Forums: COLLEGE DEGREE

The percentage of Hispanic students who graduate from college in six years or less continues to lag behind that of white students, according to a new study of graduation figures at more than 600 colleges. In the study, the American Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit research organization, examined graduation rates for students who entered college in 1999, 2000 and 2001, and found that 51 percent of those identified as Hispanic earned bachelor’s degrees in six years or less, compared with 59 percent of white students. The researchers also found that Hispanic students trailed their white peers no matter how selective the...

MONTGOMERY (AP) — Alabama's prepaid college tuition plan appears unable to pay tuition beyond the fall semester of 2011 and still have enough money to provide refunds to the 44,000 participants, administrators said. For leaders of the Save Alabama PACT parents group, that creates the need for the Legislature to find a solution in the current legislative session. Patti Lambert of Decatur, the group's co-founder, said she would prefer a solution in the Statehouse rather than the courthouse, but members may have no choice but to join a handful of parents who have already sued the state to demand the...

p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;tab-stops:436.5pt">Congressional Democrats have added President Obama’s takeover of the student loan industry to the health care reconciliation bill. It is a troubling development, but not because of the finances.  The trouble comes from the specter of federal control of American higher education.  “Obama loans” may seem benign but they threaten academic freedom and may compromise the quality of academic programs. The move by the Democrats forestalls a debate we need to have over who controls this key institution. Since 1965, the federal government has subsidized colleges and universities by guaranteeing loans that students take from private lenders. Obama’s...

President Obama has called for more Americans to attend college, setting a goal that the United States lead the world in its percentage of college graduates by 2020. The administration has called for dramatic increases in federal subsidies for student aid. His 2011 budget request includes $156 billion for such programs. But experience shows that increasing student aid has failed to solve the college-affordability problem. Some economists have even found that increased spending on student aid contributes to rising costs. Over the past decade, federal spending on student aid has grown by 99 percent. But, as these economists would predict,...

What were you thinking, Oregon coach Chip Kelly? You suspended your starting quarterback for the entire season when you're about to bring back the bulk of a team that won the Pac-10 title last year. Your Ducks were on the short list to compete for a national title in 2010. The designers at Nike headquarters -- less than two hours north on Interstate 5 -- had probably already started designing Swoosh-covered championship T-shirts. But no-o-o-o-o. You had to suspend Jeremiah Masoli for the entire season. And why? Because he stole someone else's property? And then lied to you about it?...

The number of illegal immigrant college students paying in-state tuition and receiving financial aid at Texas' public colleges and universities continues to climb, according to state higher education records. During the fall semester, 12,138 students – about 1 percent of all Texas college students – benefited from the state law granting in-state tuition, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Most of the immigrants among those students are illegal, and some others are not legal permanent residents or U.S. citizens. Texas awarded about $33.6 million in state and institutional financial aid to those students between fall 2004 and...

When Mahala Muzopappa began taking classes at Westmoreland County Community College last year, she realized she was not ready for college-level math. Though she had earned As and Bs at Apollo-Ridge High School, Muzopappa, 19, struggled in her college algebra class, relying on a peer tutoring program to pass. "I didn't feel prepared," the photography major said. "It took a whole semester for me to catch up." Kristen Jeannette, a sophomore at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, ended up on academic probation during her freshman year. "The adjustment -- it's so hard," said Jeannette, 19, who took a college-prep course at...

ATLANTA – President Barack Obama is promising parents and their kids that with his administration's help they will have better teachers in improved schools so U.S. students can make up for academic ground lost against youngsters in other countries. A plan to overhaul the 2002 education law championed by President George W. Bush was unveiled by the Obama administration Saturday in hopes of replacing a system that in the last decade has tagged more than a third of schools as failing and created a hodgepodge of sometimes weak academic standards among states. "Unless we take action — unless we step...

New college graduates may be entering the worst job market in decades, but there are still some majors that pay off—and all of them are in the applied sciences. A new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers finds that eight of the top 10 best-paid majors are in engineering, with petroleum engineering topping off the list at $86,220. "Petroleum engineering has been at the top for the last three years," said Edwin Koc, director of strategic and foundation research at NACE. "The oil industry for the last couple of years has been a bit more active and...

Young America’s Foundation is pleased to release the sixth annual “Top Conservative College” list in response to the frequently asked question by parents and students of which schools we recommend to those seeking conservative colleges. A wide variety of rankings exist for the market of American colleges and universities. Each year, U.S. News & World Report releases its “America’s Best Colleges” edition. The magazine grades each institution based on factors including peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, and student selectivity. Yet, U.S. News does not rank the overall experience that colleges offer. That is why Young America’s Foundation...