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Even though the 2012 NAICU Annual Meeting is history, you can continue to benefit and learn from the many presentations and speeches that were offered, and are now available on line.

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College Preparation/Choosing a College

College’s rising cost steering students to private, smaller institutions

Spokeane, Washington, Spokesman-Review

January 29, 2012

Sam Director, a freshman at Whitworth University, didn't plan on going to a private university. But when he started shopping, the Oregon resident discovered it was cheaper. "It was a process of elimination," Director said. To go to an Oregon public university, comparable to one in Washington, would cost about the same as going to Whitworth. Private colleges don't rely on public funding and frequently have hefty endowments that help defray tuition costs and increase scholarship possibilities. And tuition increases among private universities have been less steep - around 20 percent at Whitworth and Gonzaga University over the past five years.

Survey Finds That Dwindling Financial Aid Contributes to Fewer College Options

New York Times

January 26, 2012

College freshmen entering school last fall were less likely to attend their first choice of college, a function of both competition and cost, than at any other time since 1974, and fewer received financial aid through grants or scholarships, according to an annual survey of nearly 204,000 high school students.The survey, "The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2011," based on the responses of full-time students at 270 institutions, said those who were enrolled at their first choice fell to 58 percent in 2011. The figure, which reached a high of 80 percent in 1975, has been declining since 2006.

Top college applicants now seek ‘academic rigor’

Boston Globe

January 21, 2012

A recent survey of Boston University applicants suggests the best students are no longer impressed with the fancy facilities many schools have built to court them over the past decade. Instead, one of the biggest factors apparently driving the top students' choice of college is "academic rigor'' - defined as small classes, accomplished professors, national rankings, and the like. Those students said it accounted for a quarter of their decision on where to attend, surpassed in importance only by financial aid.Meanwhile, the survey found that "campus life'' accounted for just 7 percent of the choice.

Applications at Top Colleges Retreat Amid ‘Impossible’ Odds

Bloomberg Businessweek

January 19, 2012

Elite U.S. colleges such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University are experiencing a slowdown or drop in applications for freshman admission after years of record increases. Athletics programs, early-admission policies, competition for seats and other school-specific issues may be having a greater effect on student applications rates, counselors and admissions deans said. High school seniors are getting the message that it can be next to "impossible" to win a seat at these schools, said Jon Reider, head of college counseling at San Francisco's University High School.

10 Least Expensive Private Colleges

U.S. News & World Report - Short List

January 17, 2012

With the option of financial assistance, some students can afford to look at higher-priced schools. Other students may simply explore private schools that offer a more manageable price from the start. Among the 829 private colleges and universities that reported data to U.S. News in a 2011 survey of undergraduate programs, the average cost of tuition and required fees for the 2011-2012 academic year is $27,340. By comparison, the 10 least expensive private colleges in the country cost an average of $6,115 annually for tuition and fees - down from $7,220 annually the year before.

As a Broader Group Seeks Early Admission, Rejections Rise in the East

New York Times

January 14, 2012

Early admission to top colleges, once the almost exclusive preserve of the East Coast elite, is now being pursued by a much broader and more diverse group of students, including foreigners and minorities. SchoolbookThe democratization of the process - and the overall explosion in applicants - made the early-admissions game much tougher this year for the group that has long dominated it: students in prep schools in New York and beyond where the vast majority of seniors apply to their top choices in November in hopes of avoiding the springtime scrum.

Prepaid college plans: shrinking options, rising risks

Reuters

January 11, 2012

The Illinois plan is in worse shape than most prepaid plans, but it isn't unusual in facing problems. Prepaid plans, popular college savings vehicles offered at one time in about 20 U.S. states, are increasingly running on empty. About half of them have stopped taking new money, and many of the rest are struggling. It means that the majority of Americans, including those in places such as Illinois and Tennessee, don't have access to a state plan, and the minority who do need to be very wary.

Is higher tuition what the public wants?

Washington Post - College Inc. Blog

January 10, 2012

Choosing a college isn't, in the end, so different from buying an outfit at the mall. The customer wants a good deal. Nothing says "good deal" like a discount. Colleges keep raising tuition so that they can offer ever-deeper discounts to prospective students. Offering the customer a 40 percent discount on an impossibly high list price accomplishes two things. It tells the customer the product has considerable worth and that it is being offered at great value.

Groups help fund college for many

Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch

January 8, 2012

Brighten Your Future is among about 35 college-access programs across Ohio that prepare and advise students from lower-income families who are going on to higher education. Among the programs, fewer than half have their own endowments to give students scholarships, said MorraLee Keller, director of technical assistance at the National College Access Network. These "last dollar" scholarships fill the final gap for students who still demonstrate financial need even after receiving all other tuition assistance for which they qualify.

The admissions dating game

Boston Globe Magazine

January 8, 2012

I know I may lose out to the girl from China who spent her summer feeding starving kids in Darfur, or maybe the 4.0 grade-point average 2,400 SAT music prodigy who's been writing symphonies since he was 6. If that happens, I'll feel terrible; yet, if I get in, someone else will feel that way. If I don't get in, I'll tell myself that admissions officers can't really know who will succeed and who will burn out. (That's why Harvard rejected John Kerry and Warren Buffett but accepted Ted Kaczynski.)

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