Vol. 24 No. 10 June 2010

Year-End Admission Tallies

SCHOOLS are tallying up official figures from this admissions season’s furious pace. Here are some of the results. (CB will keep track of these official admissions numbers through the fall.)

Dartmouth U. Yield Up. Dartmouth’s yield this spring is the highest in the school’s history, with 1,187 students, or 55 percent of those offered admission, planning to attend the school next fall, according to a May article in The Dartmouth. The active wait list consists of 1,100 students, the largest wait list for the school thus far. The administration is still deciding whether or not to use the wait list to increase the class size for additional revenue.

Georgetown U. More Diverse. Georgetown U. reported that its yield increased this year, according to a May article in thehoya.com. The school accepted 99 students from its wait list, fewer than the 200 students admitted from the wait list last year. Georgetown also noted that the number of African-American students accepting admission rose from 101 students last year to 135 students.

Record Incoming Class at Kenyon C. Kenyon C. reported in May that the Class of 2014 has more deposits than anticipated and the highest SAT scores in the school’s history, according to the The Kenyon Collegian. Critical reading and math scores rose by 16 points, and the class average is up 22 points from last year when including the Writing Section. ACT scores and GPAs increased across the board as well.

Applications Up at NY Area Colleges. Colleges in St. Lawrence County, New York, have seen increased applications for the class of 2014, according to a May article in the Watertown Daily Times. SUNY Canton had record enrollment numbers for the past two years, with applications rising over 75 percent in the last four years. This year, the school received 3,502 applications to date, up from 2,930 last year, an increase of 20 percent. St. Lawrence U. in Canton received 4,891 applications, compared with 4,715 at this time last year. Applications at Clarkson U. rose from 4,005 last year to 4,200. SUNY Potsdam applications increased 14 percent, to 4,950 from 4,406.

Applicants Up at Many PA Schools. At community colleges across Pennsylvania, as well as at private and public four-year schools, applications have increased significantly for the fall, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review May 12. Schools believe that the number of applicants is up because economic instability has led to increases in the number of non-traditional students applying for admission, as well as students focusing more on the price of college.

Indiana U. of Pennsylvania closed admission in recent weeks, with a record enrollment of 12,351 applicants, an increase of 800 students from last year’s incoming class, and 3,100 students have received an offer of acceptance. Slippery Rock U. also closed admission, having reached its goal of 1,550 students. At St. Vincent C. in Unity, applications exceeded those of the past three years, and some students were wait listed. First-year enrollment was 448 students last year.

Freshman Class at Seattle U. Outdoes Budget. With 1,120 students expected in the incoming class at Seattle U., 395 more than in the university’s budget, faculty are worried about the resources needed to accommodate larger classes, according to The Spectator May 26. The university expects larger classes and more freshman courses. According to the paper, there is a 7 percent increase in freshmen from outside the Washington area. Half of the freshman class is from a non-white ethnic background with Asian students making up the largest group..

Strong Incoming Class at SC Institutions. Enrollment is up at several major South Carolina colleges and universities, according to a May 24 article at GreenvilleOnline.com. Of over 18,200 applicants, 12,900 students were accepted, up 1,000 students from last year at the U. of South Carolina. Applicants have higher GPAs, in part, because of the state LIFE and Palmetto Fellows Scholarships that encourage the best students to stay in South Carolina. About 56 percent of the incoming class is from South Carolina, up 16 percent from last year. The school also noted that students want to major in fields more likely to lead to employment, such as nursing, engineering and health-related studies.

Clemson U. is looking to decrease its class from last year’s 3,400 students because of housing shortages, so the school is aiming for a class of 2,950 first-years this fall. Two-thirds of the students are from South Carolina, a percentage that has remained consistent for the past several years. The school said students are less interested in business this year and more interested in life sciences.

