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."

374. 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)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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

2. Income achievement gap almost doubles black-white achievement gap - http://t.co/462xeLvw via @StanfordEd

3. 'Are Advanced Placement (AP) Classes Important for College Admission?': http://EzineArticles.com/6708832 - "Colleges like to see students challenge themselves academically. They are not impressed with students who only meet the minimum academic requirements, even if they have all A's. This is why AP classes can make a difference for college acceptance."

4. High schools awarded for college prep efforts college, students, schools - http://t.co/mFNQodw6 http://bit.ly/u3YawP

5. Colleges look to recruit top academic students http://t.co/WEgDgGh4 - "College recruiting is not just for athletes anymore. U-W Madison says the nation's top research schools and other Big Ten universities are trying to lure some of Wisconsin's top academic students."

6. College Options http://www.emissourian.com/news/st_clair_news/article_1ca0ba22-153c-11e1-8bfe-001cc4c03286.html#.Ts2evG6bLQU.twitter via Townnews - "Erin O'Neil, Missouri College Advising Corps college adviser working in the St. Clair R-XIII School District, is helping high school students with potential college options and preparation as she settles into a local two-year stint."

7. Does Financial Need Impact College Admissions Chances? - College Admissions Q&As (http://t.co/YL8VAMpm) http://bit.ly/rBKe2K

8. 4 more accused of taking college admission exams for students #cnn http://t.co/wWBGze1G - "More Long Island students were arrested Tuesday in an ongoing investigation of a college admission exam cheating scandal, prosecutors say."

345. 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. College Recruiting: Blacks Squeezed Out - http://www.theroot.com/views/recruiting-trend-squeezes-out-black-students

2. How to Pay for College When Your Financial Aid is Exhausted - http://t.co/egR0ks4l via @AddThis

3. Popularity of Online Education Spurs Financial Aid Fraud - http://nyti.ms/ndhsjJ

4. Quality pre-k programs are a big part of narrowing the achievement gap in schools - http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-commentary/2011/10/our_view_quality_prekindergart.html

5. UW-Madison professor will examine ‘fallacies’ of achievement gap during Oct. 20 talk at NIU - http://bit.ly/n3KSeS

6. Report identifies ways Burlington schools can better serve minorities - http://t.co/upeLg67L via @bfp_news

7. More fodder around questions of diversity and the achievement gap - http://blogs.burlingtonfreepress.com/politics/2011/10/12/more-fodder-around-questions-of-diversity-and-the-achivement-gap/

8. The Role of A.D.H.D. Diagnoses in College Admissions - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/qtkmjL

9. Racism and Sexism in Diagnosing A.D.H.D. - Room for Debate - http://nyti.ms/obZvIw

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

196. MVCAP fyi

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

1. Two Ways to Get Kicked Out of College Before You Arrive On Campus - Auburn Journal: http://bit.ly/gZ6scR

‎"According to the 2010 State of College Admission (National Association for College Admission Counseling, September 2010, p. 28), 22 percent of colleges reported they revoked offers of admission during the fall 2009 semester/quarter. The average number of offers revoked increased 230% from 2008 to 2009. Although not stated in the 2010 report, in previous years, colleges reported the most common reason for retracting offers being a sharp decline in final grades followed by disciplinary actions (disciplinary actions most likely to result in retraction of an offer were violence, cheating, drug-related offenses and theft)."

2. Juniors Get an Early Lesson on College Applications, by Colleen Tang - Pelham, NY Patch: http://t.co/qAnuMj0

“We have five colleges coming in tonight and they’ll give their perspectives on everything from SUNY Purchase, applying as an art major to Fordham and Iona,“ said Eugene Farrell, director of counseling services at PMHS. “So we try to provide a range of perspectives on colleges and on college essays and all those other pieces. It’s information that we try to get to parents as best we can.”

