A great Plan!

Tuition aid proposal floated
Community college students would need good grades and to meet income restrictions.

By Albert Raboteau
381-1663

Most of the state's community college students who transfer to four-year schools don't bother to complete an associate degree, but they may soon have a financial reason to do so.

Virginia lawmakers are considering a proposal to allow community college students who graduate with good grades and meet income restrictions to pay community college tuition rates for almost three years of full-time study at a public four-year school within the state.

Students who transfer to a private, in-state school would get the difference between community college tuition and the average public four-year tuition. Virginia community colleges charge no more than half the average tuition at the state's four-year schools.

Proponents say the Community College Transfer Grant would make college more accessible and help the state deal with an expected 21 percent to 25 percent increase in college enrollment by 2012.

It comes as the number of students entering community colleges with an eye toward transferring for a higher degree is increasing. Higher education officials are looking to make that process smoother.

Glen DuBois, chancellor of the Virginia Community College System, said the transfer grant would be the first program of its type in the nation.

He predicted the measure "will create an environment where more Virginia families will go to colleges, which is terribly important."

On Wednesday the legislation was still in committee in Richmond. Supporters say they like its chances because the Senate version is sponsored by majority leader Walter Stosch, R-Henrico County, and the House version by Vince Callahan, R-Fairfax County, who chairs the appropriations committee. Neither sponsor could be reached Wednesday.

The measure, which would require a budget amendment, is projected to cost $3.8 million this fiscal year, increasing to $13.9 million in fiscal 2012. Those projections assume 1,754 students would take advantage in 2007-08, increasing to 4,009 students in 2012-13.

To qualify for the program, students would have to finish their associate degree with at least a 3.0 grade-point average, apply for financial aid, and have a family income of no more than 150 percent of the state median.

"Affluent families would be ineligible, but we're targeting more than just those that are on the lower tier of the socioeconomic ladders," said DuBois, the community college chancellor.

Community college officials, students, and the political organization Virginia 21, which focuses on young voters, have been pushing for the bill.

"We need to get more people into higher education who can't afford it," said Adam Sowder, student vice president at Virginia Western Community College. "A lot of people think they can't go on to any more school because they don't have the money."

James Jacobs, associate director of the Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College, said the bill sounded well-meaning but because of its requirement that students get a 3.0 GPA, might not address a larger problem of people entering college but failing to complete any degree.

"My suspicion is the real problem isn't the kids who are very smart, who are going on to [four-year] college anyway," he said.

DuBois disagreed with that criticism.

"I think it rewards effort and performance" and will create "an incentive for our students to step it up and reach harder," he said.

Less than one-third of Virginia community college students who transferred to a four-year school in the state last year had completed an associate degree.

SAT test day info

From the source itself:

http://www.collegeboard.com/prof/counselors/tests/articles/1.html

Virginia Lawmakers Consider Bill to Encourage Students to Start at 2-Year Colleges

By JOSH KELLER


In an effort to absorb Virginia's growing college-age population, state legislators are considering a bill that would give students who start out at community colleges a financial bonus after they transfer to a public four-year institution.

The grant program, proposed by two leading lawmakers, would allow qualifying transfer students to pay the same tuition and fees at public four-year institutions that they paid at a community college. Each student who transferred to an in-state private college after graduating from a community college would initially receive a voucher worth about $2,150 a year.

The measure is part of a broader effort to encourage more students to start their college careers at two-year colleges, a shift that lawmakers estimate would help accommodate an expected 20-percent to 25-percent increase in college enrollment in the state over the next six years.

Proponents say the legislation could also help attract low-income students to the state's four-year colleges, which recently increased the amount of their financial aid to needy students and guaranteed spots on some campuses to some community-college graduates with good grades.

In the 2005-6 academic year, only 7.6 percent of undergraduates at the flagship University of Virginia received federal Pell Grants -- the lowest proportion among the nation's elite public colleges, according to a Chronicle analysis. Pell Grants typically are awarded to students from families with incomes of $40,000 or less. A university survey found that more than 60 percent of last year's undergraduates came from families with annual incomes of $100,000 or more.

