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    WHEELING – Who and what is Nova Southeastern University, and where can it be found on a map of the United States? Those were the popular questions when it was announced last week that highly successful West Liberty men’s basketball coach Jim Crutchfield was leaving the hilltop and making NSU his destination. For starters, Nova Southeastern is not in any way affiliated with Villanova University. Secondly, you won’t find any hills or snow on campus, but you are likely to encounter palm trees and bikinis. Located in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Nova Southeastern’s main campus is minutes away from Fort Lauderdale’s beach, South Beach, Los Olas night life and the Everglades. It’s home to a diverse student enrollment of 25,000, with 1,200 being international students that come from 116 countries on five continents. Currently NSU, a private non-profit university, consists of 18 colleges and schools offering more than 175 programs of study with more than 250 majors. The school, which has an annual tuition cost of $27,660, has produced more than 170,000 alumni. The university was founded in 1964 as the Nova University of Advanced Technology on a former Naval Outlying Landing Field built during World War II. In 1994 the school merged with Southeastern University of the Health and Sciences and assumed its current name. Its endowment is listed as $102.7 million. Nova Southeastern is classified as a Doctoral/Research University Carnegie Foundation and was ranked by the Washington Monthly as the 259th-best national university. In 2000 and again in 2014, Nova was ranked third for the highest debt burden amongst its students. In 2014, NSU carried the highest debt load compared to all other students at non-profit universities. “You have to have a 3.0 grade-point average just to get in,” Crutchfield said. “Under grad is about 9,000 students and there are 16,000 in the various graduate programs — they pretty much have one for anything you want to do.” NSU boasts a vibrant campus life and only “highly credentialed” professors teac
    6 years ago by @prophe
     
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      It might just be career government lawyers doing their jobs, and doing them well, until the Trump Administration can catch up and work its malevolence, but in court papers filed today, the Trump Justice Department defended the Obama Administration’s gainful employment rule, a measure aimed at curbing predatory abuses by for-profit colleges. The rule penalizes expensive career college programs that, year after year, leave graduates with debts that, based on their earnings, they cannot afford to repay. “The public interest is served by allowing the Department to go forward with implementing the GE regulations,” Justice Department lawyers wrote on behalf of their client, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who is being sued by an association of cosmetology schools. The association’s somewhat risque argument is that many hairdressers and other beauty professionals do not report all their tip income to the IRS, and thus their graduates actually are doing better than the gainful employment calculations give them credit for. Revised under pressure from industry lobbyists, the Obama Administration’s rule is not very strong, but it does endanger some of the worst-of-the-worst college programs. The operators of those programs, who have been raking in billions in taxpayer money, want to make sure they can still act with impunity, even though their abuses have ruined the lives of countless veterans, single moms, and other students. There are good cosmetology schools, as well as other types of career schools. The gainful employment rule aims to channel resources and students to those quality, affordable schools, and away from the kind of for-profit colleges that law enforcement agencies are investigating or prosecuting for fraud. But given: that Donald Trump was previously the proprietor of his own predatory for-profit real estate “university”; that Trump crony Newt Gingrich and congressional Republicans have aggressively advocated for the for-profit college industry; that DeVos has been invested in for-profit education
      6 years ago by @prophe
       
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        In Pennsylvania, which has the second-most private colleges in the nation, moves to better target delivery of higher education will have implications not only for legions of public classroom students but for those on private campuses, too. The state’s 90-plus private institutions enroll about 290,000 students, 42 percent of the state’s market, and they award 49 percent of the degrees from associate to doctoral level, according to the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania. Its president, Don Francis, said Friday that his group has not taken any position on the review getting underway across the 14 state-owned universities, a process that could lead to shifts in classroom offerings, consolidation or other moves. Nevertheless, he said he hopes the State System of Higher Education and the state itself understand that their decisions will be felt beyond the 14 universities, beset with enrollment and financial woes. His members face many of the same issues that public campuses do, including population decline and fewer high school graduates. “It’s good to keep in mind that any changes to the State System will have an impact on private institutions, as well as the state-related institutions, and the community colleges,” Mr. Francis said. “All the sectors should be considered before any final recommendations are implemented.” Kenn Marshall, a State System spokesman, said chancellor Frank Brogan has expressed a similar interest. In remarks to the Legislature and elsewhere, Mr. Brogan has said greater dialogue should occur with private campuses, as well as with two-year schools and the state-related campuses of the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln universities. “Everybody who is involved in higher education is technically competition,” Mr. Marshall said. “I think [Mr. Brogan] would prefer to see us collaborate more.” A 2012 consultant’s study for the State System by Maguire Associates of Concord, Mass., found that among students who turned down a State System of
        6 years ago by @prophe
         
