378. 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. Duncan Calls for Urgency in Lowering College Costs, by Tamar Lewin: http://nyti.ms/thZSu2 - “Three in four Americans now say that college is too expensive for most people to afford,” Mr. Duncan said. “That belief is even stronger among young adults — three-fourths of whom believe that graduates today have more debt than they can manage.” College seniors with loans now graduate with an average debt load of more than $25,000."

3. Committee on Measures of Student Success issues final report, by Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/sOdSKW via AddThis -"One of the recommendations, if endorsed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, would create a combined “graduation and transfer” rate that includes students who graduate from a two-year college as well as those who do not graduate but do go on to a four-year institution. That move would be a victory for community colleges, who have argued that counting only those students who earn degrees makes community colleges appear less successful than they really are."

4. 10 job market trends college grads need to know, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57332329/10-job-market-trends-college-grads-need-to-know/?tag=mncol;lst;8 - "Hiring of college graduates is expected to increase 4 percent across all degree levels, according to a survey of more than 3,300 employers. The survey, which is the largest of its kind, has been conducted annually for 41 years by Michigan State University. . . . Hiring will be strong for college majors such as computer science, accounting, agriculture sciences and agriculture business. Other in-demand degrees will include communications, public relations, marketing, finance and economics."

5. Experts Say Social Sciences Are 'Left Behind,' by Sarah D. Sparks - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/30/13social.h31.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW via @educationweek - "Researchers at an NRC forum on social sciences in Washington this month suggested that the expansion of testing in math and reading under the No Child Left Behind Act has led to a piecemeal approach to social and behavioral science subjects in the states. . . . “No Child Left Behind frankly left us behind, and the common core gave us a footnote,” said S.G. Grant, the education dean at Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y. The discussion caps a year of dismal news on the social studies front for U.S. students: National Assessment of Educational Progress reports out this year found mostly mediocre performance for students in geography, civics, and history."

6. Learning the Language: New Study on Hispanic Achievement Paints Stark Picture, by Lesli Maxwell - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2011/11/new_study_on_hispanic_achievem.html via @educationweek - "When it comes to "readiness to learn," Hispanic children face several disadvantages compared with their white peers. Thirty-three percent of Hispanic children in 2008 lived in families where no parent had full-time employment compared with 21 percent of white children. And in 2007, 27 percent of Hispanic children lived in poverty compared with 10 percent of white children. Those factors and others translate to Hispanic children being less likely than their white or black peers to recognize letters of the alphabet, knowing how to write their name, or being able to count to 20 or higher."

7. THE SOCIAL & EDUCATIONAL FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE OUTCOMES OF HISPANICS IN URBAN SCHOOLS- http://www.cgcs.org/cms/lib/DC00001581/Centricity/Domain/4/HispanicStudy2011.pdf -"Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) analyzed for this report show that Hispanic fourth graders read and do math at substantially lower levels than students with greater advantages and students who speak English. The situation is compounded by the fact that large numbers of Hispanic students live below the poverty line, do not have health insurance nor access to pre-school services, are unlikely to have a parent who has graduated from high school, are among the working poor, and face constant suspicions about whether they are in the country legally."

8. Surge in Free School Lunches Reflects Economic Crisis, by Sam Dillon: http://nyti.ms/tmx5jh - "The number of students receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million last school year from 18 million in 2006-7, a 17 percent increase, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from the Department of Agriculture, which administers the meals program."

9. ‘Broader, bolder’ strategy to ending poverty’s influence on education, by Pedro Noguera - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/broader-bolder-strategy-to-ending-povertys-influence-on-education/2011/11/29/gIQAtTvaAO_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.com - "Over 50 years, numerous studies have documented how poverty and related social conditions — such as lack of access to health care, early childhood education and stable housing — affect child development and student achievement. The research never suggests that poor children are incapable of learning or that poverty itself should be regarded as a learning disability. Rather, research suggests that poor children encounter obstacles that often adversely affect their development and learning outcomes."

10. Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer’s salary: $4 million, by Jenna Johnson - Campus Overload - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/campus-overload/post/ohio-state-football-coach-urban-meyers-salary-4-million/2011/11/29/gIQAup9K9N_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost.com - "Meyer will earn three times more than Ohio State President E. Gordan Gee, the nation’s highest paid university president. On most campuses, coaches top the payroll. And despite the economy, budget cuts and increasing tuition, coach salaries continue to climb."

11. Kevin Carey: The Dissenter The New Republic: http://bit.ly/tyVhGG via AddThis" -"Improbably, at the end of a four-decade-long career as the nation’s most prominent education historian and a vocal advocate for education reform, Ravitch has emerged as reform’s fiercest critic. Her about-face has made her more famous and influential than she has ever been. Now, pundits, scholars, philanthropists, and education leaders are all asking the same question: What happened to Diane Ravitch?"

359. 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. Average student loan debt tops $25,000, by Blake Ellis - http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/03/pf/student_loan_debt/ via CNNMoney.com - "College seniors who took out loans to fund their college education owed an average of $25,250, 5% more than the class of 2009 owed, according to a report from the Institute for College Access & Success' Project on Student Debt."

3. U.S.-born children take fight over tuition to court, by Alan Gomez – http://usat.ly/uj42II via @USATODAY - "Now a Florida lawsuit is highlighting a rare practice of forbidding U.S.-born students — citizens by birth — from getting in-state tuition because their parents are illegal immigrants. Five students, all born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant parents, sued the state last month for denying them in-state tuition rates even though they'd lived in Florida, graduated from state high schools and were entering state colleges and universities."

4. American Students Gaze Across the Atlantic and See College, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/tcSYKl - "At a time when more international students are choosing to study in the United States, a separate phenomenon is on the rise: that of American students choosing to spend their entire college experience abroad. Some international institutions have noted American students’ increased willingness to travel farther from home, which has prompted the schools to bolster their outreach efforts."

5. Report Finds Colleges Fail to Disclose Information, by Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/uHHnRt via AddThis - "Three years after the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which included new disclosure requirements for institutions, the majority of colleges are failing to provide public information on graduation rates for low-income students, and many do not adequately disclose other required information, according to a study published today by Education Sector and the American Enterprise Institute."