"A lot of students are self-selecting out because they just don't believe it's going to be affordable," said Yvonne B. Hubbard, director of student financial services at the university. "What this does is allow us to say, 'Here's how you can do it, here's how it's going to work.'"

In fact, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Lansdowne, Va., found that in 2002, only 8 percent of all entering students at the nation's most-elite public universities, including the University of Virginia, had started their college educations at two-year institutions. An even smaller share of community-college transfers who enrolled at top colleges were from low-income households, according to the foundation's research.

Income and Grade Requirements

Higher-education officials in Virginia estimate that 1,700 of the state's students would be eligible for the proposed program in its first year, at a cost of $3.8-million. In order to qualify, students would have to graduate from community college with a 3.0 grade-point average or higher and come from families with incomes of less than 150 percent of a state or local median. Depending on where the applicants live, that would put the maximum qualifying income at $75,000 to $135,000 per year.

A nearly identical measure was approved unanimously last year by the State Senate but died in the House of Delegates after becoming entangled in a debate over funds for transportation. College officials say the increased attention being paid to the issues of affordability and ease of transfer have helped the proposal's chances this time around.

"Politically, the planets are lined up," said Glenn DuBois, chancellor of the Virginia Community College system.

The program would also help the state's 23 community colleges retain students who transfer before finishing an associate degree, he said.

"It creates an incentive to perform well and an incentive to stick it out and graduate," Mr. DuBois said. "Most transfer students now leave before graduation, and they would not be eligible. It gives us some more glue."

Given the exclusivity and expense of the state's major institutions, which include Virginia Tech, and the College of William and Mary, community colleges are an ideal "on ramp" for students who might otherwise bow out of higher education altogether, Mr. DuBois said.

"We have a reality in Virginia where at least in three or four of these public institutions, you have to be graduating at the very top of your high-school class," he said. "Now there's another way to get there, guaranteed."

Mixed Responses From One Scholar

Alicia C. Dowd, an assistant professor of education at the University of Southern California who has studied the transfer patterns of community-college students, said she had mixed feelings about the Virginia proposal. While the attention on transfer students' financial aid is welcome, she said, the bill's specifics suggest that the plan may end up ignoring the needs of many poorer and part-time community-college students.

"If it were more inclusive, I would say I was very excited by this legislation," she said.

For example, the bill's grade-point-average requirement, she said, might discourage students from majoring in difficult but important subjects, like physics. And the bill's current language seems to call for students to transfer to four-year colleges immediately after receiving their two-year associate degrees, a requirement at odds with the schedules of the majority of community-college students, who must also deal with the demands of family and work.

"This could be a really progressive piece of legislation," Ms. Dowd said, "or it could be very typical of what's going on today with various strategies to move dollars from low-income students over to middle-income students."

State Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr., a Republican who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, is a sponsor of the bill. He said it would serve both groups of students, providing an affordable safety valve for the large number of college-age students coming in the next few years.

Mr. Callahan said he might consider allowing students to delay enrollment at four-year colleges for six months or a year, but not longer.

"The other problem is the students stay in college five, six years before they graduate instead of the normal four years," the lawmaker said. "We would prefer to have them out in four."



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Copyright © 2006 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

Most states flunk in college affordability

(AP) -- A new, independent report on higher education flunks most states when it comes to affordability. It gives better but still mixed grades in other areas, such as college participation and completion rates.

The biennial study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education evaluates how well higher education is serving the public -- and leaves little doubt where the system is failing. Forty-three states received "F"s for affordability, up from 36 two years ago. The others got "D"s, except Utah and California, both of which eked out a "C."

The report card uses a range of measurements to give states grades, from "A" to "F," on the performance of their public and private colleges. The affordability grade is based on how much of the average family's income it costs to go to college.