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          For Democrats, the one great policy legacy of 2016 was the party’s embrace of free tuition for public colleges and universities. After Bernie Sanders made it a signature policy proposal and proved its political potency (especially with millennials), Hillary Clinton adapted and adopted it when she won the nomination. Over the course of the campaign, the idea evolved from a progressive pipe dream into a concept with massive momentum. This thing was going to happen! But when Donald Trump won and Republicans took control of Congress, a federal free-tuition program became a pipe dream again. The only chance for free college was to start at the state level—in one of the few remaining blue states—and create a model that could spread nationally. Given the popularity of the idea, it’s not surprising that two ambitious Democratic governors–both presidential prospects for 2020—have taken up the call. Both New York’s Andrew Cuomo and Rhode Island’s Gina Raimondo are vying to be the governor who made free college happen—and both their plans are running into resistance from their own party’s lawmakers. Some of the controversy was to be expected: It’s no surprise that fiscal conservatives think it’s another costly social program with uncertain returns. Other legislators and educators worry about how it will affect enrollment at state schools. But for liberals, the legislative battles have exposed a series of tricky policy trade-offs that cut to the heart of a larger national debate: What kind of “progress” should Democrats be fighting for? Should a new social program benefit everyone equally, like Social Security, or help low-income families the most? And how valuable is tuition relief, really, if the state doesn’t help students with other college expenses, like room and board and books? The surface simplicity of the whole idea is one of its great calling cards: Free college. How complicated could that be? The debates in New York and Rhode Island have sometimes been acrimonious and divisive. But that’s far from a bad thing:
          6 years ago by @prophe
           
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            "For-profit colleges have faced federal and state investigations in recent years for their aggressive recruiting tactics –– accusations that come as no surprise to author Tressie McMillan Cottom," NPR reports. "Cottom worked as an enrollment officer at two different for-profit colleges, but quit because she felt uncomfortable selling students an education they couldn't afford. Her new book, Lower Ed, argues that for-profit colleges exploit racial, gender and economic inequality. Cottom tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that for-profit institutions tend to focus their recruiting on students who qualify for the maximum amount of student aid. 'That happens to be the poorest among us,' she says. 'And because of how our society is set up, the poorest among us tend to be women and people of color.' Though for-profit colleges hold out the promise of a better future, Cottom notes that the credentials they offer tend to be 30 to 40 percent more expensive than the same credentials from a nonprofit public institution. What's more, she says, students at for-profit institutions often drop out before completing their degree, which means many students are left mired in debt and with credits that are not easily transferable. 'The system that we've come to rely on to increase access to higher education to the most vulnerable among us really only compounds their poverty and their risk factors,' Cottom says. 'That's the exact opposite of what higher education is supposed to do.'" NASFAA's "Headlines" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented.
            6 years ago by @prophe
             
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              The date is fast approaching when students will receive their college acceptances from the most competitive colleges in the country. Most students have already heard from several colleges as all but the most competitive let students know much earlier than the beginning of April. Only 3% of the four-year colleges and universities in the United States accept fewer than 25% of their applicants and these schools enroll fewer than 4% of all new freshmen. This is a very small group of students and schools but the publicity surrounding these schools has lead many people to think that it is impossible to get into college and has resulted in great angst among students and parents about the college admissions process. On the other hand, 18% of the four-year institutions and all of the more than 1,000 community colleges in the U.S. are open admissions which means they have minimal admissions criteria and accept almost all students who apply if they have graduated from high school and complete all the required paperwork. Why do we have such misperceptions about getting into college? Too many people think that all schools are like the Ivies and the Little Ivies but that is far from true. There is a school for everyone and, in most cases, many schools that will be a good match for you. It is quite easy to predict your chances of getting in to a school as most schools accept all students who meet their stated criteria and have scores that are close to the school’s average scores. There are very few schools who have the luxury of turning away qualified students who meet their criteria. The very selective schools are able to fill their freshmen class many times over from their applicant pool while most others struggle to fill their class and find that they have to discount their tuition significantly to get the number of students that they need to operate in a financially viable way. The average discount rate at private four-year colleges is almost 50% meaning that on average students will pay only half of the published tuition
              6 years ago by @prophe
               
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                As the Trump administration tries to roll back education regulations, one city is attempting to stay a move ahead by fortifying its own protections for some college students. The Milwaukee Common Council unanimously passed legislation last week to prohibit financial assistance to for-profit institutions unless they meet federal financial aid regulations. The legislation, which updates a previous rule, means the city won’t provide monetary aid to for-profits or to related development projects if the involved colleges fail to meet federal financial aid regulations that were in force on Jan. 1, 2017, before Trump's inauguration. “Considering the leadership change at the federal level and who is now over the Education Department and her relationship with private for-profit colleges, it was thought that the federal guidelines could change, and our ordinance was predicated on what the federal guidelines were at that time,” said Alderwoman Milele Coggs, who sponsored the legislation. “So if those guidelines change, it doesn’t affect the standard we set as a city for education.” Coggs said Milwaukee has a right to be concerned about the types of education institutions that want to do business there. The original ordinance was put into effect following the 2009 arrival of Everest College, which received development money from the city. “We had major reservations about them coming in here, and we put them through the paces and [made them] jump through a series of hoops to demonstrate they could be successful in serving students,” said David Dies, executive secretary of the Wisconsin Educational Approval Board, the state’s for-profit oversight agency. Coggs said she and other residents in the city also had reservations about Everest. But the institution eventually opened its doors with the help of $11 million in bonds from the city’s redevelopment authority, she said. It wasn’t too long after Everest opened that the EAB noticed problems. “They only operated here about 18 months, and early on we started sensing issues based
                6 years ago by @prophe
                 
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                  For-profit college investors bid up stock prices in anticipation of a lenient Trump administration. Were they wrong? For-profit colleges were supposed to thrive under a Trump administration staffed by officials known to be friendly to the industry. President Donald Trump and Republican allies in Congress had made broad promises either to revisit or to repeal federal rules governing the schools. That gave hope to for-profit colleges and their investors, driving up their stock prices. Meanwhile, consumer protection advocates worried about a resurgent for-profit college sector unburdened by Obama-era rules. A legal filing from last week suggests perhaps those assumptions were premature. In late March, the Trump administration offered a forceful defense of the so-called gainful employment rule, the 2015 regulation that threatens to shut off the spigot of normally free-flowing federal funds that sustain career programs if the typical graduate's annual loan payments exceed 20 percent of her discretionary income or 8 percent of total earnings. It also called on suspect career programs to warn prospective students if they risked running afoul of the guidelines. Colleges mostly opposed the rule. “The regulations are intended to protect students and taxpayers by providing warnings about programs with relatively high loan debt compared to the earnings their students could hope to achieve after graduating from those programs,” Justice Department attorneys wrote in their brief on behalf of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Students benefit from the warnings, Trump administration lawyers wrote, “because it could prevent them from taking on debt that they will not be able to repay, and they could more reasonably evaluate whether they would prefer to enroll in programs that have been more successful in enabling their students to find employment that would allow them to repay their loans.” Taxpayers would benefit, too, they wrote, because of the likely corresponding fall in defaults on federal student loans. “The public intere
                  6 years ago by @prophe
                   
