The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

New Allegations Of Enrollment Abuse At Phoenix

After federal regulators accused the University of Phoenix of systematic enrollment abuses in 2004, the school's parent company paid out nearly $10 million to resolve the allegations. Phoenix allegedly had broken the law by tying recruiters' pay to enrollment numbers, But some of the school's recruiters have continued to use high-pressure, deceptive tactics, according to a dozen current and former students and two former recruiters who spoke to ProPublica and Marketplace as part of a joint investigation. The students said Phoenix counselors misled them about whether credits would transfer to other schools, pretended to befriend them and lied about financial aid. Read more at:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/11/university-phoenix-allegations-enrollment-abuses-persist

School Counselors Overloaded On College Admissions Work

The struggling economy has taken a toll on those directly responsible for advising students about the college admission process. Nearly half of public schools have raised the caseloads of high school counselors this year, compared with last year, with the average increase exceeding 53 students, according to a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. In many respects, the report, “2009 State of College Admission,” seeks to quantify the extent of the frenzy engulfing many of today’s college applicants. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/education/20college.html?_r=2&hpw

Next Big Thing Is Segway Campus Tours

The University of Michigan says it will start offering Segway personal transporters for tours of its tech and science-oriented North Campus. The College of Engineering says it acted on student advice and bought 10 of the battery-powered, self-balancing, two-wheeled scooters made by Bedford, N.H.-based Segway Inc. College student affairs director Jeanne Murabito says the Segways will allow visitors to see the sprawling campus more quickly and visit more places. Read more at:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091014/SCHOOLS/910140386/1026/rss06

To Boost Revenue Bring In More Out-Of-State Students

Massachusetts’ financially strapped flagship university plans to aggressively recruit out-of-state students, who pay twice as much in tuition and fees as state residents, to help fund an ambitious effort to boost the college’s academic reputation and elevate its national profile. The number of out-of-state students, who currently make up 20 percent of undergraduates, is expected to roughly double to 6,500 students - or nearly 30 percent of all undergraduates - by 2020. By comparison, out-of-state students account for 35 percent of undergraduates at the University of Michigan. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/10/11/umass_amherst_targets_out_of_staters_to_boost_profile_funding/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Education+news 

The Pros And Cons Of Using Student Blogs

Dozens of colleges — including Amherst, Bates, Carleton, Colby, Vassar, Wellesley and Yale — are embracing student blogs on their Web sites, seeing them as a powerful marketing tool for high school students, who these days are less interested in official messages and statistics than in first-hand narratives and direct interaction with current students. But so far, none of the blogs match the interactivity and creativity of those of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where they are posted prominently on the admissions homepage, along with hundreds of responses from prospective applicants — all unedited. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/education/02blogs.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

IHEs Still Trying To Make Sense Of Social Networking

Facebook and other social media sites have invaded college admissions in a big way. But the great rush to use social media also raises questions about privacy and appropriate relations between administrators and students. For a college trying to improve its image and woo top students from more established competitors, one-to-one contact over Facebook might be a smart risk. For a selective and long-established university such as Johns Hopkins, those contacts are more trouble than they're worth. Read more at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.socialmedia30sep30,0,7058660.story

Students Opting For Value Over Prestige

As the recession grinds on, prestige has taken a back seat to affordability. Sky-rocketing university tuition, along with more reluctance to take on huge loans (especially if grades are less than stellar or your major is "undecided") has spurred students to reconsider an alternative they once dismissed.  Although recent statistics aren't available, officials say there's plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that this group has contributed to the overall record enrollments currently being seen at community colleges nationwide. Last year, some 70 percent of high schools reported an increase in the number of students who jettisoned their "dream schools" for more budget-conscious choices, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Read more at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-reverse-transfersoct01,0,6879194.story

Admissions Officials Ask "Will Students Even Apply?"

The talk this week at an annual gathering of college admissions officers and high school counselors included the usual topics, like how to deal with “difficult” parents and the names of hot student prospects. But the conversations — in panel discussions, in hallways and over crab cakes — always seemed to circle around to one subject: the economy. Admissions officers said they feared further price increases and cuts in university budgets, perhaps even in classes. They wondered whether this would create significant dips in yield, the number of accepted applicants who then choose to attend. For those at private colleges, one anxious worry prevailed: Will students even apply? Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/education/26admit.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Little Or No Freshmen Melt Means Unexpectedly Large Classes

The freshmen arrived in a flood, forcing the Johns Hopkins University to reopen a defunct residence hall, lease a nearby inn and create new sections of popular math and science courses. Conventional wisdom held that the deep recession might push students away from expensive private schools such as Hopkins to lower-priced alternatives. Instead, the university is coping with a freshman boom. Most colleges built more no-shows than usual into their projections. This measure is known as melt in the admissions world. But a funny thing happened when local campuses greeted their new classes in late August - there was little or no melt. The kids who said they were coming in the spring actually showed up. Read more at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.enrollment21sep21,0,2173364.story

Top Ten Signs You Picked A Bad College

Choosing a college is one of life's most significant decisions. In this short YouTuve video David Letterman let's you know the top ten signs for determining whether your college could be a bad one. See more at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5i_aH9edNU&feature=channel