| |
Vol. 21 No. 10
June 2007
Accountability, Graduation Rates and
Loans
"Asking the Right Questions,
Dispelling the Myths"
THAT WAS THE TITLE
of the annual National Education Writers Association meeting
in Los Angeles in May which examined a number of tough issues
facing higher education. CB was in attendance and here
is a look at who was saying what about admissions.
U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION CALLS
FOR MORE ACCOUNTABILITY
While No Child Left Behind has focused on students
in grades three through eight, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings said that there is a lot of "clamor for more rigor
and more relevance and more accountability in our high schools"
from the National Governors Association to parents.
Also, "We have to get many, many more Americans in and
out of our higher education system," she said. "We
have about a third of Americans today who have a baccalaureate
degree and about two-thirds of Americans ought to have a baccalaureate
degree."
"It is very, very discouraging," she added. "We
simply have to start talking about not only issues of affordability,
but accessibility, meaning, do we have kids getting out of our
high schools who can do college work?"
Federal aid going unused. Spellings also noted that while Pell
grants need to be increased, some federal aid is going unused.
"We have to raise the Pell Grant," she noted. "It
is currently $4,050. The President has called for raising it
next year to $4,600 and would like to get it to $5,400 within
five years."
What she is troubled by, she added, is the fact that the Academic
Competitiveness Grants dubbed "Smart Grants," begun
about a year ago, are going unused. She said that $790 million
was appropriated by the Congress. Students are eligible when
they have taken a rigorous course of study in high school and/or
are studying in the science, technology, engineering or math
fields. They can receive additional financial aid, starting at
$750 and literally double their Pell Grant in year four, with
an additional $4,000.
"We have spent only about half of the money," she
said, "because kids are not taking a rigorous course of
study and often they are not studying in the STEM areas.We have
a lot of work to do to make sure that kids are showing up and
ready to be successful with those resources in college. (For
more info, http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/ac-smart.html.)
Spellings Calls for Better Comparative Data. Secretary Spellings
also said that we should know and look at data that says, "How
many students went to the school and how many got out."
For example, colleges and universities should be able to answer,
"How well are you getting African American kids out of your
institution?" she said. "People want to know that,"
noting for example, an African American student who wants to
go into engineering should be able to know if he or she is more
likely to complete the degree at The Ohio State U. or the U.
of Texas and so forth.
COLLEGE GRADUATION RATES-
DO THEY MATTER?
But do graduation rates actually matter? Yes, according
to higher education experts. Consider these stats:
- 50 percent of students who drop out of college, do so by
their sophomore year;
- In California, 23 percent of African American males drop
out of the state higher education system before completing their
college degree.
Indeed, "What are the college graduation rates?"
is a question increasingly raised by parents and state legislatures
alike. Secretary Spellings and others have also called on colleges
to be more accountable and to improve their graduation rates.
But as other experts have also pointed out, collecting the data
and the way it is reported is not simple. The numbers vary widely
around the country and by institution and by the population the
colleges serve.
Laura Horn of MPR Associates noted that it is important to
know what a college's graduation rate is, but within a context.
She said the questions to ask are:
- What is the source of the student names? Are they traditional
students or non-traditional?
- What is the universe used to count students? Is it all the
students or half the students?
- What is the context used? You cannot compare a Stanford U.,
for example, to a Long Beach State.
Horn also recommended that in looking at a specific college,
it is important to look at the prior years as well.
Andrew Grosovsky, vice provost, U. of California Riverside,
stated that another question to ask colleges is about the graduation
rate of minority students. UC Riverside is among the most diverse
universities in the country. It has been successful in graduation
and retention, Grosovsky said, because the university has focused
on faculty instruction. That is a key way to improving student
success. It also created a welcoming campus environment and freshmen
support programs that led to greater retention for sophomore
year.
"Not every institution should have a 100 percent graduation
rate," he said. "And it is not always a college's fault
if it doesn't have a high graduation rate. But there is a lot
colleges can do to improve their graduation rates.
"Higher education is so diverse and institutions have
so many missions, it is hard to talk about the data in one way."
One web site recommended where similar institutions can be compared
is www.collegeresults.org.
THE PROBLEMS OF PRIVATE LOANS
Another topic at the EWA annual meeting centered on
the widening student loan scandal. Pressure is growing for all
U.S. colleges to stop referring their student financial aid borrowers
to "preferred lenders," that is banks and financial
institutions specifically approved by the schools. In the wake
of the far-reaching investigation by New York prosecutors who
uncovered what they called "kickbacks" to college scholarship
funds, Congress has entered the dispute.
