390. 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. Charter schools: Wave of the future? by Steve Kastenbaum – Schools of Thought - http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/15/charter-schools-wave-of-the-future/ via CNN - "The Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University studied charter school performance in 16 states. Researchers concluded that 17% of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools. But 37% of charter schools performed at rates below their public school counterparts. The remaining 46% showed no significant difference. The Rand Corp., a nonprofit research foundation, looked at charter schools in eight states and found that, on average, charter schools as a whole aren't producing results that differ substantially from traditional public school systems. However, the study showed that students at charter high schools are between 7% and 15% more likely to graduate than their traditional public school counterparts."

3. eCheating: Students using high-tech tricks, by Greg Toppo – http://usat.ly/urySpd via @USATODAY - "Common Sense Media, a non-profit advocacy group, finds that more than 35% of teens ages 13 to 17 with cellphones have used the devices to cheat. More than half (52%) admit to some form of cheating involving the Internet, and many don't consider it a big deal. For instance, only 41% say storing notes on a cellphone to access during a test is a "serious offense." Nearly one in four (23%) don't think it's cheating at all."

4. You've Got Application Questions? We'll Have Answers, on Facebook, by Jacques Steinberg and Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/vL2LEv - "We invite applicants who might be finishing their applications — or seeking to make sense of their early application news — to log on and draw on the expertise of these three counselors."

5. Budget compromise would preserve maximum Pell grant, NIH funding, by Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/tsdSWi via AddThis - "The bill, HR 3671, draws from ideas put forward in Republican and Democratic spending plans earlier this year: it would preserve the maximum Pell Grant at $5,550, but change the program’s eligibility criteria, making as many as 100,000 of its 9 million recipients ineligible. The grants could be used for a total of 12 semesters, not 18, as in the past -- a change that would affect an estimated 62,000 beneficiaries and take effect July 1, 2012."

6. 9 States Win Race to Top Early Learning Grants, by Michele McNeil - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/12/states_win_race_to_top_early_l.html via @educationweek - "Nine states will share $500 million in Race to the Top early learning grants, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed this morning. They are: California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Washington. They will get grants ranging from $50 million to $100 million, based on the state's student population. "Investing in early learning is one of the smartest things we can do," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said during the White House announcement of the winners this morning."

7. Ohio's Race to the Top: Early Learning Challenge Grant Application for Initial Funding - http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge/applications/ohio.pdf -"Nearly 75% of high-needs children in Ohio enter school without the skills they need to succeed in kindergarten."

8. Outsourced city school tutoring program deeply flawed, report says, by Fern Shen Baltimore Brew http://bit.ly/oJZNNL - “This is a classic case of outsourcing a vital education program to private contractors without adequate public monitoring and regulation,” Jacobson told The Brew today. “Therefore, no one knows if tutored students are making academic improvement, even though the federal law states improving academic achievement as the program’s purpose.”

9. What research exposed about market-based ed reform in 2011, by Matthew Di Carlo - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-research-exposed-about-market-based-ed-reform-in-2011/2011/12/14/gIQAOJ3zwO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "There were also several studies taking a look at the effects of the so-called “no excuses” model (most famously used by KIPP), which is generally characterized by an extended day/year, intensive tutoring, stepped-up recruitment and performance pay of teachers and administrators, strict discipline and data-informed instruction via interim assessments. Perhaps most notably, we received the first round of results on a pilot program in Houston, in which 20 regular public schools are being “converted” to the “no excuses” model. The preliminary results for the Houston intervention’s first year were, however, mixed. There were no discernible gains in reading, to go along with strong increases in math achievement, which seemed to be in no small part driven by the schools’ tutoring program (further discussion here)."

10. The 10 lowest college graduation rates in D.C., Md. and Va., by Daniel de Vise - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/the-10-lowest-college-graduation-rates-in-dc-md-and-va/2011/12/13/gIQAnfSVsO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - “Show me a city with a high-school dropout factory and I will show you a college in the same city with an even lower graduation rate,” said Kevin Carey, an Education Sector researcher who has studied graduation rates at length. “Apparently there’s no number so low that it automatically triggers loss of accreditation. There’s no number so low that it causes state leaders to consider shutting an institution down.”

11. College Dropout Factories by Ben Miller and Phuong Ly Washington Monthlyhttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/feature/college_dropout_factories.php?page=all - "But the term “dropout factory” is also applicable to colleges. The Washington Monthly and Education Sector, an independent think tank, looked at the 15 percent of colleges and universities with the worst graduation records—about 200 schools in all—and found that the graduation rate at these schools is 26 percent. (See the table at left for a listing of the fifty colleges and universities with the worst graduation rates.) America’s “college dropout factories,” in other words, are twice as bad at graduating their students as the worst high schools are at graduating theirs."

389. 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. Diploma Rates Far Short of Goal, Report Says, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/tlKr21 - "From 2000 to 2009, the report noted, the percentage of adults with associate degrees or higher increased by just 3 percent. If that pace holds steady, by 2025 the United States will fall nine percentage points below the president’s goal, with 46 percent of adults holding college degrees. . . . The report also highlighted differences in completion rates by race, noting that while around 40 percent of all young Americans hold college degrees, nearly 70 percent of Asian-Americans do, compared with 49 percent of white young adults, 19 percent of Hispanic young adults and 29 percent of African-American young adults."

3. For-profits should get ahead of accountability push, experts say, by Paul Fain Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/rBPRxL via @AddThis - “They’re going to run you out of town anyway,” said Smith, who is senior vice president of academic strategies and development for Kaplan Higher Education. “Get in front and make it look like a parade.”

4. AYP Results for 2010-11 - http://www.cep-dc.org/ - "This report updates previous CEP research with data from the 2010-11 school year on the number of schools not making adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The estimated percentage of all U.S. schools not making AYP was 48% in 2011, an all-time high and an increase from 39% in 2010."

5. What Is College For? by Gary Gutting: http://nyti.ms/rGzWtl - "Most American college students are wrapping up yet another semester this week. For many of them, and their families, the past months or years in school have likely involved considerable time, commitment, effort and expense. Was it worth it?"

