profit Colleges, by Kelly Field -http://chronicle.com/article/Harkin-Questions-Flow-of/125677/

"According to the report, one reason for-profit colleges focus on veterans and service members is because their tuition benefits can count as a nonfederal source of money, helping the colleges remain eligible for other sources of student aid. Over the past five years, veteran and military tuition benefits flowing to 20 of the largest for-profit colleges grew about 700 percent, from $66.6-million in 2006 to a projected $521.2-million in 2010, says the report.
In the conference call, Mr. Harkin said it "makes no sense" that tuition benefits aren't counted toward the federal share of the 90-10 formula."

10. U. of Phoenix Gives Students’ Academic Progress - http://chronicle.com/blogs/measuring/u-of-phoenix-reports-on-students-academic-progress/27584

"In 2009, the proportion of Phoenix students completing an associate degree within three years of enrolling was 23 percent, down from 26 percent the year before. Among bachelor’s degree students, the six-year completion rate was 34 percent, versus 36 percent the previous year."

11. Jonathan Curtiss, Boise State U., as told to Beckie Supiano - http://chronicle.com/article/Say-Something-A-Students/125656/

In this video, hear from a student about his decision--including the role his church played--to leave South Central L.A. to attend Boise State U.

12. Urban Education: The State of Urban Schooling at the Start of 21st Century, by Martin Haberman - http://www.educationnews.org/ed_reports/104105.html

"Since 1962 the achievement gap between disadvantaged populations and more affluent ones has widened. At one extreme urban school districts graduate half or fewer of their students. (Arbanas, 2001) At the other extreme 11% of American students are now among the top 10 percent of world achievers. “If you’re in the top economic quarter of the population, your children have a 76% chance of getting through college and graduating by age 24. . . . If you’re in the bottom quarter, however, the figure is 4 %.” (Loeb, 1999) White students’ achievement in reading, math and science ranks 2nd, 7th and 4th when compared with students worldwide. Black and Hispanic students however rank 26, 27th and 27th on these basic skills. (Bracey, 2002)

13. Half of pupils on free school meals can't read, by Richard Garner - Education News, Education - The Independent http://ind.pn/hDuf6u

"These figures reveal that our education system is letting down half of all 10 and 11-year-old boys who qualify for free school meals," said Schools minister Nick Gibb."

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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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1. Analyzing salaries for Football Bowl Subdivision coaches http://usat.ly/22JgPq

‎"USA TODAY obtained at least some information on all but nine schools, most of which are private. Four public schools did not provide contracts; 17 did not provide the NCAA-mandated outside income report, which covers athletically related income the coach receives from non-university sources (e.g. support organization, apparel contracts). Schools that provided contract information were given the opportunity to review their figures. A not available (NA) in the chart denotes schools that are private or did not release the information or schools whose coaches are new and had not filed an outside income report."

2. Encouraging Deep Learning - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/bEGCoi

"The authors of this year’s survey argue that the percentages of students who reported that they engaged “often or very often” in “deep learning” activities indicate that community colleges must do a better job of promoting them in the classroom if they hope to boost student performance. Only 43 percent of students reported that they “included diverse perspectives (different races, religions, genders, political beliefs, etc.) in class discussions.” Forty-five percent noted they “learned something that changed [their] viewpoint about an issue or concept.” Fifty-six percent stated that they “put together ideas or concepts from different courses when completing assignments or during class discussions” and “examined the strengths or weaknesses of [their] own views on a topic or issue.” Finally, only 57 percent reported that they “tried to better understand someone else’s view by imagining how an issue looks from his or her perspective."

3. Executives Collect $2 Billion at For-Profit Colleges http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=am_MEK7XWQr0

"Strayer Education Inc., a chain of for-profit colleges that receives three-quarters of its revenue from U.S. taxpayers, paid Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Silberman $41.9 million last year. That’s 26 times the compensation of the highest-paid president of a traditional university. Top executives at the 15 U.S. publicly traded for-profit colleges, led by Apollo Group Inc. and Education Management Corp., also received $2 billion during the last seven years from the proceeds of selling company stock, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show. At the same time, the industry registered the worst loan-default and four-year-college dropout rates in U.S. higher education. Since 2003, nine for-profit college insiders sold more than $45 million of stock apiece. Peter Sperling, vice chairman of Apollo’s University of Phoenix, the largest for-profit college, collected $574.3 million. Education corporations, which receive as much as 90 percent of their revenue from federal financial-aid programs, are “private enterprise that’s almost entirely publicly funded,” Henry Levin, director of Columbia University’s National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, said in a telephone interview."