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                    A federal appeals court rejected the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s investigative fishing trip into the records of a leading accrediting agency for for-profit colleges, saying the bureau failed to explain what sort of illegal conduct it was looking into. The decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington is a rebuke to the CFPB and its director Richard Cordray, who demanded the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools turn over documents and make an executive available to testify about the group’s possible involvement in “unlawful acts and practices in connection with accrediting for-profit colleges.” The Obama administration mounted fierce legal attacks on for-profit colleges, accusing them of peddling shoddy degrees financed by federal student loans and forcing Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute to close their doors. This appears to be the first time in decades that a federal appeals court rejected an agency's civil investigative demand or administrative subpoena, said Allyson Baker, a partner in Venable's Washington office who represented ACICS. “They didn’t think the CFPB met the requirements of the statute, which requires notice,” said Baker, herself a former CFPB enforcement attorney. ACICS refused to comply with the civil investigative demand in 2015, sending the question to a federal district court. That court last year said the CFPB, which is charged with enforcing consumer financial laws, didn’t have authority to question a school accrediting agency. The CFPB “plowed head long into fields not clearly ceded to it by Congress,” the district court said. The D.C. Circuit affirmed today, in an opinion by Judge David Sentelle, on narrower grounds. The agency “wholly fails” to state what sort of unlawful conduct it is investigating, the appeals court said. The CFPB never explained what “unlawful acts and practices” it suspected and merely repeated the same language in court filings. Without specifics, the court said it can’t determine whether the demand
                    6 years ago by @prophe
                     
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                      The national tone of public criticism of higher education has sharpened recently. Many in both the public and private sectors are questioning the cost of higher education, and others are questioning its value. We are being exposed through all forms of media to predominantly negative stories about higher education. As one whose life was transformed by my collegiate experience, and now as a college president, I am a bold and proud apologist for higher education, its value and its necessity to the future of our country and the global economy. With deference to a 2017 report from the Association of Governing Boards entitled “The Business of Higher Education,” I share some facts about the economic benefits of higher education. A generation ago, a high school graduate earned 77 percent of what a college graduate earned. Today, for millennials, high school graduates will earn 66 percent of their college graduate neighbors. Over a lifetime, that is well over $1 million in additional earning for the college graduate, making the financial value proposition a good one. However, beyond earning potential, the recent study cited other equally important benefits for college graduates: “Higher education…efficiently creates human capital that improves communities and contributes to the economic well-being of the nation over the course of graduates’ entire lives. College graduates enjoy better health, longer lives, and greater degrees of individual and professional satisfaction. … They also use the skills learned in college to foster democracy and human rights, as well as to accelerate technological advancement.” We have witnessed recent debate within the West Virginia state legislature, as well as in many other state legislatures, concerning appropriations for public higher education. I am a supporter of both a robust public and private higher education sector, and recognize through empirical research, that investing public funds in all types of education is prudent and wise. I offer food for thought concerning the value
                      6 years ago by @prophe
                       
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                        Over the years I have seen many retirement plans ruined, simply because substantial amounts of investment dollars, originally allocated for retirement, were used to pay for college education. This selfless act of support can create a long-term problem for the retiree. However, it is not the act of paying for the education that is at issue but rather how and when you choose to pay is what needs to be explored. First, let's take a look at general college costs; according to collegedata.com the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2016–2017 school year was $9,650 for state residents at public colleges, $24,930 for out-of-state residents attending public universities and for those in private colleges the average was a whopping $33,480 a year. Add to that room and board, books and supplies, ancillary living expenses and possible travel costs needed for either the student or family members throughout a school year, and you have a hefty draw down of savings. –– ADVERTISEMENT –– Read: How to get into an Ivy League school — by someone who got into 6 of them For many, that lump sum draw down, each year over four years — potentially four plus years — will create significant, irreplaceable, long-term loss of reserves needed to support your future, ongoing monthly retirement income. To avoid diminishing your retirement savings or general investment accounts, be creative; explore the various options that may be available to pay for college. With that said, here are a few suggestions intended to help support higher education needs and at the same time designed to help keep your retirement savings intact: • Plan to have your child apply for scholarships. Discuss with your child, early on, what is required to be granted a scholarship. Visit with a school counselor to get information on the qualifying rules and learn what types of scholarships and student aid may be available. Remember; it is cheaper to pay for a summer tutor to help your child strengthen a subject they are weak in, than it is to forfeit a
                        6 years ago by @prophe
                         
