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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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        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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                    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
                       
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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
                         
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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
                           
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                            OSKALOOSA — William Penn University, like many other private colleges in the state, continues to find unique ways to attract Iowa students. They’ve invested in their curriculum, made the programs more flexible with daytime, evening and nontraditional classes and focused on developing the campus culture to be a meaningful, purposeful experience. To celebrate William Penn University’s legacy of educational opportunities, they’re offering a new scholarship to Iowa high school seniors enrolling in traditional coursework at the Oskaloosa campus. If eligible, the student will pay $5,000 or less for tuition for the 2017-18 school year.
                            6 years ago by @prophe
                             
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                              HARRISBURG – This may be a growing trend in Pennsylvania: private colleges and universities are doing something to bring back students and families scared away by the sky-high cost of higher education. In some cases, tuition plus room and board can cost $50,000, $60,000, even $70,000 a year. As a result, enrollment is down. “Sticker shock is an issue. In fact, some research suggests 60 percent of parents and students will rule out a school based on just the price,” said Don Francis of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania. To get students back on campus, private schools are either slashing or freezing tuition. Immaculata University near Philadelphia is reducing tuition from $34,400 to $26,500 a year. At LaSalle, tuition is down from $40,400 to $28,800, and Rosemont College on the Main Line reduced tuition to $18,500 from $31,500. Rosemont also knocked $1,900 off room and board. Other schools like Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Manor College, Wilson College in Chambersburg, and the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology have decided to freeze tuition. It appears to be working. Many of the schools report enrollment numbers are going up. After Rosemont cut tuition and room and board, applications soared by 64 percent and actual enrollment jumped by nearly 15 percent. The AICUP also launched the “Just Apply” campaign. The message: students just don’t know what the college will offer unless they apply. “Many students will discover if they apply to private institutions that institution will cost maybe less, maybe the same, and maybe slightly more than a public institution,” Francis said.
                              6 years ago by @prophe
                               
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                                While very few people study poetry or classics to get rich, studying the humanities has a big financial payoff at a surprising array of colleges, a new analysis of college grads’ earnings has found. Of course, students who major in engineering, economics, business or computer science at the best schools tend to have the highest financial return on their tuition investments, according to new salary data collected by PayScale.com. But liberal arts and other humanities majors at 16 schools have, on average, earned at least $500,000 more than they paid for school and the typical earnings of someone who did not attend college, PayScale said. Humanities majors at 245 colleges have typically earned at least $200,000 more than they spent on college within 20 years of graduation, PayScale found. Leading the pack: Yale. PayScale estimates that Yalies who receive financial aid pay a total of only about $80,000 for their four-year degrees. And, on average, people whose education stopped at high school earn about $30,000 a year. Yale humanities majors report earning about $80,000 a year, on average. So 20 years out, Yalies have earned a total of about $1.6 million, which puts them a total of $812,000 ahead of high-school grads - even after subtracting the cost of school. Making these numbers even more impressive: they’re only for students who finished their education with a bachelor’s. They don’t count, for example, history majors who went on to earn law degrees or M.B.As. Ivy League colleges, which offer generous aid and thus have low costs for middle class families, tend to have among the highest “return on investment” for humanities and many other majors, PayScale found. But many more accessible colleges also paid off well: Wabash College, a private men’s college in Crawfordsville, Ind. that accepts 61% of applicants, ranked in the top 20 for financial return for a humanities degree. After 20 years, the typical Wabash humanities grad had earned a financial return of about $500,000. San Jose State University, had one
                                6 years ago by @prophe
                                 
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                                  How much would you say it costs to attend a top private college like Dartmouth or Pomona for one year? I’m guessing that the first number that pops into your mind is quite large, like $60,000. For most Americans, that’s the wrong answer — and it’s wrong by a lot. The list-price tuition at these college does indeed run so high, but just a small slice of the population pays the list price. Typically, only families earning at least $200,000 a year fail to qualify for financial aid. For families with middle-class incomes, highly selective colleges are much, much less expensive. The widespread misimpression about the cost of college causes real damage. It leads many middle-class and lower-income families to believe, incorrectly, that college is unaffordable. When they respond by discouraging their child from attending or finishing college, they hurt the child’s long-term economic prospects. Today, a new online calculator is launching, and it’s designed to combat misimpression with fact. It’s also highly useful, for families up and down the income spectrum. The calculator is a joint effort of 15 colleges, including Dartmouth, Pomona, Columbia, Williams, Wellesley, Rice and Colorado College. You use it anonymously, and you answer about six quick questions about your finances, such as your annual income and home ownership status. With just a minute or two of work, you can get an estimate of how much college will really cost. As an example, I entered data for what would be a pretty normal American family: a homeowner with $75,000 in income and some savings. I selected Rice as the college. The calculator estimated that this family would have to spend $18,500 a year while receiving a $42,900 scholarship. That cost is still significant, and I wish our country made college less expensive. But for the great majority of students, a Rice education is still worth a lot more than $18,500 a year. College graduates are much more likely to be employed, to earn more and to be happy and healthy than non-graduates, and much of th
                                  6 years ago by @prophe
                                   
