Scholarships for Low Income Students at Elite Universities

I know you’re out there. The statistics prove it. While only a fraction of you actually applies to Harvard or Princeton, many more probably flirt with the thought then dismiss it’s too unrealistic, who would believe it, right? SAT records prove a much deeper pool of academically eligible low-income students than most educators would have us believe, or maybe no one expected, and expectations do play a part, don’t they?

The List

Here’s the list of colleges and universities, and it’s constantly growing, that provide full scholarships to academically talented low-income students (and you’re out there):

• Harvard
• Princeton
• Stanford
• Amherst College
• University of North Carolina
• University of Virginia
• Williams College
• University of Washington
• University of Chicago (starts Fall 2008)

One study showed that based on SAT scores, low-income students from over 10,500 high schools in the U.S. possessed scores that would make them eligible for Harvard’s admissions requirements, but that students from only 5,000 (that’s half, 50%) of those schools actually applied. If there was only 1 student counted from each of those schools, then over 5500 students chose something else.

Why?

Deeper factors contribute to the college choices made by underserved students, factors like family and parental opinions, even self-perception.

See Yourself to a Free and Elite Degree

1. Picture Yourself [ here], now fill in the blank with one of the names off that list right up there. Imagine yourself everyday on that campus; get a real good picture in your mind. Call or write for the catalog and cut out pictures of the campus & pin them up in your room, tape them to the fridge.

2. Reach out and contact someone on the campus. For example, many colleges and universities have student and faculty bloggers. Logon and ask questions, post a comment, become engaged with a piece of the college life. In the case of faculty blogs, this is an excellent way to make an academic contact, a possible mentor and someone who may be able to actually lend some gentle guidance and advice. A couple blogs I quickly found:

• A Harvard Economics Professor
• The Amherst Chirp
• Stanford School of Medicine student blogs

Just a few ideas… Take your catalog, your admission form, and contact information to your high school career counselor and tell him or her to picture you [ there].

Scenario: What If Every Student Went Directly to College, What Then?

The rhetoric is that education is important, but is our economy really prepared for the scenario in which every student does choose to attend a four-year college? First responses are “Sure, no problem.” But if you take up a strong cup of coffee and sit down with some friends to jaw over it, it’s likely you’ll dig up some pretty big reasons why this scenario could backfire, economically.

If everyone suddenly chose to go to a four-year college and earn a degree—Utopian at best, but a mind-bending what-if….

• Would we lose employees in the McDonald’s down the street?
• Would Ford and Chrysler be forced to move operations to countries where there was still a manufacturing work force?
• Would there be builders to make houses with hammers and nails?
• Would asphalt be laid for new super highways?
• Would there be someone to tow your car when it breaks down?

Let’s ease up just a bit on this farfetched concept and try this one: What if every graduating high school student next year entered college right out of high school; just one class of graduating seniors? (Again, Utopian because as rumpled as secondary schools are, too many seniors fail to graduate or be adequately prepared to enroll in college). Right now there is a population that does, in fact, graduate and go directly to school, but there is also a population that divides work with school, and a population that enters the work force. Without the population of high school students that foregoes college to enter the work force, how many jobs would go unfilled?

Get a Technical or Trade Education–Millions of Skilled Jobs to Fill

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2012 there will be an upsetting shortage of laborers in a number of key sectors: healthcare, IT, and manufacturing and production, are among them. The reasons are multi-pronged. Since education has re-routed students to college, as opposed to trades, there are fewer and fewer skilled laborers entering the work force. By 2012 more workers in these sectors will retire, leaving jobs unfilled.

Doesn’t sound so competitive, does it?

Since jobs will be unfilled because students are heading to college or dropping out of high school—leaving them totally unprepared for anything but unskilled jobs—then it’s necessary to see the numbers associated. The BLS reports that, between new job creations and retiring workers, over 56 million new and existing jobs will possibly sit vacant! Some of these will require two or four-year degrees, but plenty of them only require career or “on-the-job” training. Are we encouraging well qualified technical students? Is anyone in education brave enough to counsel students, perhaps underachieving in academics, to consider a skilled and well-paying trade as opposed to the alternative—dropping out?

Scholarships Available for Trade/Professional Programs

There has been some recent excitement in some types of career programs: cosmetology (notice increasing number of Aveda Institutes, for example), massage therapy (a high-demand skill), and HVAC, which goes hand in hand with the construction industry. All of these professional trades require a term of specialized schooling and increasing numbers of sources are funding scholarships and grants for interested students.

