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Vol. 21 No. 4
December 2006
With the election over....
Politicians Focus on
College Admissions
State Legislators Told to "Take
Charge"
For every 100 ninth
graders, only 18 will enter college and finish within six years....
That was one of the startling statistics the National
Conference of State Legislatures released November 27 in its
Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education report that said "there
is a crisis in American higher education. It has crept up on
us quickly."
The report, "Transforming Higher Education: National
Imperative-State Responsibility," argued that "the
American higher education system is no longer the best in the
world." Tuition and fees are increasing rapidly, states
have cut back their commitment to higher education and little
attention is paid to the changing demographics.
The states "have neglected their responsibilities,"
the report added, and it is the state legislators who must be
at the center of a nationwide movement to identify the strengths
and weaknesses of the current system, determine a public agenda
for higher education, set clear goals and hold institutions accountable.
"States bear the major responsibility for higher education,"
the report further noted, "spending roughly $70 billion
each year on the venture. But states are not maximizing that
investment."
The Commission, comprised of six Republicans and six Democrats,
spent 18 months examining trends in higher education and the
roles and responsibilities of state legislators. It identified
four ways legislators themselves have contributed to problems:
they have not set clear goals for higher education; they have
not made higher education a legislative priority; they have not
exerted strong leadership on the issue; and they have funded
higher education reactively, rather than strategically.
The Commission highlighted states that have made plans to
improve higher ed (California and Michigan), new partnerships
(North Dakota and Indiana) and new ways of thinking about student
aid (Minnesota and Oregon). It developed 15 recommendations for
legislators ranging from defining clear state goals within state
demographic trends to transforming 12th grade with dual enrollment
and early college programs.
It also noted though that the states need to examine their
merit- and need-based financial aid programs to ensure that they
are well balanced, reward students who are efficient, help adults
and part-time students and reduce debt. "Two out of three
students graduate with debt," the Commission noted, "and
the average debt is $17,250. Ten years ago, it was $8,000, adjusted
for inflation."
Michigan Impacts Minority Affairs
Voters in Michigan last month enacted a ban on the
use of affirmative action in education and employment in their
state by a 58-to-42 percent margin. The referendum was placed
before voters after the much-publicized 2003 U.S. Supreme Court
ruling upheld the use of racial preferences in the admissions
process at the U. of Michigan.
Backers of the initiative vowed to next take their state-by-state
fight to Illinois, Missouri and Oregon. Additionally, the U.S.
Supreme Court is scheduled to take up questions of race-based
enrollment in elementary school assignments, such as magnet schools.
Michigan's new statewide ban begins December 22 and will impact
the 2007-2008 school year. But U. of Michigan President Mary
Sue Coleman said affirmative action "is a positive tool
for society" and vowed that the university will seek court
permission to judge current applicants under the old criteria.
"I will not stand by while the very heart and soul of a
great university is threatened," she said.
In addition, a U-M task force will look for ways to "support
diversity" in the wake of Proposal 2, according to The
Detroit News which said "a group of students, faculty,
staff and alumni will brainstorm creative solutions to sustain
a 'diverse learning community' within the confines of Proposal
2."
According to The Detroit News, U-M leaders have estimated
the percentage of black, Hispanic and Native American students
will fall from 1214 percent of the student population to
about 46 percent now that admissions officers cannot use
race, gender or ethnicity as factors in admissions.
The University of California campuses of Berkeley and Los
Angeles experienced a drop in minority enrollment when voters
there passed a similar ballot measure.
Removing the Roadblocks. In fact, the number of Latino,
African American and American Indian students has declined on
the U. of California campuses since Proposition 209 was passed
in 1996, according to a new report which calls for "tools
to compete" for students "to remove the roadblocks
that unfairly impede" their educational progress. See http://idea.gseis.ucla.edu/publications/roadblocks/index.html.
Minority Enrollment Grows. Meanwhile, the overall number
of U.S. minority students on campuses nationwide grew by nearly
51 percent from 1993 to 2003, according to a new report from
the American Council on Education. However, using U.S. Department
of Education's National Center for Education Statistics and the
U.S. Census Bureau, the report noted that Hispanic and female
minority students led the way. The report, "Minorities in
Higher Education: Twenty-second Annual Status Report" can
be found on the ACE website at www.acenet.edu.