Almost everywhere, that figure is up -- even accounting for financial aid, which has risen, but not as fast as tuition. In Ohio, public four-year colleges cost 42 percent of the average family's paycheck, up from 28 percent in the early 1990s. In New Jersey, costs have risen from 24 percent to 37 percent, and in Oregon from 25 percent to 36 percent.

"It's amazing," said Jack Partridge, a Columbus, Ohio, gas company executive who recently moved four daughters -- a sophomore and freshman triplets -- into their dorms at Miami University of Ohio. In-state tuition plus room and board run about $20,000 this year at the public school.

"I saw those annual increases and had tried to put a little bit away for each of them, but I'm nowhere near going to cover four years," he said.

And that doesn't include the extras.

"All of a sudden I had to buy almost $6,000 worth of computers a while ago, then the books," he said. "I just try to keep a sense of humor about it."
Aid not keeping pace

The report card notes that increases in state and federal aid, though substantial, haven't kept up with demand and prices. The study -- along with a separate report published last week by the Education Trust, a Washington think-tank -- also says colleges aren't doing enough to help the neediest students.

Colleges' own funds, which comprise the largest portion of financial aid, are increasingly being used to lure high-achieving students who boost a school's reputation -- but who don't need help to go to college.

"There's been a sea change in the last decade-and-a-half over how (colleges) spend their money," said National Center president Patrick Callan. "It used to be about giving students opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have. Now it's about giving them money to go to one college instead of another."

The two studies, analyzing the same federal data in slightly different ways, both illustrate the trend.

The report card finds colleges awarded grants to 36 percent of their students from families earning $20,000 per year or less. Those grants averaged $4,700. But wealthier students received comparable attention.

The colleges gave grant aid to 29 percent from families earning $100,000 or more. And those grants were even higher on average: $6,200.

The Education Trust study looked at all students, not just those receiving aid, and found the average student from the wealthiest families gets nearly as much grant aid as the average student from the poorest.

"Educational opportunity, in other words, is taking a back seat to institutional prestige," Education Trust director Kati Haycock said.

The trend undermines colleges' argument that the government should spend more to help low-income students, Callan said.

"It's very difficult for colleges to come into Congress or state legislatures and say, 'We want to spend our money to get our U.S. News ratings up, but you have a responsibility to help poor kids,"' he said.
Higher marks for enrollment, preparation

The report card paints a better, though still mixed, picture of how successful the states are in getting students to enroll in college and then -- just as important -- getting them through with a degree.

Half the states received "A"s or "B"s for student preparation, considering measurements such as math assessment and Advanced Placement scores. Only Louisiana and New Mexico got "F"s. Most states also got "A"s or "B"s in degree completion.

Seventeen states got "A"s for participation. But large racial gaps persist. In Colorado 40 percent of white 18-to-24 year-olds are enrolled, but just 17 percent of nonwhites. In New Jersey, 47 percent of whites that age are in college but just 27 percent of nonwhites.

Partridge, the Ohio parent, said he's concerned about affordability, both as a father and a businessman on the state chamber of commerce.

"We're losing young people. They're going out of state," he said. "I'm concerned and I think the state needs to look at it. I don't know how some families do it."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

Trio funding is important to help this situation

Report Blames College Practices for Limiting Access of Minority and Low-Income Students
By SAM KEAN


Federal agencies, state governments, and especially institutions of higher education are driving students who are from low-income families or are members of minority groups away from colleges and universities, according to a study released on Thursday that analyzed class mobility and racial matriculation rates in academe. The study concluded that such students not only face greater financial burdens than ever before, but that those who end up at college are "attending in ways far less likely to lead to a degree."

Higher education has become "simply another agent of stratification," says the report, produced by the Education Trust, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, but it did not blame any one group for that outcome. It noted that federal Pell grants have leveled off in recent years and have not kept up with rising tuition costs, and also that state-government aid to low-income students has increased at smaller rates than aid to middle-class and wealthy students.

But the report, "Promise Abandoned: How Policy Choices and Institutional Practices Restrict College Opportunities," also faulted universities and colleges for hindering access to higher education, especially through practices that are often hidden from the public. At a news conference on Thursday, Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust and author of the report, singled out the two-pronged practice of "enrollment management" as especially troublesome.