4. 10 Issues Affecting Student Veterans - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/11/10-issues-affecting-stude_n_782049.html#s177524

"For a veteran, making the transition from military life to college life can be especially difficult. Beyond the stresses of the classroom, veterans must cope with a host of other issues, from anxiety disorders to simply feeling like they fit in. The Washington Post offers a list of what colleges can do to better support their student veterans -- and below, we outline ten issues affecting the men and women who've gone from the service to campus."

5. Some simple rules for managing student loans, by Michelle Singletary - http://t.co/fYPPSVQ via @washingtonpost

"For years, I've written, talked and generally fussed about the way people handle their money. Yet it never - and I mean never - ceases to amaze me how people borrow money with so little understanding about how much they owe and how long it will take to pay it back. And the worst are borrowers who take out loans for college. So what should you do if your grace period is coming to an end this month? Here are some suggestions from the Project on Student Debt, an initiative of the Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit independent research and policy organization. You can find all 10 of its tips at http://bit.ly/avNe7V:"

6. Thousands Of UK Students Protest Tuition Fees Hike - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/10/thousands-of-uk-students-_n_781493.html#s179091

‎"Organizers said 50,000 students, lecturers and supporters demonstrated against plans to raise the cost of studying at a university to 9,000 pounds ($14,000) a year – three times the current rate – in the largest street protest yet against the government's sweeping austerity measures."

7. Is Any University President Worth $42 Million Dollars? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/uDePJNY

‎"According to Bloomberg, that’s what Robert Silberman, the chair and chief executive officer of Strayer Education Inc., a chain of for-profit colleges, pocketed last year.The for-profit colleges that Silberman oversees enroll roughly 54,000 students, which is the same number of students as Ohio State University. Gordon Gee, Ohio State’s president, whom Time Magazine named one of the nation’s 10 best college president in 2009, is the highest paid president of any public university. Gee’s salary and compensation exceeds $1 million.$114,794-a-Day Pay???Silberman’s pay is about 42 times greater than Ohio State’s president. I’m not sure what’s more galling, Silberman’s $114,794-a-day compensation last year or the fact that he must surely believe that he deserves the money."

8. High School Teachers Don't Think Students Are College Ready, by Caralee Adams - http://t.co/IVJolVl via @educationweek

While just 31 percent of high school teachers think their graduating seniors are prepared for college, 68 percent of current college students say they were prepared for college coursework during their first year. Still, about 28 percent of students surveyed had to take remedial classes to get up to speed. Other sources, such as the College Board, put that number as high as 40 percent.What then should high schools do to get students on a solid footing for college careers? Teachers want more data to help them better measure how well their students do in college so they can adjust coursework accordingly."

9. University Giving Falls, With No Rebound in Sight, by Geraldine Fabrikant - http://nyti.ms/9QBjqd

"But in 2009, giving to 1,027 universities and colleges plummeted 11.9 percent, to $27.85 billion, according to data compiled by the Council for Aid to Education, the greatest single annual decline since the Depression. Fund-raising advisers and experts anticipate a slow recovery. Indicators are that overall giving for fiscal 2010 may be flat; data for the year, which generally ended June 30, is not available yet. A handful of institutions have already released their numbers. At Harvard, for example, giving was down 1 percent, to $596 million, and Yale also had a slight decline. Chicago was up 1 percent, and for the University of Texas, Austin, giving rose more than 3 percent."

10. Community Colleges Must Focus on Quality of Learning, Report Says, by Sara Lipka - http://chronicle.com/article/Community-Colleges-Must-Focus/125344/

"Community-college students also do not use support services to the extent they may need to, the report says. Nineteen percent of entering students were unaware that their college had an orientation program, and 26 percent didn't know about financial-aid advising, according to the report. Seventy percent were familiar with writing, math, or other skill labs, and 72 percent knew about academic advising, but 65 percent and 47 percent, respectively, never used those services. Many of those students drop out of college. According to the report, only 28 percent of first-time, full-time students seeking an associate degree finished a certificate or a degree within three years. After six years, still fewer than half (45 percent) of students who enrolled in community college to earn a certificate or degree had met that goal."

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1. When Listing Extracurricular Activities, No Need To Fill All Blanks, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/bqSxIL

"Here’s how Monica C. Inzer, the dean of admissions at Hamilton College in New York and a member of the Common Application board, put it: We’d rather see depth than a longer list. I think students think we want well-rounded kids. We do. But we really want a well-rounded class. That could be lots of people who have individual strengths. Distinction in one area is good, and better than doing a lot of little things."

