Showing 559 posts tagged students
Bills Would Prevent Rise in Student Loan Rates
Congress now has an array of legislative options to prevent the interest rate on student loans from doubling to 6.8 percent on July 1, as scheduled.
With student loans topping $1.1 trillion — and held by one in five American households — many families are questioning why students should pay so much when market interest rates are so low.
» via The New York Times (Subscription may be required for some content)
Colleges Soak Poor Students to Funnel Aid to Rich
U.S. colleges such as Boston University are using financial aid to lure rich students while shortchanging the poor, forcing those most in need to take on heavy debt, a report found.
Almost two-thirds of private institutions require students from families making $30,000 or less annually to pay more than $15,000 a year, according to the report released today by the Washington-based New America Foundation.
The research analyzing U.S. Education Department data for the 2010-2011 school year undercuts the claims of many wealthy colleges that financial-aid practices make their institutions affordable, said Stephen Burd, the report’s author. He singled out schools — including Boston University and George Washington University — that appear especially pricey for poor families.
“Colleges are always saying how committed they are to admitting low-income students — that they are all about equality,” Burd said in a phone interview. “This data shows there’s been a dramatic shift. The pursuit of prestige and revenue has led them to focus more on high-income students.”
» via Bloomberg
“Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau highlighted a year ago that student debt had surpassed the $1 trillion threshold, others have warned about the impact on the broader economy. Last year, the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research described how student debt might impact demand for mortgage credit. The Federal Reserve Board’s open market committee discussed whether student debt is impacting household spending. And just a few weeks ago, the Financial Stability Oversight Council discussion of student debt in its annual report added to the chorus.”
“If the smartest, most motivated people are both more likely to go to college and more likely to be financially successful, then the observed difference in earnings by years of education doesn’t measure the true effect of college,” reads the report.”
“Students allegedly passed answers back and forth and confirmed responses on their phones during regular reading quizzes, which consisted of basic poem identifications. Without a TA to help her grade the work of such a large class, Senior Lecturer Peggy Ellsberg, who is teaching the course this spring and has been at Barnard for over 20 years, allowed her students to self-grade. Ellsberg became suspicious of cheating after the majority of the class was consistently receiving 90 percent on their quizzes. All quizzes, many with nearly identically-marked answers, are now being held by Barnard as ‘evidence.’”
Postpone Use of New Test Scores, Teachers’ Union Leader Says
Warning that a new set of academic standards was on the verge of falling into the “dustbin of history,” the leader of a national teachers’ union called on Tuesday for school systems to postpone using new tests to evaluate teachers and promote students.
The leader, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said teachers needed at least one year to master a new curriculum and review test materials before schools should be held accountable for results.
“Is this about deep learning or desperate cramming?” Ms. Weingarten said during an appearance in Midtown Manhattan, where she spoke before the Association for a Better New York, a group of civic and business leaders. “The only way this will succeed is if teachers have input and ownership.”
» via The New York Times (Subscription may be required for some content)
“Nearly half of all undergraduates in the United States arrive on campus needing remedial work before they can begin regular credit-bearing classes.”
“The respondents were most likely to take online courses on topics they felt more comfortable “teaching themselves.” When a student considered a subject area “difficult”—many cited mathematics and science courses as examples—they were more likely to want a traditional brick-and-mortar setting because, the report says, “they needed the immediate question-and-answer context of a face-to-face course.”
“McGill offered him a full undergraduate university education for what it would have cost for just one year at G.W. “When the financial packages came in, it was a no-brainer for me,” Andreasen said. Indeed, with strained family budgets and the soaring cost of tuition at American schools, the coveted university degree often comes with just too much debt for many students. About one in six people who owe money on their student loans is in default. Such a debt load is a harsh reality that is forcing a growing number of young people to look north to Canada for an education they can better afford.”
“Compared to cars and houses, higher education is a much safer investment. For all the media criticism about college losing its luster, you could make a good argument that it’s never been more important. While the returns to college have flattened recently, wage growth has been even weaker (or negative) among non-college grads. As a result, the “bonus” that young workers get from going to college, which economists call, the “college premium,” has tripled in the last 30 years. Today, the share of the 18-24-year-old population enrolled in school is at an all-time high 45 percent today.”