6. Essay: Focus student success efforts on what happens in the classroom, by Vincent Tinto Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/uHOQca via AddThis - "It is one thing to hold high expectations; it is another to provide the support students need to achieve them. At no time is support, in particular academic support, more important than during the critical first year of college when student success is still so much in question and still malleable to institutional intervention."

7. NAEP Scores Flat, Sun Rises Again, by Robert Slavin - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/sputnik/2011/11/naep_scores_flat_sun_rises_again.html - "Recent research from Don Hernandez shows that for students not reading on grade level by 3rd grade, one in six did not graduate from high school on time. This rate is four times greater than that for proficient readers. If this doesn't sound an alarm, I don't know what will. Reading well is a fundamental necessity for learning in all other subjects from math to history, even art. Children who are not reading on grade level simply cannot reach their full potential in any other subject. Economically, this leads to immeasurable loss in untapped potential of our future workforce."

8. College Graduates’ Debt Burden Grew, Yet Again, in 2010, by Tamar Lewin - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/education/average-student-loan-debt-grew-by-5-percent-in-2010.html?_r=1&hpw - “Student debt goes up and it doesn’t ever go down,” said Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of Finaid.org and Fastweb.com, two Web sites that offer advice on paying for college. “We’re clearly heading in the direction of decreased college affordability. Among lower-income students, the canaries in the cage that squawk first, we’re already seeing a decline in enrollment in four-year colleges and an increase in lower-cost two-year institutions,” he said. Mr. Kantrowitz estimated that for the class of 2011, average debt was $27,200 — or, if parent loans were included, $34,000."

9. Is community college the best value in academia? by Daniel de Vise - College, Inc. -http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/is-community-college-the-best-value-in-academia/2011/11/03/gIQA9xabiM_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost -"Have you considered community college as a pathway to a four-year degree?"

10. Grab college major or lose career, by Jay Mathews - Class Struggle - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/grab-college-major-or-lose-career/2011/11/02/gIQARHF5gM_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via @washingtonpost - "Using a sample of 62,218 first-time community college students in Washington state, researchers Davis Jenkins and Madeline Joy Weiss noted that students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, on average less likely to graduate, were also “less likely than higher SES students to enter a concentration, which we define as taking and passing at least three courses in a single field of study.”They were slowed by remedial courses, but even when they had a chance to pick majors, they weren’t quick and often did not see what choices would help them get jobs. The only majors with good career prospects that low-income students chose in large numbers were in nursing and other health fields."

355. 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. NCAA enacts broad academic, scholarship reforms, by Andy Gardiner – http://usat.ly/uy14V7 via @USATODAY - "Athletes will be eligible for up to $2,000 annually to cover incidental expenses above their basic scholarship for room, board, books and tuition. . . . Beginning with the 2012-13 school year, teams will have to post a minimum Academic Progress Rate (APR) to be eligible for bowl games, NCAA tournaments and other NCAA championships. The cutoff will start at a score of 900 (on a scale of 1000) and rise over three years to 930, which the NCAA projects to be a 50% graduation rate."

2. Ron Paul: The truth about my student loan plan – http://usat.ly/sT8hc3 via @USATODAY"The accumulated total student loan debt in this country is over $1 trillion. Think about that for a moment. Our entire national deficit for this year is $1.5 trillion, and the cost of college education alone is two-thirds of our country's entire budget shortfall. This is staggering."

3. 'The Ideal High School Graduate,' by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/u7KJZq - "Mr. Fitzsimmons called successful applicants to Harvard “good all-arounders – academically, extracurricularly and personally,” and he stressed the importance of demonstrating humanity and three-dimensionality in one’s college application. “I want to know, what is it this person does beside chew gum and produce good grades or scores?”

4. NCAA board approves athletic eligibility rules for D-I athletes, by Allie Grasgreen Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/vtRL36 via @AddThis - "Under new rules beginning in August 2016, to be eligible for competition incoming freshmen must have a 2.3 grade point average in a set of high school core courses, up from 2.0, and the appropriate standardized test score on the NCAA’s sliding scale, which has been adjusted slightly to account for the new GPA minimum. However, under a new “academic redshirt year” model, students whose GPA falls between the old and new minimums will still be eligible to receive athletic scholarships and practice with the team in their first term of enrollment, and can practice in the next term as well as long as they pass nine semester or eight credit hours."

5. High Schools, Colleges Push Financial Literacy, by Caralee J. Adams - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/28/10finance.h31.html via @educationweek - “This budget worksheet slows you down a bit and makes you realize, ‘Hey, I have to pay this money back,’ ” said the 26-year-old, who says it took just 15 minutes to meet the college’s new financial-aid requirement. Despite qualifying for Pell Grants and veterans’ benefits, Mr. Chandler estimates he will have accumulated $45,000 in debt by the time he finishes his education, including a master’s degree."

6. Chicago to Judge High Schools by College-Readiness Metric, by Catherine Gewertz - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/10/chicago_to_judge_highn_schools.html via @educationweek - "A Power Point presentation given at the board of education's meeting yesterday makes the case for tightening the screws on high schools, noting that fewer than six in 10 students graduate, and that students' average ACT score is 17, short of the ACT's "college readiness" benchmark of 21. Only 8 percent of 11th graders are testing "college ready" in all subjects on the Prairie State Achievement Exam, which includes the ACT."

7. Should College Grads Get a Break on Their Loans? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/201...

‎"Will the Obama plan make a difference? Will it help prevent defaults or will it lead today's students to borrow more, if they view their debts as potentially negotiable and if they believe the government is assuming more of the risk? What should government do about student debt and the college loan industry?"

8. Obama's student Debt Plan Is a Good First Step, by Sandy Baum - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/tHdLme - "The strength of the anti-student-loan movement and the number of students defaulting on their student loans suggest a serious lack of awareness of the repayment protections already in place. Unemployed students don’t have to make payments. But that doesn’t help people who don’t know they have this option. And stories of people unable to wade through the bureaucratic barriers to entering the Income Based Repayment plan abound."

9. Subsidizing the College Bubble, by Richard Vedder, Ohio U. - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/s6Dtij - "Our system of federal student financial assistance is broken --and very costly. It has done little to help low-income people go to college -- a smaller percentage of college graduates come from the bottom quartile of the income distribution than in 1970, before these programs were large -- and probably has contributed to the explosion of college tuition and fees."

10. Obama's Inadequate Response on Student Debt, by Anya Kamenetz - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/sj8Ebd - "But these numbers clearly show that the relief offered by income-based repayment is inadequate to the scope of the problem. It doesn’t apply to parental PLUS loans. It doesn’t apply to private, unsubsidized student loans, which bear higher interest rates, have been growing at 25 percent a year (compared with federal loans at 8 percent a year) and are on track to match the volume of federal student loans by 2025. It doesn’t help defaulted borrowers, who face lifelong nightmares of snowballing interest rates and fees with little to no possibility of relief even through bankruptcy."

11. The Worst Lesson We Could Teach, by Neal P. McCluskey - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/v8W5YZ - "What the administration is proposing isn’t all that grand: If you have debt through both the federal direct, and now-defunct guaranteed, loan programs you’ll be able to consolidate your loans and get a modest interest rate reduction. And if you don’t earn much, your maximum monthly payment could go down, with whatever debt remains forgiven after twenty years. Taxpayers will make up the revenue shortfall. That’s lovely for you if you qualify, but relatively few people will. Only around eight million of the roughly 36 million Americans who hold federal loans will probably benefit."

12. Student Debt Plan Compounds the Suffering, by Cindy Warner - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/rE4n5H - "Obama’s new plan for student loan repayment fails to address the problem of the financial industry's failure to disclose how a for-profit lender and servicer operates with its Draconian fees and penalties under the auspices of “financial aid,” or what students perceive as assistance. The financial industry failed to disclose that student loans come with no consumer protections and will remain that way for life. They are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, and if unpaid, the balance due will continue to escalate forever."

13. Intellectual Curiosity Predicts Academic Success, Study Finds - http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/intellectual-curiosity-predicts-academic-success-study-finds/37502 - "Intellectual curiosity is a strong predictor of future academic performance, says an article in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. That conclusion was based on a meta-analysis of 200 previous studies of students who rated their own intellectual curiosity, among other factors. Intellectual curiosity has as large an effect on academic performance as conscientiousness, though not as much as intelligence, the article says."

14. How to Calculate the Real Cost of College, by Kayla Webley - http://ti.me/sNjxWk via @TIMEMoneyland - "The calculators, which are mandated by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, come up with net prices for individuals by taking the estimated costs — including tuition, fees, housing, books, transportation and other expenses — and subtracting the estimated aid a particular student is likely to receive, based on financial need and academic achievement. This aid comes in the form of scholarships from the school and grants (i.e., free money) from the federal government. After the net price is predicted, the calculators go a step further and detail the savings that could come from utilizing government-backed loans, which have low, fixed interest rates, and participating in a school’s work-study program."

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

354. 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. Colleges start offering 'midnight classes' for offbeat needs, by Greg Toppo – http://usat.ly/tJVA6H via @USATODAY - "About two-thirds of community college students work full or part time, and colleges are finding that many of their students work late. Others simply do their best work at night, says Community College of Baltimore County (Md.) psychology instructor Joy Goodie."

2. Plan hopes to make student loans more forgiving, by Sandra Block – http://usat.ly/t0bw4p via @USATODAY - "The Obama plan doesn't provide any relief for borrowers who have private student loans, which are issued by private lenders and aren't backed by the federal government, Ryan says. Unlike federal student loans, private loans have variable interest rates that may shoot higher after the borrower graduates. They also lack many of the protections that come with federal loans. Borrowers who are having trouble repaying these loans have few options, other than seeking relief from the lender."

3. Trustees OK pact at YSU, by Virginia Shank - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://bit.ly/vUhave via AddThis - "Both unions, which represent the university's two largest groups of employees, had been working without contracts since their previous pacts expired in August. YSU-OEA had announced plans to strike in August but called it off in time for classes to start on time Aug. 27."

4. Robert J. Zimmer on the Value of a Liberal Arts Diploma, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/u3PzmX - “There are arguments about the value of liberal arts education. Tuition costs are a major concern. There are financial and political pressures on institutions to show immediate value,” Mr. Zimmer conceded. But, ultimately, he said, such concerns should not obscure the mission of liberal arts institutions: “to help students lead fuller lives and be better citizens.”

5. That Merit-Based Aid Offer Is Final, Universities Insist, by Rebecca R. Ruiz: http://nyti.ms/uP6tYf - "At Purdue University, merit-based financial aid offers are final and nonnegotiable. “We put that on our Web site — in red,” said Pamela Horne, dean of admissions and associate vice provost for enrollment management at Purdue. . . . Ultimately, the panelists agreed that the purpose of merit aid was to help the institution “shape the class,” in Ms. Horne’s words. “People think merit aid is all about rewarding the student,” she said. “Let’s face it – it’s not.” Mr. Nondorf agreed. “Getting in is the reward for all that hard work,” he said."

6. The Student Loan Proposal: What It Might Mean for You, by Mark Kantrowitz: http://nyti.ms/sHTQaM - "To help students avoid borrowing too much, the Obama administration is introducing a standardized financial aid offer form as part of a new “Know Before You Owe” campaign. This form helps students understand how much a college will cost, including how much debt they will have accumulated by the time they’ve graduated."

7. College Prices Continue to Surge Higher, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/college-prices-continue-to-surge-higher/7039/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "Among states, California wins the dubious prize of boosting tuition by the greatest percentage. California residents watched helplessly as their tuition and fees jumped 21%. The states with the next highest rate hikes were Arizona (17%) and Washington (16%). States with low tuition increases included Connecticut and South Carolina that raised prices by 2.5%. Clearly, a major factor in mushrooming tuition at public universities is declining support from state governments."

8. College Costs Shifting to Families - http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/26/464787uscollegecostsnlysis_ap.html - "It was a transformation that was, by historical standards, remarkably swift: The decade of the 2000s saw a fundamental shift in how Americans answer the question "Who will pay for college?" More than ever, students and their families must foot the bill at public universities. And that bill is higher than ever.Realizing higher education would be essential to succeed in the emerging economy, Americans aspired and flocked to higher education as never before over the last 10 years. But over that same span, the 50 states did less—much less, factoring in the increased demand—and asked students and parents to do more."