In May, the House of Representatives passed the Student Loan
Sunshine Act aimed at curbing conflicts of interest in the multi-billion
dollar college-lending business by a vote of 414-3. The bill,
which at press time is pending in the Senate, would ban gifts
from lenders and revenue sharing between colleges and lenders.
Colleges would also need at least three unaffiliated lenders
on its preferred lender list and require explanations of why
they were selected.
The chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, George
Miller of California, has appealed to Secretary Spellings to
place a moratorium on such lists.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who launched the investigations,
has negotiated settlements with at least 24 colleges and universities
and six lenders, forcing colleges to abandon their preferred
lender lists, and halting the practice of the school or its employees
accepting money from any lender.
Cuomo also is suing other institutions that "may have
misled" students in need of financial aid. Among the schools
that have settled with the New York prosecutors are Molloy C.,
New York Institute of Technology, Pace U., Salve Regina U., Syracuse
U. and the U. of Pennsylvania. Financial institutions such as
Citibank, Education Finance Partners and Sallie Mae also have
signed agreements to alter their practices. Other states, including
California, have launched their own investigations. Without waiting
for new regulations, the U. of Texas system has halted its practice
of using preferred lenders.
While some university employees who took gifts from lenders
have been dismissed, not everyone is convinced that the Preferred
Lender model should be totally discarded. "Rather than pulling
the plug on systems American families rely on, as the chairman
suggests," a spokesperson for the Department of Education
told The Chronicle of Higher Education, "the department
has taken a more deliberative and comprehensive approach."
The education secretary has already set up a task force to make
recommendations.
[back
to top]
ADMISSIONS WATCH
Wait Lists Up. Many wait lists are longer this
spring, leaving more students in limbo, according to a May 10
report from The Los Angeles Times. About two-thirds of
selective colleges and one-third of all colleges use wait lists.
Wait lists are one way that colleges hit their enrollment goals
and more gently reject qualified students. Only about 12.5 percent
of students on wait lists at selective colleges were admitted
in 2006. At very selective colleges, the numbers are even smaller.
Princeton U., for example, placed 792 on its wait list this
year, even though it admitted no students from its list the past
two years. This year, Duke U. admitted about 20 percent of its
19,000 applicants, and waited listed 1,900. Reed C. admitted
about 33 percent of its 3,363 applicants and put 800 on its wait
list, up 100 from last year. Claremont McKenna C. saw a 15 percent
increase in applications this year to 4,140, and accepted 670
as it aims for a first-year class of 270. It wait listed 849
students, 200 more than last year. This year Boston C. has a
1,500 student wait list.
Georgetown U. Admits 21 Percent. A record number of
over 16,000 students applied for regular admission to Georgetown
U., 8 percent more than last year. It admitted under 21 percent
of those, and posted a yield of 48 percent. The number accepted
last year was 22 percent, the yield 46 percent. Some 25 students
were taken off its wait list. About 55 percent of the new class
is female.
Harvard's Yield Steady. Harvard C. has posted a 79
percent yield this year, about the same as last year. This year,
1,630 of the 2,058 students offered the chance to matriculate
have accepted bids. Harvard's yield has hovered around 80 percent
the past few years. About 25 percent of the incoming class will
be covered by the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI), which
guarantees a free education for students from families making
$60,000 or less, and lessens the required contribution from families
making between $60,000 and $80,000.
New Orleans Bounces Back. Tulane U. saw a 56 percent
increase over last year in the number of students who have sent
in their $300 deposits by early May, according to The Times-Picayune.
Xavier U. in New Orleans noted a 30 percent increase in those
making $20 deposits. Loyola U., which requires $200 deposits,
posted an 18 percent jump over last year. Dillard U. recorded
the largest percentage increase with a 244 percent leap over
last year. But in raw numbers, that is 31 versus just 9 students
at the same point last year. However, most of Dillard's deposits
arrive during the summer. It expects to recruit 375 new students
for fall, slightly below its pre-Katrina number of 400.
Randolph-Macon C. "Ecstatic." That's according
to WDBJ7 Roanoke, which reported that 57 of the incoming freshman
class of 172 students are men, twice what school officials had
hoped for in its first year of going co-ed.
"Sophisticated" and "Whip-smart."
That's how teachers described the incoming freshmen to the U.
of Delaware, said Louis Hirsh, admissions director, according
to The News Journal. UD accepted its largest freshman
class for this fall "from its largest-ever pool of applicants,"
a total of 23,000. More than 2,600 new freshmen are expected
on campus. But students will have to pay more to live in residence
halls. The board approved a 9.5 percent increase in room rates
and a 5.6 percent increase in meal-plan rates. "The major
reason the increases are necessary is due to debt service and
the increased cost of paying for salaries, benefits, utilities
and supplies," said R.M.M. Carpenter, a trustee.