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                          A recent development in New York State, called the Excelsior Scholarship, will make state schools free to attend for residents of the state. This is completely unfair for many reasons, as any college that is funded by the state of New York will now have free education for most people living in the state. This, of course, does come with some restrictions, the first being that the amount of money that your family brings in every year must be under $100,000 (this is expected to go up to $125,000 in three years) to qualify for free education. The median household income in New York State is just under $61,000 in 2016. This would mean that most people living in the state will qualify for this “Excelsior Scholarship.” Family income is not the only requirement to receive free tuition to a SUNY school—there are numerous others. There is a responsibility to cover all costs outside of tuition, including room and board and meal plans. The only part that gets paid for under this scholarship is the tuition to attend the school. To receive this scholarship, the student must attend the school as a full-time student and average 30 credits a year. In addition to that, the student must maintain a certain GPA that the state deems to be “successful” to keep the scholarship. The student is also not allowed to be an employee of the state during the period they are attending college and receiving the Excelsior Scholarship. After graduation, any student who received the Excelsior Scholarship must remain in the state for the same number of years that they attended the college. This means that if one goes for a four-year degree and receives this scholarship, one must plan on his/her first job being in state for at least four years. If the student leaves the state, he/she are required to pay the tuition he/she had received for free. I know that because of the free tuition, going to a SUNY school is pretty alluring. A lot of people I have spoken to are already considering switching over to a SUNY school from their private institution, b
                          6 years ago by @prophe
                           
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                            Separate studies into how the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) operates and what cost-savings can be found amid dropping enrollments could have significant implications for our own Lock Haven University. The PASSHE board has hired the nonprofit National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) of Boulder, Colo., for a maximum cost of $400,000, to assess the system and its 14 state-run universities, including Lock Haven. The state Senate this week ordered a similar study that tasks the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to finalize a review by Dec. 1. Combined enrollment at the 14 schools — Lock Haven, Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester universities — has dropped by 12 percent to nearly 105,000 since peaking in 2010. As a result, some things have to give. The already deficit-ridden state government cannot afford to give the state system the additional $61 million it is requesting to maintain programs and facilities. At the same time, PASSHE says it’s operating on state funding levels that mirror 1999. Whether two studies are needed is another question, though state Sen. Dave Argall, R-Schuylkill County, who sponsored the resolution calling for the Senate study, said he considers it necessary to do an outside study of the system because “there are always some concerns when a system studies itself as to how independent, no matter how hard they try, their study may be.” In its nearly 50 years of studying higher education, the nonprofit NCHEMS has recommended public universities closing or merging in other states due to falling enrollment, rising costs, reduced state funding and duplication of services and degree programs, the nonprofit’s vice president Patrick Kelly told The (Allentown) Morning Call newspaper (www.mcall.com) this week. But politics, he said, often trumps recommendations and schools stay open. “The reality is the mergers, conso
                            6 years ago by @prophe
                             
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                              The state has 11 of the schools, and a hearing is scheduled for Monday on a bill requiring annual reviews of them by the State Board of Education. AUGUSTA — A new report finds students at for-profit colleges in Maine carry much heavier debt loads than those at public and private nonprofit colleges in the state. The non-partisan Center for Responsible Lending says the debt burden falls on low-income, female and minority students who disproportionately enroll at Maine for-profit schools. About 75 percent of students at such institutions take on student loans, compared with 66 percent and 41 percent, respectively, at private and public institutions. Meanwhile, 76 percent of students are women and 8 percent are African-American. The report found 60 percent of students received federal Pell Grants, which are awarded to those with low incomes. “One of the things we see consistently across the board: Students who attend for-profit colleges are burdened more by debt,” said Whitney Barkley-Denney, legislative policy counsel for the nonprofit organization. Maine’s student borrowing figures closely track national data. In the 2011-2012 school year, 73 percent of students at for-profit colleges took out loans, according to the Brookings Institution. Career Education Colleges and Universities, the for-profit higher education sector’s primary trade association, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Several for-profit schools have been the subject of state and federal investigations in recent years and faced lawsuits alleging deception in advertising and recruiting tactics. The industry has declined since rising from 650,000 students in 2000 to 2.5 million students in 2010, and several have closed down, leaving students with debt. In January, federal officials said hundreds of programs at for-profit colleges are at risk of losing federal funding unless their graduates start earning better wages. However, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said she would take another look at the so-called “gainful employment” federal r
                              6 years ago by @prophe
                               