3. Financial aid: One of six tools to graduate debt-free, by Husna Haq - http://t.co/NWwV16D

"Here are six ways you, too, can trim or eliminate college debt:"

4. Always worth a try to apply for financial aid, by Terry Savage - Chicago Sun-Times: http://bit.ly/gunvDV

‎"You’ll never know until you try whether you will qualify for financial aid. Unless you have saved all the money you’ll need, it’s worth a try. Some expensive schools might grant an aid package that makes them more affordable than even a local college or state school. The FAFSA — the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — is the basis for almost every financial aid decision that is based on need."

5. Study: IL Student Poverty Rate Rises - Achievement Gap Widens, by Mary Anne Meyers - Public News Service: http://j.mp/gWzyDn

‎"According to the 2011 Kids Count Report released by Voices for Illinois Children, less than half of the low-income students in Illinois are able to read at grade level."

6. Cleveland native Ron Ferguson pushes to close academic achievement gap, by Regina Brett cleveland.com: http://t.co/czSJx8z

"Education has been called the next civil rights issue. Ferguson told me it's bigger than that. We need to re-craft a national identity around new academic aspiration. We can't afford to ignore the race gap, he said. Already, in 10 states the majority of children are non-white."

7. College students must work to solve problems that affect blacks, speaker says, by Paul Garber & John Hinton http://t.co/IhYGOaw

"You need to develop causes that you are willing to die for," Marc Lamont Hill said during a fiery 50-minute speech. "You have the ability to turn the world upside down." Hill, 32, was the keynote speaker for the Seventh Annual Black Male Symposium. More than more than 220 people attended his lecture in Dillard Auditorium in the Anderson Center."

8. 63 Colleges With the Best Financial Aid, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/GHCuOTx

‎"In fact, according to a new U.S. News & World Report survey, only 63 schools out of 1,700 colleges and universities claim that they meet their students’ full financial need. . . . Here are the schools on US News & World Report’s list in alphabetical order: 63 Most Generous Colleges and Universities."

9. Buying Your Way Into College, by Jane J. Kim - http://on.wsj.com/eZHl4x

"Thanks to the recent recession, more colleges are giving seats to wealthier students—especially international or wait-listed applicants—who are willing to pay full freight."

10. College Parties, Minus the Beer Binges, by Sue Shellenbarger - http://on.wsj.com/ieuC1s

"Surveys at Purdue University, for example, show a sharp drop in binge drinking among students, to 37.3% in 2009 from 48% in 2006, says Tamara Loew, health-advocacy coordinator. She attributes this in part to a boom in late-night, alcohol-free events on or around campus, from poetry slams and dances to carnivals and "cabin-fever" parties."

11. More Students Fail Advanced Placement Tests, by Stephanie Banchero - http://on.wsj.com/ei0Nh4

"Education experts attribute the low scores to the recent national effort to push more students—no matter how ill-prepared—into AP courses, hoping to get them ready for college. They also blame school districts that have watered down the AP curriculum to accommodate lower-performing students, and students who sign up simply to pad their college applications."

12. Stanford Corners the 'Smart' Market, by Darren Everson and Jared Diamond - http://on.wsj.com/gSL4Jl

"What stands out about Stanford's class is something entirely different: what superior students they are."

13. For-Profit Colleges and Foes Await U.S. Rules, by Tamar Lewin - http://nyti.ms/i97XKt

"The data — covering all institutions of higher education — found that among students whose loans came due in 2008, 25 percent of those who attended commercial colleges defaulted within three years, compared with 10.8 percent at public institutions and 7.6 percent at private nonprofit colleges and universities."

14. US students lagging behind, by Anne Michaud - http://t.co/cN3faUU via @vindicator

"Not coincidentally, perhaps, middle school is where American students begin to fall behind their global peers. By high school, among 30 developed nations, U.S. students rank 15th in reading, 21st in science, 25th in math and 24th in problem-solving."

