ARROGANT RICH - Bribing Children Into College

"How a bombshell bribery scandal illuminates the ‘corruption’ of college admissions" PBS NewsHour 3/12/2019

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SUMMARY:  Scandal has ensnared some of the nation’s top colleges, as prosecutors allege that wealthy parents conspired to help their kids cheat on college admissions tests and funnel bribes to college athletic coaches to secure admission into elite schools.  William Brangham talks to Jeffrey Selingo, who covers higher education, about the stunning charges federal prosecutors brought on Tuesday.

"Explosive cheating scandal illuminates hidden inequities of college admissions" PBS NewsHour 3/14/2019

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SUMMARY:  An explosive scandal around bribery and cheating in college admissions has prompted new questions about access, race and inequality in elite higher education.  Judy Woodruff explores some of them with Daniel Golden, senior editor at ProPublica and author of a book on the unfairness of college admissions; and Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, an organization focused on racial justice.

AMERICAN MILITARY - Experience to College Credit

I am retired Navy (22yrs), Vietnam Vet, and in my military experience was a asset.  Looks like that has changed.

"Turning soldiers into scholars by turning military experience into college credit" PBS NewsHour 10/23/2018

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SUMMARY:  Despite years leading troops and managing equipment on the front lines, soldiers returning to school may have to start from the beginning, alongside teenagers who have never held a similar level of responsibility.  Now, a new Colorado law awards college credit for military experience--and requires that the state's schools accept it.  Hari Sreenivasan reports.

Hari Sreenivasan (NewsHour):  This year, Colorado legislators embraced Pikes Peak's model by passing legislation to help all Colorado military and veteran students.

Colorado's new law says any state-funded institution has to be able to evaluate the knowledge or skills that a student might have picked up in the military.  And if that student can earn credit for it, those credits have to be transferable to every state institution.

EL SALVADOR - Factory+College Pipeline

"The factory that combines school and work to give El Salvador a brighter future" PBS NewsHour 3/5/2018

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SUMMARY:  At a garment factory that makes T-shirts bearing the logos of American universities, about a fifth of the workers at high-school dropouts.  But if they want to keep their jobs, they'll need to do something about it.  Special correspondent Fred De Sam Lazaro reports from El Salvador on the factory turned college pipeline that employs those normally left out of society, including ex-gang members.

RETHINKING COLLEGE - OnLine Graduate Programs

"How online graduate programs offer degrees at significant savings" PBS NewsHour 9/5/2017

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SUMMARY:  As technology evolves and more online graduate programs become available at a much lower cost, should we reconsider traditional higher education in a classroom setting?  Hari Sreenivasan reports on how some students earning master's degrees at Georgia Tech are paying little or nothing for online courses from a top program.

BALTIMORE - Documentary "Step"

"This Baltimore school helps girls step up for college" PBS NewsHour 8/11/2017

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SUMMARY:  "Step," a new documentary, follows students from the Baltimore Leadership School for Girls, an institution with the primary goal of 100 percent college acceptance.  But that's not their only success.  Girls at the school channel their strengths into practicing step, an artform that combines movement, percussion and more.  Members of the school explain what the program has meant to them.

NEWSHOUR'S IMHO - Following Boyfriends

"I ignored advice and followed my boyfriend to a new city after college.  Here's why" PBS NewsHour 6/16/2017

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SUMMARY:  Caroline Kitchener grew up hearing that strong women don't need to rely on a partner to have a happy and successful life.  But after graduating college, her values clashed with real life: She decided to move to a new city with her boyfriend.  Kitchener, author of "Post Grad: Five Women and Their First Year Out of College," shares her humble opinion.

COLLEGE STUDENTS 2016 - Basic Survival

"For these college students, the most difficult test may be basic survival" PBS NewsHour 10/25/2016

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SUMMARY:  The biggest challenge for these college students may not be exams or papers, but finding the means to survive.  While the University of California system has worked to bring in more first-generation and “non-traditional” students, helping them stay, succeed and meet basic needs like getting enough food requires greater investment.  Jeffrey Brown reports from Berkeley, California.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  You will probably be surprised to hear that hunger and homelessness is a growing problem for thousands of college students across the country, particularly among those who are the first in their families to pursue a degree.

This is forcing some universities to figure out new ways of keeping low-income students in school.

Jeffrey Brown has the story from the University of California, Berkeley, as part of our weekly education series 'Making the Grade.'

