The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Elite IHEs Providing More Aid To Middle-Income Families

Some of the nation's most elite colleges, trying to ward off perceptions that they've become unaffordable to even high-income families, are bolstering their financial aid packages by offering grants to students whose parents earn as much as $180,000 a year. IHEs are increasingly reaching out to families caught in the middle: those who are too wealthy to be eligible for federal grants, but not so wealthy as to be able to absorb the $50,000 a year for college, particularly with the rising costs of home ownership. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/09/27/at_elite_colleges_new_aid_for_the_middle/

Deployment Of New Alert Systems Comes Sooner Than Expected

When a masked freshman came to campus at St. John's University with what police said was a loaded rifle sticking out of a bag, the school alerted students via cell-phone text messages within 18 minutes. And when a suicidal gunman was reported to be on the loose at the University of Wisconsin, the school sent out mass e-mails and took out an ad on Facebook to warn students. As the school year starts, colleges around the country are applying the lessons of Virginia Tech and using high technology to get the word out fast in a crisis. Read more at:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gEKXzotgRlXkfcBl29WSNfiPYgmw

Study Abroad Programs Welcome The Scrutiny

The student-loan scandals earlier this year have sent forth a ripple-effect of scrutiny for other areas where colleges, outside organizations, students, and money intersect. Study abroad is one of them. Study abroad professionals and college staff offered explanations of their management practices, and picked up the pace on self-examination that had already been under way in recent years. Acknowledging that more transparency would help, and that some changes might be necessary in individual arrangements between schools and study abroad providers, they also vigorously argued against the characterization of their practices as "perks." Read more at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0927/p13s01-legn.html

New Database Provides Data For Prospective Students

Responding to calls for more accountability in higher education, the trade group representing the nation's private colleges and universities unveiled a Web site on Wednesday that gives prospective students more information about the schools. The site -- ucan-network.org -- comes after pressure from Congress and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings' higher education commission to provide more consumer-friendly tools for students and families weighing their college choices. Read more about:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-collegessep27,1,2720424.story

College Dwellers Now Outnumber Those Imprisoned

The number of inmates in adult correctional facilities in the United States has topped two million for the first time, the Census Bureau said yesterday. But in a reversal from 2000, more Americans over all now live in college dormitories than in prisons. In 2000, the last year that the census measured people in group quarters, inmates in adult and juvenile correctional institutions slightly outnumbered dormitory dwellers at colleges and universities. According to government figures, more than twice as many young black men are now attending college than are imprisoned. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/us/27census.html?ex=1348545600&en=a5e8e04a6cfac154&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Policy To Limit Early Admissions Offers May Need Rethinking

When it comes to college admissions, how early is too early? Across the country, all different kinds of colleges are debating the timing of the admissions process. But finding a one-size-fits-all policy is difficult, because admission to an Ivy League institution is so unlike what happens at, say, Iowa Lakes Community College, where everyone who applies is admitted. Last year, the National Association for College Admission Counseling voted to forbid colleges to make admissions offers before Sept. 15 of a student’s senior year. The policy, which is to go into effect next year, was an effort to keep college admissions anxiety from creeping down to ever-younger students. But even before it is given a try, the group is considering backtracking. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/education/26early.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Textbook Battle Brews At Harvard's Bookstore

A battle over book prices is raging in Harvard Square between student leaders and the Harvard Coop, the book store created by students 125 years ago to cut down on costs. Amid a national furor over rising costs of college texts, Harvard students say they want the Coop to hand over the list it creates each year of books required for Harvard courses, so they can be listed on crimsonreading.org, a student-run online bookstore that offers alternative sources for texts, often at lower prices. The bookstore refuses to cooperate, and that led to an incident last week. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/09/26/in_harvard_square_a_war_over_words/

Racial And Ethnic Tension On Campus Leaves Many Asking "What's Going On"

A number of recent incidents of racial and ethnic intimidation, as well as general insensitivity, on campus is a cause for concern. Because so many colleges are more racially and culturally diverse than ever, with students hanging out, dating and studying together, such incidents have left many wondering: What's going on? And what are schools doing about it? But school officials and scholars say it's natural that racial tensions sometimes flare on campuses because colleges reflect what's happening in the world around them. Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/25/AR2007092502353.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Science Education Falters With No New Sputnik

For many, Sputnik was proof that American education, particularly in science, had fallen behind. Scientists and engineers warned Congress that the cold war was being fought with slide rules, not rifles. Today Dr. Wheeler, a physicist, heads the National Science Teachers Association, and  the landscape of science education is far different. “We look at declining numbers of students who think that math, science or engineering is what they want to do,” Dr. Malcolm said. No event or effort to change science education has produced the widespread ferment and public engagement of Sputnik. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/science/space/25educ.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

Reduce Thirsty Thursdays Study Prompts Schedule Changes

At least one university will change its Friday course schedule to deter Thursday binge drinking, a response in part to recommendations in a recent University of Missouri-Columbia alcohol study. Several other higher education institutions are considering adjusting their schedules as well. Students with no classes on Friday or classes starting after noon drank almost twice as much as those with class on Friday morning. Among other suggestions, the study recommended that colleges require students to enroll in classes before 10 a.m. on Fridays. Read more at:
http://www.showmenews.com/2007/Sep/20070924News007.asp