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                                It was big news when outstanding student loan debt surpassed credit card debt and then later exceeded $1 trillion for the first time. That shocking statistic keeps climbing, with no sign of slowing down: Americans now have more than $1.4 trillion in unpaid education debt, according to the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, college-bound kids and their families try to avoid going into debt by heeding advice like "save more," "apply for scholarships" or "go to a cheaper school." Of course, none of those address the major issue of rising costs that have far outpaced wage growth. It's smart to avoid student loan debt if you can, because those loans affect your credit and your financial future. (You can see how much by checking your free credit scores on Credit.com.) However, strategically choosing a school isn't quite as straightforward as comparing tuition and fees. One thing you can do is check out an institution's net price calculator, which should be on its website, to see how much a student like you would pay after grants and scholarships. Another thing you can do is look at how much student loan debt recent grads ended up with. (You can read more about options for repaying your student loans here.) Where Is Student Loan Debt the Lowest? The response to that question is a little trickier to figure out, but organizations like The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) have compiled such data to help. According to their Project on Student Debt, 68% of 2015 bachelor's degree recipients graduated with student loan debt. The average was $30,100 per borrower. TICAS put together their project based on student loan debt figures from the "Common Data Set," a survey of colleges used by college-guide publishers. The colleges voluntarily self report their data, which presents problems. "Colleges that accurately calculate and report each year's debt figures rightfully complain that other colleges may have students with higher average debt but fail to update their figures, under-report actual debt levels, or never re
                                6 years ago by @prophe
                                 
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                                  Some New York lawmakers and college administrators are worried about what the state's new free tuition policy at SUNY and CUNY could mean for private schools, including those at Utica College. The private college just cut its tuition rate by 42 percent last fall. Since Utica College lowered its undergraduate tuition rate last fall, enrollment and retention numbers are up. And now, Jeffrey Gates, the school's vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, says they're seeing a record number of applications too. But Gates fears this momentum could stall with the state's new Excelsior Scholarship. "We’re concerned of course that the budget is a clear statement from some officials that students should attend a public institution instead of small, private institutions like Utica and it’s sort of insulting to our students, the families and the trustees and our entire campus community," Gates said. Gates says offering free tuition at state colleges could inadvertently limit choices for students. "Each student has a different idea of fit, has a different idea of an experience and really what is going to be the best environment for them that’s what our concern is is that we don’t want to take choice away from students," Gates said. Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi (D-Utica) says making college more affordable is something state leaders should be pursuing, but he thinks the Excelsior Scholarship is the wrong way to go about it. "I think there is a danger that private universities and colleges will have suffered under this proposal," Brindisi said. "Utica College just did the right thing last year by doing a tuition reset and lowering their tuition, but unfortunately they have not received any recognition from the state for doing that. Their main competition are SUNY schools and we should be incentivizing and rewarding private colleges and universities like Utica College that have done the right thing to lower tuition." The new state budget does increase scholarship funding for private schools, but the
                                  6 years ago by @prophe
                                   
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                                    Pack your bags, Mules. Colby College is promising that, beginning in the fall, every student will be able to study abroad, regardless of income, under a new program made possible by a $25 million gift from a wealthy alumnus. Colby, home to 1,800 students in Waterville, Maine, says it is the first liberal arts college in the country to eliminate the financial barriers to international travel, to ensure that every student gains experience overseas during their undergraduate years. The program, announced Wednesday, will allow students at Colby — whose mascot is the Mule — to travel for work, study-abroad programs, internships, or research. David A. Greene, the private school’s president, said the goal is to make international education accessible to students whose parents may not have connections to internships in foreign corporations or be able to afford an airline ticket and a Eurail pass for a summer of sightseeing in European capitals. The program, which is being funded by Andrew Davis, an investor who graduated from Colby in 1985, will pay for airfare, housing, meals, and stipends to allow students to take unpaid internships, a luxury often available only to higher-income families. “What we’re trying to do is make sure these experiences are universal when students come to Colby, no matter your ability to pay or your own personal network,” Greene said. Currently, 70 percent of Colby students study abroad. Still, the fact that the benefit is being offered to students at an elite New England college like Colby underscores how study-abroad experiences are still out of reach for most college students. Nationally, only 10 percent of American undergraduates, including community college students, study overseas by the time they graduate, according to the Institute of International Education. Mark Farmer, director of higher education and public policy at the Association of International Educators, said it was encouraging to see a private donor at Colby support study-abroad efforts at a time when
                                    6 years ago by @prophe
                                     