Furman U. is expecting almost 700 incoming students this fall, the same compared to last year. Over one-fourth of the students are South Carolina residents, the target for the school. Average SAT scores were 1286, the second highest average in the school’s history. The students are looking for “more practical disciplines,” said Bill Berg, vice president of enrollment.

Temple U. Deposits Up. Deposits from admitted freshmen are up 3 percent at Temple, the result, in part, from campus visits, according to William Black, senior provost. The increases stem from students in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, but also Florida, Illinois, Maryland and Michigan. Deposits are up among children of alumni 21 percent and employees 50 percent.

Few Move Off of UC Wait Lists. According to the Los Angeles Times May 22, “relatively few” students applying to the U. of California were offered a spot off of wait lists. Some 10,700 students were placed on wait lists at seven of the campuses. UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara accepted 1,866 wait-listed students. Of those, 780 plan to enroll at one of those campuses. The Times noted that equaled one percent of the 100,320 applicants. UC officials said that students on the wait lists had been offered a place at another campus. UC Merced was the campus where most wait-listed students were offered enrollment.

Washington D.C. Area Wait Lists Rival Class Sizes. The Washington Post reported May 17 that “some colleges in the Washington region have assembled waiting lists that rival the size of their incoming freshman classes, a measure of their uncertainty at a volatile time in higher education.”

“Last year, wait lists at most places were much more active than normal, because people had no idea what was going to happen,” Charles Deacon, dean of admissions, Georgetown U., told the Post in explaining why this year wait lists were in use as well. Georgetown put 1,177 students on a wait list for a class of 1,580.

Australian Apps Decline. According to The Australian May 12, new visa requirements drove applications to Australian universities down 40 percent during the previous month. The declines were “significant” for students from India, Vietnam and China, according to Tony Pollock, an administrator for IDP which places foreign students for Australian universities. The loss of income from the declines could amount to $600 million. The visa changes were implemented to tighten the eligibility requirements for “permanent” visas. See, www.theaustralian.com.au.

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CB Goes to EWA
COLLEGE BOUND had its own scholarship last month to attend the higher education sessions of the 63rd National Seminar of the Education Writers Association, held in San Francisco. Seminars centered on such topics as, “How Do You Judge Community Colleges?” “Where Do Low-Income, High-Achieving Kids Go to College and Why?” “The Future of Humanities in Higher Education” and “The Future of Graduate Education.” Here’s the gist of some of the comments

The Community College Bulge. For the first time in 40 years, LaGuardia Community C. in New York closed its doors to students. Gail Mellow, president, said that the school faced record enrollments and did not have the capacity to meet the demand. She sees part of the enrollment surge as the result of the recession. But foreign students are flocking to community colleges as well.

Rick Mattoon, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, noted that community colleges continue to grow because they are important as an economic development strategy for an area. However, he noted that at the same time, for-profit colleges are educating 10 percent of the students nationwide. But they are getting 20 percent of the financial aid and represent 50 percent of the loan defaults. Community colleges, Mattoon asserted, were a better return on investment.

Yet, while community colleges become increasingly popular with a wider sector, Cassius Johnson, education policy director at Jobs of the Future, argued that community colleges needed to continue to serve low-income, under-prepared or part-time students. Jobs for the Future is overseeing the Achieving the Dreams project aimed at increasing the success of all students at community colleges. See www.achievingthedream.org.

OTHER COMMUNITY COLLEGE NEWS
Aid Not Fully Used at Community Colleges. Meanwhile, the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center put out a report on May 19, which showed that need-based federal financial aid goes unused by many low- and moderate-income students at community colleges. The study found that these students are not taught to take full advantage of the available funds.

Additionally, during the 2007-2008 school year, only 58 percent of students who qualified for Pell Grants applied for federal aid at community colleges, whereas 77 percent of students applied at four-year public schools. The study explains this discrepancy by noting “students are reluctant to apply for aid in part due to a lack of basic understanding, inconsistent or inaccurate information, distrust of government agencies, difficulty using resources during designated hours and a lack of human or technological resources on campus.”

