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Jane Manley
February 25, 2013

Elite Colleges Offer Free Courses Online – MOOC

Blog, Colleges, General, Information, News, Parents, Students, Uncategorized

One of the latest trends in Higher Education is the use of MOOC “Massive Open Online Courses.”  The industry leaders, Coursera and edX, announced last week that they have almost doubled their course options by adding courses from some of the top institutions in the country.  “MOOCs have attracted millions of students and captured the public imagination over the past year, allowing people from all walks of life to learn from leading scholars at top-tier universities — free of charge”  writes TERENCE CHEA of the Associated Press.  At the same time he questions the effects of this movement on the degree seeking population.  [read more]

Jane Manley
February 23, 2013

The Crisis in Higher Education

Blog, Colleges, General, Information, News, Parents, Students

Higher education is a broken system, a problem that threatens the economic health as well as democratic fabric of our nation, according to Ethan Miller, a senior at American University – a well-respected student activist and blogger for the Huffington Post.  “Higher education… has reached the climax of a decades-long transformation from a system of intellectual exploration and learning, where degrees were measurements of achievement and creative thought was valued and fostered to a system modeled after corporations, fraught with grade inflation and worthless degrees, focused on career paths and earning as much money as possible.”   Miller proposes that higher education should be about one thing: the relationship between professor and student with the intent of the pursuit of knowledge – food for thought when thinking about college prospects.  [read more]

Jane Manley
February 22, 2013

College Degree – the New Minimum Requirement

Application, Blog, Career, Colleges, General, Information, Students

“The college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the new minimum requirement, albeit an expensive one, for getting even the lowest-level job. ” reports Catherine Rampell of The New York Times.  Many employers with positions that traditionally have not needed any education past high school are now requiring a minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree.  The upside is that these positions can be openings to much more lucrative opportunities within the company with little risk to the employer. [read more]

Jane Manley
February 20, 2013

After the FAFSA…What Happens Next?

Application, Blog, Colleges, Financial Aid, General, Information, Parents, Students

Many colleges/universities post March 1 as the Priority Deadline for financial aid.  This designation usually means that the college has limited funds however they will usually be able to meet those established needs if all paperwork including the FAFSA are completed prior to the priority deadline.  Applications for aid are usually filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Federal Student Aid has put together a video to help students and parents what happens after the FAFSA has been filed.  [watch video]

Jane Manley
February 19, 2013

800+ Colleges on FairTest List – Not Quite Accurate

Application, Blog, Colleges, General, Information, Parents, Students

There has been a lot of press recently citing FairTest’s list of 800+ colleges/universities that do not require SAT/ACT testing for admission purposes.  Top Score, a test preparation service in North Carolina, has analysed the list and has found some very interesting issues.

“School after school turned out to be, upon closer examination, a school of the arts, a theological seminary or a for-profit institution…It seems that some schools are willing to let you opt out of submitting SAT or ACT scores if you submit your SAT II, AP or IB test scores instead…Let’s remove from the list those schools that are not “selective” …This leaves us with 20 or so schools. ”  [read more]

Jane Manley
February 19, 2013

Colleges that Produce Top Earners in First Three Years

Blog, Career, Colleges, General, Information, Parents, Students

Recent information provided by PayScale, a outsourced company that issues paychecks for millions of American workers, provides a window into the earnings of graduates from colleges and universities across the country.  So which colleges yield the highest post graduate salaries?  Anna Prior and Matthew Heimer of the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch examined that questions.

“In an era of dubious economic milestones, it was yet another low-light.  This spring, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans’ total student-loan debt ballooned to more than $900 billion — higher than their total credit-card debt. And no wonder the debt is piling up: Over the past two decades, the price of tuition has risen 20 times as fast as the average college grad’s wages… Georgia Institute of Technology … deserves a higher profile — and some bragging rights. After all, it’s offering the best academic deal in America.”  [read more]

Jane Manley
February 18, 2013

College Visit Checklist

Blog, Career, Colleges, General, Information, Parents, Students

The college visit can be extremely helpful to both the student as well as the parent in the search process.  Try to visit only 1-2 colleges in a single day so that you have to time to visit with other professionals besides those who you will meet on the college tour and by attending informational sessions.  Make an appointment with an academic adviser, eat lunch on campus and take note of the students, visit with someone in the career services office to identify the programs that they offer to help the students decide on a major/career as well the mechanisms in place for securing suitable employment following graduation, etc.  [read more]

Jane Manley
February 14, 2013

President Obama Calls for College Accountability Program

Tags: , , Blog, Colleges, General, Information, Parents, Students, Uncategorized

In the State of the Union Adderss, President Obama called for a “college scorecard” to  help parents and students learn to figure out how to get “the most bang for Your educational buck.”

The Whitehouse launches a new website designed to help the public see colleges in a more transparentmethod.   US News provides some helpful links. [read more]

Jane Manley
February 12, 2013

Fair Test – National Center for Fair and Open Testing

Application, Blog, Colleges, General, Information, News, Parenting

FairTest, otherwise known as the National Center for Fair & Open Testing “works to end the misuses and flaws of standardized testing and to ensure that evaluation of students, teachers and schools is fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial…FairTest also works to end the misuses and flaws of testing practices that impede those goals.”  This organization is committed to affecting a change in testing biases such as racial, class, gender, and cultural barriers that affect a student’s assessment, particularly with tests that affect enrollment  in college or specialized programs.

FairTest has led the charge challenging colleges and universities to consider ACT/SAT scores optional in the college admissions process.  To date more than 800 colleges and universities have taken on that charge and they are referred to as TEST OPTIONAL SCHOOLS.  Here is an up-to-date list of TEST-OPTIONAL SCHOOLS.