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    New York's private colleges and universities don't know what to expect under the state's free tuition program for students attending public colleges. New York’s freshly signed free public tuition program puts the squeeze on many of the state’s weakest private colleges and universities. Private college presidents know it. But most aren’t yet sure what to do about it. Those presidents reacted with a mix of dismay, confusion, criticism and, in some cases, resolve in the days after New York leaders struck a deal to start a tuition-free public college program this fall. The creation of a program in New York caps a winding and unexpected path for the free-college idea, which New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed early this year after it appeared to have died with Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. Cuomo held a ceremonial bill signing for the program Wednesday, which Clinton attended. The program, called the Excelsior Scholarship, will allow New York residents from families earning up to $125,000 per year to attend the state’s public community colleges and four-year colleges without paying tuition. It will go into effect this fall for students who are newly enrolling at institutions in the State University of New York and City University of New York systems and who come from families with incomes of up to $100,000 per year. The income limit will jump to $110,000 in fall 2018 and $125,000 in 2019. Cuomo’s office estimates that about 940,000 families in the state will be eligible at that point. The program poses a significant challenge for New York’s many small private institutions, which suddenly find themselves facing a new kind of competition and increasing inter-sector warfare in the state. The pressure will be highest on tuition-dependent colleges and universities that already compete for students in part by heavily discounting their tuition and that draw most of their students from inside the state. More prestigious colleges and universities, which pull in more students from out of state and are more selecti
    6 years ago by @prophe
     
      Free_tuitionprivateUSAApr2017NYtuitionEnglish
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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
       
        for-profitUSADonald_TrumpApr2017regulateMilwaukee
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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_tuitionUSAApr2017rethinkEnglish
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          A private Catholic university in Kansas is planning to offer a support group for its LGBTQ students, using a model implemented at Notre Dame. WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Newman University, a private Catholic school in Wichita, plans to offer a group next year to support its LGBTQ students while continuing to emphasize Catholic teaching that condones sex only in marriage between a man and a woman. In response to growing interest among students to recognize the school's diversity, the university formed a committee to plan the LGBTQ group. The committee met over the summer and fall of 2016 and used a model used at Notre Dame, The Wichita Eagle reported (http://bit.ly/2oR44Ux ). The group's formation was spurred in part by a speech by Ruben Lerma at a public forum, where he discussed being gay on the Newman campus. He said he attended Newman because it offered him a full scholarship, even though he was concerned about being "that gay student." Lerma recounted overhearing Newman students saying gay people should go to hell and legalizing gay marriage would make gays want to marry animals. "I'm not the only gay person here, I'm not going to be the only gay person here, there will be more," Lerma remembers saying. "If for their sake, if not mine, you should make it more amiable, make the environment better." Lerma's speech came as interest in recognizing diversity was growing. The university has restarted the Black Student Union, added a club to support Asian students and hired a diversity coordinator last year. Newman's mission has always included concern for the dignity of all students, said spokesman Clark Shafer, but the events in 2016 raised awareness of the need to make LGBTQ students feel more welcome. Before making the "Pastoral Plan" public, Newman contacted important alumnus and donor, who approved how the group upheld the school's Catholic values, Shafer said. "The University exhorts all to hear and live the Church's teaching that 'the deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of mar
          6 years ago by @prophe
           
            USAApr2017KansasEnglish
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            A private college in Minnesota has denied the request of a student to create a rifle club because it goes against the school and its partner church's stance on gun control.
            6 years ago by @prophe
             
              USAchurchApr2017English
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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
               
                USADonald_TrumpObamaApr2017Student_loanstudent_debtDepartment_of_EducationEnglish
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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
                 
                  costUSAApr2017affordEnglish
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                  Purdue University’s plan to buy for-profit Kaplan University to expand its reach is the latest twist on an old idea: boost enrollment by attracting students online.
                  6 years ago by @prophe
                   
                    for-profitUSAApr2017onlineEnglish
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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
                     
                      Free_tuitionUSAApr2017NYstudent_aidEnglish
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                      Financial aid crucial to admitting low-income students Standing at the center of Union College’s campus last week, senior Andrew Guyatte recalled the moment he was accepted. It wasn’t a sure thing for Guyatte, and a lot rode on how much financial support the college would offer. “I wanted somewhere that was affordable to go; that was the main goal,” said Guyatte, who is part of the college’s Academic Opportunity Program, AOP, which targets financially-needy students who likely would not make it to Union without extra financial and academic support. “I knew I had the extracurriculars and grades to get in, but the money part was concerning ... If I didn’t get financial aid I wouldn’t be able to attend,” he said. When Guyatte, a Capital Region native, received his Union acceptance letter four years ago, it came with one condition and one big promise: Join the AOP program, commit to a five-week summer program before school starts and Union will cover tuition, room and board and books. Few of Guyatte’s classmates, especially outside of the roughly 120 AOP students across all years, come from families eligible for Pell grants – federal aid that goes to students like Guyatte from families that earn less than $50,000 a year – or even close. The median family income of a Union College student is $152,600, and two-thirds of students come from families in the top 20 percent of the income scale, according to a New York Times analysis of a study by The Equality of Opportunity Project, a collaboration of Stanford and Harvard researchers, released earlier this year. Just under 15 percent of Union students this year receive Pell grants, a widely-used proxy for socioeconomic status. The numbers are even starker at Skidmore: 13 percent of its student body this year received Pell grants. The college’s median family income topped $208,000 and 72 percent of the students come from families in the top 20 percent of income, according to the Times analysis. And Skidmore is the 38th of 38 colleges in the nation with more students fro
                      6 years ago by @prophe
                       
                        USAequalApr2017FinancialEnglish
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