One prong of enrollment management is "financial-aid leveraging," which, according to the report, includes both the pursuit of high-achieving students who need little monetary support, and a tactic known as "admit-deny": admitting low-income students, but offering them such small financial-aid packages they cannot reasonably attend a given university or college.

The second prong of enrollment management is "tuition discounting," in which colleges offset the cost of attending by awarding institutional aid to selected students.

Traditionally, the report says, colleges have used tuition discounting to "shield" wealthy and middle-class students from rising tuition rates by offering them more and more aid at the expense of needier students. Because wealth correlates with measures such as high test scores, Ms. Haycock said, this practice allows colleges and universities "to purchase high-school talent that will make them look better in various rankings."

While troublesome, Mr. Haycock said, the phenomenon is not surprising because administrators aren't rewarded for pursuing and educating needier students, but for bringing in high-achieving ones. "You get a lot more bonus points for increasing selectivity," she said.

But representatives for colleges and universities said the report lacks context. "It's easy to say that institutions have walked away, but there are lots of pressures coming to bear on institutions and governing boards," said Melanie E. Corrigan, an associate director for the American Council on Education. "They rightly say there are ways we can restructure policy," but she added that she thought Education Trust was "a little loose" in defining terms. For instance, when determining "merit" awards, Mr. Corrigan said, financial aid offices often include need as one factor.

Ms. Corrigan also used a refrain popular among higher-education administrators -- that low attendance and paltry graduation rates among some groups reflect the poor preparation those students received in high school. And, she said, "the challenges are not just preparation and money." For many needy students, "it's the first time you've ever left your family."

But while the report acknowledges that many high schools are not up to par, it notes that most states have substantially invested in elementary and secondary education in recent years. And Ms. Haycock said the fact that some colleges and universities consistently graduate low-income and minority students proves that it can be done.

Models of Success

In fact, while the report was scathing at some points, it did identify some institutions that showed little or no gap between the graduation rates of student subpopulations. One such institution was the City University of New York's Bernard M. Baruch College, whose provost and vice president for academic affairs, David Dannenbring, also spoke at the news conference on Thursday.

Mr. Dannenbring jokingly said Baruch College is one of the few institutions in the "50/50 club": over half its students are poor enough to receive Pell grants, but over half graduate within six years. He said that Baruch has made concerted efforts not only to reach but retain low-income and minority students by expanding summer offerings to keep them attending year-round, and by offering Saturday and Sunday classes. All the extra classes, he said, "sold out very quickly."

Mr. Dannenbring added that institutions shouldn't focus on finding better-prepared students but on assisting students already in place, for pragmatic reasons if nothing else. "If you only focus on bringing in better-prepared students, it's going to take six years before you see results."

Finally, the report -- which reached as far back as the 1970s for its data but focused largely on changes between 1995 and now -- contained recommendations. Ross Wiener, policy director of the Education Trust, said that, above all, the financial-aid system, for both federal and institutional aid, must be revamped. He even suggested that university presidents' salaries and/or bonuses might be tied to the graduation rates of low-income and minority students.

In addition, he said, "there needs to be a new system of metrics for addressing quality in higher education."

Ms. Corrigan, of the American Council on Education, agreed that "by and large, institutions have been measured by strange incentives, and they respond to those incentives."

In the end, Mr. Wiener said, devoting more money to students who traditionally struggle at college will be to the benefit of everyone. "Its not about charity. It's about allowing those students to contribute to the social and economic well-being of the nation."


Among other findings, the report said that:


The best students in the lowest-income quartile graduate at nearly the same rate (78 percent) as the worst students in the highest-income quartile (77 percent).

While the average institutional-aid package for students from families that make less than $20,000 increased by over 50 percent from 1995 to 2003, the average package for students whose families make more than $100,000 increased by more than 250 percent over the same period.