ANTHONY CARRASCO, Student, University of California, Berkeley:  Oh, darn.  These tortillas are not very good.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  Every Sunday night, Anthony Carrasco prepares the food he will eat for the week ahead, setting himself a quota of one meal a day.

ANTHONY CARRASCO:  I can skip breakfast, skip lunch, and even skip dinner.  And I have just saved myself close to $30 or $40.  I, like many folks, come to college to get out of poverty.  I really thought that was the end of the line when we got the admission letter.  Unfortunately, it wasn't.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Anthony is a junior at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the nation's leading public universities.  And he's the first in his family to attend college.  It was hard to get in, and now hard to stay in, but maybe not for a reason many people have considered.

ANTHONY CARRASCO:  We were expecting long nights in the libraries and tough exams; but what we're really facing is, you know, just, you know, sleepless nights worried about rent, and really distracting lecture halls when you just cannot stop thinking about food.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Today, almost a third of all students entering two- and four-year colleges are first-generation.  They're more likely to be minorities and come from low-income families.  And by the estimate of one advocacy group, more than half of them lack reliable access to food.  And that contributes to their lower graduation rates.

Many years ago, I myself was a student here at Berkeley.  I was fortunate enough to have the means so I could concentrate on my studies, my grades, and, yes, the fun side of college life.  But more and more these days, many students find they have to worry about more basic needs, including food and shelter.

A beautiful campus, world-class academics and now a new reality.

WOMAN:  Is there any stock on Friday?

MAN:  We're going to restock on Friday, so everything is going to be here on Friday.

JEFFREY BROWN:  A campus food pantry, where twice a month students can stock up on staples.  The University of California system has worked hard to bring in first-generation, low-income and what are called nontraditional students, such as veterans and those with families.  But more work is required to help these students survive and graduate.

RUBEN CANEDO, University of California Global Food Initiative:  Twenty-five bags today.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Ruben Canedo is a first-generation graduate from Berkeley.  He's now a leading advocate for student food security, and oversees the campus food pantry.

RUBEN CANEDO:  What we're doing on our campus is making sure that campus becomes basic need secure.  You have the recession, you have the increasing cost of living, and students are caught in the middle of that.

RETHINKING COLLEGE - Georgetown University & Skills-Based Boot Camps

"Giving students a leg up with job skills a resume won't show" PBS NewsHour 9/15/2016

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SUMMARY:  When applying to a job out of college, having a top-notch resume isn't enough anymore.  College graduates from top schools apply alongside dozens of similarly qualified candidates.  In light of new hiring trends, a program at Georgetown University aims to make their students the best candidates possible, by teaching them skills that will give them a leg up on the job hunt.  Hari Sreenivasan reports.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now, what specific skills employers want from college graduates, and what a college can do to prove students are ready.

Hari Sreenivasan has the story as part of our special series this week on Rethinking College.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Graduation day at Georgetown University.  It takes four years, more than $200,000, and a lot of hard work to get here.

But now more employers are asking, what does a four-year degree really mean?  What true marketable skills can new graduates offer the work force?

Georgetown University is trying to answer that question.

RANDALL BASS, Professor, Georgetown University:  We're hearing from employers, how do you differentiate between two graduates?

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Professor Randall Bass leads the college's Designing the Future Initiative.

RANDALL BASS:  If you have got a pile of 10 graduates who all have degrees from quality liberal arts schools, and they all look more or less alike in terms of their formal credentials, are there ways to differentiate them?

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Last semester, Bass and colleagues at Georgetown offered a free experimental course for students who want to further distinguish themselves.  Instead of receiving a traditional credit, students who meet the requirements are awarded a digital badge.

RANDALL BASS:  What we see in the badges is a way of trying to help students tell a story about some dimension of their learning that might otherwise be merely a line on their resume.

ERIKA COHEN-DERR, Student Engagement, Georgetown University:  It's easy with a degree to show what you have learned in biology or in business.  But it's not easy to show what you have learned in terms of leadership.

"Why high-tech boot camps are appealing to students and lenders" PBS NewsHour 9/16/2016

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SUMMARY:  To get a job with a good salary, having a college degree is increasingly vital.  But degrees are also more and more expensive, and don't guarantee job placement.  Skills-based boot camps may provide one solution, by teaching valuable skills in a short period of time.  And support for computer coding camps is flourishing, both from private investors and the government.  Hari Sreenivasan reports.