9. Clearing Up Some Confusion About the New Federal Student Loan Rules,by Ron Lieber - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/your-money/student-loans/explaining-new-federal-student-loan-rules.html?_r=1&hpw - "Many questions had to do with whether private loans, the kind that come from banks and often have higher and variable interest rates, are part of these changes. Nothing is changing with those loans. This is crucial, since many of the people in the worst sort of trouble — the ones you’ve read about with six-figure balances — often have both private loans and federal loans. Instead, only those with different kinds of federal loans — an estimated 5.8 million borrowers — will be able to consolidate them into one loan under the new plan and also save themselves a bit of money."

10. Editorial: The Wrong Fix for No Child Left Behind - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/opinion/the-wrong-fix-for-no-child-left-behind.html?src=rechp - "The revised No Child Left Behind Act that passed out of the Senate education committee last week goes too far in relaxing state accountability and federal oversight of student achievement. The business community, civil rights groups and advocates of disabled children are rightly worried that the rewrite of the law would particularly hurt underprivileged children."

11. How Much Student-Loan Debt Is Too Much? by Jeff Selingo -http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2011/10/26/how-much-student-loan-debt-is-too-much/ - "More than half of the students at public and private four-year colleges are now graduating with debt, according to the College Board. The average per borrower at public colleges is $22,000; at private colleges it’s $28,100. It has been reported that the financial payoff of a bachelor’s degree is $550,000 over a person’s lifetime, so the average level of debt still seems like a good investment."

12. Why College Tuition Should Be Regulated, by Steven Goodman - http://ti.me/uEmjTD via @TIMEIdeas - "Since loans now comprise 70% of financial aid packages, the growing tuition burden falls squarely on student-borrowers who may have saved for college but who still can’t meet the high cost of attendance. Two-thirds of American undergraduates are in debt. This year, student loan debt will grow to more than a trillion dollars, outpacing credit card debt for the first time."

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."

350. 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. Inside School Research: Study: Adolescents Can See Dramatic IQ Changes, by Sarah D. Sparks - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/10/intelligence_quotient_or_iq_te.html via @educationweek - "Yet a new brain-imaging study published this afternoon in the journal Nature finds that during adolescence, a fifth of children can gain or lose as many as 20 points in IQ, suggesting that the score may be less reliable at the same time it is likely being used to make educational decisions about a student."

2. Occupy the Classroom, by Nicholas D. Kristof - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/opinion/occupy-the-classroom.html?_r=1&hp - "But the single step that would do the most to reduce inequality has nothing to do with finance at all. It’s an expansion of early childhood education. Huh? . . . “This is where inequality starts,” said Kathleen McCartney, the dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, as she showed me a chart demonstrating that even before kindergarten there are significant performance gaps between rich and poor students. Those gaps then widen further in school. “The reason early education is important is that you build a foundation for school success,” she added. “And success breeds success.”

3. High Demand for Science Graduates Enables Them to Pick Their Jobs, Report Says, by Paul Basken - http://chronicle.com/article/High-Demand-for-Science/129472/ - "Among its findings, the study, from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, shows that science and engineering graduates enjoy high demand in a variety of fields, with a bachelor's degree in a science major commanding a greater salary than a master's degree in a nonscience major.And, the new report says, English-speaking science graduates are much less likely than foreign-born science graduates to take a job in a traditional science career, which American graduates often view as too socially isolating."

4. Community-College Dropouts Cost Taxpayers Nearly $1-Billion a Year, Report Says, by Lacey Johnson - http://chronicle.com/article/Community-College-Dropouts/129475/ - "Students who drop out of community college before their second year have cost taxpayers nearly $1-billion annually, says a report released today by the American Institutes for Research. From 2004 to 2009, the study found, federal, state, and local governments spent almost $4-billion in student aid and appropriations to community colleges that benefited full-time, first-year students who never made it to graduation day."

5. ‘Fair Practices’ in Admissions, by Eric Hoover - http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/fair-practices-in-admissions/29027 - "Some people call them crucial enrollment-management tools for these uncertain times. Others call them big, bloated symbols of institutional priorities gone wild. Either way, more colleges are using them: wait lists. According to the 2011 “State of College Admission” report released today by National Association for College Admission Counseling, 48 percent of institutions surveyed used a wait list for fall 2010, up from 39 percent the previous year. Forty-two percent of colleges reported that they placed more applicants on wait lists last year than they did in 2009."

6. Scariest Student Loan Debt Numbers Ever: $100 Billion, $1 Trillion, by Brad Tuttle - http://ti.me/pK7u0N via @TIMEMoneyland - "For the first time ever, the total amount of student loans taken out last year in the U.S. topped $100 billion. And sometime this year, it’s expected that outstanding student loan debt will hit $1 trillion—also for the first time ever. . . . Students today are borrowing double the amount they did ten years ago—after adjusting for inflation."

7. No Child Left Behind Reaches Senate Floor As Sens. Paul, Harkin, Bennet Spar (VIDEO) - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/19/no-child-left-behind-markup-rand-paul-tom-harkin_n_1020190.html - "Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) then spoke. "The senator speaks of the tragedy of this process," Bennet said, referring to Paul's remarks. "I'll tell you what a tragedy is. The tragedy is that only nine of 100 children living in poverty in this country in 2011 can expect to get a college degree. That's a tragedy." Bennet pointed to "the fact that when I became superintendent in the Denver public schools, on the 10th-grade math test there were 33 African-American students proficient on that test and 61 Latino students proficient on that test."
8. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories on college access and success via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/xt4njNy8

348. College Access and Success News

Here are links to recent news on college access and success.
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Student loan debt hits record levels, by Dennis Cauchon – http://usat.ly/neJ8xx via USATODAY - "The amount of student loans taken out last year crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time and total loans outstanding will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year. Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards, reports the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Students are borrowing twice what they did a decade ago after adjusting for inflation, the College Board reports. Total outstanding debt has doubled in the past five years — a sharp contrast to consumers reducing what's owed on home loans and credit cards."

2. For-profit colleges focus of student loan issue, by Dennis Cauchon – http://usat.ly/nz5mEp via @USATODAY - "The federal government has promoted and subsidized loans as a way to help young people and workers get the education needed to succeed in a troubled economy. The government made or guaranteed more than 80% of the $1 trillion in loans outstanding and backed more than 90% of new loans this year. For-profit schools such as the University of Phoenix, DeVry University and hundreds of smaller institutions have been particularly successful in winning students and their federal aid by offering courses that focus on specific careers, often taught online and aimed at older, non-traditional students."

