Archive for the ‘College Education’ Category
April 16th, 2012 | Author: admin
$500 Scholarships Available to Local Students
The city of Newport Beach will give out 10 scholarships to students looking to pursue a college education.
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April 10th, 2012 | Author: admin
By Randy Tucker, Staff Writer and Encarnacion Pyle, The Columbus Dispatch?
Updated 4:13 PM Monday, March 26, 2012
With high unemployment, low home values and downsized retirement accounts,
hundreds of thousands of baby boomers are turning to college to boost their
job skills.
The number of students ages 50 to 64 increased 17 percent nationwide between
fall 2007 and fall 2009, according to the latest data available from the
National Center for Education Statistics.
In southwest Ohio, that number has grown at an even faster rate at many
technical and community colleges, which handle the bulk of nontraditional
students.
One of the things we started doing was catering to that population 50 and
over. Today, the baby boomers are the biggest growth area for our campuses
across the state, said Corey Holliday, director of admissions at Clark
State Community College in Springfield.
The number of students age 50 and older at Clark State has climbed 60 percent
since the recession began in 2007 to 246 students at the beginning of the
fall term last year, reflecting similar gains at community colleges
throughout the area.
Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, for example, has also seen
its 50-plus student enrollment grow by 60 percent from 333 to 532 students
during the past five years.
And Sinclair Community College in Dayton has its 50-and-older enrollment climb
7 percent.
Many of those new students are displaced factory workers and trade workers
laid off during the recession when their companies downsized or shut down.
John Halley, 59, is a prime example.
In 2010, he enrolled in a program for CNC machinists at Sinclair after he was
laid off from his job making silicon wafers for computer chips at SUMCO in
Maineville.
Ive been out of school for 40 years, said Halley, who lives with his wife,
Linda, in Morrow. To go back and take classes with young kids, it was
rough. But it was either that or not being able to get a job with pay that
was worth it.
Halley was forced to cut back on his class schedule after landing a job at
HI-TEK Manufacturing in Mason about a year ago.
Ive been lucky enough to already find a job because of Sinclair, he said.
Just being able to put that on my resume helped me get a job, even though I
havent graduated.
Im grateful for the job, but I thought Id be retired by now or at least
getting close to retirement, he said.
Andrew Rohrbach, who enrolled at Sinclair after he was laid off from his job
as a manufacturing supervisor at Dayton-based Precision Gauge amp; Tool in
2008, hasnt been as fortunate.
Rohrbach, 58, graduated in 2010 with two associate degrees; one in business
management and one in supply chain management.
I still couldnt buy a job, he said.
Rohrbach transferred his credits from Sinclair to Ohio University, where he
graduated last summer with a bachelors degree in technical and applied
studies.
He still hasnt found a job. But he likes his chances.
Im confident Ill eventually find a job, Rohrbach said. But I think those
who either dont have a college education or specialized training of some
sort are going to have a really hard time finding one.
With 78 million baby boomers entering their retirement years, the country
not to mention Ohio needs more experienced workers like Rohrbach to stay
in the work force longer, officials said.
Keeping older workers engaged in the labor force is vital for the continued
economic growth of our region, said Bill LaFayette, a Columbus economist
and owner of the consulting firm Regionomics.
The labor force growth rate has already been declining and is projected to
slow to a crawl between 2020 and 2025 because of the exodus of baby boomers,
he said.
With people living longer, healthier lives, there is also a new demand for
programs designed to train the over-50 population, said Celia Crossley, a
career strategist and managing partner of Crosworks.
Last year, about 36 percent of workers said they expected to keep working past
age 65, compared with 20 percent in 2001, according to the Employee Benefit
Research Institute.
Its a different world today where 50 to 70 is considered the new lsquo;middle
age, Crossley said.
Martha Harrison, 52, of Powell north of Columbus began considering a return to
college in 2005 after more than 20 years as a preschool teacher. She was
motivated by two primary factors: money and a desire to get a counseling
degree to help children deal with their increasingly complicated home lives.
Preschool teachers barely make above minimum wage, which makes no sense when
you think about taking care of someones most-valuable asset, Harrison said.