RETHINKING COLLEGE - Latino Males

"A mentoring program that aims to keep Latino males in school" PBS NewsHour 9/13/2016

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SUMMARY:  On college campuses, Latino males are perhaps the most underrepresented group.  These men are often expected to provide for their families, which can mean a choice between getting an education and getting a job.  Hari Sreenivasan reports as part of our Rethinking College series on one program that's trying to combat the issue by creating mentorship opportunities.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now to the second installment of our week-long series on ideas to transform higher education for students and provide new opportunities.

Tonight, Hari Sreenivasan reports why some Latino males are being urged to turn down a job today in favor of four years of college tomorrow.

JUAN LOPEZ, Graduate Student, University of Texas:  The series is called Rethinking College, and it's part of our weekly education coverage, Making the grade.

MAN:  If I can have the mentors on one side and the mentees on another.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Graduate student Juan Lopez wants to bring to college campuses what he sees as largely missing, Latino males.

JUAN LOPEZ:  They're not seen as people who will succeed, especially minority males of color.

I want to go to college.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  So, on this day, Lopez and undergraduates from the university of Texas at Austin are mentoring high school freshman boys as part of an initiative called Project MALES.

JUAN LOPEZ:  Undergraduates mentor high school students.  Graduate students mentor undergraduate students.

RETHINKING COLLEGE - Paul Quinn College

"One college turns its football field into a farm and sees its students transform" PBS NewsHour 9/12/2016

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SUMMARY:  At Paul Quinn College, where once there was a football field, now there's an organic farm.  It's not just a symbol of renewal for this once-struggling historically black college in Dallas; it's where students work to pay tuition.  As part of our Rethinking College series, Hari Sreenivasan explores how students learn to understand the expectations of a career while gaining a liberal arts education.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Now we begin a special week-long look at the ways that some schools, educators and leaders are trying to transform higher education.  The goal? To prepare students for the modern work force.

The series is called Rethinking College, part of PBS' Spotlight Education initiative, which features special programming examining today's challenges.

Tonight, Hari Sreenivasan visits Dallas, where an innovative college president is growing a new kind of student.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  At a Texas college, a football field that was turned into a farm.

MAN:  We need to harvest about 10 pounds of radishes.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  The Tigers of Paul Quinn College lost more football games than they won on this field.  So, nine years ago, when the historically black college on the South Side of Dallas was in financial crisis and had a 1 percent graduation rate, a new president turned everything over, including the football field.

So, did you envision this when you first saw the football field and the…

MICHAEL SORRELL, President, Paul Quinn College:  No, no.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Michael Sorrell had no experience running a college.  He had been a lawyer and White House special assistant, but he knew Paul Quinn couldn't afford a football program.

MICHAEL SORRELL:  There's more than one field of dreams, all right?  Why should we tie everyone's future to athletic success?

HARI SREENIVASAN:  He turned the football field into an organic farm that generates more than 20,000 pounds of organic vegetables every year, veggies that make it into high-end restaurants and into the Dallas Cowboys' stadium.

MICHAEL SORRELL:  I think this has saved our school.  It saved it because it changed the narrative of the institution.

GETTING THE DEGREE - Innovative Program for Poor Students

"Innovative program helps even the playing field for poor students — and boost graduation rates" PBS NewsHour 6/28/2016

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SUMMARY:  For Georgia State’s Tyler Mulvenna, a $900 grant from an innovative retention program let him live on campus, work less and do what he came to do: study.  The school, worried about abysmal graduation rates for poor students found, a full course load, commuting and holding a job was just too much for many.  The NewsHour's April Brown takes a look at the program praised by President Barack Obama.

ANGELICA SANCHEZ, Student:  Georgia State is definitely a school that I fell in love with even before I came to college.

APRIL BROWN (NewsHour):  When Angelica Sanchez was a high school senior, she knew she was going to college, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to get to Georgia State.

ANGELICA SANCHEZ:  My parents didn’t go to college, but my brother, my sister and I — we are first generation students.

APRIL BROWN:  Apart from finding the funding, Sanchez, like many other first generation college-goers, needed help navigating the new world of higher education.

ANGELICA SANCHEZ:  I was actually really worried, just because my parents are very traditional, so they don’t — and they don’t really know what college is.

APRIL BROWN:  About 10 years ago, the university realized it had a persistent achievement gap.  Many of its low-income, minority and first generation students were graduating less often and dropping out more frequently than their white counterparts.  That’s when the school started aggressively using data to find solutions.

TIM RENICK, Vice Provost:  Our overall graduation rates hovered around 30 percent, far too low.