15. Book Chat: Why Does College Cost So Much? by David Leonhardt - http://nyti.ms/hUjPvH

"The biggest problem with our current financial aid programs is their complexity. Families have to make a series of decisions early in the process to help their children to become college material. Well-to-do families usually take care of this quite well. College is expected, and in most cases the expectation is realized. On the other hand, because they think they can never afford college, children from less well-to-do families do not take the steps one has to take to prepare for college."

16. Ethnic diversity ends, and begins, with admissions, by the Editorial Board - The Skidmore News: http://t.co/ctVGW4Z

"Our college admissions, unlike other peer schools like Hamilton College and Vassar College, considers whether a student can afford tuition as a part of his or her admission into the school; our college operates under "need-sensitive" admission, as opposed to "need-blind" admission. For example, when two prospective students with the same racial backgrounds, test scores, grades and extracurriculars apply to Skidmore, the student who requests less financial aid will more likely be accepted."

17. Yale Shifts Aid From Wealthier Families to Help Poor Students, by Oliver Staley and Janet Lorin - http://t.co/A5JoJel via @BloombergNow

‎"Beginning with students who enter this August, parents who earn between $130,000 and $200,000 a year will be asked to pay an average of 15 percent of their income, up from 12 percent for the previous three years, said Caesar Storlazzi, Yale’s chief financial aid officer, in an interview. Yale will also increase the income cap for families who pay nothing to $65,000 from $60,000."

18. The Changed Landscape, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://t.co/z6x5Afs

‎"But for higher education, the sea change was most evident in the strikingly lopsided vote for an amendment that would block the U.S. Education Department from using any of its fiscal 2011 funds to carry out its proposed regulation requiring for-profit college and other vocational programs to ensure that their students are prepared for "gainful employment."

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


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


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


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183. MVCAP fyi--San Diego ed.

See free MVCAP e-books on college admissions and financial aid for sharing, printing, and downloading at our online resource library: http://issuu.com/mvcap

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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178. MVCAP fyi

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1. Recent grads finding jobs - in their living rooms, by Jessica Dickler -http://t.co/dMEGo9a via @CNNMoney

"She's one of a growing number of young professionals choosing to work from home as telecommuting opportunities have jumped nearly 400% in the past three years, according to job-search site FlexJobs.com."

2. Oversigning offenders won't be curbed by NCAA's toothless rule, by Andy Staples - http://bit.ly/g6iYgS /via @SI_24Seven

"When Football Bowl Subdivision schools across the nation begin signing football players on Feb. 2, they'll have to adhere for the first time to an NCAA bylaw that limits them to 28 signees between Signing Day and May 31. Unchanged is the rule that declares schools can bring in only 25 new scholarship players each academic year."

3. On education reform, safe is for losers, by Richard Whitmire - http://usat.ly/eD79K7 - RT @USATODAY

"On this round of the trusted National Assessment of Educational Progress, only one in five high school seniors scored proficient in science. Worse, only a handful scored at the advanced level — not an encouraging sign as the nation faces international economic competition based more on brains than brawn."

4. A January Deadline Met, but the Applications Continue, by Uyanga Tamir - http://nyti.ms/gwqYWP

"So here I am, a second semester senior still filling out applications and writing good old essays. Since the bigger wave of applications has passed, I also have started my scholarship search. Most of the scholarships that are available have deadlines in the second semester, which is convenient for all students. To those other students who believe that second semester of senior year is going to be a breeze, it really will not be if you are serious about your future. Life does not get easier, only more challenging – something that I anticipate with enthusiasm and readiness."

5. Shielding Education and Research, by Doug Lederman - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fhRsZM

‎"The president's speech was relatively short on details about programs he would seek to shield from the overall five-year freeze on domestic spending he proposes; it made no mention of Pell Grants or other financial aid (which many college leaders fear could face cutbacks if Republicans stick to their goal of slashing domestic spending) . . . ."

6. The Same Boxes to Check, by Scott Jaschik - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fitseI

"The Common Application has rejected a proposal that it add optional questions on sexual orientation and gender identity. The board of the organization issued a statement suggesting that colleges have other ways to indicate support for applicants who are gay or who don't identify with traditional gender categories, and that adding the questions could pose problems."