She tried a few online psychology classes with a for-profit college in 2005,
but didnt really get started on her education until she enrolled at
Columbus States Delaware campus in fall 2010. Harrison has enjoyed school
so much she wants to transfer to Ohio State to work on a bachelors degree
and eventually earn a masters so she can become a school counselor. She
isnt daunted by her age.
The way I look at it, people my age, we have maybe 25 or more years left of
working in us, especially in something that we enjoy, she said.
April 8th, 2012 | Author: admin
Every American should know about a relatively unknown program run out of New York State titled Hudson Link.
Please understand this is not coming from the perspective of some bleeding heart liberal.
As a hardened, seasoned journalist of 25 years, I have seen numerous feel good documentaries, but normally thats where it stops. I anticipated the same this time around, but this documentary from Hudson Link had me secretly and quickly wiping away tears in the darkened theater.
They were tears of joy.
Why? I know first-hand the value of a college education. Education is the great equalizer in life. A college education was the only way for someone like me — who grew up in the housing projects of the Bronx, with no father, on welfare, and attended five public high schools in four years — couldve gone to the top of NYs television political world.
Hudson Link is for higher education in prison.
Thats right, college for hardened criminals. Initially it would be easy to be dismissive of such a program. An education for inmates serving 20 years in notorious prisons like Sing Sing. One could conclude how dare they, when society is dealing with such tough fiscal times. After all, members of Congress are falling all over themselves over what and where to cut all in the name of one day obtaining a balanced budget.
Folks Im here to tell you that is exactly why we need effective programs like Hudson Link.
After seeing their documentary titled Zero Percent, Im telling you society cannot afford to pass on programs like Hudson Link.
One professor in the documentary says that education is not just a gift for them (the inmates), its a gift for society. Sounds like a public relations line — that is until you see the documentary.
Why is it titled Zero Percent?
Remarkably, not one of the released graduates of the program has returned to jail.
Contrast that with a national recidivism rate of 60 percent. A 60 percent chance of returning to jail within three years. As Hudson Link says on its website: It costs an average of $51,000 per year to keep one person incarcerated, and for every year that Hudson Links 64 released graduates stay out of prison, New York State saves $3.3 Million. You do the math.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, Hudson Link was founded when state and federal funding for college education in prisons stopped in the late 1990s. The group raises the money.
I already know what some of you are thinking, why should prison inmates have constructive and meaningful lives? Well besides the fact of isnt that ultimately the goal, if for no other reason, and the documentary deals with this subject, these men and women will return to their communities. Each one, teach one.
One of their graduates is employed to help the school district of Newburgh New York connect with high school kids at the Newburgh Free Academy that are barely hanging on, coming from families with numerous problems. Hes literally making the difference in a young persons life saving at least 20 kids a semester. Young people that could easily go to jail, effective immediately. Another former inmate runs a boxing program, helping to keep at risk kids off the street. Young people that, by the way, can sense someone a mile away that is not sincerely interested in them.
Institutions of higher learning working with Hudson Link need to be commended.
They have helped do the impossible. Nyack College (helped to get the program started), Mercy College has played a major role through the years, Vassar College has a course is extremely unique in that it puts Vassar students and inmates of Taconic Correctional Facility side-by-side in the same classroom at the prison. There is also Sullivan County Community College.
As I watched the documentary one of the most touching parts was when the family of a graduate was interviewed, and they had tears of joy for a dream deferred for a loved one. I just couldnt sleep after watching the documentary. The next morning at 6:00 am, I spent time on the Hudson Link website looking at all the different faces of the now college graduates from different prisons. Im talking about people that are still doing time. In one photo, Warren Buffett even joined them.
I also thought about my teenage years, spent at 365 E. 184th Street , just off Webster Ave. in the Bronx where my grandmother from Augusta Georgia did her best to raise me, and never lived to see me attend a day of college in upstate NY Her heart gave out on her. Its something that breaks my heart today.
I didnt know it at the time, and neither did the adults in that Bronx area, just off of busy Fordham Road, and nearby Fordham University, but that one huge building became a breeding ground for the prison system of New York. My friends that went to prison werent bad people, but many of them served 15, 20 years, and like the documentary said: in most cases made just one bad decision as a young person.