Certain institutions that attract elite students, like Stanford University, have predictably high graduation rates for students from minority groups and low gaps between the rates for minority and nonminority students. But many small and obscure schools, such as Berea College, Claflin University, and the College of Mount St. Vincent, fare nearly as well.

One study that tracked eighth-graders who were high achievers in math over a 10-year period found that, for those from high-income families, 99 percent attended college, and 74 percent graduated. Among similarly high-achieving students from low-income families, three-quarters attended college, but only 29 percent graduated.

A gap has opened in attendance rates for black, Hispanic, and white students since 1974, when recent high-school graduates from those groups were attending college at the same rate (47 percent). Now, the rate for white students is 69 percent, while the rates for black and Hispanic students are 63 percent and 62 percent, respectively.
Copyright © 2006 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

Public-College Graduates Accrue Almost as Much Student-Loan Debt as Private-College Peers, Report Says

By STEPHEN BURD


Students who attend public universities and state colleges graduate with nearly as much student-loan debt as those at private colleges on average, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The report, "Student Debt and the Class of 2005," is the work of the Project on Student Debt, an effort being led by Robert M. Shireman, a former senior education-policy adviser in the Clinton administration. The project, which is being financed by the Pew Charitable Trusts, is working to develop public-policy proposals to reduce the burden of student debt on those least able to afford it.

The report's authors analyzed data on the average debt levels of college students who graduated in 2005, as reported by more than 1,400 four-year colleges around the country to Peterson's, a publisher of college guidebooks.

The authors found that the average debt for seniors graduating from public colleges ranged from $23,198 in Iowa to $11,067 in Utah; the average debt of those from private colleges ranged from $32,504 in Arizona to $13,309 in Utah.

While in most states the average debt of graduates from public colleges is lower than that of private-college graduates, the reverse is true in seven states: Arkansas, Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The report also found that just because a state college is relatively inexpensive does not mean that its students are not taking on large debt loads. And conversely, just because a private college is costly does not mean its students are assuming unmanageable levels of debt.

In many cases, students from low-income families who attend low-cost institutions have no other option but to take out loans to pay for books, food, rent, and other living expenses. As a result, "a number of campuses with low in-state tuition," of less than $3,500, and high proportions of low-income students report having "average student debt levels of more than $20,000," the report says. Those colleges include Florida A&M University, Grambling State University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Texas Southern University.

At the same time, some of the costliest private colleges provide such generous amounts of institutional need-based aid that financially needy students do not need to borrow as much as they otherwise would if they attended lower-priced institutions.

According to the report, more than 30 private colleges "charge more than $20,000 in tuition yet report that the average debt of their graduates is $15,000 or less." Those include Amherst College, Bard College, Colgate University, the Johns Hopkins University, Macalester College, Sarah Lawrence College, Swarthmore College, Tufts University, and Williams College.

Along with the report, the project has posted on its Web site an interactive map that provides statewide averages and campus-by-campus data.

New scholarship provides opportunities for Virginia Community College graduates

By Jenna Lazenby

BLACKSBURG, VA., August 25, 2006 -- The Office of University Scholarships and Financial Aid has launched the new “Virginia Tech-Virginia Community College System Lifeline Scholarship Program.” Native Virginia Community College System (VCCS) students who complete their associates’ degree are now eligible for one of six “Lifeline Scholarships,” a new academic merit award given to graduates with the highest grade point average (GPA).

Recent projections from VCCS suggest that the Commonwealth of Virginia is beginning to see a period of increased demand for post high school educational opportunities and much of that demand will fall to Virginia Community College System. Currently, more than one-half of their associate degree graduates continue on to a four-year institution. The purpose of the Lifeline Scholarship is to provide those students wanting to continue their education with additional incentive to excel in their studies at both the community college and at Virginia Tech.

“As a land-grant institution committed to the Commonwealth, Virginia Tech has created the Lifeline Scholarship to help citizens continue their education and to furnish a ‘lifeline’ for future academic achievement,” said Barry Simmons, director of University Scholarships and Financial Aid at Virginia Tech.