USC Yield Up. The number of admitted students who have
submitted deposits to the University of Southern California climbed
to 3,150, or 36 percent this spring, up 4 percent over last year,
according to The Daily Trojan. The increase reversed a
half-a-percentage slide posted each of the past few years, according
to Tim Brunold, associate dean and director of undergraduate
admission. "We worked much more closely with the Financial
Aid Office this year to make sure offers were out earlier,"
he explained. Brunold also noted a "real surge" in
deposits from first-generation college students, as well as a
"sizeable increase" from among children of Trojan alumni.
Western Washington U. More than 6,000 offers went out
to students who had applied for the Western Washington U. Class
of 2011. This year 8,840 students applied to WWU, up 800 over
last year. About 73 percent who applied were admitted. About
22 percent were minority students, a 3 percent increase over
2006. The middle 50 percent of admitted students posted a grade-point
average of 3.36 over the past two years. WWU, located in Bellingham,
hopes to enroll about 2,600 freshmen in the fall.
Canadian U.'s Hit Record Enrollment. The number of
full-time university students is up 31 percent in Canada, according
to a study released last month by the Association of Universities
and Colleges of Canada. And according to the Toronto Star,
the "rising demand is already taking some university administrators
by surprise." Applications to Ryerson U. in Toronto, for
example, are up 20 percent. The school reportedly expected a
5 to 6 percent enrollment increase. Officials in Canada expect
the trend to continue.
[back
to top]
Sallie Mae Sold
Meanwhile, the nation's largest student loan institution,
SLM Corporation, known as Sallie Mae, founded in 1972 as a public-private
venture, was sold to a consortium of financial institutions for
$25 billion, indicating just how lucrative the student loan business
has become. Buyers include J. C. Flowers & Company of New
York, Friedman Fleischer & Lowe of San Francisco, JPMorgan
Chase & Company and the Bank of America.
Sallie Mae, which manages $142 billion in student loans, will
no longer be a publicly-traded company. Hence, it will be no
longer subject to as many public financial reporting requirements.
Sallie Mae's management company is expected to stay in place.
The company also said it will honor the new Student Loan Code
of Conduct that it negotiated with the New York attorney general,
after paying a $2 million settlement.
It remains to be seen if the deal benefits student borrowers
as much as it does investors. Sallie Mae currently manages 10
million student loans and $15 billion in Section 529 college
savings plans. On their own, the Bank of America is the nation's
fourth-largest originator of student loans, JPMorgan is the nation's
sixth largest.
The agreement and its consequences are likely to find Congressional
scrutiny, according to Rep. George Miller, who said, "At
a time when the integrity of our nation's student-loan system
has been called into question for many reasons, and given the
checkered past of Sallie MaeCongress will be interested in learning
more about how this new ownership will change their operations,
and whether this is truly in the best interest of student borrowers
and the families who are working extremely hard to pay these
loans back."
[back
to top]
THE COUNSELOR'S CORNER
People Were Talking
About...
Colleges Refuse Rankings. The Education Conservancy
announced at the EWA meeting in Los Angeles last month that it
is launching a petition to college presidents asking them to
"refuse to fill out the U.S. News and World Report
reputational survey" and to "refuse to use the rankings
in any promotional efforts." Twelve colleges initially signed
on and, to date, 17 colleges have been added, including: Earlham
C., Dickinson C., Wheelock C., Marlboro C., Trinity U., St. John's
C. in Annapolis, St. John's C. in Santa Fe, Heritage U., Southwestern
U., Bethany C., Drew U. and Lafayette C. For more info see, www.educationconservancy.org.
Meanwhile, The Chronicle of Higher Education conducted
a comprehensive analysis of the ratings that concluded the "rankings'
methodology hurts public institutions." In its May 25 issue,
the Chronicle's nine-page spread on the topic noted that
"in 1987, the first year that the rankings expanded to a
top 25, eight were public." But when the magazine expanded
its "measures of excellence," public universities nearly
disappeared from the top. Only the U. of California at Berkeley
is still on the list, at 21.
The reason is the categories. For example, one category is
"six-year graduation rates." Most public colleges must,
according to their missions, take less-qualified students. Another
category is "acceptance rate." But, the Chronicle
argued, "Because of their public mission, many state institutions
must accept higher proportions of applicants."