7. Deal Stopped in Its Tracks, by David Moltz - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/fDrCtZ

"Though Cuyahoga would keep all tuition from in-county students in this program, it would have to give 70 percent of tuition from out-of-county students to Academic Partnerships. Ross noted that the college would pilot two course offerings of 30 students to see if the model made financial sense, then expand it if deemed appropriate."

8. Enrollment Management, Inc.: External Influences on Our Practice -http://www.usc.edu/programs/cerpp/docs/EnrollmentManagementInc.ReportFINAL_002.pdf

A report on the enrollment management industry, by Scott Andrew Schulz and Jerome A. Lucido, both of the University of Southern California

9. Top Schools See Record Applications for 2015 - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/top-schools-see-jump-in-a_n_812455.html#s227215&title=University_of_CaliforniaLos

‎"This year, the ten University of California campuses all attracted large volumes of applicants, with UCLA topping the list with a record 61,498 applications. Among private schools, Columbia University saw a massive 32 percent increase in applicants from last year, for a total of 34,587 applications."

10. Is College Tuition Too Low? by David Leonhardt - http://nyti.ms/fBBp08

‎"In essence, Mr. Becker and Mr. Posner are calling for a higher list price for public colleges. Well-off families would be able to pay this higher list price. Their children would still go to college, graduate and, far more often than not, earn enough of a wage premium to make college a fabulously good deal. Middle- and lower-income families, on the other hand, would not have to pay more than they’re now paying."

11. Census Data Show Rise in College Degrees, but Racial Gaps in Education, by Alex Richards-http://chronicle.com/article/Census-Data-Reveal-Rise-in/126026/

"For instance, the census estimates that in 2009, 28 percent of Americans 25 and older had at least four-year degrees. But the rate for black Americans was just 17 percent, and for Hispanic Americans only 13 percent."

12. Proficiency Eludes U.S. Students on Science NAEP, by Erik W. Robelen - http://t.co/2J5jeSL via @educationweek

‎"Only one in five high school seniors scored at least proficient on the exam. Meanwhile, 34 percent of 4th graders and 30 percent of 8th graders were deemed proficient or better in science on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as “the nation’s report card.”

13. Application Boom Begets a New Strategy, by Eric Hoover - http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/the-application-boom-begets-a-new-strategy/27800

"So Rutgers decided to allow applicants to submit their academic information—courses, grades, grade-point averages, and class rank—via an online form called the Self-Reported Academic Record. Students who decide to enroll must then ask their high schools to send an official copy of their transcript by July 15, so the admissions staff can verify the information they had submitted. In other words, the university must process transcripts only for those students who enroll."

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1. Early-Decision Applications Surge at Vanderbilt, George Washington and Dartmouth, by Jacques Steinberg - http://nyti.ms/c5CyHv

"I note, in scrolling through the nearly three dozen institutions (and counting) represented on the chart above, that binding early submissions to Vanderbilt are up more than 30 percent; those to George Washington are up nearly 20 percent; and that Dartmouth has seen an increase of nearly 14 percent. (Blogger’s disclosure: I am a Dartmouth graduate.)Bucknell (30 percent); Lehigh (14 percent); and Bowdoin (10 percent) also caught my eye. They join Northwestern (now reporting a 26 percent increase) and the University of Pennsylvania (18 percent), which I wrote about last week. As noted eloquently by several commenters in response to last week’s post, binding early programs continue to be a lightning rod for families and counselors; an applicant who applies under such a program, and commits to attend if accepted, loses the ability to not only field financial aid offers from other colleges, but also forfeits at least some potential leverage to persuade that institution to sweeten its scholarship. . . ."