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                                    For too many Americans, the rising costs of college are putting higher education out of reach. This comes at a time when a postsecondary degree is almost mandatory for earning a middle-class living. In New York alone, 70% of jobs require a college degree, but only about 46% of adult New Yorkers have one. We must close that gap. Last week, Gov. Cuomo made history when he signed into law a first-in-the-nation policy to cover tuition at all public colleges and universities in the state. In allowing students from families making up to $125,000 a year to attend SUNY and CUNY two- and four-year schools tuition-free, the Excelsior Scholarship promises to transform the lives of thousands of students and countless more potential students. Historically, such groundbreaking programs face initial criticism. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was resistance to compulsory education. In the 1960s, the American Medical Association warned that Medicaid would destroy quality health care.
                                    6 years ago by @prophe
                                     
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                                      Student debt is a personal challenge for more than 44 million Americans, but a lucrative business opportunity to the firms that manage the more than $1 trillion now outstanding. With a delinquency rate currently exceeding 11 percent, some see student loans as a major risk to the U.S. economy, one rivaling the mortgage loan market that crashed in 2007. There has also been widespread concern about the effects of college debt on the lives of individual students “what authorities describe as systematic mistreatment of borrowers.” Because these loans are guaranteed or are made directly by the federal government, the U.S. Department of Education is responsible for managing this complex system and balancing the competing interests of the various stakeholders. Last week, Education Secretary Elizabeth DeVos took action to reverse the course she inherited from the prior administration. In 2015, President Obama announced his Student Aid Bill of Rights, which aimed both to create a more efficient loan management system and to “reduce student loan defaults and encourage borrower success.” In recognizing the needs of borrowers, it sought to more fairly balance the interests of individual borrowers with those of the federal government and those doing business managing the debt under government contract. Two policy directives from the Obama administration’s Department of Education, which Bloomberg News described as directing the Federal Student Aid office to “do more to help borrowers manage, or even discharge, their debt,” were cancelled. The Obama administration sought to balance the interests of those taking out student loans and the business interests of the private firms contracted to service and collect these debts. Ideally, by taking borrowers’ interests into account, the amount of unpaid debt would be decreased, as would the cost to the federal government, and the harmful effect of predatory practices could be lessened. In her memo to the FSA, Secretary DeVos showed that efficient repayment was the singular goal of her
                                      6 years ago by @prophe
                                       
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                                        Private colleges across New York state are calculating their next steps in light of the state’s new Excelsior Scholarship program, which will provide free tuition for low- and middle-income families at public colleges but private college leaders warn could have devastating effects on their institutions. “The fundamental landscape of higher education in New York state just changed,” said St. Bonaventure University interim President Dr. Andrew Roth. “We’ll have to think about how exactly we respond to do that.” The plan has been a talking point for leaders of the state’s 150 private colleges since Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced it in January, and is now a reality after its passage with the state budget earlier this month. Private college presidents, including those of local institutions, say the program could hurt their enrollment by attracting more students to public schools with the promise of free tuition. They say weakening of private colleges, often the focal point of small towns throughout the state, could have economic consequences. Free tuition even has some schools re-examining private colleges’ long-standing high-tuition, high-aid model — the practice of charging a high list price while also providing a large discount through financial aid. “Certainly the idea of free tuition is such a powerful sound bite,” said Houghton College President Dr. Shirley Mullen. “I think it does pose a threat, at least in the short run, for the well being of these institutions.” Privates preferred TAP increase The Excelsior Scholarship program will make SUNY and CUNY schools tuition-free this fall for students whose families earn less than $100,000. That number will rise to $125,000 in 2019. However, there are several requirements, including that students remain full-time with at least 30 credits a year and maintain a minimum grade point average. Students will also have to live and work in New York for as many years as they received free tuition, or the scholarship becomes a loan. “I have to commend the gover
                                        6 years ago by @prophe
                                         
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                                          States could save money and increase college-graduation rates by providing modest financial incentives for students to choose private colleges over comparable public ones, according to a report released this week. The conclusion, which was quickly disputed by a group representing public colleges, comes at a time when a growing number of states are providing the opposite incentives. This week New York became the first state to offer free tuition at both two- and four-year public colleges for middle-class families. Other states are considering similar moves, prompting widespread concern that enrollments could plunge at some tuition-dependent private colleges that recruit heavily from their states. The report was prepared for the Council of Independent Colleges as part of its efforts to promote the value of the liberal arts and independent colleges. The report was distributed this week to all of the council’s members, to provide talking points when they make the case for financial support from state lawmakers, especially in states where free public-college tuition is on the agenda. It’s hardly surprising that the council, which represents more than 700 nonprofit independent colleges, would promote a report based on the argument that costs per degree are lower and graduation rates higher at private institutions. But the report’s authors, both of whom work at public universities, say it is based on a comprehensive analysis of federal data and state-specific simulations in 24 states. In all but two of those states, the proposed shift would save money, the researchers concluded. The findings were dismissed by Barmak Nassirian, director of federal relations and policy analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. "I empathize with their plight, and I don’t begrudge them their moment in the sun, if that’s what their report is, but there are lots of problems with it," he said in an interview on Thursday. "They’re trying to make the counterintuitive case that expensive schools are cheaper t
                                          6 years ago by @prophe
                                           
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