Male Targets. In fact, it has emerged as a national
problem: the paucity of boys on campus. Now, Towson U. in Maryland
has a new formula to bridge the gender gap. It is targeting students
with low grades, but high test scores, a group that happens to
be predominantly male.
Currently, men make up only 40 percent at Towson U. The national
average is 42 percent. While sex discrimination laws prevent
a school from targeting just men, Towson's "Academic Special
Admissions Program" taps a pool composed mostly of men.
The thinking is that high school grades, not test scores, prove
to be a better indicator of who succeeds in college. But, according
to the Baltimore Sun, Towson is also giving its talented
underachievers the type of academic support structure it currently
offers its athletes. "Our athletes have a much higher graduation
rate than our students at large," Lonnie McNew in enrollment
management said.
Critics point out that more white and Asian students have
benefited from the program. Towson said it is aggressively recruiting
black students with a program that guarantees admission and scholarships
to any student who graduates in the top 10 percent of a nearby
Baltimore public high school.
Black Men Underrepresented. Indeed, those looking for
males on U.S. college campuses have to look twice as hard to
find black males. According to a report released mid-November,
"Black Male Students at Public Flagship Universities in
the U.S.: Status, Trends, and the Implications for Policy and
Practice," from the Joint Center for Political and Economic
Studies, black men constituted just 2.8 percent of all students
at 50 flagship universities. And since 1977, the number of black
men receiving degrees increased by only 0.2 percent. The entire
study appears at www.jointcenter.org.
Federal
Call for Changes
in Measuring College Results
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings convened
a much-talked about Forum on Accreditation in Washington DC November
29 to "discuss the recommendations of the Higher Education
Commission" with 60 representatives from accrediting agencies,
colleges, universities, state leadership, private sector and
higher education organizations.
In September, the Commission called for "transforming"
the ways colleges are accredited, making "performance outcomes"-especially
student learning outcomes-the core of how institutions are measured
in terms of quality. The Forum took up the discussion by examining,
in part, how to measure and report student achievement, how to
ensure that the data is reliable and how to define "input"
(resources) and standards.
According to the Wall Street Journal November 13, the
pressure to more objectively measure what students learn is in
response to American businesses, among others, complaining about
the unsatisfactory skill levels of new college grads. Thus, college
accreditation associations have been pressuring colleges to more
objectively measure the outcomes of student learning.
Critics charge that in the past, accreditation was something
of a rubber stamp for colleges. Heretofore, it focused more on
the resources and strategies that colleges put into the process
of education rather than measuring and communicating the learning
that graduates could demonstrate. Now, the associations are "increasingly
holding colleges, prestigious or not, responsible for undergraduates'
grasp of such skills as writing and critical thinking,"
the Journal reported.
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which accredits
schools in the western U.S., redrafted it standards, for example.
The University of Southern California, in turn, began testing
freshmen at the beginning of a writing class and then again juniors
and seniors later on. USC thereby was able to show that its upperclassmen
"demonstrated significantly more critical thinking skills"
than its freshmen.
Some policy makers want to take the process even further with
a standardized test administered to college seniors to provide
"consumers" with information with which to compare
schools and "values." Currently, 170 colleges and universities
administer the Collegiate Learning Assessment. Advocates suggest
this test could be used in colleges across the country to provide
a skills outcome standard.
But on November 24, The Chronicle of Higher Education
reported that while the Forum would not focus on using standardized
tests to measure what college students have learned, Ms. Spellings
will put pressure on the National Advisory Committee that oversees
the accreditors so that they put more pressure on colleges to
come up with new measurements.
CB will keep you updated, but the moral for college-bound
students: The emphasis on concrete, testable, critical thinking
skills is not going away.
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THE COUNSELOR'S CORNER
FYI...
Fresh Reports About Financial Aid
AS THE YEAR 2006 draws
to a close, a number of places have issued new rulings and reports
on financial aid matters. Here is a summary for those planning
for the New Year.
Public U.'s "Engines of Inequality." Want
to see how well your state flagship university is doing at preparing
low-income and minority students for college graduation? The
Education Trust issued a report card at the end of November on
state public universities throughout the country. West Virginia
U. and the U. of Vermont received high marks for providing access
to minority students; the U. of California Berkeley and U. of
Massachusetts Amherst were praised for attracting low-income
students.