2. Context on Admissions Jumps - Inside Higher Ed http://t.co/zFifUGf

"A report being issued today by the National Association for College Admission Counseling says that it is true that colleges are receiving many more applications than in the past -- and that part of the phenomenon is linked to top students applying to more colleges than they used to, and top colleges receiving more applications than they used to. Still, the NACAC report is very much a "yes but" on the question of whether the increases in applications are really about the frenzy to get into the most competitive colleges. Many of the largest increases in applications are at less selective institutions seeing increased numbers of high school graduates in some areas, and increased numbers of Latino and black applicants in other cases."

3. 13 Colleges That Leave Students In Massive Debt - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/18/student-debt-colleges_n_785604.html#s175927

"According to a recent report from the Project on Student Debt, the average 2009 college graduate with $24,000 in debt -- an increase of six percent from the prior year. Using Peterson's data, the report also researched which colleges leave the students in most debt. Some schools, like the Cleveland Institute of Art, average more than $60,000 worth of debt per student. See the 13 schools that leave students in the most debt below."

4. More Jobs For College Graduates Next Year - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/18/more-jobs-for-college-gra_n_785659.html

"Analysis of approximately 4,600 employers reveals that the job-market rebound can be attributed to a cessation of hiring freezes among larger companies as well as growth in small, fast-growth businesses. The report's principal investigator, Phil Gardner, says he expects to see the largest increase in jobs for college grads in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. The industries expected to lead in hiring are manufacturing, professional services, commercial banking and federal government."

5. Entry level jobs: 8 Things You Need to Know, by Lynn O'Shaughnessy - http://t.co/DJCE7qu

‎"Here’s the good news: more employers expect to be hiring college grads than last year. That’s one of the take-home messages of a new comprehensive survey of jobs for college graduates that Michigan State University conducted. The annual survey, which is the biggest of its kind, surveyed 4,600 employers about their hiring prospects. Here’s what the survey says about entry-level jobs for new college graduates:"

6. Rise in college applications hurts low-income students - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/college-admissions/report-rise-in-college-applica-1.html

"The rise in applications at community colleges, for-profit institutions and less-selective public institutions appears to be a result of the increasing sizes over the years of graduating high school classes, and there has been growth in the number of applicants who are Hispanic and black, students who are more likely from moderate- and low-income families with less rigorous academic preparation. Many of these institutions have been hard hit by the economic downturn, and research shows that many of these underfunded public schools lack resources to meet the needs of their growing student bodies. At the more selective schools, applications have been rising apparently because each student is applying to a greater number of schools."

7. 'Application Inflation' Has Many Causes--and Consequences http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/‘application-inflation’-has-many-causes—and-consequences/27722

"The report suggests that the long-term rise in the number of high-school graduates pursuing higher education—particularly Hispanic students whose parents did not attend college—explains much of the recent increases at two-year colleges and less-selective four-year institutions. Meanwhile, a rising number of students applying to multiple institutions explains the increases at more-selective colleges and universities, the report says. At the same time, admissions offices have helped create the application monster with their recruiting and marketing practices, and many colleges have made applying to college quick and easy—not to mention free—in hopes of attracting more students. On most campuses, the relentless search for more and better applicants (encompassing the nation, if not the globe) serves altruistic goals as well as competitive ones."

8. Tuition Discounts Up at Public Colleges, Could Be Costly, by Rachel Louise Ensign - http://chronicle.com/article/Tuition-Discounts-Rise-at/125439/

"Increasing the discount rate, or the percentage of tuition covered by institutional aid from the operating budget, initially earns a public four-year college more revenue per student, according to research being presented on Thursday by Nicholas W. Hillman, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Utah, at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education. But once the discount rate rises above 13 percent—as it is has done at a number of public colleges, Mr. Hillman says—the financing approach earns less of a payoff.Mr. Hillman studied 174 public colleges and universities, finding that they had an average discount rate of 12.3 percent in 2008."