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                                      If you are thinking about attending college and are tempted to take advantage of New York State’s new “free tuition” program, you may want to pay very close attention to the facts. First, students who opt for the state plan will be subject to a number of burdensome restrictions. They will be required to maintain 30 credit hours a year, earn a grade point average sufficient for on-time graduation, and agree to live and work in New York upon graduation for as many as four years. Failure to maintain 30 credits will make the student ineligible for future payments, and failure to reside in the state will convert the grant into a loan (and the terms of such loans have not been determined yet). By Gary A. Olson If you are thinking about attending college and are tempted to take advantage of New York State’s new “free tuition” program, you may want to pay very close attention to the facts. First, students who opt for the state plan will be subject to a number of burdensome restrictions. They will be required to maintain 30 credit hours a year, earn a grade point average sufficient for on-time graduation, and agree to live and work in New York upon graduation for as many as four years. Failure to maintain 30 credits will make the student ineligible for future payments, and failure to reside in the state will convert the grant into a loan (and the terms of such loans have not been determined yet). Advertisement What’s more, the state has made no guarantee that every eligible student will in fact receive this benefit. The state has allocated funding for only about 3 percent of the eligible population of college students. This means that most eligible students will not receive the benefit. And, of course, state college fees and room and board expenses are notoriously expensive and are not covered by the new grant. An old adage sums it up concisely: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Or perhaps I was thinking of another familiar saying, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” In
                                      6 years ago by @prophe
                                       
                                        Free_tuitionrethinkUSAEnglishApr2017
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                                        Americans are often expected to have some level of higher education before they enter the workforce. These political leaders are asking: Shouldn’t government help them along? CHICAGO—A surge of innovation in states and cities is building momentum for what could become a seismic shift in American education. Just as the country came to expect in the decades around World War II that young people would finish at least 12 years of school, more local governments are now working to ensure that students complete at least 14 years. With that change, political leaders in both parties are increasingly acknowledging that if society routinely expects students to obtain at least two years of schooling past high school, government has a responsibility to provide it for them cost-free. That impulse animates the statewide tuition-free community-college program pioneered under Republican Governor Bill Haslam in Tennessee and replicated under Democratic Governor Kate Brown in Oregon; Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Star Scholarship, which funds two years of community college for students who complete high school with a B average; and the legislation Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed into law providing tuition-free access to two- and four-year public colleges in New York for families earning up to $125,000. The Campaign for Free College Tuition, an organization promoting this movement, expects representatives from up to 18 states to join their conference next month in Denver. Ben Cannon, executive director of the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission, speaks for many devising these initiatives when he insists: “As a state, we generally acknowledge and understand that a high-school education is not enough, and [tuition-free community college] represents an attempt to extend that [public-education] entitlement to 14 years.”
                                        6 years ago by @prophe
                                         
                                          community_collegeFree_tuitionUSAEnglishApr2017
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                                          Lynn University will hold the ground breaking for its $35 million student center on Thursday, April 20. The 65,000-square-foot project will be the largest ever undertaken by the non-profit university in Boca Raton. The ceremony will start at 11 a.m. at 3601 N. Military Trail. The event is by invitation only. Lynn University received a $15 million challenge grant for the project from Christine E. Lynn, who owns a local insurance business. It has named the student center after her.
                                          6 years ago by @prophe
                                           
                                            USAFloridabuilldingdonationgiftApr2017English
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