Please understand that I am a believer in no excuses, in life.
Yes, I was wiping away tears from the eyes watching the documentary. It has been such a long road.
At the end of the day, Im really proud of Hudson Link, and will not ever forget the organization.
One person, one organization can indeed change the world.
April 7th, 2012 | Author: admin
In light of the giant role college education plays in the United States, it’s amazing how hard it is defend.
Judith Scott-Clayton, an assistant professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, should be well-equipped to mount the best defense of college education possible. But in her column on the New York Times Economix blog, she fails quite dramatically.
Scott-Clayton argues that it makes “little economic sense to forgo college in order to be unemployed or working part-time at a minimum wage job, which are the more likely scenarios for a young high school graduate with no further education.”
That’s true as far as it goes, but it doesn’t really go very far at all. It’s just as true that it doesn’t make sense to go to college in order to be unemployed or working part-time at a minimum wage job–which is exactly what is happening to many young people today.
Scott-Clayton produces a table showing that among 18-25 year olds with no plans of going to college, just 40.5 percent have full time employment. Another 19.3 percent are employed part-time, while 18.1 percent are unemployed. Twenty-two percent are not in the labor force.
Those stats come from an American Community Survey from 2010. I couldn’t find the raw data. But I was able to find a Pew Research Center study that measured employment among 18-29 year olds. (It’s not exactly apples-to-apples, but it will do.)
The Pew study looked at employment status in 2010 for all people in the age bracket, regardless of level of education. What it found was the following: 41 percent full time employment. Twenty-four percent part-time employment, and twenty-two percent unemployed. Thirteen percent are out of the labor force.
In other words, there’s hardly any difference at all between the slice of young people not going to college and the rest of their age cohort when it comes to full-time employment. The non-collegiate are actually less likely to be unemployed.
Her next claim is that the rewards of college education are contingent on effort by students.
While college may be a great investment, it’s not like investing in the stock market: a prospective student can’t just fork over some money and let someone else worry about how to make it grow. For college to have any payoff, students must participate in the process by going to class and engaging with course materials, peers and instructors.
This is a bald assertion with no links or data to back it up. It sounds like it might be true. But it also may just be wishful thinking. What’s the evidence that students can increase the “payoff” from going to college by increasing their participation in the process? Much of any economic value of a college degree may arise because employers use it to screen for intelligence–and much of that is established in the admissions process rather than anything that happens during the time spent at college.
Scott-Clayton points to economic evidence that she claims “consistently and compellingly documents the value of postsecondary education in general.” In reality, however, it does nothing of the sort. Heres why.
The study she links to shows that the median lifetime income over 40-year career of those who have a college degree is $2,268,000. The average annual cost at a private, nonprofit four-year college, however, is $35,0000 per year, or $140,000. Most students will borrow money to pay these costs. The median cumulative debt for students graduating from a private, four-year college is $27,349. If paid out over 20 years, this debt will really be closer to $50,000. So the debt-adjusted lifetime income is really $2,218,000.
Let’s see what happens if we take away college. Median lifetime income drops to $1,304,000 of 40 years. But you’ve got to add back the four years not spent in college. The average annual earnings of people with a high school diploma are $32,600. Let’s knock that down a bit — since income will be lower than average during those first four years of working — and call it $25,000. So the median lifetime income over 44 years is really $1,404,000.
But this person doesn’t have to invest the initial $112,651 of cash into college. Let’s say instead, that money is invested in a government bond yielding 6 percent, he’ll earn wind up with $ 1,462,828 after 44 years. (I know, I know: you can’t get a government bond yielding 6 percent right now. But that’s actually below the historical average since 1960 and ZIRP won’t be around forever.)
When you put all this together, you discover that the benefit of a four-year college is not just erased. It’s actually a costly mistake to go to college. Earnings plus interest income for the non-college graduate amounts to $2,866,828 over 44 years. Earnings less interest for the college graduate amounts to $2,218,000.