- ED in '08 Campaign. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
joined Eli Broad at EWA in talking about the Strong American
Schools project, a national nonpartisan campaign supported by
the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, "to raise education to one of the country's
top domestic priorities and to challenge the 2008 presidential
candidates to begin a dialogue about how they will improve American
schools." The Campaign's logo is "ED in '08."
For more info see, www.EDin08.com.
- Early College High Schools Grow. Jobs for the Future
in Boston exhibited at the EWA meeting and noted that in five
years, this initiative has started in 130 schools in 23 states,
which enables high school students to graduate with a high school
diploma and an associate's degree or two years of college credit
toward a bachelor's degree. See, www.earlycolleges.org.
REPORTS RELEASED TO EDUCATION WRITERS
Each year, a number of organizations release their
reports to reporters at the annual meeting of education writers.
Here are short summaries of what was released last month in Los
Angeles.
Making the Most of Career-Technical Education. A new
Pace Policy Brief from the University of California notes the
"career-technical education is once again being seriously
considered as an option for California high schools, after a
decade in which academic programs and college preparation have
been the focus."
The report notes that career academies have expanded
and some schools have put academies in many of their high schools.
Other schools are restructuring in career-oriented majors. See,
http://pace.berkeley.edu.
ETS Reports on How Colleges Assess Learning. At a time
when higher education is facing greater scrutiny, according to
ETS, it has released a report "A Culture of Evidence: Critical
Features of Assessments for Postsecondary Student Learning"
to suggest ways two- and four-year institutions are measuring
their effectiveness. The report suggests assessment of workplace
readiness and general skills, domain-specific knowledge, soft
skills or student engagement. For a copy see, www.ets.org/cultureofevidence2.
"Integrative Learning: Opportunities to Connect."
A new "online report" from the Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching looks at the efforts of 10 campuses
to foster a student's ability to integrate learning and enable
students to make better "connections." The campuses
that participated are: Carleton C., C. of San Mateo, LaGuardia
Community C., Massachusetts C. of Liberal Arts, Michigan State
U., Philadelphia U., Portland State U., Salve Regina U., State
U. of New York at Oswego and U. of Charleston. See, www.carnegiefoundation.org/elibrary/integrativelearning.
Teacher Education, Part III. "Educating Researchers,"
the third report in a series by Arthur Levine from the Education
Schools Project, focuses on the need for quality education research,
suggesting that improvement is needed in the research that focuses
on how students learn. Model colleges are highlighted ranging
from Boston C. to Stanford U. to Peabody C. at Vanderbilt U.
See, www.edschools.org.
The AFT Calls for Teacher Preparation Changes. Meanwhile,
"Building a Profession: Strengthening Teacher Preparation
and Induction" was released by the American Federation of
Teachers that argued that "little has changed over the last
seven years since the American Federation of Teachers issued
an urgent call to revamp the way higher education screens and
prepares teacher candidates." Among its recommendations:
raise entrance grade-point averages for teacher education programs,
institute a national entry test and require core liberal arts
courses. For a copy see, www.aft.org
and request Item No. 36-06974/00.
Similar English Learner Students, Different Results: Why
Do Some Schools Do Better? is a report of a study of 4,700
teachers and 237 principals in 137 California school districts;
electronic copies are available from www.edsource.org.
[back
to top]
THE COUNSELOR'S BOOKSHELF
The Conditions for Admission: Access, Equity, and the
Social Contract of Public Universities, John Aubrey Douglass
(Stanford University Press, 2007); ISBN-10: 0-8047-5559-0; $24.95.
If You Don't Know Where You're Going, You'll Probably End
Up Somewhere Else, David P. Campbell (Sorin Books, 2007);
ISBN-13: 978-1-933495-06-4; $10.95.
Balancing Two Worlds: Asian American College Students Tell
Their Life Stories, edited by Andrew Garrod and Robert Kilkenny;
ISBN: 978-0-8014-7384-5; and Mi Voz, Mi Vida: Latino College
Students Tell Their Life Stories, Garrod, Kilkenny and Christina
Gomez; ISBN: 978-0-8014-7386-9; (both $19.95 from Cornell University
Press, 2007).
Is Literacy Enough: Pathways to Academic Success for Adolescents,
Catherine E. Snow, Michelle V. Porche, Patton O. Tabors, and
Stephanie Ross Harris (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co, 2007);
ISBN-13: 978-1-55766-914-8; $29.95.
Survival Secrets of College Students, Mary Kay Shanley
and Julia Johnston (Barron's, 2007); ISBN-13: 978-0-7641-3572-9;
$12.99.