3. How to avoid defaulting on your student loans, by Sandra Block – http://usat.ly/oBR9h8 via @USATODAY - "While defaulting on any loan will trigger a lot of unpleasant consequences, defaulting on your federal student loan debt could be disastrous. Your wages may be garnished and your tax refunds withheld. Your credit score will be ruined, which will make it more difficult to borrow for a house or a car."

4. The Rapid Rise of Merit Aid, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/nV3X6m via @AddThis - "Many institutions – particularly those that are moderately selective – have embraced merit-based financial aid out of the belief that offering partial scholarships will help them attract paying students away from higher-profile peers. Numerous states, especially in the South, have put in place hefty aid programs based on academic merit to try to keep academically qualified students within the state’s borders for college. But many student aid experts roundly pan the approach for abandoning the historical goal of using financial assistance to draw into higher education those who would have been unlikely to attend otherwise."

5. It's Not Me. It's You. by Kevin Kiley - Inside Higher Ed - http://bit.ly/pBbRh1 via AddThis - "Since the economic recession began in 2008, state revenues have not kept pace with state funding obligations, resulting in budget shortfalls in most states and cuts to most state services. When states cut appropriations to higher education institutions in the past, colleges and universities made up the difference through tuition hikes and belt-tightening. Both lawmakers and university leaders kept quiet, knowing that appropriations would return and that large tuition increases would likely be followed by smaller hikes."

6. Tuition assistance slashed by 75 percent for Marines, by Travis J. Tritten - Marine Corps - Stripes: http://1.usa.gov/n9E4nC via @AddThis - "The Marine Corps announced Tuesday it has slashed tuition assistance by 75 percent for servicemembers who take classes on their off-duty time. The change went into effect immediately and reduces the maximum education assistance available from the Department of Defense standard of $3,500 per year to just $875 per year for Marines — about enough to cover two university courses, according to a service-wide bulletin.The Marine Corps said the new rate is equal to the average class load taken on by Marines who use the tuition assistance program and is a more focused use of the service’s tuition funds."

7. 8 Ways to Search for Great Colleges, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/8-ways-to-search-for-great-colleges/6949/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "1. Decide whether you want to attend a college or a university. Choosing between the two main types of schools will significantly narrow your search. Here are posts that can help you understand the difference between these institutions:"

8. Questions Raised About 'High-Flyers' Study, by Nirvi Shah - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2011/10/are_high-achieving_students_be.html via @educationweek - "In this massive study of tens of thousands students, children who performed in the bottom third in reading or math in grade 3 had less than a 1 percent chance of being high achievers by grade 8. Even average students in grade 3, (between 40 and 60 percentile) had less than a 5 percent chance of becoming high achievers later," they wrote recently on their blog. A high achiever in grade 3 math was 17 times more likely to be a high achiever in grade 8 than your average grade 3 student, and 142 times more likely than someone who was performing in the bottom third of students in grade 3. The results were broadly similar for reading."

9. States, Districts Move to Require Virtual Classes, by Michelle R. Davis - http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/10/19/01required.h05.html via @educationweek - "The goal is to make sure students get an online-learning experience in a low-risk, supportive environment, Airhart says. “The reality is, when a student leaves us, whether they’re going to a four-year college, a technical college, or going into the world of work, they’re going to have to do an online course,” she says. “This helps prepare the students.” More districts and a handful of states are starting to agree with this notion. They’re requiring students to get some form of online learning on their résumés before leaving high school."

10. Parents Urged Again to Limit TV for Youngest, by Benedict Carey - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/health/19babies.html?hpw - "Parents of infants and toddlers should limit the time their children spend in front of televisions, computers, self-described educational games and even grown-up shows playing in the background, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned on Tuesday. Video screen time provides no educational benefits for children under age 2 and leaves less room for activities that do, like interacting with other people and playing, the group said."

11. Out With Textbooks, in With Laptops for an Indiana School District, by Alan Schwarz - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/education/19textbooks.html?hpw - "Unlike the tentative, incremental steps of digital initiatives at many schools nationwide, Munster made an all-in leap in a few frenetic months — removing all math and science textbooks for its 2,600 students in grades 5 to 12, and providing a window into the hurdles and hiccups of such an overhaul. . . . Munster is hardly the first district to go digital. Schools in Mooresville, N.C., for example, started moving away from printed textbooks four years ago, and now 90 percent of their curriculum is online."

12. Will new NCLB law be less test-obsessed? by Monty Neill - The Answer Sheet - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/will-new-nclb-law-be-less-test-obsessed/2011/10/18/gIQAmIx5vL_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive - "Statewide tests will continue in grades 3-8 and once in high school in reading and math, and science once each in grades 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12. The bill would pave the way for multi-state consortium tests. Based on the consortium’s applications, the “new” exams will remain mostly multiple-choice and short answer, meaning they will trivialize teaching and learning just as current NCLB tests do."

13. Ravitch: Why ‘miracle schools’ aren’t really miracles - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ravitch-why-miracle-schools-arent-really-miracles/2011/10/18/gIQAM62RuL_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_twitter via Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive - "The lesson in all this debunking is not that poor kids can't learn. Of course, they can. Let me say that again, slowly: Yes, poor kids can learn and excel. But whether or not children are poor, education is a slow, incremental process. While it is true that a student may have a remarkable change in attitude and motivation and demonstrate large test-score gains in a short period of time, it is rare indeed when an entire school or district experiences a dramatic increase in test scores. Any huge change in scores for a school or a district in a short period of time ought to provoke skepticism and a demand for evidence, not a willing suspension of disbelief."

14. Miracleschools site, by Gary Rubinstein and Noel Hammatt - http://miracleschools.wikispaces.com/ - "Informally, a 'miracle' school is one that is significantly outperforming the nearby schools in its neighborhood despite working with the same student populations and the same limited resources. More formally, we think that a true miracle school would have the following eight characteristics:"

15. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily on http://paper.li/rottenbornj

318. 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. What teachers really want to tell parents, by Ron Clark - #cnn: http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/06/living/teachers-want-to-tell-parents/index.html - "We just ask -- and beg of you -- to trust us, support us and work with the system, not against it. We need you to have our backs, and we need you to give us the respect we deserve."