Lack of Vocational Choices

Once upon a time vocational schools were innately partnered with many public high schools. Students with a drive for auto mechanics, agriculture, and carpentry and construction could spend part of their high school careers learning a trade—a well-paying one, at that. In the 90s, though, in Education’s zeal to see every student remade into a robotic scholar, vocational schools were severed from the public systems and most are defunct, non-existent.

Political Waffling

In 2006, President Bush signed back into action the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act. The act is designed to allow for increased support for technical and vocational education programs. Currently there is some buzz on the Presidential campaign trail that favors cutting budget spending on technical education. So what’s it going to be?

Education’s One-Track Mind

But as much as one might try to force a square peg into a round hole, there are some students failing out of school simply because they are not the next great academicians. Twenty years ago, he or she had the option to pursue farming or auto repair or welding or computer repair and networking versus so called college prep, but most have no such choice. A growing chorus of career counselors and educators is brave enough at least to suggest we explore steering some students into trade schools versus four-year liberal arts colleges, inspire them to success as opposed to failure. In fact, in surveys, some high school drop-outs cite “boredom” and lack of challenge as significant factors in their decisions to part ways with academia.

Maybe if some of these students had had options for careers, they might have felt less pressure to vacate a one-track system.

In some cases students may have options for scholarship funds to vocational schools—like the state of Kansas Vocational Scholarship—but without the proper guidance in high school many will not likely find these sources on their own.

The New Innovators—Trade and Technical Students Will Drive Economic Growth

If innovation and entrepreneurship will be key to worker success in the future, as many predict, then students with the hutzpah to step off the beaten path and machete a pathway to a vocational or technical career will be the most successful among the innovators and entrepreneurs. God knows they will have to be their own best advocates—no one else is at the helm.

The Undercurrent in Undergraduate Education

As exciting as college prep can be, there is an alarming undercurrent that threatens almost half the population of incoming freshman—attrition. How do colleges and universities keep disillusioned students from dropping out?

The number of college freshman dropouts is typically cited between 1 in 4 or 1 in 5, with some sources positing arguments that nearly half of all college students fail to graduate. Surveys of high school students show no lack of interest for a college degree, in fact 95% of high school students when asked about college indicated a “very strong desire” to complete a degree program.¹ If only a fraction of those respondents actually earns a degree, then what happened to change their attitude and/or desire?

A complex array of contributory factors may be to blame, and a growing stable of remedies offered for their cure. But what are the fundamental causal factors of college freshmen attrition and how can they be more directly halted?

High School Grads Poorly Prepared for Campus Challenges

High schools are generally motivated to make sure students go to college. The drive to go to college has little to do with the success rates of students, however. In fact, a mountain of research clearly illustrates that the motivation to excel in college has little to do with the reality of contemporary campus living. The real meat of the drop out problem is the academic preparation, or lack thereof, that students receive prior to arrival on campus.

High School Seniors that “Blow Off” School Likely to Suffer on Campus

A common practice among high school seniors is to take that last year as easy as possible, blow it off, waste it in easy courses. Perhaps this worked, once upon a time, but today’s high school senior slumming it his or her last year is doing more harm than good, report most studies.² College advisers these days urge high school seniors to avoid “resting on their laurels,” and instead spend their senior year immersed in courses that pose academic challenge. This is the best method for college prep, say administrators. A Department of Education study proved the importance of academic challenge in regards to college performance:

“…the academic intensity of a student’s high school course work was the top factor influencing whether students earned a college degree — more than family income, high school grades, ethnicity or test scores.”³

Even for students that work very hard and then take it easy their final year of high school the odds are not so good. This is a wasted year, time in which every bit of a student’s good work can be undone. Given the fact that studies show students lose learned knowledge over the course of a summer break, it’s understandable how they could become quite academically bankrupt, after a full year of cushy coursework and time off from serious studies. Their GPAs are still high, but academic agility is low.

High School Students Fail New College Admissions Standards

College admissions standards have also become a major hurdle to clear for students. Add on a “lost” year of academics and students that for all intents and purposes should be college-ready, are unable to make the academic cut. Colorado State University system’s administrators decided, out of sheer necessity, to ease new admissions requirements for incoming freshman in the Fall of 2007, or risk losing about 20% of their incoming freshman class.⁴

Why the Strong Desire to Go to College?