6. Our Universities: Why Are They Failing? by Anthony Grafton - http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/nov/24/our-universities-why-are-they-failing/?pagination=false - "Fewer than 70 percent of high school students graduate. Just over 70 percent of those graduates will enter some form of postsecondary education. But barely more than half of those who start BA programs will finish them in six years, and only 30 percent of those who start community college will win an associate degree in three years. After that point, most people don’t manage to graduate."

7. Education Secretary Overstated Failing Schools Under No Child Left Behind, Study Says, by Sam Dillon: http://nyti.ms/ugOmVJ - "Now a new study, scheduled for release on Thursday, says the administration’s numbers were wildly overstated. The study, by the Center on Education Policy, a Washington research group headed by a Democratic lawyer who endorses most of the administration’s education policies, says that 48 percent of the nation’s 100,000 public schools were labeled as failing under the law this year."

8. ‘Moneyball’ Meets Education, Part 2: Colleges Pool Data to Prevent Dropouts, by Marc Parry - http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/moneyball-meets-education-part-ii-colleges-pool-data-to-prevent-dropouts/34681 - "But what if you could perform that kind of predictive analysis based on student information and course records from many colleges, not just one? That’s the idea behind an ambitious project that is pooling more than 640,000 student records from six different institutions. Led by WCET, a group that promotes technology in higher education, the project aims to answer three main questions. What factors make some students drop out? What keeps others in college? What demographics make a difference?"

9. Boomers heading back to community colleges, by Matthew Daneman – http://usat.ly/vZMU22 via @USATODAY - "An increasing number of people ages 50 and up are headed to community college — 388,000 were enrolled nationwide in fall 2009, the most recent data available from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). That was up 6% from 2007 and more than 12% from 2005. Nationwide, people over the age of 50 typically make up between 5%-6% of community college enrollment, according to AACC figures."

10. George W. Bush Looks Forward After No Child Left Behind, by Andrew J. Rotherham - http://ti.me/sS7ErX via @TIMEIdeas - "The education debate about George W. Bush is loaded with irony. The same President who is attacked by the left for pushing through tax cuts that benefited the wealthy is being assailed by the right for education policies that focus on disadvantaged students allegedly at the expense of high-achieving ones. But Bush remains steadfast. He considers No Child Left Behind a piece of civil rights legislation, and while his party is running from his education record, some education leaders are starting to run toward his institute and its work."

11. Why strong afterschool programs matter to school reform, by Jodi Grant -http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/why-strong-afterschool-programs-matter/2011/12/14/gIQAvtUpuO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_tw - "Afterschool programs have long known that they can embrace the hours between the time school closes and parents return from work to provide children, especially those who don’t have access to other activities, with exciting, engaging experiences that will help them learn academic, social and professional skills. The research is clear: children in quality afterschool programs are more likely to come to school and stay in school, more likely to hand in their work and get better grades."

377. 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. Whatever happened to…Nancy Guarneros, undocumented student, DREAM Act hopeful? By Thelma Gutierrez – http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/25/whatever-happened-to-nancy-guarneros-undocumented-student-dream-act-hopeful/ via CNN - "Currently, undocumented students cannot apply for student financial aid and they can’t legally work – so unless they can come up with tuition on their own, many are forced to give up their academic aspirations."

3. The Fallout Over Syracuse's Abuse Scandal, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/sbL9lV - "The events again raise the question: What should applicants think? Syracuse’s basketball team and its N.C.A.A. tournament record are points of pride for many students. The school’s strong sports culture has surely served as a draw for some applicants. Will some now see it as a liability?"

4. Report suggests approach to improving graduation rates, by Kaustuv Basu Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/rOwyBk via AddThis - "Only 32.9 percent of men earn a degree in four years, while the percentage for women is 43.8. The gap shrinks to 5.5 percentage points at the end of the sixth year. First-generation college students earn a degree at the rate of 27.4 percent after four years, while students whose parents have college degrees have a graduation rate of 42.1 percent. Asian American and white students had the highest four-year graduation rates, at 44.9 percent and 42.6 percent respectively. Degree-attainment rates remain is the highest at private universities; the lowest numbers come from public four-year colleges."

5. 6 reasons to invest in a 529 plan today, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57331762/6-reasons-to-invest-in-a-529-plan-today/?tag=mncol;lst;9 - "Are you wondering whether it's a good time to open up a college 529 savings account? One of the nation's foremost 529 plan experts says the answer is a resounding Y-E-S. Joseph Hurley, the founder of SavingforCollege.com, says there are a number of timely reasons why families shouldn't dawdle in opening a 529 plan. Here are six great reasons to consider acting now."

6. Middle Schoolers Getting Prepped for College, by Nora Fleming - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/29/13middle_ep.h31.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW via @educationweek - "ACT researchers found in 2008 that the academic level students achieve by 8th grade has a bigger impact on college and career readiness and success than anything that happens academically in high school."

7. College Bound: Report Sheds Light on Factors Influencing College Graduation, by Caralee Adams - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/college_bound/2011/11/report_sheds_light_on_who_is_graduating_from_college.html via @educationweek - "There are distinct racial disparities in completion. Asian-Americans had the highest four-year graduation rates at 44.9 percent, followed by whites, 42.6 percent; Latinos, 25.8 percent; African-Americans, 21 percent; and American Indians, 16.8 percent."

8. At Top Colleges, Anti-Wall St. Fervor Complicates Recruiting, by Kevin Roose: http://nyti.ms/tvpf3m - "Banks and hedge funds have long wooed undergraduates from elite colleges with lavish dinners, personalized e-mails and free trips to New York for interviews. It’s all part of an annual courtship ritual known as on-campus recruiting. But this fall, the antibank animus of the Occupy Wall Street movement has seeped onto college campuses. At some schools, anger at big banks has turned the on-campus recruiting process into a crucible of controversy."

9. Secretary of Education Urges Colleges to Rein In Costs, by Kelly Field -http://chronicle.com/article/Secretary-of-Education-Urges/129912/ - "The department is billing the speech as the start of a "national conversation" on college costs."

