MSNBC reports that the cost of going to a 4 year public school went up an average of $344 this past year. Tuition costs increases exceeded inflation by 2.4%. This past year is caps the most expensive 5 year span in the history of tracking rising college costs:

The news that price hikes are getting smaller is tempered by the fact that this decade has been a period of an extraordinary increases in college costs. Published prices are up 35 percent in five years — the largest increase of any five-year period in the 30 years covered the report.

The article also states that grants and other forms of tuition assistance are failing to keep pace with rising cost of going to school. If you are looking to save a bit of money at school you may want to take a look at our recent 118 Ways to Save Money in College.

I first learned about AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) when I read an article in The Record, a publication of North Jersey Media Group. AVID is a college prep program that begins in 5th grade and carries the student through high school and for 95% of AVID graduates, college.

Selection Criteria

AVID isn’t for all students though. This is a program geared toward the average student, making B’s, C’s or D’s who has the potential to succeed, but for one reason or another isn’t. Next, the student has to have the desire to go to college and be willing to work hard to get there. Finally, AVID is for the underserved, for example, those who belong to a low-income household or perhaps will be the first in their family to attend college.

AVID students not only take college prep courses, they also have an AVID elective that teaches them about time management, organizational skills and they participate in motivational activities that helps to raise their self-images. AVID students learn to be leaders and they learn study skills, analytical skills and critical thinking.

Numbers

You’ll find the AVID program in 2,300 middle and high schools. More than 115,000 students in 36 states and 15 countries are being served by the AVID. Since its inception in 1980, more than 40,000 students have graduated from the AVID program and 95% have gone on to college, with 75% of those students getting their education from a four year college.

The numbers are impressive, the students more so. Students who are benefiting from one teacher’s idea after court-ordered desegregation took place in San Diego more than 25 years ago.

To learn more about AVID, visit their website at www.avidonline.org.

On our site Scholarships Around the US we cover just about any kind of scholarship you can find for any major or student type you can think up. Along the way we’ve noticed how many emphasize academic excellence even before a student hits the college runway.

There’s a curious mix of factors going into the current college admissions brew. And today’s Associated Press story “Ending Admissions Madness” strikes a chord. While the focus of the article is high-achievers like those prepping themselves for an MIT career, nevertheless the all around demand for competitive young academicians, super-charged by the drive of many parents, has kids showing all the signs associated with a host of maladies from depression to fatigue, anxiety and serious self esteem issues.

Our culture is well beyond the generation of parents who did not go to college for the most part and were just happy to have their kids accepted and perform based on the “all we expect is your best” pat on the back. Now, most parents have college degrees themselves and have experienced first hand the competition in the open water of the professional world. Many think their personal reps rest on their laurels as well as those of their college-bound scholars.

And right along with them are college admissions requirements that have continued to up the ante in the unceasing search for the most accomplished kids. And as pointed out in the “Ending Admissions Madness” story, “kids” is the operative term.

…many students in general continue to struggle with high-risk drinking, bring more psychological issues and needs with them to campus and are ’desperately seeking balance’ amidst the busyness of their lives…

So says Alicia Chavez, Dean of Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has also said that in her career as Dean more and more students are equating any grade less than an “A” with failure, only indicating distressing concepts of students’ personal expectations and lack of flexibility in regards to their academic achievements.

An even more distressing offshoot of this problem is the growing number of women on campus suffering from unexpected and shocking levels of low self-esteem. The problem, according to many is the trend to expect more academically from women. In efforts to correct the decrease in males on campuses, more women are being rejected, an over-correction some say is having dangerous repercussions. Those women that make “the cut” are way above the bar in academics and extracurricular activities and sporting a cartload of personal problems that would curl your hair.

Deleware is now seeing the summer program called, “Let’s Get Ready”, which originated in New York and now has a presence in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachussetts and Rhode Island.

The program is for low-imcome or ‘first generation’ college hopefuls who are currently juniors or seniors in high school. The class consists of the students being taught by college students about preparing for college, choosing the right one, and finding financial aid assistance. Having college students as tutors brings about the advantage of having recently gone through the college admissions process. The students can also see themselves in college and can relate to the tutors since they are so close in age.

Let’s Get Ready boasts that its students, on average, increase their SAT scores by 103 points, and that 93 percent of participants go directly into college after high school.

For more information, see the Let’s Get Ready website.

Article from DelewareOnline.