2. The Rise of the 'Edupunk' - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/9azAXt

“We're still trying to fit the Web into our educational paradigm. I just don't think that's going to work,” said Mary Spilde, president of Lane Community College, in Eugene, Ore. Today's students are “pretty bored with what we do,” she added. In a notable acknowledgment of the tail wagging the dog, several panelists alluded here to the possibility that if colleges don't change the way they do business, then students will change the way colleges do business.College leaders don't yet know how to credential the knowledge students are gaining on their own, but they may soon have to, said Mark David Milliron, deputy director for postsecondary improvement at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We are not far from the day when a student, finding unsatisfactory reviews of a faculty member on ratemyprofessors.com, will choose to take a class through open courseware online and then ask his home institution to assess him, Milliron said. Colleges need to prepare for that reality, he said."

3. When Social Media Is Irrelevant - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/bW8sTL

"In an admittedly limited study of 65 students (mostly from graduate programs) -- presented Thursday to a packed room here at the Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning -- university officials discovered that the students cared mainly that their instructors clearly communicated the expectations and requirements for a class and responded in a timely manner to their questions. They cared less about getting to know their classmates, looking at instructor profiles, having real-time chat sessions, and simulating face-to-face communication with video. Also, students who had previous experience learning online were more likely to be relatively indifferent toward social intimacy with their instructors and classmates. The notion that “social presence” might help with retention in online programs has prompted vendors to infuse their online learning platforms with more social media tools, particularly synchronous text- and video-chat features."

4. Veterans who go back to school want more support, by Jenna Johnson - http://t.co/XTPoFI4

"Researchers with the National Survey of Student Engagement interviewed nearly 11,000 student veterans who were first-year students or seniors at four-year schools. The veterans reported interacting less with their instructors than did classmates who had not enlisted, and they were less likely to partake in educational opportunities such as internships or study abroad. The Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research produces the survey each year to measure how students and faculty interact and learn. The latest, results of which will be released Thursday, found that colleges should "seek ways to more effectively engage student veterans in effective educational practices and provide them with the supportive environments that promote success."

5. Banks Spend $83 Million to Promote Student Credit Card Use, by Scott Gamm http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-gamm/banks-spend-83-million-to_b_778709.html

‎"According to a new report released by the Fed, credit card issuers paid a whopping $83,462,712 to colleges, universities and institutions of higher education to promote student credit cards. As a result of this $83 million+ spent, credit card issuers gained an extra 53,164 college credit card accounts in 2009. Let me get this straight: $83 million was spent to encourage college students to open up credit card accounts, which allow students to spend beyond their means and rack up huge amounts of credit card debt (the average per student is over $4,100, according to Sallie Mae). You may think that college students use credit cards for books and groceries. But when 50% of college students have 4 credit cards or more, according to Sallie Mae, it's hard to believe that only necessities are being charged on their credit cards! Irresponsible credit card use in college will not only ruin the credit score of students, but it will instill poor spending habits for years to come."

6. College Applications Continue to Increase. When Is Enough Enough? by Eric Hoover - http://nyti.ms/dARwf9

"For this fall’s freshman class, the statistics reached remarkable levels. Stanford received a record 32,022 applications from students it called “simply amazing,” and accepted 7 percent of them. Brown saw an unprecedented 30,135 applicants, who left the admissions staff “deeply impressed and at times awed.” Nine percent were admitted. The biggest boast came from the University of California, Los Angeles. In a news release, U.C.L.A. said its accepted students had “demonstrated excellence in all aspects of their lives.” Citing its record 57,670 applications, the university proclaimed itself “the most popular campus in the nation.”

7. Education Department to Review U. of Phoenix’s Federal Student Aid http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/education-dept-to-review-u-of-phoenixs-federal-student-aid/28111

"Phoenix, like many for-profit colleges, relies heavily on federal student aid, and its prediction last month that by 2011 such aid would exceed 90 percent of its revenue—breaking a federal threshold—helped send the company’s stock price into a tailspin. According to recently released data from the department, last year Phoenix took in $1-billion in federal Pell Grants, the first institution, for-profit or otherwise, to receive that much."

8. NCAA Puts U. of Michigan on Probation for Rules Violations in Football Program

http://chronicle.com/blogs/players/ncaa-puts-u-of-michigan-on-probation-for-rules-violations-in-football-program/27703

"The Division I Committee on Infractions announced its decision in the closely watched case Thursday afternoon, when it released a 29-page report detailing the allegations—and sanctions—against head coach Rich Rodriguez’s football program. In addition to placing the institution on probation, the committee also upheld Michigan’s self-imposed penalty that would reduce the amount of practice time allotted to its football team through the end of the 2011-12 academic year. In the report, the NCAA faulted Rodriguez for allowing his program to run afoul of the association’s rules in several areas, including the number of coaches he had on staff and the amount of practice time athletes were required take part in. The NCAA also said the head coach—as well as the athletic department at large—failed to monitor the football program, and directed Rodriguez to participate in an upcoming seminar about NCAA rules."

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