10. Graduation Rates Can Be Predicted More Precisely by Examining Student Characteristics, Report Says, by Jennifer Gonzalez - http://chronicle.com/article/Graduation-Rates-Can-Be/129914/ - "Many colleges now use basic student information such as race and ethnicity, gender, high-school grade-point average, and SAT and ACT scores to project an expected graduation rate. By considering other, more-personal characteristics, such as how students rate their emotional health, whether they are the first in their family to attend college, and whether they anticipate having to work full time while enrolled, an institution can increase the accuracy of its four-year graduation-rate prediction by 66 percent, its five-year rate by 54 percent, and its six-year rate by 53 percent, says the report."

11. It's time to fight unemployment the old-fashioned way, says Elaine Chao http://ti.me/syS2bn via @TIMEIdeas - "One of the lessons all ages should take away from this era — and one which parents and grandparents should drill into children balking at homework or at going back to school — is that education is the best protection against ruin in hard times. Those with higher educations certainly have not been invulnerable to harm in this recession, many are underemployed and unemployed, but they always have been in the best position to survive and thrive."

12. Common Core standards pose dilemmas for early childhood, by Samuel J. Meisels - The Answer Sheet - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/common-core-standards-pose-dilemmas-for-early-childhood/2011/11/28/gIQAPs1X6N_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "But early childhood education — concerned with children from birth to the end of third grade — seems nearly an afterthought in the standards. Not only do they end (or begin) at kindergarten, ignoring more than half of the early childhood age range, they simply don’t fit what we know about young children’s learning and development."

371. 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 6: Answers to Your Questions on Student Loans and Scholarships, by Mark Kantrowitz: http://nyti.ms/smnRyj - "How do you pay for college when you don’t qualify for need-based aid, all in-state schools have rejected your student, and the only opening is an out-of-state public school with $30,000-plus/year in expenses? Are loans the only option?"

3. Last of 7 Parts: Answers to Your Questions on Student Loans and Scholarships, by Mark Kantrowitz: http://nyti.ms/voeFJ9 - "There are several billion dollars of scholarships that are based primarily on merit. A few of these scholarships have a financial need component, but most do not. However, these scholarships are very competitive, with only about one in eight students in bachelor’s degree programs using scholarships to pay for their education. Scholarships are part of the plan for paying for college, but not the entire plan. Very few students win enough money each year to cover all college costs."

4. Report from higher education research group's annual meeting, by Doug Lederman Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/uWYNOp via AddThis - "Jez told that story with data, showing that for-profit colleges enroll more Californians than all sectors other than community colleges (at 380,000 students, far less than the California Community Colleges’ 970,000 but more than third-place California State University at 332,000), greater proportions of black and Latino students than any other sector, and greater proportions of Pell Grant-eligible students than any sector but (surprisingly) private nonprofit colleges."

5. Business majors: College's worst slackers? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57326939/business-majors-colleges-worst-slackers/?tag=mncol;lst;8 - "Business majors, according to the survey, studied the least among college students. The average business student studied just 14 hours a week. In contrast, engineering students, the hardest workers on college campuses, studied 19 hours a week."

6. Let’s Get Ready Offers Help for College Admissions, by Michael Winerip: http://nyti.ms/uWw5XV - "So Nathaly found a free program that helps low-income teenagers throughout the Northeast work the system too, called Let’s Get Ready. Students are given help filling out college applications, writing essays, practicing interviews and preparing for the SAT."

7. How About Better Parents? by Thomas L. Friedman: http://nyti.ms/rpSy63 - "There’s no question that a great teacher can make a huge difference in a student’s achievement, and we need to recruit, train and reward more such teachers. But here’s what some new studies are also showing: We need better parents. Parents more focused on their children’s education can also make a huge difference in a student’s achievement."

8. PISA In Focus 10: What can parents do to help their children succeed in school? - http://www.pisa.oecd.org/dataoecd/4/1/49012097.pdf - "Students whose parents reported that they had read a book with their child “every day or almost every day” or “once or twice a week” during the first year of primary school have markedly higher scores in PISA 2009 than students whose parents reported that they had read a book with their child “never or almost never” or only “once or twice a month”.

9. Colleges' Data on Student Learning Remain Largely Inaccessible, Report Says,by Collin Eaton - http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Data-on-Student/129853/ - "Often, the report says, colleges and universities don't provide easily digestible information about student learning that prospective students and parents can understand and use to make their college choices. Student learning measures might consist of course grades, course evaluations, surveys, and interviews, says the report."

10. College graduation rates: Income really matters, by Tami Luhby - http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/21/news/economy/income_college/ via CNNMoney.com - "Some 54% of students from wealthy families obtained bachelor's degrees, said Martha Bailey, an assistant economics professor at the University of Michigan. But only 9% of low-income students got college diplomas."

353. 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. Obama to offer help for students buried in debt, by Jennifer Liberto - http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/25/news/economy/Obama_student_loan/ via CNNMoney.com - "One of the proposals would push up the start date for more favorable terms on a special loan repayment program based on income, said White House domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes. Another measure would encourage graduates with two or more different kinds of federal loans to consolidate them and get a small break on interest rates. . . . Average student loan debt for the graduating class of 2009 at four-year nonprofit colleges was $24,000, including all private and federal loans, according to the Institute for College Access & Success."

2. See how much debt college will really put you in, by Blake Ellis - http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/26/pf/college_financial_aid/ via @CNNMoney - "Figuring out how much college is going to cost you is about to get much easier.At least that's what the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Education are hoping to do with a one-page "financial aid shopping sheet." The sheet will clearly break down the amount of aid a student will qualify for at a particular college, as well as how much debt they will end up with once they graduate."

3. College costs climb, yet again, by Kim Clark - http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/26/pf/college/college_tuition_cost/ via @CNNMoney - "The sticker price of studying and living on campus at the average public university rose 5.4% for in-state students, or about $1,100, to $21,447 this fall, the College Board estimated. . . . The sticker price of living and studying for a year at a typical private college rose 4.3% to $42,224 this year."

4. Tuition and fees rise more than 8% at U.S. public colleges, by Mary Beth Marklein – http://usat.ly/tL8dPk via @USATODAY - "That increase is more than double the inflation rate of 3.6% between July 2010 and July 2011. Family earnings dropped across all income levels. And state funding per student declined by 4% in 2010, the latest year available, and 23% over the past decade, the report says."

