October 29, 2009 – 6:54 pm
The NYT’s Abby Goodnough opens up with a killer image: community colleges scheduled at midnight because it’s the only time that the room is available. Wow. The good news is that it’s a community college and people aren’t paying outrageous prices for the education. The bad news is that there are so many people who [...]
October 29, 2009 – 10:05 am
C Cryn Johannsen over at Education Matters pointed out this blog, “Ivy Leagued and Unemployed“, filled with the efforts to understand just why the world isn’t working the way that the college guide book promised. Pay big bucks, get a fancy degree, and then land a cool job. Ooops. Much of this is just supply [...]
October 19, 2009 – 11:56 am
I feel a bit for Joseph Chapman, the president of North Dakota State University who seems to be on his way out the door. Monica Davey from the NY Times quotes him as saying that the job is no longer fun, in part because everyone is complaining about the new house being built for him. [...]
October 9, 2009 – 12:50 pm
Another day, another slashing in a lab. First it was Yale. Now the AP reports that UCLA student Damon Thompson was arrested and accused of attempted murder. The victim? His lab partner from organic chemistry class. Now for some handwringing and posturing. First, I’m supposed to say that colleges aren’t immune from evil. Then I’m [...]
October 9, 2009 – 12:30 pm
An unsigned piece in the Daily Mail grouses that many of today’s college students are drowning in debt because the college lifestyle is very different from the simple days of our forefathers. They get their protein as smoked salmon, not mystery meat. The coffee is made by dipping a crayon in hot water, but from [...]
October 8, 2009 – 12:16 pm
As much as we wring our hands and grouse about the spendthrift colleges and society’s acceptance of their ways, we are very happy to see the U.S. government squeeze the private lending companies. We have more sympathy for truly private operations run by people risking their own money, but that wasn’t the case. The taxpayer [...]
October 8, 2009 – 12:12 pm
A long time ago in the 70s, the Pell grants could cover 2/3rds of the tuition. Now they barely make a dent. So what does Congress do? Pour more money on the program because the schools must know what they’re doing. They’ll be putting in another $40b and that will encourage even more people to [...]
October 7, 2009 – 12:28 pm
The good folks at Springwise normally cover cool new businesses but this time they report on ways that colleges are distributing free Ivy League courses to high school students taking AP courses. This is probably smart marketing because good universities want to attract the kids taking the AP courses. I wonder if anyone can watch [...]
October 6, 2009 – 12:26 pm
We can’t have this kind of free-thinking discussion about this pillar of the American way of life. Beth Wechsler asks the unthinkable question that even I’m afraid to type right here in my own blog: Does it make sense for every living, breathing American to go to college? This is a wonderful piece that summarizes [...]
October 6, 2009 – 12:17 pm
Glenn Coin of the Syracuse Post-Standard reminds us yet again that debt determines your future. He writes of Victoria Simpson, a student with 50,000 reasons that prevent her from taking a low paying job of her choice in a not-for-profit. Remember kids. College debt obligates you to chasing the brass ring. Later he tells us [...]
October 6, 2009 – 12:10 pm
It’s not just binge gambling but binge borrowing that’s getting attention. If you’re over 18 but under 21, that magical age when you can go to war but you cannot drink, you’ll now need your parents’ permission to get a credit card. And you’ll probably need more than just permission. The not-so-youngsters will need the [...]
October 5, 2009 – 10:18 pm
Oh, the sweet irony. Nanette Asimov from the SF Chronicle writes with extremely ironic news about Berkeley’s decision to hire some outside consultant to save some cash. I sure hope the consultant can save more than the $3m fee. First, let me joke that the current administration probably doesn’t have anyone on board who knows [...]
October 4, 2009 – 12:46 pm
The news from C. Cryn Johannsen is that Paul Ramirez is designing a bumper sticker for them that will say, “My other car is a student loan.” I laughed outloud. It’s very funny, but the scale may not be correct because the amount of debt is widely variable. I continue to hear stories of people [...]
October 1, 2009 – 12:56 pm
As much as I would love to embrace all of the wonderful online colleges and learning machines that might offer genuine competition for the big, fancy, expensive colleges, I need to remember that they’re cut from the same bolt of cloth. They’ve all seen “The Wizard of Oz” and they know that anyone can just [...]
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