APRIL BROWN:  Tim Renick is Vice Provost at Georgia State.

TIM RENICK:  We knew we had to change, we knew we had to serve students better, but we also knew that we didn’t have a lot of resources.  What we did have is the data.

APRIL BROWN:  They had a lot of data, and began analyzing it to figure out what was tripping up students.

TIM RENICK:  We went back, we looked at over two-and-a-half million Georgia State grades, 140,000 student records.  And what we found in the data were about 800 different things, 800 things that, in a statistically significant way, correlated to students flunking out or dropping out of Georgia State.

APRIL BROWN:  Those 800 things, from whether students register for the right classes to their grades, are monitored for every student by academic advisers like Tony Davis.

How do we know that they’re on track?

TONY DAVIS, Academic Advisor:  So, what’s happened is the department — so the nursing department in this case — has identified several key courses as marker courses, so they need to be taken within a certain time frame, and they’re looking for a minimum grade.

EDUCATION - The 'Gap Year'

"Why more teens like Malia Obama are taking a gap year" PBS NewsHour 5/2/2016

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SUMMARY:  President Barack Obama's eldest daughter Malia announced plans to take a gap year before she attends Harvard in 2017, an idea that is taking hold among more and more students.  In 2015, 30-40,000 students took a year off after graduating high school, a 20 percent jump.  William Brangham talks to Joe O'Shea of Florida State University for more on the broader trend of deferring college.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (NewsHour):  It's estimated that, last year in the U.S., 30,000 to 40,000 students tried out a gap year.  And that's a 20 percent jump from the previous year.

So, what are they, why the growing interest?

To help fill in the picture, I'm joined from Boston by Joe O'Shea.  He's the author of “Gap Year: How Delaying College Changes People in Ways the World Needs.”  He also directs the Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement at Florida State University.

So, Joe, welcome.

JOSEPH O'SHEA, Florida State University:  Thank you.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  I think a lot of our viewers have this stereotype that a gap year is for rich kids to put on a backpack and travel around Europe and find themselves.  I know that's not totally true, so, tell us, what is a gap year?

JOSEPH O'SHEA:  Sure.

There are so many misconceptions about what a gap year is, and some people think it's just waiting around in your home community, maybe sitting on your parents' couch, taking a year off from school.

But we think of gap year as something very different, a very powerful educational experience.  It's a structured, deliberate and purposeful experience, in which students challenge themselves outside their comfort zones.  Often it involves traveling or working or interning, sometimes overseas, sometimes domestically, but it's designed as an experience that accelerates their personal growth and prepares them for college.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  So, could you give me some examples of actual gap year activities that kids are doing now?

JOSEPH O'SHEA:  Sure.

So, City Year, for instance, one in the U.S. in which students — or young people work in inner-city schools, is a powerful one, and popular one.  Many students go overseas.  An organization Global Citizen Year, for instance, or Omprakash work with local community-based organizations in developing communities around the world.

And students will intern there.  Maybe they're doing something with young people or a community role or public health kind of work.  But it really runs the spectrum.

RELATED:

"5 things to know about a gap year, when students take time off" by Hope Yen (AP), PBS NewsHour 5/2/2016

American Gap Association

LIFE AFTER COLLEGE - Key Decisions

"These key decisions can shape your post-college destiny" PBS NewsHour 4/26/2016

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SUMMARY:  This time of year, high school seniors and their families are thinking about where they’ll be headed to college in the fall.  In “There Is Life After College,” author Jeffrey Selingo examines how one’s post-college years are influenced by crucial choices made before students even enroll.  Selingo sits down with William Brangham for a conversation.

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA:  No matter what path any of us on the stage took to our success, we all know that completing your education past high school is the most important thing you can do to reach your dreams.  That’s why we’re here.  So, while you all might be in awe of us, let me tell you, we are in awe of you.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (NewsHour):  High schoolers and their parents are obviously focused on what school they will go to, but a new book argues there are more important things to consider.

The book is called “There Is Life After College.”  Jeffrey Selingo is the author.  I talked with him yesterday.

Jeff, if I can discern a basic thesis from you book, it’s not so much where you go to college, but it’s what you do while you’re in college.  Is that right?

JEFFREY SELINGO, Author, “There Is Life After College”:  That’s right.

It used to be as long that, as you had a bachelor’s degree from a college, any college, really, you would be golden in the job market.  It was really the way that you got jobs years ago.