5. Obama proposes changes to student loan programs, by Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vkz5l3 via AddThis - "The majority of borrowers affected will be students who borrowed money under both the Federal Family Education Loan Program, when banks issued federal student loans and collected government subsidies, and the Direct Loan Program, under which the federal government lends money directly to students.The government began originating all loans through direct lending in 2010, when a provision to eliminate bank-based student lending was included in the administration’s health care overhaul. But many students who were enrolled at the time of the change have loans in both programs, meaning they make two payments."

6. Reports find student aid shift from states to federal government, by Kevin Kiley Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/tkwJXL via @AddThis - "Sandy Baum, a policy analyst for the College Board and co-author of the reports, said the federal government is stepping in to fill a financial void created by states' decreased ability and willingness to fund public colleges and universities. “In a way, the burden of paying for higher education is shifting from the states to the federal government,” she said."

7. NCAA data show more athletes graduating from college, by Allie Grasgreen Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/tHDuCL via @AddThis - "The two sports of greatest concern are also the ones that bring in the most money. While the football and men’s basketball graduation success rates this year either rose slightly or stayed steady, the rates are still significantly lower than the overall NCAA average of 82 percent. Male basketball players are graduating at a rate two points higher this year, at 68 percent, while the football GSR dropped 0.6 points to 68.6 percent."

8. Solving the Nation's Dropout Crisis, by Russell W. Rumberger, Education Week - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/26/09rumberger_ep.h31.html - "Past efforts to solve the nation’s dropout crisis have largely been unsuccessful. Government agencies and private foundations have collectively invested billions of dollars in dropout-prevention programs, comprehensive school reform models, and new charter schools. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation alone invested more than $2 billion in small high schools, yet research has identified few effective models. In a 2008 review of 22 dropout-prevention programs, the federal government’s What Works Clearinghouse did not find a single program proven to raise high school graduation rates, which is stunning."

9. Hechinger Report Companies, nonprofits making millions off teacher effectiveness push, by Sarah Garland: http://hechingerreport.org/content/companies-nonprofits-making-millions-off-teacher-effectiveness-push_6582/#.TqgVLnjBHSY.twitter via AddThis - "New education reforms often translate into big money for private groups. Following the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, states paid millions of dollars annually to companies to develop and administer the standardized tests required under the law. Companies also cashed in on a provision mandating tutoring for students at struggling schools. . . . In Florida, the state paid Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a for-profit textbook publisher, $4.8 million to develop classroom observation methods and nearly $4 million to the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit, to create a value-added model for grading teachers based on student test scores, according to state officials."

10. Irish Student-Athletes Again Rank Number One In 2011 NCAA Graduation Success Rates - UND.COM - Univ - http://www.und.com/genrel/102511aaa.html

11. Post Your Questions on the New Student Loan Developments, by Ron Lieber: http://nyti.ms/rGFakB - "On Wednesday, President Obama plans to announce a number of changes in the federal student loan program. The initiatives will allow people to consolidate federal loans in new ways and also make the repayment program that is based on borrowers’ incomes more generous. The White House has outlined some of the changes on its Web site. What questions do you have about how all of this will work?"

12. Counseling Parents, With Some Help From a New Calculator, by Beckie Supiano -http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/counseling-parents-with-some-help-from-a-new-calculator/29091 - "When prospective students visit campus, Mr. Gudvangen has found that most of the questions about paying the bill come from parents, since they’re the ones who understand the family’s financial position. “This is an odd time in families’ lives,” he says. “At some point, students probably need to know these things, but they probably don’t as high-school seniors.”

13. Rise in Sticker Price at Public Colleges Outpaces That at Private Colleges for 5th Year in a Row, by Beckie Supiano - http://chronicle.com/article/Rise-in-Sticker-Price-at/129532/ - "For the fifth year in a row, the percentage increase in average published tuition and fees at public four-year colleges was higher than it was at private ones, according to the report, "Trends in College Pricing 2011." The report, released on Wednesday, examines annual changes in colleges' sticker prices, as well as the net prices students pay after grant aid and tax benefits are considered. A companion report, "Trends in Student Aid 2011," looks at the money that helps students meet those growing prices. (The pricing report looks at data through this academic year, while the student-aid report has information through 2010-11.)"

14. Institutions Charging More Than $50K for Tuition, Fees, Room, and Board -http://chronicle.com/article/Sortable-Table-Institutions/129527/ - "The 50K club is getting crowded: 123 institutions now charge $50,000 or more for tuition, fees, room, and board, according to data released by the College Board. That's up from last year, when 100 colleges and universities charged that much.Here are the institutions charging $50,000 or more:"

15. College Prices Up as States Slash Budgets, by Justin Pope - http://ti.me/uvSV9C via Time.com - "The states cut budgets, the price goes up, and the (federal) money goes to that," said Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. "For 25 years we've been putting more and more money into financial aid, and tuition keeps going up. We're on a national treadmill."

16. Ravitch: ditch NCLB, not tinker with it -http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ravitch-congress-should-ditch-nclb-not-tinker-with-it/2011/10/25/gIQAtgkmHM_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost -

"The federal government does not know how to reform schools. Period. Congress doesn’t, and the U.S. Department of Education doesn’t. The fundamental role of the federal government should be to advance equality of educational opportunity. That’s a tall order. Congress should revive the commitments made in 1965, when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed: To use federal resources on behalf of the neediest students; to protect the civil rights of students; to conduct research about education; to report on the condition and progress of American education."

336. 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. AT WHAT COST: Pursuing athletic scholarships is expensive for families http://t.co/OhNiGNTc via @reviewjournal - "It doesn't pay for most families chasing the dream of an athletic scholarship. . . . "I marvel at the money parents spend over the years in the pursuit of athletic scholarships," says Beth Walker, a former college volleyball player at Kansas and now owner of College Funding Coaches. . . . "For most athletes, if they can get even 25 percent of their tuition paid, that's huge. But many of these families are sure they have the next Division I superstar and there are full scholarships coming. I don't know what they're smoking. They're not coming from a place of reality. It's scary."