2. Are stocks the best option when saving for college? by Matt Krantz: http://usat.ly/nDgaLz#.TmdfgLd_wTQ.twitter via USATODAY - "It's understandable that given stocks' subpar returns, parents are tempted to look for other magical assets that will generate bigger returns. Saving for college is especially stressful, since there's a set deadline in the future you must meet."

3. Program offers enrichment for children, by Bob Coupland - Tribune Chronicle - Warren, OH: http://bit.ly/p0s32E via AddThis - "The Warren YWCA, in partnership with Warren City Schools, has again launched its Before and After School Enrichment Program for local children."

4. Success by Another Name, by Paul Fain - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/nRGrCi via AddThis - "Community colleges face tremendous political pressure to increase their graduation rates and better measure academic quality, most notably from the Obama administration and the Lumina and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations."

5. Mark Milliron - An Optimist's Education Agenda - YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC3lyw4Xcbg

6. Do You Enjoy A College Scholarship Advantage? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://moneywatch.bnet.com/spending/blog/college-solution/do-you-enjoy-a-college-scholarship-advantage/6514/ via @cbsmoneywatch - "White students, according to the study, receive 76% of all merit scholarships from colleges even though they represent 62% of students. Minority students receive 24.4% of scholarships from colleges even though they represent 38% of the student population."

7. U.S. News college rankings are denounced but not ignored, by Daniel de Vise - http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/us-news-college-rankings-are-denounced-but-not-ignored/2011/09/02/gIQAn6BzzJ_story.html via Washingtonpost - "Twenty-eight years after the release of the first U.S. News lists, Morse and his publication dominate the college-ranking business they spawned. Last year’s publication drew more than 10 million Internet hits on launch day."

8. Majoring In Debt: College Students Struggle Under The Weight Of Loans - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/06/majoring-in-debt-college-_n_951129.html - "$24,000. That's the average student debt in America, according to a report last year from the Project on Student Debt. For many students, that figure is modest. Take Aleesha Nash, a graduate of New York University. "Logging into the Federal Student Aid website," she writes on the Huffington Post, "I see that today my balance is $104,104.63 for a percentage of the information in my head." And there's Jaclyn Cabral, too. Jaclyn chose to attend Elon University in North Carolina because it's "regarded as one of the most affordable private educations." Still, she graduated $90,000 in debt."

271. 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. Read The Joe Rottenborn Daily ▸ today's top stories via @rottenbornj ▸ http://t.co/UftEiOc

2. My degree isn't worth the debt! http://t.co/txvYdC0 via @CNNMoney - "We talked to seven people overloaded with student loans. Here is Erik's story. (Click through the rest of the gallery for other profiles.) --The Editors"

3. No time to abandon black colleges, by Walter M. Kimbrough - http://usat.ly/jA8JFn via @USATODAY - "Since the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board ruling and the mass acceptance of African-American students, the percentage of blacks attending HBCUs has dropped markedly. Before Brown, more than 90% of African Americans of college age attended an HBCU. Today, it's 12%."

4. High schoolers join YSU Summer Honors Institute, by Virginia Shank - http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/558466/High-schoolers-join-YSU-Summer-Honors-Institute.html?nav=5021 - "Each year students attend classes, which are taught by YSU faculty, that span several disciplines including business, engineering, science, social sciences and the arts.To participate, students must be identified as gifted and talented and must have completed either 10th or 11th grade by the start of the program. This year, the $35 fee for each participant covered the cost of student lunches."

5. Slow Growing, by Kevin Kiley - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/l5HJoe - "Published tuition and fees at private colleges and universities will be an average of 4.6 percent higher this fall than last, according to a survey of 429 institutions by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. This marks the third consecutive year of hikes of about 4.5 percent. While that rate still outpaces the consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, it represents a drop-off from the 10 years leading up to the recession, when tuition rose by a national average of 6 percent."

6. Students With Disabilities at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions - http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011018.pdf - "Institutions reported enrolling approximately 707,000 students with disabilities in the 12-month 2008–09 academic year, with about half of these students reported enrolled in public 2-year institutions (table 2). While the reported number of students with disabilities is overestimated due to duplicated student counts, this estimate largely reflects unduplicated counts of students with disabilities; most institutions (94 percent) provided an unduplicated count of the total number of students with disabilities at their institution."

7. Get Into These 39 Top Colleges With Bad SAT or ACT Scores, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/7Hpe4Zh via @cbsmoneywatch - "Where can you find these schools? The best source is the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), which maintains a list of hundreds of colleges and universities with test-optional policies.To make your job easier, I’ve provided lists of the top nationally ranked schools in the liberal arts college and university categories that are test optional. Here they are:"

8. Private College Costs Rising 4.6 Percent, by Tamar Lewin - http://nyti.ms/jOL2FG - "The colleges’ average financial aid will increase by 7 percent. Last year, institutional aid increased by 6.9 percent and the previous year, 9 percent. In 2010-11, the published tuition and fees at private colleges and universities averaged $27,293."

9. Leaders of Historically Black Colleges See Key Role for Their Institutions in Obama's 2020 Goal, by Rachel Wiseman - http://chronicle.com/article/Leaders-of-Historically-Black/128022/ - "Seventeen percent of African-American students at a four-year institution attend a historically black institution, and those students are four times more likely to graduate than African-American students attending other institutions. HBCU's have been leaders in postsecondary education of underserved populations, but the panelists acknowledged that they must continue to aggressively pursue degree-completion goals."

10. When College Grads Move Home: Six Ways to Get Them Off the Couch, by Kayla Webley - http://t.co/yBGS99m via @TIMEMoneyland - "Things are not looking so good for this year’s college graduates. Unemployment among those under 25 is at a record-high, they have more debt than any graduating class in history, and starting salaries are plummeting. That’s right, mom and dad, according to a Department of Labor poll, some 85% of the class of 2011 will be moving back home at some point in their lives."

11. Achievement gap for Hispanic students hasn't narrowed in 20 years, by Stacy Teicher Khadaroo - http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2011/0623/Achievement-gap-for-Hispanic-students-hasn-t-narrowed-in-20-years - "Since the early 1990s, “there’s been overall growth in reading and math for both whites and Hispanics,... but the gap really hasn’t closed,” says Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which oversees NAEP."