Schools that have had success in reversing this trend include the Connecticut Community College System which instituted a division devoted to the “administrative and technological functions of financial aid management across the state.” See:
http://advocacy.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/
10b_1790_FAFSA_Exec_Report_WEB_100517.pdf.

New Alliance for Degree Completion. Presidents from 12 colleges in the Chicago area met in May to discuss how to increase graduation rates at their schools. The new Alliance plans to create programs and events together that will help students complete a degree. The schools will “share information and coordinate admission and financial aid advising,” as well as work to streamline the transfer process.

The presidents represented Governors State U., Kankakee Community C., Richard J. Daley C., Malcolm X C., Moraine Valley C.C., South Suburban C. in South Holland, Olive-Harvey C., Wilbur Wright C., Joliet Junior C., Prairie State C. in Chicago Heights, Truman C. and Harold Washington C.

President Elaine P. Maimon of Governors State noted that the 12 institutions represent about 170,000 students. But only 10 percent of students who enroll in community colleges directly out of high school finish their four-year degree in six years. Just 21 percent of associate degree candidates complete their degree in three years. The horrendous rates are lower for students of color

Community C.’s Go Global. A new Center for Global Advancement of Community Colleges has been established to assist community colleges in recruiting more students from overseas and enhance the image of the American community college system. The organization plans to provide publications and videos explaining the American community college systems and a clearinghouse for information about international-education opportunities. See http://www.cgacc.org.

Last Word: CC Grad Makes Good. Many community college students wonder if they can make it at a four-year university. They can take heart in knowing that this year, for the first time, the top graduating senior at the U. of California Berkeley was a community college transfer student who accumulated a 4.0 GPA. Josh Biddle credited his teachers at the C. of Marin for giving him the encouragement to compete.

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College Going... Going... Gone
Freshman students heading to campuses this fall will have interesting additions to their book bags.

IIT Undergrads to Receive iPads. Illinois Institute of Technology incoming “first-years” will receive Apple iPads in order to promote the use of new technologies among students and faculty, the school announced in May. The university is one of the country’s first to introduce classes that will have students working with professors to create new applications for the iPad in order to “enhance their educational experience.” IIT will also have an Apple application that provides students with news, course schedules, campus happenings and alerts. This initiative is in conjunction with the building of a 13,000 square foot “Idea Shop” in IIT’s University Technology Park to encourage students in all fields to find solutions to problems that people face everyday.

“University education is much different today as compared to even ten years ago,” said Provost Alan Cramb. “Students live in a world where technology is seamlessly integrated into virtually every aspect of their lives, where information and collaboration are available anywhere, anytime. IIT is committed to providing students with the tools and support to thrive in a constantly evolving technological landscape.”

U. of California Berkeley Collects Freshmen DNA. No kidding. A program for students in the College of Letters & Science called “On the Same Page” will ask students to “bring your genes to Cal.” Over the summer, freshmen and transfers will receive a packet containing a swab and consent form to submit a student’s DNA. A professor will analyze three genes to measure the impact of nutrition on health. Participation is voluntary.

U. of Iowa Focuses on First-years. U. of Iowa is reinventing its University College, the program that acclimates first-years to the school, according to a May article in The Daily Iowan. The University College will focus on admissions, orientation, residence life and academics, and first-years will be required to live in a “living-learning” community and take associated classes. The school plans to radically change orientation, in part by having a College Transition course, according to Beth Ingram, dean. These plans aim to increase the first-year retention rate from 83 percent to 87 percent over the next five years.

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THE COUNSELOR'S CORNER
Minority Affairs

Minority Deficit. Although African-American, Latino and other minority students make up 29 percent of the nation’s high school graduates, they account for only 13 percent of entering classes at the nation’s flagship universities. Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust which conducted the study called “Opportunity Adrift,” said that universities have to reach out more aggressively to enroll top minority students. See www.edtrust.org.