Problem: 95% of high school students expect to earn a college degree and indicate a strong desire for the same, but, regardless, more and more incoming college freshman are disastrously unprepared and unmotivated to achieve that goal. What, then, drives them in herds onto America’s campuses every fall?

Those same student respondents that expressed the “of course” attitudes about college, also responded that their primary motivators for pursuing college were: good job, good salary.⁵ Somewhere between the illusion of the American Dream and a Bachelors degree lies the truth. Do students simply expect to earn a degree with little work? It makes sense that students whose educational experiences up through secondary school have been somewhat boring, unchallenging and downright lackluster, may expect that their college experience will be similar. Given this illusion, then of course, most students see a college degree in their future, and are justifiably caught very off guard when their first semester of college rolls around and kicks them squarely between the eyes.

What High-Performing High Schools Know That Others Don’t

Samples of select high school teaching methods and policies, chosen for their success rates with college-ready students, reveal fundamental strategies that consistently nurture college campus-ready high school students:

• High quality, experienced, and flexible teachers.
• Teachers capable of evaluating the teaching-learning paradigm and prepared to adjust techniques given the results.
• Auxiliary mentors, tutors, and after school study assistance, available and engaged.
• Advanced college preparatory coursework “beyond state and district standards.”⁶

Any suggestion from naysayers that these methods would fail in certain high schools is moot– these methods belong to and were observed in practice in a handful of “high-performing” schools in high minority, high poverty areas. Which means, essentially, that if these methods work to develop the skills of high school students in disadvantaged schools, they should work in almost any high school in America. Furthermore, the study that distilled these findings was ultimately presented as a primer for education lawmakers.⁷

Some Students Face Deeper Challenges on Campus

Academic shortcomings notwithstanding, there are student populations that statistically struggle even harder.

Why First Generation Students Face Further Adversity

First-generation college students, especially minorities, face challenges stemming first and foremost from lack of familial support. In fact, the majority of ethnic minority students rate “parental influence” as a number one factor in their “educational choices.”⁸ This is not to say that parents do not want a college education for their children, but parents without experience of academic life beyond high school are less prepared to provide the emotional and psychological support and motivation necessary to keep their first-in-family student on campus. These types of students may also feel disenfranchised from higher education, and out of place with students whose families take college as a matter of course.

Male Freshman May Struggle with College Structure

Males are, on the average, less agile than their female counterparts when it comes to standardizing their on-campus lives, including organizational skills, prioritization and time management, and defining successful study habits and methods. Course assignments tend to fall behind and concrete goals are elusive. When these factors fall apart or are non-existent, males may be unable to remain academically buoyant, further supporting the alarming statistics: for every 100 women that graduate college, only 73 men will do the same.⁹

If so many college freshmen are surprised by the rigors of college academics—in combination with the traditional transition to campus life—that they are at risk for dropping out, then what’s being done to change the freshman experience?

Since America’s high schools are failing to adequately renovate curriculum or recruit (and pay for) the type of teachers necessary to maintain a high-performing program, then it must become the responsibility of colleges and universities to provide the necessary student support.

Freshman Survival: Retention Programs Stem Anxiety

Some college and university administrators are quite concerned that the drop out rate among college freshman is their responsibility. In response, retention programs have begun to spring up. Whether grassroots, campus-created, or pre-packaged Freshmen Survival courses administered by professional educational coaches, retention programs essentially guide students with bumpy campus transitions and connect them to the resources—academic, social, religious, medical, financial—they will need to succeed on campus.

Preparedness for college life goes well beyond the pale of sheer academics. Fueling the need for transition programs. High school students are equally unprepared for the responsibilities of a more “adult” world. Common challenges that await freshman on traditional college campuses:

• Financial matters
• Study and time management
• Personal organization and prioritization

“Give Them Time, They’ll Find Their Way Around”

Students most likely to drop out do so before they reach their sophomore year. Some leave for holiday breaks, Spring Breaks, and summer vacation, and never return, some with little indication they are leaving. The general excitement about college quickly wanes, but many administrators still believe much of the work is done once kids are on campus. As bright an idea as retention programs seem, they are only being used on a fraction of America’s campuses—29%.¹⁰

Factors in College Retention: What Programs Can Be Put in Place to Help Students?