12. Persistent achievement gap vexes education reformers: Six takeaways, by Amanda Paulson - http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2010/1214/Persistent-achievement-gap-vexes-education-reformers-Six-takeaways/Progress-on-achievement-gaps-sluggish - "No education issue has received more attention in recent years – but with less apparent progress – than the achievement gaps for minority and low-income students. The Center on Education Policy released a study Tuesday that looks at trends in all 50 states. Despite a few bright spots, the picture is bleak. Here are a few of the study’s major findings:"

253.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.

Cost (continued):

58. Shopping for Student Loans
Before a student takes out loans to pay for college, he or she and their family should investigate available options. Specifically, they should consider the kinds of loans offered as well as interest rates and repayment obligations. To become aware of these possibilities, read the blog-post by Lynn O'Shaughnessy entitled "Find the Right Student Loan" at this link: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/find-the-right-student-loan/371/?tag=col1;blog-river

59. How Much Should a Student Borrow for College?
A question students ask in regard to college loans is "How much should I borrow?" With the hazards of loan-debt so publicized today, this is an important question to ponder. Lynn O'Shaughnessy addresses this issue in her blog-post "College Debt: Don’t Borrow More Than $27,000" at this link:http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/college-debt-dont-borrow-more-than-27000/1521/?tag=col1;blog-river

60. How Much Should Parents Borrow for College?
Even after considering all elements a student may receive in his/her financial-aid package, they may still need more money to pay for a particular college or university. In that case, parents often consider taking out loans to assist their child. However, how much parents should borrow is often not addressed. Lynn O'Shaughnessy confronts this issue in her blog-post "College Loans: How Much Should Parents Borrow?" at this link: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/college-loans-how-much-should-parents-borrow/1510/?tag=col1;blog-river

61. Do Many Students Take Out College Loans?
Borrowing to pay college expenses is becoming a necessity for more students. The percentage of students who have college loans is growing, as Lynn O'Shaughnessy discusses in her blog-post "The Soaring Popularity of College Student Loans" at this link: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/the-soaring-popularity-of-college-student-loans/545/?tag=col1;blog-river

62. Discounts for College Tuition
Many private colleges and universities give students a cut in the price they must pay to attend. This practice, called "discounting," comes through the financial-aid package granted--which may amount to several thousand dollars and can enable a student to afford that school. The extent of these discounts and reasons for them are addressed by Lynn O'Shaughnessy in her blog-post "College Tuition: Schools Cutting Prices at Historic Levels" at this link:http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/college-tuition-schools-cutting-prices-at-historic-levels/1905/?tag=col1;blog-river

63. Unusual Scholarships
From time to time, you'll hear someone say this: "There are lots of scholarships out there!" Unfortunately, many of them stay out there--rather than in some student's pocket. Nonetheless, there do exist scholarships that are, in fact, awarded for unusual reasons--sometimes, unrelated to academics. Jilian Mincer wrote in The Wall Street Journal of April 16, 2010, about such scholarships in an article entitled "If You're a Tall Vegan Named Zolp, Your Tuition Worries Are Over." You can read her account at this link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304198004575172073856320424.html?KEYWORDS=If+you%27re+a+tall+vegan+named+zolp

64. Who Borrows the Most?
Borrowing for college is an important issue today, as student loan-debt increases--sometimes to scary levels. To read a report by Sandy Baum and Patricia Steele for The College Board entitled "Who Borrows Most? Bachelor's Degree Recipients with High Levels of Student Debt," click this link:http://advocacy.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/Trends-Who-Borrows-Most-Brief.pdf

To read Lynn O'Shaughnessy's highlights of this report, check out her blog-post: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/college-debt-12-facts-about-student-loan-borrowers/1961/?tag=col1;blog-river

69. Government or Private Loans?
Students and their parents who need to borrow to pay for college should research their options for loans--specifically, whether they are better off taking out federal student loans or private loans. More than simply interest rates and terms of repayment are involved in this consideration. To see some comparisons between government and private loans, read the post by Sandra Block on May 4, 2010, in USA Today at this link:http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2010-05-04-yourmoney04_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

71. Still Need Money For College?
If you're still seeking money to pay for college, read Kim Clark's "11 Steps to Raise Last-Minute Cash for College," posted April 29, 2010, at the US News & World Report online site; just click this link:http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/paying-for-college/2010/04/29/11-steps-to-raise-last-minute-cash-for-college.html

73. Plan B
Sometimes, a student's college plans fall through--because of finances, an emergency in their family, or other reasons. Then, he or she needs a Plan B--to still attend college, though under different circumstances, perhaps, than they had previously envisioned. If that's your situation, you may be interested in reading the May 6, 2010, post "When college dream derails, time for Plan B," by William Hageman in the Chicago Tribune, at this link: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/05/1927547/when-college-dream-derails-time.html#ixzz0nGnv7O3M

78. Interest Rates Vary for Private Student Loans!
Students--and their parents--often have to borrow money to pay for college. Despite taking out all federal student loans for which they qualify, some still consider private student loans. To get the best (lowest) rates of interest on these loans, shop around! In a blog-post, dated 5/14/10, Lynn O'Shaughnessy states: "The interest rates that lenders offer on private student loans are wildly different even for borrowers with the same credit scores." To read her entire post, click this link:http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/private-student-loans-the-good-bad-and-ugly/2078/?tag=col1;blog-river

80. How to Get More Financial Aid
Perhaps the most frequent question students and parents ask about paying for college is "Do you know of any scholarships out there?" What they're really wondering is how can I get more--and pay less--to attend college. Financial aid can help. But to maximize a student's financial-aid package, some tips may be useful. Jane J. Kim wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal on May 22-23, 2010, that offers such advice; you can access it at this link:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703612804575222303415618316.html

81. Athletic Scholarships Can Be Revoked.
What many student-athletes and their parents often don't realize is that Division I "full-ride" scholarships can be revoked after one year. This revocation can cause students to have to "walk on"--or, if they decide to, transfer to another institution. For more information, click this link to an article by Alan Scher Zagier on The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/revoked-scholarships-surp_n_586854.html

83. Paying Off Federal Student Loans

If you accept federal student loans, you're obligated to repay them--whether you graduate from college or not. Consequently, you should limit the amout of loan-debt you acquire. For information on repaying your federal loans, see this article, dated May 25, 2010, by Sandra Block in USA Today, at this link: http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2010-05-25-yourmoney25_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

