Archive for the 'Minority Students' Category

A new Education Trust report published this past week criticizes for-profit institutions for their low graduation rates, expensive tuition costs, and aggressive recruiting tactics. The authors reveal in the report that students at for-profit schools borrow a large amount of money for their education, yet only a small percentage earn a “marketable degree or credential.”

The most alarming statistic revealed in the report states that a mere 22 percent of students at for-profit schools graduate within six years, compared to 55 percent of students at public institutions, and 65 percent of students at private non-profit institutions.

The high cost of a low education

Tuition at for-profit institutions costs approximately $25,000 a year, but with a 22 percent chance of graduating, the costs can be devastating for students or even graduates.

Only 4 percent of students who earn bachelor’s degrees at for-profit schools graduate debt-free, compared to 38 percent of students at public institutions, and 28 percent of students at private non-profit institutions.

Default rates at for-profit institutions are also twice as high as the default rates at public and private non-profit colleges, with for-profit institutions representing 43 percent of all federal student loan defaults.

“[The] Students’ inability to pay back the debt strongly suggests that the credentials students are earning at these schools, with the intention of preparing themselves for lucrative jobs and careers, may not be worth the cost,” the authors write.

Approximately 10 percent of all students who study at for-profit institutions end up defaulting on their federal student loans within two years, and 19 percent of students default within three years. As a result, many of these students and/or graduates may have their wages “garnished,” their income tax refunds intercepted, or even their Social Security payments withheld.

Are for-profit schools failing low-income and minority students?

For-profit institutions have always stated that their recruitment of low-income and minority students is “heralded as a sign of its commitment to underserved populations.” But the authors of the report state that low-income and minority students, (who are pursuing college degrees in record numbers), are targeted and then “recruited aggressively” by for-profit colleges. (Low-income students represent 50 percent of the student population at for-profit schools, while minority students make up 37 percent).

The authors also explained that low-income and minority students are more likely to take out student loans at for-profit colleges than at any other institution.

“For-profit colleges argue that they are models of access and efficiency in America’s overburdened higher education system,” write the authors. “But instead of providing a solid pathway to the middle class, they are paving a path into the subbasement of the American economy. They enroll students in high-cost degree programs that have little chance of leading to high paying careers, and saddle the most vulnerable students with more debt than they could reasonably manage to pay off, even if they do graduate.”

Click here to read the report:

“Subprime Opportunity: The Unfulfilled Promises of For-Profit Colleges and Universities“

It appears that those auto dealers have been right all along.

A new study reveals the car a man drives is critical to getting a second look from a member of the opposite sex. It must be noted that this is a UK study and well, we all know that those European’s are just a wee bit different.

But the results are unequivocal. What a fella’ drives really does matter.

Car Gets a Lady’s Motor Running

A team of university researchers showed a substantial number of women pictures of a male model. In one instance, the model was pictured in a silver Bentley Continental, a luxury car that would set a car buyer back more than a hundred grand.

In the second instance, he was pictured in a “battered Ford Fiesta.”

The 120 women, aged 21 to 40, were asked to rate the man’s attractiveness. In a sign that women rated the motor over the man, they selected the model when he was seated in the fancy Bentley.

One of the researchers, Dr. Michael Dunn of the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff, put it this way: women will rate a man higher if he happens to be driving a “fancy motor rather than in an old banger”.

Lady Gets the Male Motor Running

Dunn went on to repeat the experiment in reverse, picturing a female model in the Bentley and the Fiesta. For the male assessors, they were not inclined to select the women in one setting over the other.

Instead, the men proved more interested in the woman, specifically her face and figure. Status had no bearing on the views of the men, a fact that could prove very interesting as women become more independent and wealthy.

Dunn noted this in both instances, this was an evolutionary and not a social trait. He stated:

“There’s a wide variety of evidence that does suggest that females are more influenced by wealth and status. It’s not a recent phenomenon. It is very ingrained and the evidence is not just anecdotal.

“Females focus on questions of wealth and status because if the male possesses those, that male would be in a better condition to rear healthy offspring.”

On the flip side, those same evolutionary trends caused men to view women in terms of reproductive attractiveness. Wealth or status simply does not enter into the equation.

Next Study

Sorry ladies, but not only does Dunn suggest these basic human traits will not change in the future, most will interpret these results as evidence that women are shallower than men.

In an effort to take the idea one step further, Dunn plans to follow up with another status-type study to determine what happens when a middle-aged man chooses to purchase one of the more expensive cars. Specifically, Dunn would like to determine if the high-status car can actually overcome the current negative impact of age on attractiveness.

The question: can the right car overcome a receding hairline and a corresponding growing waistline.