Over the last few years college administrators, as well as students, have tackled the issues inherent to student retention. A large number of colleges and universities of all kinds, collectively assigned the following practices as primary in retention programs:¹¹

• Freshman seminars and courses.
• Academic assistance, from mentors and tutors to remedial courses.
• Available advisors willing to engage with students and offer sooner-than-later guidance on academic goals.

Alternative indicators suggest that there are other factors that make a difference in student engagement and transition:

• Evidence suggests that students with campus-based jobs are less likely to drop out. Perhaps they are more disciplined with study skills and time management.¹²
• Remediation programs, or high school level courses that help bring students up to speed with essential freshman courses. Remedial coursework remains popular in community college systems, a controversial issue in higher education, but possibly a strong reason why an increasing number of students are opting for 2+2 programs, or community college to four-year transfer programs. Some supporters of remedial programs insist the concept must be accepted among four-year colleges, as well, to stem the dropout rate or discourage transfers to community colleges.¹³
• Available advisers are seen by students as “concerned person[s] in the campus community” able to interact and connect with freshman. Student responses have suggested this type of “quality interaction” may be one of the simplest solutions for new students away from home for the first time and feeling lost in the shuffle.¹⁴

Retention Tools

Colleges and universities unable to design and develop their own retention programs may utilize pre-packaged programs or resources from a number of providers:

• Of the 29% of schools that have retention programs, 13¹⁵ so far participate in the “Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year.” Policy Center on the First Year of College administers this program with a mission to inspire college and university campuses to become “engaging” environments for first year students. With tools provided through the Foundations of Excellence program, institutions may conduct careful self-assessment of all aspects of campus life, including “policies and practices.” Eventually changes are developed—the outcome, a totally synthesized campus that embraces first year students and their experiences, instead of excluding and isolating.
• The National Resource Center for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition provides written materials, seminars, conferences, and networking opportunities for institutions interested in creating a “first year experience” worth hanging around to savor. The Center is best known for its University 101 course, an innovative and very successful program that guides new students in their shift to campus life.
• The Center for the Study of College Student Retention provides a stable of resources for institutions. Administrators have access to research specific to the issues, as well as a general guide designed to lead any institution through development of a retention program.

High Dollar Freshman “Coaches” Hit a Mother Lode

Plenty of lip service is paid to for-profit “coaching” services prior to college—professional assistance with admissions forms, guidance during college and financial aid processes, as well as scholarship and grant assistance. But some colleges and universities are paying top dollar for another kind of coaching service—retention coaches.

First year coaches function as a freshman’s guardian angel; they provide motivation when students feel down, guidance in mapping academic goals, and offer tips and advice for improving study habits, managing time, coexisting with roommates, and building successful relationships with campus faculty and advisers.¹⁶

A mere handful of student coaching businesses exist, but plenty more are sure to follow—the money making potential is great and this segment of the education market, so far untapped. But with service fees of “$800 to $1,400 per student”¹⁷, what colleges and universities are paying? Apparently, plenty.

Freshman Attrition: No Easy Answer

Given the disparity of issues facing contemporary college freshmen, it’s clear there is no one easy answer to halt freshman dropouts. Students begin their college careers with little understanding of the impending rigors. Apparently high schools, save for a few high-performers, dish up less than desirable college preparatory curriculum. Admission to a college would also seem to validate a students’ academic record, but this is misleading, as well.

Retention programs are likely to continue spreading among college campuses; they must. Sources suggest that the federal government may soon challenge higher education on the dropout issue, perhaps with fines for high numbers of students that fail to make it to graduation.

First year on campus, given all the factors at work, is a tricky balancing act. Groundwork for first year transitions must be built. On the other end of the spectrum, is it just a dream that U.S. high school education will make the sweeping changes necessary to lead kids to college level academics; to inspire them as opposed to bore them?

¹ National Freshman Attitudes Report, Noel-Levitz, 2007, accessed August 30, 2007,

² Perez, Gayle, “Educators Support Temporary Lower Admissions Standards,” August 17, 2007, accessed August 27, 2007, http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1187335298/6.

³ “Study: One in Five Drop Out of College Before Sophomore Year,” Albany Democrat-Herald, February 21, 2006, accessed August 27, 2007, http://www.democratherald.com/articles/2006/02/21/news/oregon/state03.txt

⁴ “Study: One in Five Drop Out of College Before Sophomore Year,” Albany Democrat-Herald, February 21, 2006, accessed August 27, 2007, http://www.democratherald.com/articles/2006/02/21/news/oregon/state03.txt

⁵ National Freshman Attitudes Report, Noel-Levitz.

