College admissions people will tell you the college application essay is essential! First, they say, admitting the right fit to their college is not all about numbers! In fact, colleges are actually seeking less numerical information: dropping SAT requirements, taking the emphasis off diversity like geography, race, and religion, and even disregarding grade point averages.
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You are 51. Your son or daughter has just graduated from college. That’s good news, but not if you are stuck with college debt, too. As an example, if you have taken a $33,000 loan out to help pay for college, you may now be facing an $800 per month payment for 20 years!
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Financial aid packages can be daunting–very hard to figure out–, and they have to be figured year by year. So how do parents and students weigh the true cost of their educating and budget for it? How do you know when the cost of an education is doable over four years, and if it is worth that expenditure? How can one measure the value of an education for later life?
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We all know that the student loan debt for a college education is soaring. It’s at 1 trillion dollars now and is greater than the credit card debt!
College debt is a huge burden and not only limits access to equal educational opportunities, but it drags down our economy. Graduates with huge debt can not afford to buy homes and new cars or start families. That means their purchasing power is decreased, and general spending in the economy decreases along with that. College loan debt can not be limited by curtailing purchases or ripping up the credit card. It is there, set in stone with interest accruing. Student debt also can not be discharged through bankruptcy.
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The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has, until now, required financial information from only one parent on its application. For parents who are divorced, single, or in same-sex marriages only the income and assets of one parent affect their student’s financial award of federal dollars for college monies. But, starting with the 2014-15 application the Education Department will require both parents of dependent students to report their financial information.
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Traditionally, students go to college to earn credits toward their degrees. Some feel this is equivalent to seat-time learning. These people want college education reforms. They want to see college learning assessment based on quality of leaning, not on time. They also want to see the overall cost of college education reduced. In competency-based college programs a degree or certificate may be earned in less time.
One of the many hold backs to such reform has been the worry of some colleges that their students will not be eligible for federal financial aid. In March, 2013, however, the US Education Department signaled students enrolled in competency-based college programs may now apply for financial aid, and the Department has developed a new process for these students to do so. In fact, since 2005 federal law has allowed students to apply for financial aid under the “direct assessment” provision of the Higher Education Act, but colleges are just now beginning to understand the implications of this provision for reform and to develop competency-based learning curricula. One leader in this area has been Southern New Hampshire University.
Another reason for hesitating to change the traditional path to a college degree is the fear employers will not understand the qualifications of recent graduates in such programs. One answer has been that college creditors are demanding all competencies are clearly linked to credit hours to make translate better. Another plus for employers hiring these graduates is students in competency-based programs can earn and demonstrate stackable credentials. They can develop learning projects that cross many disciplines and teach many skills. They are not bound to one or two majors where they concentrate their credit hour time. Such graduates will have more marketable skills for the real world of work.
In his 2011 State of the State address Gov. Rick Perry challenged his state colleges and universities to provide a college degree for no more than $10,000 including the cost of textbooks. This was not a new idea. Bill Gates had suggested college tuition should be no more than $2,000 a year, and the States of both California and Florida have followed Texas and called for similar low-cost college degrees.
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I bet you think the answer is because they can’t afford it! Wrong!
In May (2013) Matthew Yglesias wrote that the case is just the opposite. He cites research that shows of low-income students who have test scores in the top quartile of standardized college tests (the SAT and the ACT), those who apply to selective colleges are as likely to be admitted as students from much higher income brackets; and those low-income kids are also as likely to enroll and graduate, too.
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Anya Kamenetz, the author of Generation Debt, addresses in her book new models for funding both the cost of a college education and the cost of starting a career. One such model is New York’s Pave program. It is similar to an older program from the early 2000s called MyRichUncle that matched wealthy backers with prospective youth.
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Employers are saying colleges are only doing a fair to poor job of preparing good employees. Even at this time of high unemployment, employers are having a hard time finding qualified employees.
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