Young Men of Color Need New Strategies. Young men of color are facing an "educational crisis," according to a 42-page College Board report released this winter which "paints a portrait of young men who are so far removed from our opportunity culture that they almost have no hope of contributing to our social and our economic growth," said Gaston Caperton, president, the College Board. The report calls for "a national policy discussion" by the federal government, foundations, corporations and others to clarify the issues and develop partnerships to help minority males gain preparation for and success in college. See www.collegeboard.org.

Florida After AA. Nearly a decade after Florida eliminated affirmative action in college enrollment, “black college enrollment has failed to keep pace with the number of minorities graduating high school,” according to an analysis by The Orlando Sentinel. In 1999, when the “One Florida” plan was implemented, black students accounted for just over 20 percent of Florida’s high school graduates and 18 percent of college freshmen. By 2008, black high school graduates accounted for nearly 20 percent of high school grads and just 15 percent of college freshmen. Hispanic students had a similar trend. Five other states have banned racial preferences in college admissions: California, Michigan, Nebraska, Texas and Washington.

College Grad Rates Too Low for Hispanics. The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research released a report this spring that found that less than half of Hispanic students graduate from many four-year schools. The study, Rising to the Challenge: Raising Hispanic Graduation Rates as a National Priority, showed that schools with higher than average Hispanic graduation rates also have better completion rates for all students, which suggests the need for college and universities to rethink the ways they help students complete degrees across the board. Only 51 percent of Hispanic college students graduate in six years as compared to 59 percent of white students. These numbers are consistent across different Hispanic student achievement records and school selectivity, even for “Hispanic-serving” schools.

The study found that Hispanic graduation rates do vary among similarly ranked schools and improve with “an increased institutional focus on graduating all students, better consumer information and government funding that focuses on performance instead of enrollment.” See http://www.aei.org/paper/100093.

Univision Promotes Hispanic Achievement. Univision Communications has launched Es El Momento—The Moment is Now—a project aimed at increasing academic achievement among pre-college age Hispanic students. The initiative centers on elevating high school graduation rates, college preparedness and degree completion and including Hispanic parents and community in this work. Univision is partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Dept of Ed, as well as local and national Hispanic groups. The project includes a series of Public Service Announcements, news coverage, an online and mobile website, weekly question and answer sessions, a school finder tool and text alerts of educational information.

“…Today, no issue is more important than education and improving academic achievement for our young people,” said Joe Uva, president and CEO of Univision. “That is why we are using all of the resources across our entire portfolio to empower Hispanic parents and children by providing them with relevant information and connecting them with the resources they need to succeed.”

Top Colleges for Hispanics. Hispanic Magazine listed “The Top 25 Colleges for Hispanics” in its February/March 2010 issue. The top five, in order, are: Princeton U., Harvard U., Yale U., Williams C. and Amherst C. For the complete list see www.hispaniconline.com.

New Direct Loan Switchover
College financial aid offices are preparing for the shift to Direct Loan programs July 1. The U.S. Dept. of Ed said it is providing colleges training for the switch from bank-based lending, noting that as of April 29, colleges representing 97 percent of students have already made the change with 54 percent “DL Ready” and 43 percent in transition. About 784,000 applications were processed by April 2010, a 158 percent increase over April 2009. To track, see www.direct.ed.gov.

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SUMMER READING
A Woman’s Guide to College: Navigating the Terrain to a Better Life, Carla Andrews-O’Hara of CAO Consulting; 102 pages; ISBN 978-1439262412; $14.99; www.awomansguidetocollege.com.

College in a Nutskull, compiled and edited by Professor Anders Henriksson; 135 pages; (Workman Publishing); ISBN 978-0-7611-54655; $8.95; www.workman.com.

On Higher Ed
Everything (well, nearly everything) you might want to know about education and the projections for the future...the new Condition of Education report from the U.S. Department of Ed; http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/.

