The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

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

Pay For Public University Presidents Grew Modestly Last Year

Three chief executives of public colleges earned more than $1 million in total compensation during the 2010-11 academic year, according to a survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The median total compensation of the 199 public college presidents surveyed was $421,395, up 2.9 percent from 2009-10, the survey found, while the median base pay, $383,800, increased 1.3 percent. With state financing for public universities dwindling, executive pay has become a volatile issue in some states. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/education/median-compensation-for-public-college-heads-grew-3-in-2010-11.html?_r=1

Reich Tells 2012 Grads That They Are...Well...Screwed

Members of the Class of 2012. As a former secretary of labor and current professor, I feel I owe it to you to tell you the truth about the pieces of parchment you’re picking up today. You’re f*cked. Well, not exactly. But you won’t have it easy. First, you’re going to have a hell of a hard time finding a job. You’re still better off than your friends who didn’t graduate. Read more at:
http://www.nationofchange.org/commencement-address-won-t-be-given-1337443678 

 

Community Colleges And Four-Years Team Up For More Hi-Tech Grads

New Hampshire's community colleges and four-year campuses are working together to turn out more high-tech graduates, promising to double the number in the next 13 years. Last year, the four University System of New Hampshire schools and the 11 community colleges awarded about 8,200 degrees and certificates, including 1,100 degrees in science, technology, engineering or math. Under an agreement signed Tuesday, the latter number would increase by 50 percent by 2020 and double by 2025. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/articles/2012/05/15/nh_colleges_commit_to_increasing_high_tech_grads/

Job Outlook Looking Better For 2012 Grads

The class of 2012 is leaving college with something that many graduates since the start of the Great Recession have lacked: jobs. To the relief of graduating seniors – and their anxious parents – the outlook is brighter than it has been in four years. Campus job fairs were packed this spring and more companies are hiring. Students aren't just finding good opportunities, some are weighing multiple offers. Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/13/2012-college-grads-enter-_0_n_1512709.html#s439957&title=Erin_Dunphy_Ithaca 

 

College Still A Good Investment As Long As You Don't Mind The Crippling Debt

With more than $1 trillion in student loans outstanding in this country, crippling debt is no longer confined to dropouts from for-profit colleges or graduate students who owe on many years of education, some of the overextended debtors in years past. Now nearly everyone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is borrowing. As prices soar, a college degree statistically remains a good lifetime investment, but it often comes with an unprecedented financial burden. the extraordinary growth in student loans has caught many by surprise. But its roots are in fact deep, and the cast of contributing characters — including college marketing officers, state lawmakers wielding a budget ax and wide-eyed students and families — has been enabled by a basic economic dynamic: an insatiable demand for a college education, at almost any price, and plenty of easy-to-secure loans, primarily from the federal government. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/business/student-loans-weighing-down-a-generation-with-heavy-debt.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp

College Graduates Say They Are Not Well Prepared For The Job Market

College graduates encountering today's tough job market often wish they could hit the rewind button, a new study from Rutgers University finds. Maybe then, they wouldn't face a situation in which four graduates in 10 get first jobs that don't use their degrees and work at low salaries barely covering their student-loan payments. Maybe then, more than half would have full-time jobs. Even though young people tend to be optimistic, the report describes a pervasive sense of pessimism, with just over half the graduates surveyed expecting to be more successful than their parents. They think they are less prepared to enter the job market than the previous generation. Read more at:
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20120510_Recent_college_graduates_face_educational_second_thoughts.html?cmpid=124488459

 

Nursing Is Top Choice For Second-Career College Students

Non-traditional students — those who don't begin college right after high school — are the norm in Heartland's nursing program. But, in this class, none of the 40 students is a traditional student. The nursing-as-a-second-career trend has been in place for several years. Some people who pursue nursing as a second career take advantage of accelerated, one-year nursing programs for people who already have a bachelor's degree. Read more at:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/health/2012/05/spotlight-older-students-choosing-nursing/561796

Many College Grads With Few Job Prospects Turn To Unpaid Internships

Confronting the worst job market in decades, many college graduates who expected to land paid jobs are turning to unpaid internships to try to get a foot in an employer’s door.  Although many internships provide valuable experience, some unpaid interns complain that they do menial work and learn little, raising questions about whether these positions violate federal rules governing such programs. Yet interns say they often have no good alternatives. As Friday’s jobs report showed, job growth is weak, and the unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds was 13.2 percent in April. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/business/unpaid-internships-dont-always-deliver.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss 

 

Innovation Campus Brings College Industry Together

Whether exclusive private schools or massive public campuses, college has long been seen as extended preparation for the real world. These days, the real world is spending more and more time at college. Historic lows in public funding and a shortage of skilled manufacturing workers are leading a growing number of states to turn to the private sector to train and educate students, potentially speeding their path through college, providing needed labor and reducing some budget burdens faced by higher education. In Missouri, the emerging partnerships have spawned a so-called "Innovation Campus" where businesses will employ students as apprentices and help pick up the cost for their education -- either by paying them or contributing money for their tuition. Read more at:
http://www.semissourian.com/story/1843255.html