Get Ready for July Madness

There are no brackets to guide you through it, but July is the prime month for presidential transitions at private colleges. To keep up on who's going where, visit our Comings and Goings page, with up-to-the-minute news of the many appointments now being made.

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College Preparation/Choosing a College

College search: finding your best school BankRate.com March 3, 2010 The college search is nearly over for many students this year. Acceptance packages start arriving in mailboxes around the country in February each year, forcing them to decide soon, "Which college is best for me?"  Unfortunately, they don't always make the right choice.  Here's a review of the more common problems that cause transfers or dropouts, followed by experts' tips on what students should look for -- after the initial college search -- when they decide which school to attend from those that accepted them.

Graduates Fault Advice of Guidance Counselors New York Times March 3, 2010 Most people who graduated from high school in the last dozen years believe that their guidance counselors provided little meaningful advice about college or careers, according to the study by Public Agenda, a nonprofit research organization.  And many said the best advice on their futures came from teachers.  The study was sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has sought to shed light on low completion rates at both the high school and college levels.

Solving the Mystery of Matriculation Decisions Chronicle of Higher Education March 2, 2010 Using data from the Middlebury College classes of 2008 through 2012, three researchers created a model for predicting "yield," the proportion of admitted students who ultimately enroll. Race was among the strongest predictors of matriculation, with the probability of black students' enrolling lower (by 32 percentage points) than the probability of white students' enrolling. Although the effect of net price on the probability of attending was also significant, the authors deemed its impact "small."

America's education-to-employment system is broken Fort Worth, Texas, Star Telegram - Opinion Piece February 27, 2010 The U.S. education-to-employment system, K-college, is broken.  American schools aren't producing nearly the number of literate graduates skilled in science, technology, engineering and math -- STEM -- needed to fuel the economy.  This isn't news.  But combine an inadequate education system with massive baby boomer retirements and the falling birthrates, and America is looking at grim times ahead that have nothing to do with a recession.

Public college tuitions spike 15%, even 30% CNNMoney.com February 24, 2010 Tuition at many public colleges and universities is skyrocketing, thanks to state budget deficits that have choked off funding for higher education.  Next year's tuition numbers aren't final, since many states are still hashing out their budgets. But one thing is certain: Rates are going up, and the schools that will be hit the hardest are in the states that have seen the worst of the economic downturn.

To Impress, Tufts Prospects Turn to YouTube New York Times February 23, 2010 It is reading season at the Tufts University admissions office, time to plow through thousands of essays and transcripts and recommendations - and this year, for the first time, short YouTube videos that students could post to supplement their application.  About 1,000 of the 15,000 applicants submitted videos. Some have gotten thousands of hits on YouTube.

Myths and realities of choosing a college Standard Speaker, Hazleton, Pa. - Opinion Piece February 20, 2010 The notion that it is only community colleges that enroll students from lower income families is a misconception that is rooted in the poor economy and the number of first-generation college students who do attend two-year institutions. In fact, the growth in enrollment among students from low-income families - those with an income of $40,000 or less - has been very significant at private colleges and universities.

More private colleges court community college transfers USA Today/Inside Higher Ed February 18, 2010 Community college transfer students are no longer being courted only by the usual suspects.  More private institutions, of every ilk, are aggressively recruiting students from two-year colleges, hoping to bolster and diversify their enrollments and capitalize on the belt-tightening of regional public universities.

Plan Would Let Students Start College After 10th Grade New York Times February 17, 2010 Dozens of public high schools in eight states will introduce a program next year allowing 10th graders who pass a battery of tests to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college.  Students who pass but aspire to attend a selective college may continue with college preparatory courses in their junior and senior years, organizers of the new effort said.

A Running Start and Fast Friends for First-Generation Transfer Students Chronicle of Higher Education February 16, 2010 With a grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation and the Council of Independent Colleges, California Lutheran has been able to counsel first-generation transfer students even before classes start. The university took a summer program it had been running for freshmen who qualified for Student Support Services and adapted it. Last August, for the first time, first-generation transfer students participated in their own version of the program.

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