Scott-Clayton asks: “So who shouldn’t go to college, despite the breadth of available postsecondary options and the bleak labor-market outlook for high school graduates? The simplest answer is: those who don’t want to go.”
But a better question should be: who should go to college, despite the economic drain over one’s lifetime? The simplest answer is: those who still want to go.
Just don’t be fooled into thinking you should go–or should send your kids–because college is a “great investment.”
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April 4th, 2012 | Author: admin
Newswise People have been pursuing higher education and advanced degrees for centuries, but why and to what end? Boise State University professors Stephanie Cox and Jennifer Black have investigated the history of higher education, from Socrates to the present day. They can talk about what has changed and how the educational process has evolved over the years. Using the fundamentals from their upcoming Foundational Studies Program course at Boise State, they look at the balance between preparation for a specific career and the value of a broad-based curriculum, as well as the role that technology plays in the changing face of higher education, and how to focus on what you can get out of a college education at least as much as the process of getting into a college environment.
Cox is a lecturer in the English Department, where she teaches undergraduate writing courses. She has a BA and an MA, both from Kansas State University.
Black also is a lecturer in the English Department, where she teaches courses in Western Humanities, British Literature and English Composition. She received her PhD from Boston University and has an MA and a BA from Brigham Young University.
In recent years, the two have been part of a collaboration to study and improve the teaching of writing in online environments. They have co-presented at the Conference for College Composition and Communication, the Computers and Writing conference, and the National Council for Teachers of English conference.
Listen to a podcast on the higher education topic by Cox and Black, and learn about a number of other Boise State University faculty experts at http://beyondtheblue.boisestate.edu/, Boise State’s award-winning website of podcast presentations on a wide range of relevant topics.
April 4th, 2012 | Author: admin
How would you like to invest $21,964 and have it turn into $2 million? Thousands of people do it. Their investment strategy involves a four-year commitment to education. The payoff begins with the receipt of a college degree, which opens the door to a lifetime of earnings that otherwise might not have been possible to obtain. In this article, well show you the million-dollar benefits of choosing to pursue an education.
SEE: The Beauty Of Budgeting
The Math Is Simple
According to information released by the US Census Bureau in February 2012, workers with a college degree earn nearly twice as much as those without one in 2009. Census data indicates that the earnings of the average worker between the ages of 25 and 34 with a high school diploma was $27,511. The average earnings of a similar worker armed with a bachelors degree was $45,692. Taking these earnings into account, spread over the course of a 40-year career and not accounting for inflation and salary increases, results in roughly $1.1 million for the high school graduate and $1.8 million for the college graduate.
Watch Wages Increase by Degrees
While just about any degree will help your earnings prospects, more education generally equates to more money. Over the course of a working career across all persons, an associates degree is worth about $1.6 million, a bachelors degree is worth $2.3 million, a masters degree is worth $2.9 million, a doctorate is worth $4.1 million, and a professional degree is worth $5.1 million.
Of course, like any investment, some are better than others. A degree in basket weaving, Renaissance art or golf is likely to result in significantly lower earnings than a degree in information technology, business or the health sciences. Choosing your major wisely is a lot like selecting an appropriate investment for your long-term portfolio. In other words, you need to choose something that dovetails with your goals and has a realistic opportunity to provide the return on investment that you are anticipating.
See the True Cost of College
Of course, getting a degree is easier said than done. The cost of a college education is high, and its only getting higher. In fact, the cost of education has risen faster than inflation over the past decade, and tuition at a four-year public university is estimated at $8,240 dollars per year for the 2011 – 2012 school year, according to the College Board, a non-profit higher education association. Tuition at a private school will cost even more – about $28,500 per year.
SEE: The Indiana Jones Guide to Getting Ahead
April 4th, 2012 | Author: admin
Tips for maximizing your college admissions visits
By
It’s that time of year again, when high school juniors and seniors hit the road for a marathon tour of college after college after college.
I wrote an article for the Post’s Travel section this weekend and listed off some tips for making these visits less cookie cutter and more fun, which prompted the sharing of even more tips from readers. Here are a few (and you can share your own in the comments section below):
Contact a professor: Several readers suggested sitting in on classes or meeting with a professor who specializes in something that matches your interests. One online commenter wrote that high school students should search the department Web pages for the major or majors they are considering, “then when you find professors doing research in or teaching what you are interested in, then email them, tell them you are interested in something similar, and ask if you can meet briefly with them during a campus visit.”
@wpjenna If interested in a certain major, set up time 2 talk to professor/dept head. Helps give a sense for the prog & it’s good networking
Ask about adjuncts: College tour guides love to boast about their school’s low student-to-faculty ratio, and that none of their classes are taught by teaching assistants. But what about adjunct professors, who are increasingly being used as a low-cost way to fill out the teaching ranks at many schools? One of my Twitter followers pointed out that faculty working conditions often affect student learning.
Get a local tour guide: An online commenter suggests that “the best plan, if you can manage it, is to dig up someone you know — even peripherally — who goes to the college in question and ask to hang out with them for part of a day and check out their classes, have lunch with them in the dining hall, etc.”
Be realistic in making your list of schools to visit: Sit down with your parents for a frank conversation about grades, career goals, grades and test scores. If you can’t afford to attend a college that’s only accessible by a long plane ride, then stick to schools in your region. If all of your grades are Bs and Cs, chances are you should not be looking at Ivy League institutions. If you want to play sports in college and aren’t already a superstar, maybe best to focus on Division III schools instead of Division I. If you want to be an engineer, make sure you look at schools with strong engineering programs.
And don’t be afraid to also check out schools in your own backyard, including community colleges, which are often a more affordable way to spend your first two years.
@wpjenna Make sure your academic profile matches the institutions you visit. No need to visit if you have virtually no chance of getting in!
Find information in places other than brochures: Read the student newspaper. Follow school-related Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr accounts. An online commenter suggested the Web site whatwilltheylearn.com. And Frank Burtnett, author of the Bound-for-College Guidebook adds this advice: “I like to encourage visitors to find the biggest bulletin board in the student union or campus center and spend about 10 minutes giving it a thorough examination. Everything the students want each other to know seems to find its way to this centralized dissemination center.”
If you feel like doing some detective work, one of my Facebook subscribers also suggested taking a look at budgets for the past 30 years, paying special attention to the direction and speed of funding for undergraduate education.
Keep notes of some sort: After your fifth or 10th or 20th campus visit, schools tend to blend together. So jot down all of your thoughts in a notebook, e-mail yourself a highlight list or take lots of photos.
Bring a digital camera–campuses can start to blur! MT @wpjenna: advice for high school students visiting colleges over spring break?
@wpjenna Limit visits to one or two/day.Keep a list of highlights/questions, in case visits start to blend months later.
Again, this is your college education. While the opinions of your parents, siblings, relatives, significant others, best friends, distant friends and co-workers are likely valuable, make sure that you are making this decision for yourself. Take ownership. Send your own e-mails. Book your own tours. Ask your own questions.
@wpjenna My final tip for students visiting colleges: Be more interested than your parents. You’re the one going to college, not them!
Check out the after-hours scene: So much of what happens at college, happens after dark. And I’m not just talking about drinking and parties (which you should avoid if you are under 21). Check out eateries that are open 24-7, late-night sports leagues, library study rooms or dorm lounge movie marathons.
@wpjenna Find a popular town hangout, like Peppers at UNC or Pugsley’s at Fordham, and go check it out to get a feel for the students.
Remember, you aren’t the only one visiting. March and April are the busiest months of the year for most admissions offices, so realize they might not be able to fulfill all of your requests, especially those for private tours or meetings with famous faculty members.
Wear comfortable shoes. Many college campuses are vast and sprawling, so a walking tour can often last an hour or two and cover more than a mile of territory. “You should definitely dress nicely but comfortably,” Rick Clark, Georgia Tech’s director of undergraduate admission, told me in an e-mail. “Bringing your own water bottle is not a bad idea either, as not all schools will supply water on tours.”
