The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Traditional College Summer Semester Is In Jeopardy For California's Public Institutions

Johnnica Hababag planned to take two classes this summer so she could transfer from Los Angeles Valley College to a four-year school. But those plans were upended when she learned that the community college had all but canceled its summer session because of budget cuts. She is one of thousands of students up and down the state shut out of classes this summer as funding cuts force many of California's public colleges to cancel or severely reduce offerings. Summer school has traditionally provided an outlet for students to help speed progress toward a degree or to transfer — or just to stay on track. But budget reductions this year have forced many public colleges to shift priorities. Read more at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-adv-college-summer-20120527,0,5544208.story

Public Universities Look To Online Education To Deal With Shrinking Resources

Budget cutbacks to state universities appear to be speeding ongoing efforts to increase online education as resources shrink and timely access to prerequisite classes becomes more difficult. Educators are increasingly looking to online courses as a way to handle more students with less funding.The development of hybrid online courses, in collaboration with faculty in recent years, has helped more students move past "bottleneck courses" - classes in which there aren't enough faculty to handle large numbers of students. Read more:
http://www.sbsun.com/ci_20714014/public-universities-expand-web-education-offerings#ixzz1wGeQNZGp

 

Remedial College Courses Are Costly And Fail Many Students

Each year, an estimated 1.7 million U.S. college students are steered to remedial classes to catch them up and prepare them for regular coursework. But a growing body of research shows the courses are eating up time and money, often leading not to degrees but student loan hangovers. The expense of remedial courses, which typically cost students the same as regular classes but don't fulfill degree requirements, run about $3 billion annually. Read more at: 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/05/28/national/a114334D08.DTL#ixzz1wHs4cDGX

The Most Popular Words On College Campuses

Over the past academic year, there has been an explosion of new or renewed campus activities, pop culture phenomena, tech trends, generational shifts, and social movements started by or significantly impacting students. Most can be summed up in a single word. I’ve noticed a small number of words appearing more frequently, prominently or controversially during the past two semesters on campuses nationwide. I've selected 15 as finalists for what I am calling the “2011-2012 College Word of the Year Contest.”  Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/campus-overload/post/college-word-of-the-year-contest-contenders-drunkorexia-shmacked-and-fomo/2012/05/29/gJQAoAFtyU_blog.html?wprss=rss_campus-overload

Higher Ed Budget Cutting In Florida Will Add To Students' Debt Crisis

Vice President Joe Biden, when he addresses a happy throng of graduates from Cypress Bay High School in that fancy new baseball stadium on June 4, will be looking out at the unwitting perpetrators of the next great debt crisis. Biden, nice guy that he is, probably won’t open with, “Hello, you likely deadbeats.” Maybe he should.  If grads from Cypress Bay High attend one of Florida’s universities this fall, their freshman year will coincide with a $300 million cut in state funding. Along with a 15 percent pop in tuition and diminished help from Bright Futures scholarships. They’ll be attending schools with fewer courses and larger classes, taught by professors disheartened by stagnant wages and benefit cuts, on campuses suffering from drastic cutbacks in maintenance budgets.At the bottom of the education food chain, the students respond by borrowing more money. Read more at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/26/2818547/college-loans-are-next-debt-crisis.html 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/26/2818547/college-loans-are-next-debt-crisis.html#storylink=cpy

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/26/2818547/college-loans-are-next-debt-crisis.html#storylink=cpy

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/26/2818547/college-loans-are-next-debt-crisis.html#storylink=cpy

 

Investigation Questions If Dartmouth's Trustees Enriched Themselves

New Hampshire's attorney general is looking into claims of conflicts of interest against members of the board of trustees and the investment committee of Dartmouth College in regard to their management of the college's $3.4 billion endowment. A group of Dartmouth faculty members, university employees and alumni — none of whom has come forward publicly — sent the letter earlier this year, but its contents only recently became public when it was posted on an unofficial university blog. The letter accuses the money managers of “enriching themselves” through private equity, venture capital and hedge fund investments made by the endowment. Read more at:
http://www.pionline.com/article/20120528/PRINTSUB/305289979/dartmouth-board-members-are-accused-of-enriching-own-firms

California's Community Colleges Might Be Facing The Knockout Blow

The drain of education dollars from California's community colleges has raised the specter of campus closures or receiverships, a state college budget officer says. The comment came as the local colleges look at the uncertain fate of Gov. Jerry Brown's tax measure on the November ballot. A defeat there could become a knockout blow for some campuses that have been absorbing cuts and dipping into reserve funds over the past three years. All of California's interlocked higher education systems — the University of California, the California State University and the community colleges — have been hit hard by the state's fiscal problems, but community colleges perhaps most of all. Tasked with job training, remedial education and transferring students to universities, the schools receive less money per student than either the universities or K-12 schools. Read more at:
http://www.montereyherald.com/state/ci_20725733/budget-official-fate-community-colleges-fragile

Wesleyan University President Explains Why A Three-Year Option Is Needed

As I prepare for my commencement speech this year, I remember vividly when I first realized that I could graduate college in three years rather than four. But I realized that graduating in three years would save my family lots of money. We will also make more visible -- and provide more support for -- the “three year” route that I chose in the mid 1970s. Again, by no means is the three-year option for everyone. But if we can offer families the same quality undergraduate degree at a significantly reduced total price – and I think we can – why not do it? Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/wesleyan-president-a-degree-in-three-marvelous-years/2012/05/23/gJQANAIIlU_blog.html

While Public Higher Education Funding Is Slashed For-Profits Grow On Student Loans

The volume of federally guaranteed student loans to students at so-called proprietary colleges — the ones that intend to operate at a profit and get nearly all their revenue from the government — continues to grow. At the same time, state and local governments across the country are slashing spending on higher education, and community colleges — the ones most likely to offer alternatives to the students recruited by the far more expensive proprietary schools — are suffering some of the largest reductions. That trend has been welcome news to the proprietary colleges. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/business/us-subsidies-to-for-profit-colleges-keep-growing.html?ref=business 

 

The Moral Judgments College Students Attach To Career Choices

Many of these students seem to have a blinkered view of their options. There’s crass but affluent investment banking. There’s the poor but noble nonprofit world. And then there is the world of high-tech start-ups, which magically provides money and coolness simultaneously. But there was little interest in or awareness of the ministry, the military, the academy, government service or the zillion other sectors. In whatever field you go into, you will face greed, frustration and failure. You may find your life challenged by depression, alcoholism, infidelity, your own stupidity and self-indulgence. So how should you structure your soul to prepare for this? Simply working at Amnesty International instead of McKinsey is not necessarily going to help you with these primal character tests. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/opinion/brooks-the-service-patch.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120525