The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Etzioni Claims For-Profits Bear Little Resemblance To Real IHEs

Here we go again. Corporations are making money not by producing a product and marketing it, but by loading consumers with loans they cannot pay and then sticking the taxpayers with the bill. Only this time, it's not houses and mortgages but "higher" education and student loans. The education students receive at for-profit colleges bears little resemblance to the kind they would get at a true liberal arts college. Neither does it resemble the collegial image the for-profit colleges love to project. The profiteers argue that they serve a large number of poor and minority students. These individuals could be served much better by transferring the funds the executives at "College, Inc." are dedicating in large part to their shareholders, to traditional four-year colleges and community colleges.  Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amitai-etzioni/warning-profit-making-col_b_629213.html

Return On College Investment May Be Far Less Than Previously Thought

New research suggests that the monetary value of a college degree may be vastly overblown. According to a study conducted by PayScale for Bloomberg Businessweek,the value of a college degree may be a lot closer to $400,000 over 30 years and varies wildly from school to school. the number of schools that actually make good on the estimates of the earlier research is vanishingly small. There are only 17 schools in the study whose graduates can expect to recoup the cost of their education and out-earn a high school graduate by $1.2 million. At more than 500 other schools, the return on investment, or ROI, is less—sometimes far less. Read more at:
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jun2010/bs20100618_385280.htm

Upgrade To Mac-Minis Will Save This Campus Energy Costs

When Goshen College students return to classes this fall, their desktop computing experience will be very "green." This summer the college has launched a "Green Desktop" initiative as part of Goshen's zero carbon footprint goals by ordering 400 energy-efficient Apple Mac Minis to replace every campus PC. "The Minis run a mix of Windows 7 and Mac OS X, but more importantly, they consume as little as one-eighth power of the PCs they are replacing,"  The upgrade will save the college $8,000 per year in electricity and cooling costs. Read more at:
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=42382#middle

Senior Theses Of The Rich And Famous

Every year, more than a thousand Princeton University students spend the last months before graduation slaving away on a senior thesis. After graduation, each paper is cataloged and filed on a shelf in the bowels of the campus library, where it is usually never touched again. Unless, of course, the student becomes famous. The basement of the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library — known as "The Vault" — contains the theses of Michelle Obama, Brooke Shields, Ralph Nader, Bill Bradley, Tom Kean, David Duchovny, Sonia Sotomayor, Samuel Alito and more. Princeton does not put student theses online. Read more at:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/princetons_vast_library_of_the.html

IHEs Are Retreating From Study Abroad In Mexico

From perfecting their use of the subjunctive in colonial Puebla to exploring the anthropological aspects of Tijuana’s gritty underside, American college students have long used Mexico as a learning lab. This summer, however, far fewer will be venturing across the border, as universities and students alike fear the violence tied to drug gangs that have caught some innocents in the cross-fire. A direct result of the attention-getting bloodshed has been the mass cancellation of study-abroad programs throughout the country, including those hundreds of miles from the most dangerous areas. Some educators on both sides of the border consider the reaction to be an exaggerated response. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/world/americas/27mexico.html?hpw

Things Not Looking Good For Low-Income Students

The report, entitled “The Rising Price of Inequality” sent a clear message to the federal government: without a broad increase in need-based state and federal aid, fewer low-income students will have the resources to remain enrolled in college and earn degrees over the next decade. In the current landscape of state budget cuts, financial aid for students has more often been jeopardized rather than augmented. Read more at: http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d8341ce27f53ef00d83452681869e2/post/compose

Paper Geared To Greek System Spreads Across Campuses

A weekly newspaper for fraternity and sorority members is gaining a foothold on college campuses across the Midwest, and the two Indiana University graduates who launched the publication say they hope to have a nationwide presence by September. The Odyssey is the brainchild of Evan Burns and Adrian France. It made its debut at IU last year and is now also found at Purdue, Michigan State and Miami University in Ohio. Each issue is customized by campus and is distributed free at fraternity and sorority houses, student union buildings, coffee shops and other sites. Read more at:
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/211bb95f2dde43bfa502f8d1ae105fdf/IN--Campus_Odyssey/

Higher Ed Idea Incubators Provide Proof-Of-Concept

By providing academics like Professor Hart a bridge to the business world, M.I.T. is in the vanguard of a movement involving a handful of universities nationwide that work closely with investors to ensure that promising ideas are nurtured and turned into successful start-ups. At first glance, the centers look like academic versions of business incubators. But universities are getting involved now at a much earlier stage than incubators typically do. In the jargon of academia, the locations of such matchmaking are known as “proof-of-concept centers,” and they’re among a number of new approaches to commercializing university research in more efficient and purposeful ways. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/business/27incubate.html?ref=business

Vocational Education Must Work With College Preparation

Vocational education has been so disparaged that its few advocates have resorted to giving it a new name: “career and technical education” (CTE). Academic courses that prepare students for getting into universities, by contrast, are seen as the key to higher wages and global prowess. The Council of Economic Advisers projects faster-growing demand for those with a two-year technical-college degree, or specific training, than for those with a full university degree. Rather than pit training against university preparation, they are trying to integrate the two. Read more at:
http://www.economist.com/node/16380980?story_id=16380980&fsrc=scn/tw/te/rss/pe

Research Finds College Students Are Low On Empathy

Inclined to believe today’s young ’uns are blindingly self-aggrandizing and entitled? According to a major new study of college students, you may well be right. A new study by Sara Konrath, a researcher at the University of Michigan, found that college students today are 40 percent less empathetic than those of 30 years ago, with the numbers plunging primarily after 2000. In a decisively everyone-for-themselves manner, they are less likely to agree with statements like “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me”. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/fashion/27StudiedEmpathy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss