Category: Hacking College
The College-Admissions Process Is Completely Broken
Much of the dysfunction stems from a misperception about how hard getting into college is. At hypercompetitive schools, ridiculously low acceptance rates have become the norm . . . (The Atlantic)
Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same. As. It. Ever. Was . . . .
A Generation of American Men Give Up on College: ‘I Just Feel Lost’
The number of men enrolled at two- and four-year colleges has fallen behind women by record levels, in a widening education gap across the U.S. (Wall Street Journal)
More Than One Million Fewer College Students
More than 1 million fewer students are enrolled in college now than before the pandemic began. According to new data released Thursday, U.S. colleges and universities saw a drop of nearly 500,000 undergraduate students in the fall of 2021, continuing a historic decline that began the previous fall.
NPR
The Rising!
Top Colleges Seeking Diversity From A New Source: Transfer Students
This fall semester, Princeton University offered admission to 13 transfer students, the first transfer admissions in nearly three decades. In reinstating the school’s transfer program, they wanted to encourage applicants from low-income families, the military and from community colleges.
Princeton! Welcome to the club Princeton. I believe that now all the Ivy’s are accepting “transfer students.” A.K.A. Students with A.A.’s from a community college. This is what Democracy looks like 😉
The Digital Gap Between Rich and Poor Kids Is Not What We Expected
The parents in Overland Park, Kan., were fed up. They wanted their children off screens, but they needed strength in numbers. First, because no one wants their kid to be the lone weird one without a phone. And second, because taking the phone away from a middle schooler is actually very, very tough.
“We start the meetings by saying, ‘This is hard, we’re in a new frontier, but who is going to help us?’” said Krista Boan, who is leading a Kansas City-based program called START, which stands for Stand Together And Rethink Technology. “We can’t call our moms about this one.”
I first noticed this gap almost a decade ago visiting college campuses. When I would sit in on classes at small private collegess students with laptops were a rare sight. At community colleges, they were slightly more common. At state universities, with amphitheater sized classrooms, they were all too common. Equally all too common was how many were all tuned to social media.
You’re Probably Not Getting that Loan Forgiveness You’re Counting On
Out of almost 30,000 people who applied for a forgiveness program, just 96—less than 1 percent—had their debt erased. And it gets worse.
Huh? It’s almost like one class of people doesn’t want another class of people to access to higher education?
The Incredible, Rage-Inducing Inside Story of America’s Student Debt Machine
Meanwhile, in early June, Republican legislators were trying to find votes for a sweeping and massively unpopular higher-education bill called PROSPER that would get rid of many grant programs as well as loan subsidies and PSLF. Trump’s 2018 and 2019 budgets also proposed axing the PSLF program. Congress has so far rejected the idea, but if the efforts succeed they would remove what was a very small sliver of hope for a generation underwater.
For Many College Students, Hunger ‘Makes It Hard To Focus’
(NPR)
As students enter college this fall, many will hunger for more than knowledge. Up to half of college students in recent published studies say they either are not getting enough to eat or are worried about it.This food insecurity is most prevalent at community colleges, but it’s common at public and private four-year schools as well.
Student activists and advocates in the education community have drawn attention to the problem in recent years, and the food pantries that have sprung up at hundreds of schools are perhaps the most visible sign. Some schools nationally also have instituted the Swipe Out Hunger program, which allows students to donate their unused meal plan vouchers, or “swipes,” to other students to use at campus dining halls or food pantries.
That’s a start, say analysts studying the problem of campus hunger, but more systemwide solutions are needed.
Dean’s List 