Most state universities, however, "posted dismal grade-point
averages." The report argued that grant aid has decreased
by 13 percent for students from families with an annual income
of $20,000 or less, and increased to students from families who
make more than $100,000 by a whopping 406 percent. The report,
with a list of the universities and their grades, can be found
at www.edtrust.orghttp://www.edtrust.org/.
New Tax Breaks for College Savers. According to Kiplinger's
Personal Finance Adviser this fall, there are new rules for
paying for college. "Most unearned income in custodial accounts
will now be taxed at the parents' tax rate until a child turns
18, instead of enjoying a tax break after the child hits 14.
That makes state-sponsored 529 college savings plans, with their
promise of tax-free earnings, all the more attractive,"
Kiplinger said. Another change: "prepaid tuition
plans will no longer be penalized in financial aid formulas.
Instead, they'll be treated the same as 529s and other parent-owned
accounts." Also, new Stafford and PLUS loans will have a
fixed rate, instead of one adjusted at the end of each year.
Fees Drop in 529 Plans. As reported in USA Today
November 24, financial firms have cut the account fees they charge
parents in the 529 plans. Fidelity is the most recent to drop
a $20 annual fee. But it follows Vanguard, American Century,
TIAA-CREF and T. Rowe Price. The plans allow parents to save
up to $12,000 a year for their child's education and later withdraw
the money free of federal tax. "Certainly, the lower fees
make (529s) more affordable" for investors, Joe Ciccariello
of Fidelity Investments said.
Student Debt Levels Vary by State. According to a report
from the Project on Student Debt, the average debt level of graduating
students varies from New Hampshire where the 2005 graduates were
in debt $22,793 to Utah where the students owed $11,709.
Columbia Ups Aid. Columbia U. joined Harvard and Princeton
in changing its policy so that students coming from families
with incomes less than $50,000 can graduate debt free. Those
students will be given grants instead of loans that need repayment.
Columbia U., with its $47,229 tuition and fees, is the most expensive
of the Ivy League.
Federal Aid Declines. Spending on Pell Grants for low-income
students declined for the first time in six years. According
to the College Board, about $12.7 billion in Pell Grants were
award for the 2005-06 school year, down 3 percent from $13.1
billion the previous year. The average grant per recipient fell
to $2,354 from $2,474 last year.
The changes came after eligibility rules were recalculated.
The maximum Pell Grant of $4,050 paid for 42 percent of the price
of tuition, room and board in 2001-02. In 2005-06, the maximum
Pell Grant covered just 33 percent of those costs. At the same
time, tuition has increased by 35 percent over the past five
years.
Where Needy Students Are Numerous. Are selective colleges
admitting a fair portion of poor students? A recent Chronicle
of Higher Education chart illustrates which schools enroll
the most Pell Grant students.
Among public institutions,
the top 10 schools with a high number of Pell students were:
U. of Cincinnati, 39.4 percent; UCLA, 37.2 percent; U. Washington,
25 percent; U. Louisville, 24.4 percent; U. of Oklahoma at Norman,
24.4 percent; U. Florida, 23.9 percent; U. Arkansas at Fayetteville,
23.7 percent; U. Alabama at Tuscaloosa, 23.6 percent; Ohio State
U., 23 percent; U. of Tennessee at Knoxville, 22.6 percent.
Among private institutions,
the top 10 were: Berea C., 80 percent; Smith C., 25.9 percent;
U. Tulsa, 21.9 percent; Berry C., 21.8 percent; Syracuse U.,
19.4 percent; U. Southern California, 19.4 percent; Baylor U.,
18.9 percent; Rensselaer Polytechnic I., 18.1 percent; New York
U., 17.9 percent; and U. of Rochester, 17.5 percent.
Canadian Affordability Versus U.S. Contrary to popular
assumptions, Canadian public universities are generally less
affordable than U.S. publics, according to a new study from the
Educational Policy Institute, "Beyond the 49th Parallel
II: The Affordability of University Education." The main
reason is the U.S. and its states have a more generous student
aid system. For the entire report see: www.educationalpolicy.org/pdf/49thParallel.pdf
Textbook Poor. Tuition takes most of the cash. Then
there is room and board. By the time it comes to buying college
textbooks.The National Association of College Stores found in
a survey that 65 percent of students did not buy all their assigned
textbooks, 45 percent bought at least one textbook on line and
14 percent photocopied books or other materials sold by publishers.
