The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Higher Ed Budget Cutting In Florida Will Add To Students' Debt Crisis

Vice President Joe Biden, when he addresses a happy throng of graduates from Cypress Bay High School in that fancy new baseball stadium on June 4, will be looking out at the unwitting perpetrators of the next great debt crisis. Biden, nice guy that he is, probably won’t open with, “Hello, you likely deadbeats.” Maybe he should.  If grads from Cypress Bay High attend one of Florida’s universities this fall, their freshman year will coincide with a $300 million cut in state funding. Along with a 15 percent pop in tuition and diminished help from Bright Futures scholarships. They’ll be attending schools with fewer courses and larger classes, taught by professors disheartened by stagnant wages and benefit cuts, on campuses suffering from drastic cutbacks in maintenance budgets.At the bottom of the education food chain, the students respond by borrowing more money. Read more at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/26/2818547/college-loans-are-next-debt-crisis.html 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/26/2818547/college-loans-are-next-debt-crisis.html#storylink=cpy

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/26/2818547/college-loans-are-next-debt-crisis.html#storylink=cpy

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/26/2818547/college-loans-are-next-debt-crisis.html#storylink=cpy

 

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

Colleges Should Provide Full Loan Disclosure And Counseling To Students

Federal law requires schools to provide students minimal “entry” and “exit” loan counseling. Many schools market themselves to students without explaining the real costs of attendance. Letters informing them about financial aid awards often blur the distinction between loans and grants to make the school look like a better deal than it is. And once students enroll, they are generally left on their own as they borrow year after year. Congress should also require schools to provide in-depth, annual loan counseling to students and set criteria for the information that must be provided. All schools should be required to disclose annually the average debt load of their graduates. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/opinion/full-disclosure-for-student-borrowers.html?src=recg

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 

 

Student Loan Debt Crisis Will Lead To Higher Education Meltdown

What do I project will happen? Very simply over time the demand for college education in general AND 4-year private colleges and universities specifically is going to tail off. In the process, these institutions of higher education are going to get increasingly squeezed financially to make ends meet.Let’s further extend that thought. I think it is not only plausible BUT likely that over the course of the next decade we will witness a number of colleges and universities, primarily private, literally shut their doors. Read more at: 
http://www.senseoncents.com/2012/05/student-debt-bubble-impending-doom-for-colleges/#ixzz1uwsV59El

Room For Debate: What Can Be Done About The Student Loan Debt Crisis

Nearly every student is taking out loans to go to college, and as prices soar, many are borrowing beyond their means. More than $1 trillion in student loans are outstanding.The average debt per borrower is $23,300. Meanwhile, many have no prospect of a well-paying job to help them pay off their debt. What can be done to control the level of debt and protect young people from taking on an onerous financial burden? Read the debate at:
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/05/12/easing-the-pain-of-student-loans/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120514

A 'No Child" Assessment System For Higher Education Is A Bad Idea

Everyone wants accountability in higher education: You do; I do; so does the guy next door. After all, students, parents, and taxpayers are investing lots of money in higher education and they want a return. We all agree on that. But please: Let’s get it right this time! The truth is that there will never be one perfect test that represents the Holy Grail for assessment. If you want to search for a Holy Grail, see a Monty Python movie. Don’t look for it in standardized tests. Let’s seek accountability, but this time, let’s do it right. Our last attempt at the Holy Grail, “No Child Left Behind,” may get an A for effort, but it gets an F for its outcomes. Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/no-college-left-behind-a-guest-post/2012/05/08/gIQAnkypAU_blog.html?wprss=rss_college-inc

Taxpayers Pay Twice When Students Require Remedial Courses

More than a third of incoming college students in Michigan take high school-level classes on campus -- essentially repeating material they should have learned before they got their diplomas. Those remedial classes may cost students, schools and taxpayers more than $100 million a year, and often don’t lead to a degree. Those sobering statistics raise uncomfortable questions for the state: How ready are Michigan students for college in a world where a degree is virtually a prerequisite for the middle class? And in its drive to increase degrees, does the state need to pay twice? Read more at:
http://www.mlive.com/education/index.ssf/2012/05/remediation_higher_eds_expensi.html 

 

Room For Debate: Online Learning

Last week, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced a new nonprofit partnership to offer free online courses. Those who complete the course will get a certificate of mastery and a grade, but no official credit. Should Harvard and M.I.T. offer credit for these courses and even allow students to obtain their degrees online? Indeed, doesn’t it make more sense for elite colleges and universities to do this? Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/05/06/got-a-computer-get-a-degree?partner=rss&emc=rss 

 

Parent Of Prospective Student Asks What College Is For

There’s also a bigger debate raging that hovers over all our concerns. What exactly is a university education for? Is it, narrowly, to ensure a good job after graduation? Or is the point of a university degree to give students a broad and deep humanities education that teaches them how to think and write critically? Or can a college education do both? Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/05/your-money/career-or-deep-learning-pondering-the-purpose-of-college.html?pagewanted=2&ref=business