2. Long Island SAT Fraud Prompts Wider Investigations, by Rebecca R. Ruiz - http://nyti.ms/rrmgXy - "When the Educational Testing Service, the company that administers the test, detects irregularities, it simply notifies the affected students that their scores are being withdrawn. Neither colleges nor high schools are ever alerted that cheating was suspected.
That happens about .04 percent of the time, Ms. Anderson reports, with about 1,000 scores being withdrawn each year out of 2.25 million. Nearly all of those withdrawals – 99 percent of them – are due to one test-taker having copied off of another."

3. Public Schools Also Lose When Online Students Fail, by Burt Hubbard and Nancy Mitchell - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/03/06enc_online.h31.html via @educationweek - "Colorado taxpayers will spend $100 million this year on online schools that are largely failing their elementary and high school students, state education records and interviews with school officials show. The money includes millions in tax dollars that are going to K-12 online schools for students who are no longer there."

4. Are Top Students Getting Short Shrift? - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/oSu0fj -"By trying to teach children of varying abilities in one classroom, is American society underdeveloping some of its brightest young people?"

5. In Classrooms, the Ideal vs. the Reality, by C. Kent McGuire - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/n8bpom - "The central challenge for American schools is to produce much higher levels of achievement for the vast majority of students. National attention to new Common Core Standards and to 21st Century Skills is based on this challenge. The policy debate we need to have is about how to accomplish this."

6. Latinos Need More Support to Raise Lagging Graduation Rates, Report Says, by Lacey Johnson - http://chronicle.com/article/Latinos-Need-More-Support-to/129247/ - "The study, conducted in 2009, found that only 19.2 percent of Latinos between the ages of 25 and 34 had earned a two- or four-year degree, compared with 41 percent nationally. To increase Latino college completion, policy makers and educators must, among other steps, improve middle- and high-school counseling, make preschool more available to low-income families, provide additional need-based grant money, and simplify the financial-aid system, the report says."

7. Two bitter education rivals begin to bury the hatchet, by Greg Toppo - http://usat.ly/o3HTwG via @usatoday - "We believe you cannot ignore poverty. We just believe right now the reason we have this problem is we're sending kids who face all these extra challenges into the same setup -- not even, because the kids in the more resourced communities have stronger schools, so we're sending them into a lesser version of the same setup that we send kids with many more privileges into, and that is why we have the achievement gap."

8. Online textbooks moving into schools, by Emma Brown - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/online-textbooks-moving-into-schools/2011/09/27/gIQAwn0KGL_story.html via Washingtonpost.com -"Starting this fall, almost all Fairfax middle and high school students began using online books in social studies, jettisoning the tomes that have weighed down backpacks for decades. It is the Washington area’s most extensive foray into online textbooks, putting Fairfax at the leading edge of a digital movement that publishers and educators say inevitably will sweep schools nationwide."

9. Best Bang For Your Buck Colleges: Unigo List - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/03/bang-for-your-buck-colleges-unigo_n_991943.html - "Want a great education but don't want to accrue tremendous debt to get it? Well, you are in luck. College information site Unigo recently named the colleges that are the best "bang for your buck" --vi.e. colleges that are relatively inexpensive that provide a first-class education."

10. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories on college access and success via @rottenbornj ▸ http://paper.li/rottenbornj

333. 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. From 'Today' on NBC: Beginning the Search: http://nyti.ms/qYKZP5 - "The “Today” show — which occasionally partners with The Choice on college admissions segments — broadcast a report on Tuesday morning on how to begin your college search. . . . You can watch the full piece — featuring a tour of the University of Michigan campus and an interview with the director of admissions, Ted Spencer – by clicking at the top of this post."

3. The Hazards of Attending College Part Time, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/the-hazards-of-attending-college-part-time/6746/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "College graduation rates in this country are terrible, but they are far worse for the majority of students who attend college part time. . . . While the typical image of a college student is someone who lives in a dorm, attends school full time and has most of the bills paid by their parents, the reality is starkly different. About 75% of students are commuters, who hold down jobs and juggle family obligations as they pursue their college dreams."

4. Study: Suburban Districts Falter in Global Competitiveness, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/09/study_suburban_districts_falte.html via @educationweek - "The report, published in an online preview of the Winter 2012 issue of Education Next, argues that when average district achievement in math or reading is compared to average achievement in those subjects for students in industrialized countries, as measured on the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, even wealthier districts in areas like Beverly Hills, Calif., or Fairfax, Va., come out in the middle of the pack or worse."

5. Is the SAT losing its edge? by Jay Mathews - Class Struggle - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/is-the-sat-losing-its-edge/2011/09/27/gIQAbS7h3K_blog.html via @washingtonpost - "More graduating seniors took the SAT last year than ever, 1.65 million. So why are the scores declining, and why is the best-known and most fearsome college-entrance test in U.S. history losing its edge? Let’s start with the obvious. More students are taking its rival, the ACT."

6. Middle school survey: sex, fear and suicide attempts, by Bill Turque - D.C. Schools Insider - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/middle-school-survey-sex-fear-and-suicide-attempts/2011/09/27/gIQAKwz92K_blog.html via Washingtonpost.com - "Chancellor Kaya Henderson sketched a bleak statistical picture of life in DCPS middle schools at Tuesday’s D.C. Council hearing, including a chilling survey finding that 10 percent of the school system’s 4,000 eighth graders have tried to kill themselves."

7. The 10 Best Places To Go To College: Unigo List - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/26/the-10-best-places-to-go-_n_980907.html#s372162&title=Boston_University - "Crave a life beyond the campus multi-purpose room? Check out Unigo's list of the coolest towns -- that also happen to have great colleges -- below. Vouch for your own college town in the comments section!"

8. The New Ivy League: Unigo List - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/27/the-new-ivy-league-unigo-_n_982994.html - "The hallowed Ivy League is famed for its exclusivity, and cluster of eight elite Northeastern institutions can only accomodate a fraction of today's talented students. But fear not, there are other places in America that can offer a home of equal value to the world's burgeoning brains. Using student reviews they compiled, Unigo formed a list of colleges that match the Ivies in terms of rigor and vigor. See them below in alphabetical order."

9. New data highlight YSU retention problem, by Denise Dick - http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/sep/28/new-data-highlight-retention-problem/ via Vindicator - “More serious is what happened in the percentage of returning undergraduates,” he said. There were more than 1,000 students who didn’t return this year. “That surprised all of us,” Fahey said."

10. Youngstown City schools, after state criticism, developing plan for ‘better gains,’ by Denise Dick - http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/sep/28/city-schools-after-state-criticism-devel/ via @vindicator - "He believes people in the district understand the sense of urgency. “We have to move forward,” Hathorn said. “The longer we wait, the worse it’s going to get.”

332. 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. Law school is a waste of time, by Penelope Trunk - #cnn - http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/26/living/reasons-against-law-school/index.html - "Many, many students think they are going to law school to join a non-profit and change the world. The problem is law students have to pay back their debt -- no small amount when we're talking law school. So unless you are independent wealthy, you'll have to go to a big law firm first, to pay off your school loans. And once you get used to living the life of someone at a big law firm, you're not likely to leave. This is because we get used to whatever salary we earn."

2. No Child Left Behind option meets praise and caution, by Greg Toppo – http://usat.ly/nOOEsD via USAToday - "On Friday, Obama said he would give states a pass on much of the 2002 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law — most notably the requirement that students make large annual gains on math and reading tests. He also would waive the requirement that virtually every student be "proficient" in the two subjects by 2014."

3. The Medium Is the Message: Should a College Call, Text or Tweet? by Rebecca R. Ruiz - http://nyti.ms/na9O1G - "Members of the millennial generation may be stereotyped as rabid text messagers, but a group of nearly 10 high school seniors and college freshmen agreed on Saturday that they would most like to hear from a college they are interested in by phone."

4. No More Waiting Around, by Kevin Kiley - Inside Higher Ed - http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/09/27/wait_lists_become_a_new_topic_of_focus_at_nacac_annual_meeting via AddThis - "The main concern among counselors was the lack of transparency surrounding how institutions manage their lists and why they operate them as they do. While most of the admissions process is governed by fairly clear rules laid out by the association, there are few rules governing the time between May 1 and August 1. Counselors said they have noticed a trend of more students are getting put on wait lists every year, and many said they hear horror stories about students being blind-sided with quick deadlines or inadequate aid offers months after they gave up hope of getting into their preferred institutions."

5. 25 Best Colleges for Entrepreneurs, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/25-best-colleges-for-entrepreneurs/6682/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Entrepreneur Magazine and the Princeton Review recently released its second annual survey of the top entrepreneur college degree programs in the country. Like all college rankings, you should take anybody’s list with a grain of salt, but at least it gives you some schools to research."

6. College Costs and Refinancing a Home, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/college-costs-and-refinancing-a-home/6686/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "You should not refinance your mortgage for the purpose of obtaining a better financial aid package. It ain’t going to happen."

7. ‘Complete College’ Study of College Graduation Rates, by Tamar Lewin: http://nyti.ms/quaCw5 - "Another factor is the large number of students mired in noncredit remedial classes that the report calls the “Bermuda Triangle” of higher education. Half of all students studying for an associate degree, and one in five of those seeking a bachelor’s degree — including many who graduated from high school with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, previous research has shown — are required to take remedial, or “developmental” courses, and many of them never move on to credit-bearing courses, much less graduation."

8. Should the School Day Be Longer? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com -http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/201... - "When and where does it make sense to institute a longer school day, and how should it be designed? While this change may benefit children from disadvantaged backgrounds, providing a social support system, would it help other American students if they had to spend more time in school, given what we know about how they learn?"

9. Help for Parents and Society, by Geoffrey Canada - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/nM12lc - "The National Assessment of Educational Progress shows little improvement over the decades. The black-white achievement gap is as wide as ever. SAT scores are declining. I am convinced that one of the reasons is that the school day and year are too short. Without additional time, it is virtually impossible for students behind grade level -- particularly poor and minority students -- to catch up."

10. Targeted School Time and Programs, by S. Paul Reville - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/qZquIw - "No wonder schools alone, which use less than 20 percent of a child’s waking hours, have proved incapable, on average, of closing the learning gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Low income students need stimulating, enriching learning opportunities after school and in the summers to complement and enhance academic learning in the same ways more affluent peers do through camps, tutors, music lessons, organized sports and travel."

11. For Us, More Time Is Critical, by Richard Barth - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/nfYkcs - "The mission of public education is to open up the doors of opportunity for students. Increasing time in school is one element to ensuring that all children in America have access to the opportunities that open those doors."

12. The Higher-Education Battle the White House Should Be Waging, by Kevin Carey - http://t.co/475xSNhb - "Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has been quite candid in denouncing "dropout factory" high schools where most students fail to graduate. He is less vocal in observing that many of the students who survive dropout-factory high schools enroll in community colleges or open-access four-year universities where graduation rates are even worse."

13. “Time Is the Enemy” of College Completion, Report Finds -http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/time-is-the-enemy-of-college-completion-report-finds/36681 - "A new report suggests that college students need to find faster ways to earn degrees, because the longer they stay in school, the more likely they are not to earn a degree. Key findings revealed that 75 percent of students are commuters who juggle work and school, rather than live on campus, and less than a quarter of part-time students ever graduate. The research also found drop-out rates linked to race, income, and age."

14. 2011 College Completion Data Complete College America - http://shar.es/bn52h - "Time is the enemy of college completion. Choose your state to see a snapshot of how well your state is educating all of today’s college students. Then click “Complete State Profile” to see the most comprehensive state and campus college completion data ever collected."

15. At a U. of Kentucky Dorm, a Live-In iPad Experience, by Alex Campbell -http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/at-a-u-kentucky-dorm-a-live-in-ipad-experience/33380 - "Students moving into a newly renovated dormitory at the University of Kentucky signed up for a hyperwired college experience: Each one was given an iPad and required to take a series of tech-themed courses. The unusual program is called A&S Wired Residential College and is housed in a dorm of 177 freshmen, who plan to major in a variety of fields."