9. Colleges' own recruiting may push students to spread applications around, by Daniel de Vise - http://t.co/DKdmlqe via @washingtonpost

"Application inflation" is one of the most widely discussed but poorly documented trends in college admissions. Applications rose 47 percent at public colleges and 70 percent at private colleges between fall 2001 and fall 2008, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Arlington County. In a new report, "Putting the College Admissions 'Arms Race' in Context," the group attempts to explain the unprecedented jump. Admissions officers point to a steady increase in the number of students applying to eight, 10 or 15 schools, particularly among top students courting selective colleges. The 34-page report suggests that application inflation is a phenomenon largely confined to selective colleges, whose applicants hope to raise their chances by applying to more schools. Colleges feed the frenzy by recruiting heavily - and unnecessarily, the authors contend."

10. Thanks but No Thanks, NAEP, by Chester E. Finn, Jr. http://bit.ly/aTqy3o

"The big news, alas, isn’t news at all, which is that proficiency levels remain dreadfully low in both reading and math (worse in math), that gains have been tiny, that college readiness is nowhere near what it ought to be, that the achievement gap hasn’t narrowed by a micron, and that an awful lot of spending and reforming and earnest hard work has not yet paid off for a country that needs fundamentally different outcomes for K-12 education."

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1. Not the ‘Hook’ the Admissions Office Had in Mind, by Dave Marcus - http://nyti.ms/aH72IT

"Mark Hatch was reading applications for Bates College in Maine one weekend a few years ago when he became intrigued by a student’s essay about fishing. Turning the page, Mr. Hatch felt a sharp pain — and realized that the student had attached an actual hook. After a trip to the emergency room and several stitches, Mr. Hatch finished reading the essay. Now a vice president at Colorado College, Mr. Hatch has the scar to prove that he did, in fact, admit a student with a hook."

2. No Excuses, Mr. President, by Marc Bousquet - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/99V2gr

"President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan's plans for higher education are evident in their attraction to community colleges. All of the features that most educators deplore about community colleges are what the current administration likes about them: top-down control of curriculum, disposable instructors, automated courseware, a training model of education, and management highly responsive to local employers. Their ambitions for publicly-funded higher education are closely parallel to their commitments in the schools: more automation, a standardized national curriculum, and centralization of control with an intensified assessment regime. Higher education has been slow to pick up on these threats, but national polls show that most Americans already clearly understand the difference between raising test scores and actually improving education."

3. For-Profit Schools, Tested Again, by Gretchen Morgenson - http://nyti.ms/9adClc

"Apollo’s facilities offer flexible-degree programs for people (“working learners,” it calls them) who have jobs or other obligations that keep them from attending school full-time. The University of Phoenix, by far the largest of the company’s institutions, offers both online and on-campus classes. It operates in 39 states. A majority of Apollo’s revenue comes from federal student aid. The University of Phoenix, which accounted for 91 percent of Apollo’s net revenue this year, gets the bulk of its own revenue from Title IV programs. Just 1 percent of cash revenue at the University of Phoenix comes from student loans that aren’t channeled through the federal government. Top for-profit colleges like Apollo’s received $26.5 billion in government-funded student aid in 2009, the Department of Education says. Because taxpayers are on the hook if these loans go bad, it is high time that regulators increased their scrutiny of practices at Apollo and other for-profit education companies."

4. Most expensive colleges money.cnn.com/galleries/2010…

‎"1. Connecticut College

New London, Conn.

Tuition & fees (2010-2011): $43,990

Increase from previous year: 3.9%

Total cost including room & board: $53,110"

5. The For-Profit LMS Market - Inside Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/byaSqP

"Mining learning-management systems for data has come into fashion among nonprofit colleges relatively recently, but for-profits have been doing it for much longer, says David Harpool, provost and chief academic officer at the for-profit Westwood College. Accrediting bodies and other regulators have always scrutinized for-profits extra closely, Harpool says, so there was a high demand for tools that would log data on student attendance and the degree of activity by students and instructors in the online learning environment — and make the data easy for for-profits to organize and show to accreditors and others by way of proving their legitimacy. For-profits also have a unique interest in by-the-numbers scrutiny of both students and faculty: faculty because the institutions have greater power to fire them based on classroom performance, and students because, as Harpool puts it: “When an average school in the for-profit sector spends between $4,000 and $8,000 to attract each student, . . . ."