⁶ “Preparing All High School Students for College and Work: What High-Performing Schools are Teaching,” ACT, February 23, 2005, accessed August 30, 2007, http://www.act.org/news/releases/2005/2-23-05.html .

⁷ Implications for Policymakers, ACT, 2005, accessed August 30, 2007, http://www.act.org/path/policy/pdf/success_implications.pdf.

⁸ Szelenyi, Katalin, “Minority Student Retention and Academic Achievement in Community Colleges,” 2004, accessed August 29, 2007, http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-4/minority.html .

⁹ National Freshman Attitudes Report, Noel-Levitz.

¹⁰ Draeger, Justin, “An Examination of First-Year College Students,” NASFAA, 2007, accessed August 26, 2007, http://www.nasfaa.org/publications/2007/examinationoffirst-yearcollegestudents.html .

¹¹ Wesley Habley, Randy McClanahan, What Works in Student Retention? All Survey Colleges, ACT, 2004, accessed August 30, 2007, http://www.act.org/path/postsec/droptables/pdf/AllColleges.pdf .

¹² Cermak, Katherine, “On-Campus Employment as a Factor of Student Retention and Graduation,” DePaul University, February 19, 2004, accessed August 26, 2007, http://oipr.depaul.edu/open/gradereten/oce.asp .

¹³ Gehrman, Elizabeth, “What Makes Kids Drop Out of College?” Harvard University Gazette, May 4, 2006, accessed August 26, 2007, http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/05.04/13-dropout.html

¹⁴ “Many U.S. Colleges Overlooking a Potential Cure for College Dropouts,” ACT News, June 23, 2004, accessed August 26, 2007, http://www.act.org/news/releases/2004/6-23-04.html .

¹⁵ “MSU Fights to Retain Freshman Students,” KFYR-TV, August 21, 2007, accessed August 26, 2007, http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=9751 .

¹⁶ DeBare, Ilana, “Executive Style Coaches Put College Students on Track to Success,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 19, 2007, accessed August 26, 2007, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/19/BU2QRJB29.DTL .

¹⁷ DeBare, “Executive Style Coaches Put College Students on Track to Success.”

Students: it Just Won’t Stop

State college tuitions are going up. So scream a disturbing number of news headlines. In Tennessee, the state community college system is boosting the tuition by a little over $130 dollars per person. Last year tuition within the state was raised, too, about 4 percent, in contrast to this newest increase of 6 percent. What are the major reasons for the hike? To “expand enrollment and educate more Tennesseans.” Are that many more students actually being educated, and at what price? The price is about 94 percent higher than it was just half a dozen years ago, argue residents. This shocking up-shot in state tuition is markedly out of step with workers’ wages and other quality of life metrics.

In Michigan, lawmakers have yet to balance their budget and right now it looks as though tuition will again go up. Governor Granholm rallies against the potential tuition crisis; she measures it against her term so far—it’s gone up “37-percent since she took office.”

New Hampshire is kicking up state college tuition, as well. Surprisingly enough, though, the biggest increase is being leveled at in-state students. State residents will pay 7 percent more for their state college education in 2008. Out of state students will only pay 5.2 percent more for their education. What do NH lawmakers contend are the primary reasons? First, money asked for from the government never panned out; a bigger state investment in low-income students has cost big; and then there are heady operating costs (maintenance, fuel for heating and cooling, and construction and repair materials).

Oklahoma is facing its own state tuition hike of over 8 percent (!). Critics of the hikes have leveled criticism at the state board of regents, which now governs the state higher education system. Some critics of the agency, claim things were better when the state legislature made the decisions.

While some of these tuition rises are typical, some critics fear the loss of middle-income students at state colleges, or an even bigger debt problem for new grads. Connecticut Governor, Jodi Rell, recently made a tough political decision—to deny state tuition to illegal immigrants. This move, a controversial one among Hispanic constituents, nevertheless was made with legal state residents in mind. Handing out discounted tuition to illegal students could cost the state millions, and in turn drive the cost of an affordable education too far afield for the average state resident.

To Do List: Get a 529 Savings Account

With all this talk about tuition hikes and no end in sight, maybe it’s advisable to renew chatter about the advantages to state-managed 529 College Savings Plans. These pre-tax savings accounts feature some very attractive incentives in over half the states that offer them. North Dakota just joined the ranks of those governments that will kick in $300 grants for low-income residents that open up 529 accounts.