The situation has prompted Congress to study ways to make
textbooks more affordable and asked the Advisory Committee on
Student Financial Assistance to host three public hearings around
the country beginning mid-December "to determine the impact
of rising textbook prices on students' ability to afford a postsecondary
education" and to make recommendations "on what can
be done to make textbooks more affordable for students."
The Advisory Committee's recently released report, "Mortgaging
Our Future: How Financial Barriers to College Undercut America's
Global Competitiveness" is available at www.ed.gov/ACSFA.
P.S. Paying for College Without Going Broke,
2007 edition, by Kalman A. Chany with Geoff Martz with a Foreword
from Bill Clinton, leads parents through the process of applying
for financial aid and includes tips and forms; available from
The Princeton Review/Random House); ISBN 0-375-76567-0; $20.
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ENROLLMENT TRENDS
State U.'s Tighten Up On "B" Students.
Last month, CB's "Counselor's Corner" described
the concern admissions officers expressed at the annual NACAC
conference of the plight of "B" students. Not long
after, the November 10 Wall Street Journal asked, "Where's
a B-Student to Turn?"
The competition "started with the Ivies and then spread
to what students had long considered safety schools, like Tufts
and Pomona," the Journal reported, hoisting a new
alarm. "Yet with the exception of a few elite public universities
(Berkeley, Michigan, Virginia), the country's big state schools
pretty much welcomed decent students with open arms and few questions."
But, the page-long report included statistics to confirm its
main point: "An explosion in applications has allowed the
schools to reject students in record numbers."
Since 1995, the grade-point average of admitted students has
soared at state schools, the Journal argued. At the U.
of California, Santa Barbara, for example, the GPA of admitted
students increased from 3.53 in 1995 to 3.98 in 2006. At the
U. of Delaware, where the number of accepted students is down
from two-thirds a decade ago to under one half this year, the
GPA of admitted students rose from 3.22 in 1995 to 3.54 in 2006.
At the U. of Florida, the GPA increased from 3.45 to 3.99. At
the U. of Georgia, the GPA jumped from 3.43 in 1995 to 3.76 in
2006.
At the U. of Oklahoma, GPA is up from 3.48 in 1995 to 3.6
in 2006. At the U. of South Carolina, where applications are
up 57 percent over the past decade, the GPA of admitted students
was up from 3.4 in 1995 to 3.73 in 2006. At the U. of Wisconsin,
GPA was up from 3.55 in 1995 to 3.69 in 2006. And at the State
U. of New York Stony Brook, where the GPA was 88.2 out of 100
in 1995, it rose to 91 out of 100 in 2006. Meanwhile, the Journal
reported that the acceptance rate at the U. of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill fell from 38 percent five years ago to 34 percent
this year. At Florida State U. the acceptance rate fell from
55 percent to 44 percent in half a decade.
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ADMISSIONS WATCH
Alaska Tightens Standards. Starting in 2008, it
will be harder to get into BA programs at the U. of Alaska Fairbanks.
Under the new standards, students will need a cumulative high
school GPA of 3.0, up from 2.0. Or they may have a 2.5 GPA and
an ACT score of at least 18 or an SAT score of at least 1290.
"Our goal is to improve baccalaureate success," assistant
provost Dana Thomas told The Northern Light. Currently,
only 26 percent of first-time, full-time UAF freshmen admitted
to a baccalaureate program graduate within six years. Students
falling short of the new requirements will be allowed to enroll
in an associate degree or certificate or pre-major program.
Early Reports...
Brown U. Sees "Slight" Decrease in ED. Applications
for Early Decision dropped 2.5 percent this year over last at
Brown U., according to The Brown Daily Herald. It received
2,317 ED applications this year, 61 fewer than last year. Jim
Miller, dean of admission, Brown, said that the decrease is "so
small compared to last year that it is not that big of a change.
But it shows that ED fever is swelling down a little bit."
Mr. Miller reiterated that the university will not follow
in the "footsteps" of Harvard or Princeton in getting
rid of Early Decision.
Princeton Early Applications
Rise. In what is to be the final year of Early Decision at
Princeton, the Princetonian reported that applications
rose to the second-highest total since binding early admissions
began more than a decade ago. The Admission Office received 2,275
early applications for the Class of 2011, two percent more than
the number of applications received last year and just short
of the record 2,350 applications received in 2002 for the Class
of 2007. Last year, 27 percent of early applicants were admitted,
compared to 7.8 percent of regular applicants.