6. Kaplan & U.S. Vet - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-01/kaplan-quest-for-profit-at-taxpayer-expense-ensnares-disabled-u-s-veteran.html

"Melvin is among thousands of returning veterans enticed by for-profit colleges through repeated phone calls and e-mails, advertising in military-oriented publications, and alliances with veterans’ organizations eager for corporate contributions. Admissions advisers woo veterans with visions of high-paying jobs and easy access to federal grants. While some veterans succeed at these colleges, others are hindered by red tape in getting federal funding and the inability to complete degrees and find well-paying jobs after graduation. Aggressive recruiting by for-profit colleges leads to low graduation rates, said Donald Overton, executive director of Veterans of Modern Warfare, a service organization in Silver Spring, Maryland, which has 5,000 post-1990 veterans as members. “As long as the recruiters meet their quotas and bring in veterans, their job is done,” Overton said in a telephone interview. “The colleges are lacking support services, and their programs are fast-paced.”

7. For Exposure, Universities Put Courses on Web, by D.D. Guttenplan -http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/world/europe/01iht-educLede01.html?hpw

"M.I.T.’s announcement in 2001 that it was going to put its entire course catalog online gave a jump-start to what has now become a global Open Educational Resources Movement whose goal, said Susan D’Antoni of Athabasca University, in Canada, is “to try to share the world’s knowledge.” Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the University of Michigan all now offer substantial portions of their courses online. In Britain, the Open University, which has been delivering distance learning for over 40 years, offers free online courses in every discipline on the OpenLearn Web site; the Open University also maintains a dedicated YouTube channel and has often had courses listed on the top 10 downloads at iTunes University. There, students can gain access to beginner courses in French, Spanish and German as well as courses in history, philosophy and astronomy — all free."

8. Tomorrow's College: The classroom of the future. . . , by Marc Parry http://chronicle.com/article/Tomorrows-College/125120/

"As online education goes mainstream, it's no longer just about access for distant learners who never set foot in the student union. Web courses are rewiring what it means to be a "traditional" student at places like Central Florida, one of the country's largest public universities. And UCF's story raises a question for other colleges: Will this mash-up of online and offline learning become the new normal elsewhere, too?Signs suggest yes. The University System of Maryland now requires undergraduates to take 12 credits in alternative learning modes, including online. Texas has proposed a similar rule. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is pushing to have 25 percent of credits earned online by 2015. And the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, pointing to UCF as a model, has made blended learning a cornerstone of its new $20-million education-technology grant program. These players pin their hopes on Web classes as a panacea that will expand access, speed up the time spent ...."

9. Mastering the Admissions Essay, by Ellen Gamerman Getting In Unigo unigo.com/articles/maste…

"The Wall Street Journal turned the tables on the presidents of 10 top colleges and universities with an unusual assignment: answer an essay question from their own school’s application."

10. The Case Against College Athletic Recruiting http://bit.ly/bTacyb

"Equally strange, you would discover that some academically elite schools that do not give athletic scholarships—because they are nominally committed to academics over athletics—give away a large portion of their highly competitive admissions slots to athletes, even in the most obscure sports, such as squash. For instance, Williams College, which admits only 17 percent of applicants, recruits 66 athletes per year. That’s 13 percent of the incoming freshman class that is dedicated to third-rate (literally, as Williams plays Division III sports) athletes over first-rate students. Take a look at the NEWSWEEK College Guide and you will find Williams, along with its small-school rivals Middlebury and Bowdoin, and Ivy League members Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Cornell, on our list of the top 25 schools that are “Stocked With Jocks.” You probably would conclude that these American institutions of higher learning have their priorities weirdly out of whack. And you would be right."

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