Start saving early—who knows where states’ tuition could be in another decade or so. Click through the associated section of our site if you would like to find background information about your state’s scholarship, grant, and loan programs.

Recently the Supreme Court has settled a large number of cases with 5 to 4 votes divided on ideological lines. Today they decided the outcome of a lawsuit filed by a group of Seattle parents called the Parents Involved in Community Schools, which aimed to stop pushing desegregation by lessening the extent race places in admissions programs.

This new decision does not overtly support segregation, or discrimination, but the view of the outcome depends largely on your political views. Some liberals believe that this will push economic discrimination. Here is the liberal view from a WSJ article

Justice Breyer, in his dissent, said the high court is undermining the landmark school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education. Reading vast parts of his dissent from the bench, Justice Breyer offered a scathing criticism of the four justices who would have found the admissions policies unconstitutional.

“It reverses course and reaches the wrong conclusion,” Justice Breyer wrote. “It distorts precedent, it misapplies the relevant constitutional principles, it announces legal rules that will obstruct efforts by state and local governments to deal effectively with the growing resegregation of public schools.”

And, in some cases, people claiming to be conservative are already quoting Martin Luther King’s I have a Dream

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Think Progress cited a study which shows that desegregation was the most effective way to close the gap. When courts determine laws based on their ideological lines and rewrite history with a stroke of a pen the fruits from years of struggle are lost. Since there were 5 conservatives on the Supreme Court bench they got their way – right or wrong. Over time, if we continue to move in this direction, perhaps college financial aid opportunities may also shift.

America has mastered the master-planned city concept. Outdoor mall areas seem more like small cosmopolitan enclaves. Why not college campuses?

A new canned urban is about to be sold to prospective students and other demographics that fit the mold.

Pre-Packaged Urban

More colleges and universities than you might think are ready to break ground on their wide open spaces. Where once “bucolic” pastures lay, mixed-use areas, micro-urban hubs, and trendy apartments and condos will now spring forth. The focus is multifarious—present college students with the amenities they require, i.e. coffee shop, late night eats, funky shops, and general 24/7 buzz. At the same time those laying the plans are building to attract an older, adult crowd that will be an instrumental piece in the so-called buzz.

The New York Times (“Rural Colleges Seek New Edge and Urbanize,” Finder) emphasizes that so far the redesign trend is peculiar among “rural” colleges or those with “vast tracts of unused land.” Specifically the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, a town really only on the map for its campus-presence, University of Notre Dame, and Hendrix College in Arkansas, among a few others are those institutions with blueprints on their board tables.

Cosmopolitan Draw

Remote institutions have been wringing their hands over the increasing lack, even active loss, of students. Once upon a time suburban students sought out a smaller, more serene campus; but trends have sharply reversed:

“Students graduating from high school these days seem particularly attracted to urban settings….Many come from the suburbs… students crave the kind of vitality you have in an urban space.’”

While the trend might currently fill a student gap on so-called rural campuses, it’s destined to take off in untold directions.

Market for the Adult Learner

If it sounds as if these smaller colleges are ready to draw larger numbers of students, you might be surprised, as well. Purposes are mixed: most don’t intend to build a larger student presence, just shore up the census they already enjoy, even if it’s with new adult learners, those beyond the age of 25, those who will live and work in the new communities. The possibilities among the adult learning set are vast as far as interest AND profitability go. Adults on a small campus may now be less intimidated when it comes to attending a course or pursuing a degree they had formerly put off.

If You Build It They Will Come

Designed for “global living,” the new college campus will likely have a deeper impact than is perhaps expected. Yes, the initial intent is to create 24/7 communities, a collective buzz to sell to the prospective student. But chances are the spread will not stop there. Developers are too greedy to sit back and let Hampshire College, let’s say, have its own “urban” heyday.

When you set out to create urban, sow the seeds, no matter how quaint and pre-packaged, doesn’t it make sense that more of the same will follow? Hopefully the communities attached to such campuses are prepared to check possibly unchecked sprawl, but then again, some people like that.

If you haven’t been paying attention, Affirmative Action is under fire in the college/university realm. At the epicenter is Michigan, which has recently passed a proposition—a.k.a. the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative,—a la California’s Proposition 209 passed in 1996. California’s landmark law made it illegal for state colleges and universities, as well as any other public institution, to consider college admissions and financial aid on the basis of gender, color, race, creed or nationality.