84. Sticker Price vs. Net Cost of a College
Often, students and parents are scared off from applying to a particular college or university because it seems high-priced. Rather than focusing on the stated "sticker price," however, a prospective applicant needs to determine their own "net cost"--that is, what they would have to pay after all financial aid for which they are eligible has been deducted from the published cost of attendance (i.e., "sticker price"). To read Lynn O'Shaughnessy's post on this issue, click this link to her blog:http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/college-solution/biggest-financial-aid-myth-i-cant-afford-this-college/2143/?tag=col1;blog-river

85. Federal Direct Loan Program
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which takes effect July 1, 2010, requires that all federal student loans be offered through direct lending rather than from private lenders. Government fees previously paid to lending banks are to be used to expand the federal Pell Grant program, raising the full grant-award to an estimated $5,975 by 2017. To read an explanatory article, dated May 26, 2010, by Caralee Adams in Education Week, click this link:http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/05/26/33college.h29.html?tkn=UXUFeF%2Bl%2BNo%2BoNZRjwa8Sz4pGgHC6QMrLm8o&cmp=clp-edweek

86. Who is to Blame for Student Loan-Debt?
When a student graduates from college with a huge loan-debt, people may ask: "Who is to blame?" You can decide responsibility after reading this case study by Ron Lieber in The New York Times of May 29, 2010, at this link:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html?hpw

97. New Rules on Federal Student Loans
Effective July 1, 2010, new rules go into effect for those taking out federal student loans. Now, only the U.S. Dept. of Education will offer these loans. In addition, interest for subsidized Stafford loans will decrease to fixed rate of 4.5% for undergraduates. The federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) will have a fixed rate of 7.9%. For other information on these loan changes, see the article "Student Loans Get a Makeover," by Jane J. Kim in The Wall Street Journal of July 3-4, 2010, at this link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704334604575338883122321008.html
98. Yearly Cost of College Per Student

The cost per year to educate a college student can be expensive. And that cost varies, depending on the type of educational institution. For example, U.S. community colleges spend almost $10,000 per year, while private research universities spend $35,000 per year; the average cost in the United States is about $19,000 per student. For these and other data, see the article "Share of College Budgets For Recreation Is Rising," by Sam Dillon in The New York Times of July 10, 2010, at this link:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/education/10education.html?ref=tuition

248.Unstack the Odds--GO TO COLLEGE:STEP 11

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

Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

18. GO TO COLLEGE: STEP 11

11) Both student and parent undertake the online PIN application process, complete and submit, by priority deadlines for financial aid, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on the web (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/).

73. To be considered for financial aid, including federal and state grants, you must file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

74. To start your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), student and parent apply for a PIN at http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp

75. To see a Draft FAFSA for 2010-2011, click that link under FAFSA in the left margin of our MVCAP blog at http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

76. To see which documents students and parents will need to file the FAFSA, they can check out this link: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before003.htm

77. If your goal is to file a FAFSA by February 1 for priority consideration for financial aid, prepare your IRS Form 1040, 1040 EZ, or 1040 A now!

78. To view "The Five Minute FAFSA Video" for an introduction to completing that form, check out a link: http://www.finaid.org/fafsa/video.phtml

79. To search for a Federal School Code before filing your FAFSA online, check out this link: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/FOTWWebApp/FSLookupServlet

80. Start completing a 2011-2012 FAFSA on the Web Worksheet from your guidance office--or download one at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before012.htm

81. To learn more about financial aid, click this link to our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/1-confused-about-college-financial-aid.html

82. To begin understanding the concept of "financial need," click this link to our blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/2-financial-need.html

83. To get an overview of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/3-fafsa.html

84. To learn about the Student Aid Report (SAR) you'll receive after filing the FAFSA, click here: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/4-sar.html

85. To learn about the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) you'll get from filing a FAFSA, click: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/5-efc.html

86. To learn about a Financial-Aid Package a college will award you, click here: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/6-financial-aid-package.html

87. To learn about Gift-Aid a college may put in your financial-aid package, click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/7-gift-aid.html

88. To learn about Self-Help colleges may put in your financial-aid package, click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/8-self-help.html

89. See how students with an EFC of $0 can go to college locally: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/21-efc-of-0-go-to-college-in-valley-for.html

90. To see an outline of common criteria for merit aid, click this link to our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/14-merit-aid.html

91. To read an explanation of need-based aid, click this link to our MVCAP blog: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/15-need-based-aid.html

92. To calculate how much a college may cost you, check out this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/11/16-how-much-will-college-cost-me.html

93. To read an update from Money on college costs, click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/22-college-more-expensive-than-ever.html

94. To see a survey on how U.S. families pay for college, click: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/23-survey-finds-that-many-families-dont.html

95. To learn about saving for college with a 529 plan, click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/24-529-savings-plan-for-college.html

96. To compare the tuition of 168 colleges in Ohio, click:
http://www.collegeview.com/SearchSchools.do?state=48&location=1500&referLocation=4860

97. To see tax credits for college in the stimulus bill, click: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/25-stimulus-bill-offers-tax-credit-for.html

98. Watch an ABC 20/20 video and decide "Is College Worth It?" here: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/26-john-stossel-is-college-worth-it.html

99. To read about students choosing colleges in this recession, click: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/28-college-applicants-forego-dream.html

100. See factors--including finances--that stress college dropouts: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/31-college-dropouts-cite-low-money-and.html

101. Read an article on the average loan-debt of college seniors: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2009/12/32-average-debt-for-graduating-college.html

102. To access the information on financial aid of FinAid! just click this link: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/38-financial-aid-websites.html

103. To find information on financial aid from the College Board, click here: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/38-financial-aid-websites.html

104. To find information on financial aid from Peterson's, access this site: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/38-financial-aid-websites.html

105. To see information on financial aid from the U.S. Dept. of Ed., click here: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/38-financial-aid-websites.html

106. For student accounts of loan-debt from college, hit this from HuffPost College: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/39-student-loan-debt.html

107. Lindsay Carroll, 21, Pitt, has $15,000 loan-debt; see why at HuffPost College: http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/39-student-loan-debt.html

108. To seek scholarship opportunities that may fit you, investigate fastweb at http://mvcap.blogspot.com/2010/02/40-search-for-scholarships.html