But now the fact of the matter is that there’s a lot of noise around the signal of a bachelor’s degree.  So it’s really important what you do while you’re there, the experiential learning that you get, internships, projects, study abroad, and activities like that, cocurricular activities, whether it’s athletics or clubs.

And, most importantly, you don’t take on too much debt.  The more debt that you take on in college, the fewer options you have after college to take essentially any job you want anywhere in the country, which would be good for your career, and instead you’re basing your career decisions on how much money you’re going to make.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  In one of the early chapters of your book, you categorize graduates after college into three categories.

You have the sprinters, the wanderers, and the stragglers.  What do those delineations tell us about post-college life today?

COMMUNITY COLLEGE - Boosting Graduation Rates

"NYC community colleges invest in student support to boost grad rates" PBS NewsHour 4/12/2016

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SUMMARY:  Can New York City dramatically increase graduation rates at its community colleges?  That's the goal behind a support program for full-time students, which offers financial help, convenient schedules and the encouragement of an adviser.  Hari Sreenivasan reports.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The Obama administration has long touted efforts to boost college completion.  But graduation rates haven't budged.  That's why states across the country are watching an effort in New York City that promises to more than double graduation rates at community colleges.

Hari Sreenivasan went to the Bronx to see how the city's community colleges plan to do it.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Karla Ayala is in her last semester at Bronx Community College.  If everything goes as planned, she will earn her associate's degree from the City University of New York campus in five semesters, or about two years.

Only 20 percent of community college students complete a degree or certificate within three years of enrollment.  Ayala has done it despite having the types of responsibilities that derail hundreds of thousands of students every year.

KARLA AYALA, Student, Bronx Community College:  College is stressful, and then on top of it having an outside life, I have kids, I'm married, I don't have a full-time job, but yet I have a responsibility part-time at school.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  She's stayed on track with the help of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, or ASAP, The City University of New York created the wrap-around support program for full-time students on some of its seven community college campuses in 2007.

KARLA AYALA:  I did a semester without being in ASAP, and it was a little hard, because I was — in a sense, I was lost.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Ayala is up at 6:00 to get the kids ready for school and out the door by 7:30, when her husband is already at work.  ASAP pays for any tuition not covered by scholarships, which meant $2,600 a semester for Ayala.

Students also get a stipend for textbooks.  Commuting costs in a city like New York can add up and become a hurdle.  ASAP provides free monthly MetroCards for city buses and trains, which normally cost $116.  Class schedules that change every semester can derail students who have to work or care for family.  ASAP students take blocks of classes that bring them to campus at the same time every day.  That means Ayala knows she can get home to pick the kids up from school.

But the most important support has come from her adviser.

ESSAY- Low-Income Student Incentives for College?

"What can motivate low-income high school kids to apply to college?" PBS NewsHour 3/18/2016

COMMENT:   Considering the debt for college a high school student need NOT go directly to a college or can go to a 2yr community college first.  It is OK to wait until one gains more real-life experience and gets a job (especially if it is related to a carrier).

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  This month, many prospective college students are anticipating an admissions decision from their dream school.  Keith Frome, author of “How’s My Kid Doing?” has worked with high school students across the country and believes he has found the key to encouraging them to consider college, peer pressure.  Frome offers his unique take on the college application process.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now a “NewsHour” Essay.

This month, many high school seniors have either just learned, or are anxiously waiting to hear, what colleges they might have gotten into.

Education advocate Keith Frome has worked with students across the country, and believes the key to getting more kids to apply to college is peer pressure.

KEITH FROME, Author, “How’s My Kid Doing?”:  One summer weekend, I taught a small group of students from a low-income community how to write their personal statements for their college applications.

Each student would be the first in their family to apply to college, and their ability to tell their stories was going to be critical to their success.

During the three-day retreat, we used a variety of writing techniques to produce memorable, compelling and utterly authentic essays that I knew would stick in the minds of college admission officers.

Returning home, I felt quite satisfied, perhaps a little smugly so, with a job well done, and I proudly shared the compositions with my friends and family.

NEW APPROACH - The New SAT

"As the SAT evolves, so do opinions on its value" by Kenya Downs, PBS NewsHour 3/8/2016

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Thousands of high school students piled into test centers early March as the first group to take the new, revamped SAT.  The College Board, which administers the test, promises a more comprehensive, modern evaluation of potential college success.  However, as April Brown reports, this new initiative isn't without controversy and push back.  That's to be expected of a national college-readiness assessment with a unique evolution.