But for the last few decades that is exactly how colleges and universities have diversified. The last decade itself saw scads of science, engineering and technology (SET) scholarships targeted specifically and unabashedly to minorities and women. If you listen to such watch-dog organizations as the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) then you will likely be influenced to believe that higher education is now turned on its ear racially. Others argue for the gender side—white males are a minority on college campuses, thanks to years of preferential scholarships for minorities and women.

Yes, it’s one big messy Pandora’s Box and everyone has a gripe.

How We Do “Race-Blind”?

“Race-blind” is the new buzzword in college admissions. But the issue encompasses gender as well. For college students all this political rhetoric and positioning portends a muddle of scholarship and financial aid shifts, including careful rewording of applications and criteria and selection rationale. But will it change anything, really?

The New York Times (Colleges Regroup After Voters Ban Race Preferences, Lewin) today suggests that colleges and universities en masse will scramble to find their way around the issues, alter application criteria to include more ambiguous terms all the while staying ON race:

“At Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, a new admissions policy, without mentioning race, allows officials to consider factors like living on an Indian reservation or in mostly black Detroit, or overcoming discrimination or prejudice.”

Popular Vote—Who’s Popular?

Michigan’s Proposition 2, it’s noted, was passed by a “popular vote” of 52 to 48, “despite strong opposition from government, business, labor, education and religious leaders.” Since the issue now polarizes voters, and it’s unclear how many of those are college students registered to vote, the question becomes WHO exactly is getting out the vote?

If you’re looking at colleges, especially public, this will likely affect you, regardless of your color, race, creed or sex. And the issue is becoming pervasive:

“Both defenders and opponents of affirmative action say the lesson of last fall’s campaign in Michigan…is that such initiatives can succeed almost anywhere.”

It would be interesting if the demographics of the vote in Michigan were available; for instance, how many African American, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians, and women voted for the measure? Better yet, how telling it might be to actually see the numbers of registered college voters that participated. Because once all is said and done this may be THE minority group we’re talking about.

Even though the CEO and others may argue that race is sucking the life out of college admissions and financial aid, there are just as many others that argue killing Affirmative Action will assuredly set off a juggernaut of racial inequality on campuses across the U.S. How do they suppose that?

Race-Blind Undoes Diversity Measures

Follow-up to the California Proposition 209 and similar measures in Texas have proven the theory. UCLA’s numbers on Blacks, Hispanics and Asians entering next gen classes have been incrementally dropping since 209 was passed. In fact, according to the NYT Black freshmen at UCLA are at a “30-year low.” Texas universities revealed similar scores, which subsequently impelled officials to once again include race in the admissions criteria for public universities.

Since it seems that nationwide campus diversity will continue to be a bugaboo for institutions regardless of the “popular vote,” which I’d argue is largely post-college, what can be done to maintain fairness and diversity?

Wayne State University in Detroit set one of its law professors on the problem. His job was to develop a workable plan that jumps through Michigan’s new legal measures, while at the same time it discreetly circumnavigates the brouhaha. Carefully worded language and rephrased criteria that summarily avoid the word “race,” instead troll for students based on:

“…first in the family to go to college or graduate school; having overcome substantial obstacles, including prejudice and discrimination; being multilingual; and residence abroad, in Detroit or on an Indian reservation.”

New Age of Scholarships and Financial Aid

Yes, there are changes afoot, but how drastically they will change is hard to say. Colleges and universities know they must find a way to stay the course with diversity measures at the same time they must respect the law. In the future you will find that your “disadvantage,” whatever it may be, must be approached from a more subtle aspect. Students who mention race, gender and any other Affirmative Action-related labels and terms may be pushed aside in the name of the law.

CNN has reported on a recent survey in which it seems a surprising sample of college students prove their “first choice” was just too expensive.

Over 270,000 students were surveyed for the annual UCLA Higher Education Research Institute poll. This perennial poll is a tool that’s been useful over the years for underscoring current collegiate tides and emerging trends. This newest current is fomented by the fact that college costs continue to rise faster than other costs in life:

“Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose more than 6 percent last year to $4,836, and prices are up 35 percent over the last five years…”

A few days ago, we noted the latest interest cuts accorded to big student loan providers in the realm of federal loans, all in the name of making college more affordable. A White House statement associated with the cuts called on colleges and universities to take their responsibility to heart for the unchecked tuition costs. These additional findings will, of course, continue to sharpen the criticism of college pricing.