U.
of Chicago Posts 10 Percent Rise. Did a simple postcard lead
to a record number of applications to the U. of Chicago's Early
Action program? The school received 3,041 applications from all
50 states, according to Chicago Maroon, the student newspaper.
One student was quoted as saying he applied after receiving
a postcard that touted the school's number of Nobel laureates.
It was part of a campaign of new publications this year that
also features information about the city of Chicago itself. Last
year, the U. of C. admitted about 41 percent of early applicants.
Yale Early Apps Drop. Meanwhile,
Yale received 3,541 Early Action applications for the Class of
2011, a 13 percent drop from a high of 4,084 early applications
last year, according to The Yale Daily News.
People Are Talking About
New York magazine's November issue featuring "The
Swarm of the Super-Applicants." Perhaps the subhead says
it all: "Ivy League mania has created a generation of high-school
kids so overqualified it's a wonder they even need college. But
will they get in?" New York taunts, "Is your
kid ranked first in his class? So are some 36,000 others. Last
year, Penn and Duke rejected about 60 percent of the valedictorians
who applied." Most of the article profiles this new generation
of super-students, with an assessment of their chances of admission
at their top choices. Available at newsstands.
Showing Up in Missouri.
A record number of students enrolled in the U. of Missouri this
fall with total enrollment increasing by 268 students to 27,985.
M.U. ranks fifth in the Big 12 with 21,551 undergraduates, accord
to The Maneater, M.U.'s Independent Student Newspaper.
The freshman class of 4,828 was also the largest in the university's
history. The average freshman ACT score fell one-tenth of a point
to 25.3. Black student enrollment was 5.5 percent of the total
student body. Hispanic enrollment has increased over 3 percent
since last year. The overall one-year retention rate increased
to 84.5 percent. The six-year graduation rate almost reached
69 percent.
Coming Up. The U.S. Department
of Ed has released it enrollment projections to 2015.
- Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools rose
18 percent between 1990 and 2003 and is projected to increase
an additional 6 percent between 2003 and 2015;
- The number of high school graduates increased by 21 percent
between 1990-91 and 2002-03 and a further increase of 6 percent
is projected by 2015-16;
- College enrollment rose by 25 percent between 1990 and 2004
and is projected to increase a further 15 percent by 2015. For
a copy of the report, http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006084
And, More Test Takers This
Year. Both the SAT and ACT report that the number of students
who took their test in October grew significantly. About 520,000,
17 percent more than last year, took the ACT this October. Meanwhile,
660,000 students took the SAT, up from 570,000 last October.
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NEWS YOU CAN USE
More Students Abroad. The number of U.S. students
studying abroad increased by 8 percent in 2004, according to
the Institute of International Education's latest annual "Open
Doors" report. Top 10 destinations? Britain, Italy, Spain,
France, Australia, Mexico, Germany, China, Ireland and Costa
Rica.
For the second year in a row, Michigan State U. was the top
public university sending students overseas with 2,385 abroad.
The top school overall? New York University. To view the entire
report: http://opendoors.iienetwork.org/.
International Stars. Five
colleges recently won the Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization
given by NAFSA: the Association of International Educators. Winners
were: Arcadia U. in Pennsylvania, where over 75 percent of students
study abroad; Concordia U. in Minnesota, which sponsors summer
"Language Villages;" Earlham C., in Indiana, where
every student learns a foreign language; Purdue U., also in Indiana,
where courses have an international focus and Michigan State
U., which has strong international support from its administration.
Catholic High Schools.
There is a list for everything. Now the Acton Institute, an international
research and educational organization (www.acton.org/) has rated
the nation's top 50 Catholic secondary schools. Find the list
of schools on the Catholic High School Honor Roll at www.chshonor.org/.
Online Increases. About
16 percent of all students enrolled in higher education, or about
3.2 million students, took online courses in the fall of 2005,
according to a new report from The Sloan Consortium, a group
of colleges promoting online learning. That amounts to a 40 percent
increase over the previous year. Researchers found that increases
were across the board from for-profit schools to doctoral institutions.
According to a survey by Eduventures, 50 percent of prospective
higher education "consumers" (future students) want
to take at least one class online.
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COLLEGE BOUND's Publisher/Editor: R. Craig
Sautter, DePaul University; Chief Operating Officer: Sally
Reed; 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.). Contributor: Emma Schwartz
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