Meet some real students: I keep hearing this advice over and over again. I realize that it can be intimidating to introduce yourself to a stranger (or embarrassing to have your parent do so). One idea is to attend a class and strike up a conversation with those sitting near you. Or look through an online directory of student clubs and reach out to the leaders of groups that interest you.
Dan Chambliss, a sociology professor at Hamilton College in New York is studying how students learn in a liberal arts environment. His advice is to talk with students who “aren’t paid by the Admission Office or suggested by the coach who’s recruiting you. Just walk around by yourself for an hour or two, seeing the people you’ll be hanging around with. Ask Yourself: Do I want to spend four years, day and night, with these folks?”
UPDATE: This post was updated on Tuesday afternoon to include tips on dealing with crowds, dressing comfortably and meeting real students.
What tips do you have? Please share them in the comments section below. And for more higher education news, you can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook. And here are some other articles that might be of interest:
U of Rochester admissions creates hip-hop music video
William & Mary ditches its traditional viewbook
Getting rejected from your dream school(s) isn’t a bad thing
Dad videotapes his son finding an acceptance letter in the mailbox
Number college rankings proliferate — and some don’t make sense
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03:08 PM ET, 03/26/2012
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April 3rd, 2012 | Author: admin
Sallie Mae Student Loans Tax Deduction Reminder; Paying for College is Costly; Colleges take action to help Students Pay for School
Posted on | March 26, 2012 | No Comments
The Cost of Education in America:
The cost of a college education continues to rise higher. Students are absorbing more and more debt and running into road blocks when it comes time to repay student loans.
Although the job market is slowly improving and the national average unemployment rate is dropping back, recent college graduates are still finding it very difficult to find employment. Graduates that do find gainful employment report that managing student loan repayments can be tenuous. America is searching for answers.
Solutions for the high Cost of Education:
Representative for the National Association of Colleges and Universities, Tony Pals, recently reported that since the economic downturn in the US, some colleges and universities have taken the initiative to reduce the cost of four year degree programs. He reports that a growing number of colleges are cutting costs for potential students by offering three year degree programs as a cheaper alternative to the standard four year degree program. The schools that offer these types of opportunities are still part of the minority however. Currently, according to the College Board, the average cost of tuition at a private school for a four year degree will run approximately $28,500 a year. Starting ones professional work life with a student loan of over $100,000 is a hard price to repay for most graduates.
According to statistics posted via the College Board, the majority of students that cant afford to pay for the full cost of their college tuition receive grants and scholarships. The next largest proportion of aid comes via federal loans. According to data analysis, the average undergraduate received approximately $12,000 in financial aid last year.
Sallie Mae Helps students pay for college and gives reminder this tax season:
As tax season approaches, Americans could qualify for tax benefits according to Sallie Mae. According to a recent Sallie Mae study, over 50 percent of families miss out on tax advantages of education. Low and Middle income families need to remember to file for education tax credits and student loan interest rate deductions this tax season. Taxes are due in April and receiving education tax benefits is one way Americans will save on education in the short term.
Genny Germano
April 2nd, 2012 | Author: admin
Dick Enberg
Age: 77
Born: Mount Clemens, Michigan
Education: Central Michigan College (bachelor’s degree); Indiana University (master’s degree and doctorate)
Occupation: Sports broadcasting; San Diego Padres TV play-by-play
Family: Wife, Barbara; six children from two marriages
Philanthropy: College Education All-Americans; Central Michigan Athletic-Education Center; University of Indiana Enberg Long Distance Learning Center; Barnes Tennis Center.
March 31st, 2012 | Author: admin
FT. BLISS – Combiningmilitary and higher education; Fort Blisssoldiers and their families will now have greater access to a college education.
Today, the El Paso Community College,which has campuses all over the borderland, announced that its adding another facility on post. The newEPCC campus will be built on 250-acres, that includes a portion of the historic Butterfield Trail.
Army officials said the newcampus will greatly benefit military members and their families.
Ofcourse, we have a very professional and great army, but the more educated our soldiers are, the better theyll do and better opportunities theyll have, not only within the army, but outside the army for future employment opportunities, said Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, commander of Ft. Bliss.
EPCCwill begin building its new facility this year. Thiswill be EPCCs sixth campus.