Savvy Shoppers

Think you are the only one to be concerned about first-choice costs? Get this: nearly one third of the close to 50% who’d gotten into their first choice, ended up at a second, third or fourth choice due to cost issues.

“ The survey found 32.7 percent of freshmen were attending college somewhere besides their first choice — the highest percentage since 1988 and the second-highest ever.”

College students are among the newest savvy shoppers: many pick the top schools, and for the most part get accepted. And like smart shoppers, they opt for the deal at the store down the street, where the item is similar, but far more equitably priced. Is there simply a satisfaction in knowing you “made it” into your top pick?

Might the degree and overall experience at Number 2 or 3 be just as valuable as the one turned up at Number 1?

“Many students at second- or third-choice schools flourish, and eventually decide it was the best place all along.”

“Survey Says…”

Because the survey question about “first choice” was new this year, evidence of any trend is still to be collected. Guess we’ll wait patiently for UCLA’s future surveys before we have any conclusive trends taking shape.

Maybe we’ve become a nation very much at home negotiating and haggling for our big purchases, including cars and our flea market finds. Now, according to a recent New York Times article, “More Please,” by Eric Dash, more and more folks are of the idea that colleges are up for haggling as well. Business savvy negotiations are cleverly being pushed upon admissions counselors so applicants can position themselves to earn better scholarship and grants packages.

Negotiation Not Publicly Encouraged

While the process has been welcomed at a few universities, it remains distasteful and discouraged at most others, “at least publicly.” In fact, even consider bargaining for your college funding and you may just shut yourself out altogether. But while colleges and universities want to be perceived as subscribing to the ideal, there must be “someone out there…negotiating:”

“Most financial aid officials will reconsider your package, in what’s called a professional judgment review, if you have new financial information or expect unusual circumstances…”

Don’t be misled by this information. Even if you hear that others are able to muscle their way to a bigger purse of college aid. Still “only 2 percent” of colleges or universities actually budged when pitted against a competitor’s package.

Hearing May be the Only Way to a Negotiation

If you really think you want to give the process a try, experts suggest you try the hearing approach. Pursue the angle that you would prefer this institution to the other, but because of financial circumstances you will be forced to consider the other offer. “Then ask if the college would reconsider its offer.” Do not play The Godfather role. There is no documentation of a college that is receptive to those “who try and bully their way to more financial aid.” Right now any negotiation is played successfully only with finesse and very carefully worded appeals.

Go for Scholarships and Other Perks

In fact, according to some financial aid officers, schools are quite willing to rework the numbers for their merit scholarships, which are offered by almost every college and university. This may be your only “in” as far as negotiations. University of Virginia admissions officers regret the loss of “students last year to competing colleges that assured perks…” With that in mind you might begin to see some changes slowly, but surely creep into the college and university admissions process, making the process even more challenging and misunderstood.

Old School

During a recent Congressional hearing a number of education specialists testified to the general confusion the eight-page Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) spawns each academic year, reported the Des Moines Register in an article this morning, “College Aid a Long Form Away.” Not only this, but the entire federal approval process was designed over 30 years ago and the majority of the information the current form requires could ideally be accessed through various other online government agencies, that is if THEY were all on board with the internet age.

Almost every college-bound kid, along with their parent or guardian, needs to file a FAFSA, that’s if they want any form of government financial aid. Right now the government requires college financial aid offices to audit a certain percentage of the forms, by requesting random applicants attach copies of their tax and income forms. This, experts agree, gobbles up even more chunks of time that could be better spent.

Currently the confusion is so rampant and the document so “intimidating” that most student loan providers and college financial aid offices tutor and advise FAFSA applicants so forms are filled out correctly.

Slowly, but surely, progress is kicking in. According to the recent Summary of FAFSA Statistics posted by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, “[n]inety-four percent (over 8.5 million) of the filers submitted the FAFSA electronically.” This is a nine percent increase from 2005’s stats.

New School

One recommendation, from Laurie Wolf, Executive Dean of Student Services for Des Moines Community College, is to “simplify the process and speed it up by electronically linking FAFSA to databanks of other government agencies. For instance, income tax information could be linked to IRS information, while pertinent information from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or criminal justice systems, also could be electronically sluiced into FAFSA.”

While we wait another millennium for this level of government integration, financial aid experts from colleges and student loan providers make FAFSA debunking part of their annual ritual, a costly way to pick up where governmental red tape leaves off.