Measuring College Learning Responsibly: Accountability in a New Era, Richard J. Shavelson; 238 pages; (Stanford U. Press); ISBN 978-0-8047-6121-5; $21.95; www.sup.org

The Rhetoric of Remediation: Negotiating Entitlement and Access to Higher Education, Jane Stanley; 180 pages; (U. of Pittsburgh Press); ISBN 978-0-8229-4386-0; $35; www.upress.pitt.edu.

Preparing for Next Fall
Preparing Students with Disabilities for College Success: A Practical Guide to Transition Planning, edited by Stan F. Shaw, Joseph W. Madaus and Lyman L. Dukes, III, foreword by Gary M. Clark; 293 pages; (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.); ISBN 978-1-59857-016-8; $34.95; www.brookespublishing.com.

50 Successful Harvard Application Essays: What Worked for Them Can Help You Get into the College of Your Choice, 3rd Edition, with analysis by the staff of The Harvard Crimson; 208 pages; (St. Martin’s Griffin); ISBN 978-0-312-62438-5; $14.99; http://us.macmillan.com/smp.aspx.

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NEWS YOU CAN USE
Demographic Update. Applications to colleges are soaring because the number of high school graduates and the number of applications they submit keep climbing. The National Center for Education Statistics recently calculated that about 3.3 million students graduated from high school in 2008-09, up 21 percent over a decade earlier when 2.7 million graduated. And more of these students are sending out more applications.

For example, Patty Kovacs, a college counselor at the U. of Chicago Laboratory Schools, told Medill Reports her students sent out an average of 6.6 applications in 2008, 8.4 applications in 2009 and this year? They submitted, on average, 9.6 applications.

Grads Face Job Woes. The job market for this year’s grads won’t be as tight as it was last year, one of the worst ever, but it will be “highly competitive.” CareerBuilder’s Annual Job Forecast predicts that 44 percent of companies will be hiring this year, up from 43 percent last year, and down from a high of 79 percent in 2007.

Only 16 percent of companies will be offering higher salaries. About 30 percent of starting salaries will be in the $30,000 to $40,000 range, 19 percent will receive offers above $40,000 and 33 percent will be offered less than $30,000.

New Test Optional Schools. St. Michael’s C. in Vermont has dropped its standardized test requirement on its admission applications. “This makes official something we’ve always done in practice…focus on a holistic review of the student…,” said Jacqueline Murphy, director of admissions, in the Burlington Free Press. For more info, see www.smcvt.edu.

Likewise, St. Anselm C. New Hampshire will join 842 other colleges and universities in doing away with SAT and ACT requirements, according to a May 11 Union Leader.

A New GRE is Coming. According to speakers at the EWA seminar, “skills matter,” “our graduate education is in trouble” and “specialized education is more and more important.” To address some of these issues, prepare for a changing workplace and compete globally, the Educational Testing Service is creating a new GRE “more closely aligned with the skills needed to succeed in graduate school.”

And People at EWA Were Talking About: “Waiting for Superman,” the new documentary out in the fall about students in urban school systems. The director, Davis Guggenheim, also produced “An Inconvenient Truth.” See, www.waitingforsuperman.com…. Will there be a “student loan bubble much like the dot-com or housing bubbles?” See a new series on NPR’s Boston station at www.wbur.org/specials/education-bubble…. And the Distinguished Achievement Award for Education Reporting went to Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe for a series on the state of athletics in the Boston Public Schools. See www.bostonglobe.com.

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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: Lisa Burnham, 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
Year-End Admissions Tallies

CB Goes to EWA

College Going...Going... Gone

THE COUNSELOR'S
CORNER
-Minority Affairs,
-New Direct Loan Switchover

Summer Reading

NEWS YOU CAN USE
-Demographic Update
-Grads Face Job Woes
-New Test Optional Schools
-A New GRE is Coming

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