The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Help For The Helicopter Parent

Colleges and universities are using creative ways to deal with a wave of protective parents who "helicopter" over their children, and regularly contact administrators about grades and roommate woes. College administrators are finding they need to teach parents constructive ways to be a part of their children's collegiate careers through newsletters, social networking Web sites and parent orientations. U of M holds an online forum monthly for parents to directly ask administrators questions about campus wellness and careers and internship opportunities. Several schools also give parents calendars detailing the dates of spring break and exam schedules, along with tips on supporting a collegian with care packages. Read more at:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/nov/25/schools-helping-anxious-parents/?partner=yahoo_feeds

Special Programs Help First Generation College Students

Parents can impart the hazy life lessons they learned during their college careers as their high-schoolers tour the grounds. But some potential students don't have a built-in family support system to bounce college plans off of. They're the first family member to take on college. Some colleges have scholarships designed specifically for these first-generation students to make sure they're not navigating the waters of higher education rudderless. Read more at:
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-11-08/story/first_generation_scholars_breaking_the_mold

College Enrollment Hits New Record Level

Almost 40 percent of the nation’s 18- to 24-year-olds in 2008 were enrolled in college, a record number, according to a Pew Research Center report released on Thursday. The rise was driven almost entirely by a surge in students attending community colleges. Enrollment has been rising at two- and four-year colleges alike for decades. And most young adults still prefer four-year colleges, even though they are more expensive. But the increase in the rate of students going to college reflected in the Pew report was attributable almost entirely to increased community-college enrollment. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/education/30college.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

What To Do About The College Gender Gap

For every 100 American women enrolled in college, there are only 77 men. And for every 100 women who graduate with a bachelor’s degree, only 73 men accomplish that, according to data from the Postsecondary Education Opportunity. At a College Board program Thursday afternoon, educators talked about the ways they are trying to close that college gender gap. The gap is chalked up to a myriad of reasons. Traditional schools aren’t tuned in to the hands-on learning styles of boys; the media portrayal of smart young men generally is of socially awkward boys who don’t get dates to the prom; and young male students, particular at-risk youth, lack positive male models in and out of the classroom. Read more at:
http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/addressing-the-gender-gap-in-colleges/

Poor Economy Drives Record Enrollments

Universities and colleges across the state have announced record enrollments this fall, and in many cases graduate enrollment increases have surpassed undergraduate growth. Admission officials cite the ailing economy as the main driver for both trends. Many workers have chosen to ride out the economy by returning to school, while those with new bachelor's degrees are reluctant to enter a tough job market only to compete with more experienced workers. Texas unemployment figures recently reached a 22-year high of 8 percent. "For students in my generation, an undergrad degree is more like a high school diploma," said Christopher Covo, student body president at Texas State University, where graduate student enrollment has climbed 12.1 percent since 2008. Read more at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/10/13/1013enrollment.html

Minnesota's Two-Year Colleges See Biggest Enrollment Increase In History

The high school graduate, the out-of-work and the just-plain-nervous are crowding classrooms at your local community college. Enrollment has grown by double digits at 13 community and technical colleges in Minnesota, boosting the biggest jump in the public system's history. The figures show a "strategic" response to the recession, said U provost Thomas Sullivan. Experts expected the influx, which is playing out across the nation. Read more at:
http://www.startribune.com/local/63816602.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUvckD_V_jEyhD:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs

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

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

Private Colleges Close To Meeting Enrollment Targets

Private colleges got closer to their fall enrollment targets this week, thanks to a finish-line spurt in student sign-ups, but in this tough economic climate, the schools had to put out more in financial aid to bring freshmen in. Many colleges spent the admissions season worrying whether they could fill their ranks with the same number and quality of students as last year, given the financial problems families are facing. Some schools are heavily dependent on tuition to pay their bills. And none wants to see its academic rankings fall. Still, some college officials continue to be concerned that more students than usual may drop out before September. Read more at:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20090509_Late_sign-ups_put_Phila_-area_colleges_near_enrollment_goals.html

No Drop In Enrollment For Top IHEs

In an early indication that the economic downturn may not have disrupted students’ college choices as much as schools had feared, more than a dozen top colleges said last week that accepted applicants had committed themselves to attending next fall at about the same rate as last year. The dean of admissions at Pomona College in California, Bruce Poch, said, “For all the Chicken Little and Henny Penny hysteria and dire predictions, it seems to have worked out just fine here.” Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/education/11college.html?_r=1&hp