16. Teacher, Leave Those Kids Alone, by Amanda Ripley - http://ti.me/ob8IqF via @TIME - "But cramming is deeply embedded in Asia, where top grades — and often nothing else — have long been prized as essential for professional success. . . . Modern-day South Korea has taken this competition to new extremes. In 2010, 74% of all students engaged in some kind of private after-school instruction, sometimes called shadow education, at an average cost of $2,600 per student for the year. There are more private instructors in South Korea than there are schoolteachers, and the most popular of them make millions of dollars a year from online and in-person classes."

17. Report exposes hidden failure of part-time students -http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/report-exposes-hidden-failure-of-part-time - "A new report finds evidence of a new majority on college campuses: part-time students. Three-quarters of today’s college students attend part time, juggling classes along with work and family responsibilities, according to a new report from the nonprofit Complete College America. Only 1/4 attend residential colleges as full-time students supported by their parents, the customary vision of college embraced by the suburban middle class. . . . Completion rates are lower still among under-represented minorities. The bachelor’s completion rate is 17% for Hispanics who attend part-time, 15% for African Americans, even after allowing 8 years to finish."

18. A bet on No Child Left Behind, by Richard Rothstein - The Answer Sheet - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/who-won-a-2007-bet-on-no-child-left-behind/2011/09/26/gIQAwBBi0K_blog.html via @washingtonpost - "So the secretary is now kicking the ball down the road. States will be excused from making all children proficient by 2014 if they agree instead to make all children “college-ready” by 2020."

258. Review of 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. Top paying jobs for class of 2011, by Kaitlin Madden - #cnn: http://t.co/8gbnaWV - "Now, in 2011, we can at last say that things are really and truly looking up for new college grads. According to the annual survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, overall, employers plan to hire 19.3 percent more new college graduates this fall than they did in the fall of 2010, the first double-digit percentage increase since 2007."

2. Private student loans vs. federal student loans, by Sandra Block - http://usat.ly/jowvoW via @USATODAY - "But while some private loan rates look appealing, you should never sign up for one until you've maxed out on federal student loans. And even then, you should scrutinize the terms of the loan contract before you borrow. Here's why:"

3. Thank You for the Scholarship, by Kevin Kiley - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/mpsBUb - "Now that budgets are tight and fund-raising is difficult, however, some see compulsory thank-you notes as a tool to help ensure that donors stay connected to the college and see the benefits of their contributions, potentially leading to future donations."

4. 'College For All' Campaign Getting a Second Look, by Catherine Gewertz - http://t.co/GGkW3Is via @educationweek - "Two thirds of the jobs created in the United States by 2018 will require some postsecondary education, but of those, nearly half will go to people with occupational certificates or associate degrees, according to data cited in the report."

5. Federal Committee: Net-Price Calculators Have Potential, and Pitfalls - http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/federal-committee-net-price-calculators-have-potential-and-pitfalls/33604 - "Because the calculators will not be standardized, the report argues, prospective students may have a hard time comparing different colleges’ costs. The report also raises concerns that the calculators won’t be used by the neediest students, nor will they accurately compute merit aid."

6. Analysis Finds Graduation Rates Moving Up, by Christopher B. Swanson - http://t.co/khUzhW6 via @educationweek - "A new analysis of high school completion from the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center finds that the national graduation rate stands at 71.7 percent for the class of 2008, the most recent year for which data are available."

7. Summer Do's and Don'ts for College Applicants, by Peter Van Buskirk - The College Admissions Insider (usnews.com) - http://t.co/QEwJ2fU - "If you are a rising high school senior, how will you spend your summer months? The following do's and don'ts provide guidance in making good and productive choices."

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

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

by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

20. GO TO COLLEGE: LINKS

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

Miscellaneous (continued):

76. Higher-Education Data
What percentage of various groups in the U.S. graduates from high school? Goes to college? Earns a degree? This article by Erik W. Robelen for Education Week, posted on May 14, 2010, presents these data on higher education, at this link:http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/05/19/32census.h29.html?tkn=RTVF%2B%2BRyRRrQ8MnT0wDe%2F3UOs8Y%2Bn3KgCprJ&cmp=clp-edweek

77. Do You Need to Go to College?
Students sometimes inquire, "Do I need to go to college?" Or, put another way, they ask: "Can I get a good job without a college degree?" Jacques Steinberg, a writer for The New York Times, addresses these questions in his article, dated 5/14/10, at this link:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/weekinreview/16steinberg.html?pagewanted=1

79. Non-traditional College Students
Many college students today are not 18 year-olds, fresh out of high school; they're over 20, work (full- or part-time), and are often parents. For these non-traditional students, earning a college degree can mean overcoming many obstacles to graduate. Read an article from USA Today on non-traditional students at this link:http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/degrees-of-difficulty.htm

82. What to Take to College
Freshmen often wonder what to take to college. Some take too much, while others don't take enough. Like the three bears, aim for just right--because your space will be limited! To see an Off-to-College Checklist of The College Board, click this link:http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/college-success/9763.html

And don't forget: you may be able to save money on many items you'll need for your college dorm room by picking them up at yard & garage sales!

87. Retention Rate
According to the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, a college's retention rate is "the percentage of first-time students who are seeking bachelor's degrees who return to the institution to continue their studies the following fall." Retention rate is regarded as an important statistic relating to student success in college. To discover the retention rate of a U.S. college or university, click the link below, then type in the school's name to search for it; finally, click on "retention and graduation rates."http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/

To see the retention rates of students having differing ACT scores and admitted to colleges with varying rates of selectivity, consult the ACT report "National Collegiate Retention and Persistence to Degree Rates" at this link:http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/retain_2009.pdf

88. Is College the Key to Success?
In America, we hear that getting a good education--particularly, earning a college degree--will lead to career success. Today, more and more people are entering college; they are expecting an economic payoff. But is this expectation realistic? Ann Larson examines "the education gospel" in her post, dated June 3, 2010, for Inside Higher Ed entitled "Higher Education's Big Lie;" you can read her views at this link:http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/06/03/larson

89. World's Best Universities?
If you wonder which country has the highest-rated universities in the world, you're not alone. Apparently, others wonder, too. U.S. News & World Report ranked 400 of the "World's Best Universities" in 2010; to see its list, hit this link:http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/worlds-best-universities/2010/02/25/worlds-best-universities-top-400.html?PageNr=1

90. Graduation Rates in U.S.
To find out "Student Success Highlights" (i.e., retention rate, four-year graduation rate, five-year graduation rate, and six-year graduation rate) of any college or university in the United States, check out a website of The Education Trust called "College Results Online." (You can also compare success statistics for various schools.) Access the site at this link:http://www.collegeresults.org/

91. Value in a Liberal Arts Education?
During this challenging economic climate, students and parents expect college to aid one's career. Consequently, they often seek majors, programs, and degrees that will lead directly to a specific job--and a well-paying one, at that. Nonetheless, defenders of a liberal arts education still emphasize its value; to see why, read this post by Michael Roth, President of Wesleyan University, entitled "Coming to the Defense of Liberal Education," at this link:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-roth/coming-to-the-defense-of_b_605899.html

92. Academic Progress Rate (APR)
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires member colleges and universities to submit information on all sports teams competing in Division I. These data indicate student-athletes' eligibility and retention during a previous four-year period; the most recent APR is based on statistics from the 2005-06 through 2008-09 school years. If a team's APR is less than 925 (of 1,000), it can face penalties, including loss of scholarships or limits on practice time. Teams having an APR lower than 900 for several years can be penalized by being banned from postseason play--including bowl games. To search the Academic Progress Rate for schools of interest, click this NCAA link: http://web1.ncaa.org/maps/aprRelease.jsp

93. Proportion of Adults, 25-34, with College Degrees
The U.S. national average for the proportion of adults (ages 25-34) holding college degrees is 37.8%; in Ohio, however, the figure is below that--at 36.4%. To see the percentage for any state, you can access an interactive map from The Chronicle of Higher Education at this link:http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Map-Proportion-of/65009/

94. U.S. Senate Hearings on For-Profit Higher Education
On June 24, 2010, Chairman Tom Harkin opened hearings by the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on for-profit higher education. At the outset, a report was issued; to read this document, "Emerging Risk?: An Overview of Growth, Spending, Student Debt and Unanswered Questions in For-Profit Higher Education," copy and paste this link:http://harkin.senate.gov/documents/pdf/4c23515814dca.pdf

96. College Return on Investment (ROI)
With tuitions up and jobs scarce, it is understandable to question whether college is really worth it. To help quantify this decision, some have applied the concept of return on investment (ROI). According to The Huffington Post, "ROI takes the price of a school's degree and compares it to how much that school's graduates earn on average, producing perhaps the truest measure of a school's value." To see which U.S. colleges have the highest ROI, click this link:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/28/college-biggest-payoff_n_628127.html

To find out which college in each state has the highest ROI, click this link to Business Week:http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/06/0628_payscale1/index.htm

99. From Access to Success
Providing students access to higher education used to be the goal of many organizations. Today, however, emphasis is being placed on student success in college--that is, graduating. To read the report "From Access to Success," released by Grantmakers for Education on July 22, 2010, click this link:http://edfunders.org/downloads/GFEReports/GFE_FromAccessToSuccess_FundersGuide.pdf

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

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

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

20. GO TO COLLEGE: LINKS

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

Miscellaneous:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

249.Unstack the Odds-GO TO COLLEGE:STEPS 12-13

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: STEPS 12-13

12) Interpret the Student Aid Report (SAR), received after submitting the FAFSA, to determine EFC and financial need.

13) Interpret and compare Financial-Aid Award Offer letters from colleges to figure the “bottom line” (i.e., out-of-pocket expenses), monthly payments, and loan-debt.

109. To decipher your financial-aid award offer letters, read Part I of Lynn O'Shaughnessy's article at this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/03/44-understanding-financial-aid-award.html

110. To analyze your financial-aid award offer letters, read Part II: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/03/44-understanding-financial-aid-award.html

111. Now, calculate the "net price" of the college(s) you'd like to attend: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/03/45-calculating-net-price-of-college.html

112. Next, figure the up-front, out-of-pocket cost of your college(s): http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/03/45-calculating-net-price-of-college.html

113. An important question to ask, according to Penelope Wang in her article from the April 2010 Money magazine, is "Can we afford this college?"

114. Still seeking money for college? Read Lynn O'Shaughnessy's "4 Ways to Win A Scholarship": http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/54-college-scholarships.html

115. Still need money for college? See Lynn O'Shaughnessy's "The Best Places to Find College Cash": http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/54-college-scholarships.html

116. Got money for college? See Lynn O'Shaughnessy's "The Myth About College Scholarships": http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/54-college-scholarships.html

117. Private colleges or universities can discount tuition for students; click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/62-discounts-for-college-tuition.html

118. If you're still seeking money for college, see some unusual scholarships: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/63-unusual-scholarships.html

119. Do Many Students Take Out College Loans? Link to our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/61-do-many-students-take-out-college.html

120. Shop around for college loans; check out the article on our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/58-shopping-for-student-loans.html

121. How much should you take out in college loans? Read our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/59-how-much-should-student-borrow-for.html

122. How much should parents take out in college loans? See this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/60-how-much-should-parents-borrow-for.html

123. For a compilation of links about college loans, refer to this posting on our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/57-college-loans.html

124. To review the statistics on student borrowing for college, click this posting on our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/64-who-borrows-most.html

125. To read Lynn O'Shaughnessy's "12 Facts About Student Loan Borrowers," click this link to our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/64-who-borrows-most.html

126. May 1 is the deadline to let a college or university know if you plan to enroll there; be sure to meet that deadline: act today, if you haven't already!

127. You go to college to graduate; for graduation rates of Ohio colleges & universities, click: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/65-graduation-rates-in-ohio.html

128. Who graduates in 4 years? See a study of MVCAP advisees on our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/04/68-who-graduates-in-four-years.html

129. Need to borrow money to pay for college? Learn the differences between federal and private loans at http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/05/69-government-or-private-loans.html

130. Still looking for a college? See U.S. schools with space available for fall: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/05/70-space-availability-survey-2010.html

131. Still short of money to pay for college? See this link on our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/05/71-still-need-money-for-college.html

132. If your 1st-choice college plan doesn't work out, have a Plan B; hit this link to our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/05/73-plan-b.html