To further help meet Virginia’s post high school educational needs, Virginia Tech will also increase transfer enrollment by nearly Virginia 1,000 students over the next six years as outlined in the restructuring plan.

For each academic year, the Lifeline Scholarship will award one full and five one-half annual tuition and fee scholarships. Beginning with the second year of the program, a total of 12 scholarships will be awarded – six for continuing recipients and six for new recipients named for that year.

Scholarships are for four semesters, and require that the recipient maintain a 3.6 cumulative grade point average. No application will be necessary; The VCCS student who meets all criteria along with the highest GPA will be awarded full tuition and fee scholarship and the next highest five students ranked will be awarded the one-half tuition and fee scholarships. Selected recipients will be notified of the award with their offer of admission by May 1 and will be required to have completed their associate degree prior to enrollment.

Scholarships will be awarded at the rate of one-half the annual amount divided equally between fall and spring semesters. The scholarship requires full time (12 semester hours) study each term, with the four term eligibility spanning four consecutive fall and spring semesters.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech is the most comprehensive university in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is among the top research universities in the nation. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to quality, innovation, and results through teaching, research, and outreach activities. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.

I knew it!!!

Despite Bush Administration Efforts to Kill the Program:
Government Study Labels Talent Search Effective

August 22, 2006

Washington, DC - Disadvantaged students participating in the TRIO Talent Search program were significantly more likely to enroll in college than their peers, a U.S. Department of Education-sponsored study has shown.

The just-released report documenting the effectiveness of the Talent Search program in preparing low-income and first-generation students for college is a statistical rebuke to Bush Administration claims that the program is not worth funding. The $144 million Talent Search program was proposed for elimination in the Administration's FY 2006 and FY2007 budgets. Each time, Congress acted to restore the funding.

Talent Search serves more than 385,000 middle and high school students in 470 programs across the country, at an average cost of $375 per student (in 2004). Talent Search students receive counseling, college admissions and financial aid guidance, all designed to improving college access for disadvantaged youth.

The study, prepared by Mathematica Policy Research Inc. (MPR) for the Department's Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, was the second phase of a national evaluation, focusing on three states hosting Talent Search programs - Florida, Indiana and Texas.

The researchers compared high school graduation rates, the college-going rates and the financial aid application levels for students who participated in Talent Search and large groups of similar students in those three states who were not served by Talent Search. In all three measures in all three states, the Talent Search students had stronger track records.

In Texas, for example, the researchers looked at the records of more than 4,000 Talent Search students participating in ten programs. They found that more than 1 of every 2 Talent Search students enrolled in some post-secondary institution, while only 1 in 3 students in the comparison group did so. Put another way, when comparing both college-going groups, the Talent Search students were 54% more likely to enroll in post-secondary education than the other students.

In Florida, where 51% of the Talent Search students enrolled in college but only 37% of the other students did so, when comparing the two groups, the Talent Search students were 38% more likely to go to college.

And in Indiana, where there are an array of other college-going programs and services available to students, there was still a statistically-significant advantage in the Talent Search group - those students were 13% more likely to enroll in postsecondary education.

The Mathematica study looked at levels of financial aid applications because the chances that disadvantaged students will enroll in four-year colleges are considerably higher if they have received information about and encouragement to apply for financial aid. Talent Search students receive that kind of encouragement and assistance as part of the program.

The researchers found that there were substantial differences in financial aid application rates between the two groups. In Texas, the Talent Search students were nearly twice as likely as the comparison students to apply for financial aid. The difference was, again, smallest in Indiana, but even there, the study noted: "the gap represents application levels for financial aid that are one-third higher for Talent Search participants."

"Talent Search is a low-cost program that has a major impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of low-income and first-generation students every year," said Maureen Hoyler, executive vice president of the Council for Opportunity in Education. "The Mathematica evaluation convincingly demonstrates Talent Search's effectiveness and should, by all rights, put to rest any efforts to eliminate this highly-successful program."

The Council is a non-profit advocacy group that supports TRIO programs, helping low-income and prospective first-generation students enter and complete college.