College Knowledge: 101 Tips for the College-Bound Student,
David Schoem (The University of Michigan Press, 2005-07); $17.95.
The College Hook: The Smartest College Admissions Guide
You'll Ever Read, Pam Proctor (Center Street, 2007); ISBN-13:
978-1-931722-81-0; $21.99; available August.
American Higher Education and the Nation's Ability to Compete
in the Global Economy is an article by Patrick J. Kelly and
Brian T. Prescott in the March/April Change.
The American Council on Education has also released a background
paper on the recent controversy involving student loans. For
a copy see, www.ace.org.
[back
to top]
NEWS
YOU CAN USE
Mitchell College. A new Bachelor of Science in
Communications and Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies,
along with two other new bachelor programs in Hospitality and
Tourism Management and Early Childhood Education will be offered
this fall at Mitchell College in Connecticut. Mitchell now offers
nine B.A. programs and several concentrations, as well as seven
associate degree programs. Enrollment at the formerly two-year
college has increased five to seven percent a year for the past
decade. Mitchell, a liberal arts school, attracts 800 students
from 28 states and 12 foreign countries.
Shakespeare Out. Only 15
of 70 English departments at "major colleges and universities"
require their students to take a Shakespeare class, even though
The Bard is considered the language's greatest writer. According
to a new study by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni
(ACTA), only Harvard in the Ivy League, and Middlebury, Smith
and Wellesley among the other top 25 liberal arts colleges require
their students to study Shakespeare. In 2004, ACTA found that
88 percent of the nation's top 50 colleges didn't even require
a broad survey course in literature and 86 did not require a
basic course in American history or civics.
"Students can now graduate from most of the top-ranked
colleges in America without having much meaningful exposure to
anything," argues the report's co-author, Anne D. Neal.
Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, she added, "Trustees,
alumni, parents and students should not sit idly by while the
attack on academic values goes unchallenged."
More Test Optional. Worcester
Polytechnic Institute has become the first nationally-ranked
science and engineering institute to make standardized tests
optional in its admissions process. Students entering in fall
2008 will have an option of submitting the ACT or SAT or some
other indicators of academic achievement, such as a research
paper or science fair project.
"This helps us capture a completely different side of
a student, and also potential leadership ability," Kristin
Tichenor, associate vice president for enrollment management,
told USA Today. She hopes the policy will help attract
more women and minority candidates. This year, WPI drew 5,700
applications for 800 freshman slots.
Also, the faculty at Wilson C. in Pennsylvania voted to try
a test-optional policy for four years. "Standardized tests
have never been a measure of motivation, creativity, leadership--all
the qualities you look for in a good student," said Mary
Ann Naso, director of admissions.
Scholarship Scoop. The Goldman
Sachs Foundation and Asia Society will award five high school
students with up to $10,000 each in the Youth Prize for Excellence
in International Education. But hurry! The deadline is June 11.
See http://askasia.org/students/gsfprizes.html.
Inflation's Toll. Between
1980 and 2005, the consumer price index rose 137 percent, housing
141 percent and medical care 332 percent. But college tuition
and fees soared by 571 percent. (And during those same two decades,
your COLLEGE BOUND subscription rate rose0 percent.)
So be sure to renew your subscription at www.collegeboundnews.com!
[back
to top]
COLLEGE BOUND's Publisher/Editor: R. Craig
Sautter, DePaul University; Chief Operating Officer: Sally
Reed; Assistant Editor: Emma Schwartz; Illustration:
Louis Coronel; Board of Advisors: David Breeden,
Edina High School, Minnesota; Claire D. Friedlander, Bedford
(N.Y.) Central School District; Howard Greene and Matthew
Greene, authors, The Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning
Series; Frank C. Leana, Ph.D., educational counselor;
M. Fredric Volkmann, Washington University in St. Louis;
Mary Ann Willis, Bayside Academy (Daphne, Ala.).
|
|
In This Issue
Feature Articles
Asking the Right
Questions, Dispelling
the Myths
ADMISSIONS
WATCH
Sallie
Mae Sold
THE COUNSELOR'S
CORNER
People
Were Talking About...
THE COUNSELOR'S
BOOKSHELF
-Selections
NEWS YOU CAN USE
-Mitchell
College
-Shakespeare
Out
-More Test
Optional
-Scholarship
Scoop
-Inflation's
Toll
P.S. To renew your subscription go to
Renew
Subscription
or to order Who Got In? 2006 go to
Order Who Got In? 2006
or call 773-262-5810.
|