The SAT has a mysterious past:

According to PBS's Frontline, the early days of the SAT had little to do with college prep at all.  In fact, it was more about staffing the U.S. military with intellectually sound personnel.  The origins of the SAT date back to World War I when Robert Yerkes, an I.Q. test professional, convinced the U.S. Army to test new recruits.  Originally called Army Alpha, it was the first I.Q. test to be administered to the masses.  Yerkes' assistant, Carl Brigham, further developed Army Alpha to make it harder and eventually worked with colleges to adapt the test for all would-be college students and scholarship seekers.

So why is it mysterious?  The College Board will neither confirm nor deny this version of the SAT's origins.  Here's what their senior vice president did say:

“Well, the early days of psychometrics was certainly driven by this concept of aptitude and recognizing individuals who had the aptitude to do well.  This worked very well, particularly for those students attending secondary schools that were not well-known to colleges and universities in being able to identify students that have the potential to be successful at college.”

– James Montoya, senior vice president at College Board,

Here's where the SAT stands now:

There are many changes in the new version of the SAT, including a focus on content students are more likely to find in college and adult life.  That includes streamlined sections, a more contemporary vocabulary test and no more penalties for guessing.

Many test-prep experts say the new SAT now looks more like its competitor, the ACT, which more students have opted to take in recent years.  And it's no coincidence.  The SAT is losing market share to the ACT and has come under fire not only for its expense, but access.  One of the many criticisms of the SAT is that the test creates a disadvantage for women, minorities and the poor who are less likely to afford the costly prep courses.  The College Board aimed to tackle this by partnering with the Khan Academy, a online educational service, to offer free test-prep.

But just days before the new test was administered, several would-be test-takers were uninvited.  The College Board sent a letter to some who signed up saying they've been bumped until May.  The board cited a “new security measure,” but most of those uninvited guests are actually test-prep professionals.  Patrick Bock, a professional tutor who's taken older versions of the SAT more than a dozen times, believes it was tactical.  “They don't want really bad press from experts who understand testing,” he said.  “[Test-prep experts] skewer the tests for questions that aren't quite where they need to be.”

Does the SAT have a viable future?

Some colleges are completely opting out of the SAT and ACT as a requirement for admission altogether.  The premise isn't entirely new.  According to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, more than 850 colleges and universities nationwide are now test-optional.  Bates College first became test-optional in 1984 and Wake Forest University was the first major school to ditch test requirements in 2008.

Research has shown that standardized tests like the ACT and SAT aren't viable indicators of college readiness or success, and that going test-optional boosts student diversity.  So now more schools are following suit.  The University of Delaware announced in February that their admissions will become test-optional for in-state students beginning in the fall and George Washington University became the largest institution to jump on board last year.  Vice provost Laurie Koehler said they made the decision in order to improve diversity.  And so far it's worked:

Applications to George Washington University Since Going Test-Optional

Overall applications up 28%

Minority applicants up 30%

First-generation applicants up 35%

Male applicants up 23%

Female applicants up 32%
“We did see more than 28 percent increase in our applications,” she said.  “But what was striking was the numbers of first generation students, or underrepresented, multicultural students who submitted applications – nearly 1,100 more in each of those populations.”

The numbers are still preliminary and don't indicate how many of those new applicants were actually accepted.  Still, even with the College Board's push to improve formatting, access and affordability, a spike in diverse applicants to test-optional schools could spell trouble for the SAT and its competitor the ACT in the future.

EDUCATION - First-Generation College Applicants

"Individual coaching demystifies college for first-generation applicants" PBS NewsHour 1/12/2016

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SUMMARY:  Final deadlines for college applications are looming this week, and students who are first in their families to attend college are far less likely to have help navigating the application system.  The College Advising Corps aims to change that by recruiting college graduates to advise first-generation applicants.  Hari Sreenivasan visits two New York City high schools to see the Corps in action.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Final deadlines for college applications are looming this week, and students who are the first in their family to apply to college are the least likely to have had help navigating the complex process.

A group called the College Advising Corps is trying to turn that disparity around.  It partners with high schools and universities to recruit and pay recent college grads to advise lower-income, first-generation students on getting into college.

Hari Sreenivasan visited two New York City high schools working with the corps.

VICTORIA DEL TORO, College Advising Corps:  You bought two movie tickets.  Your friend cancels.

What would you do?

STUDENT:  I would call my other friend.

VICTORIA DEL TORO:  You would call somebody else.  What happens if that person doesn’t respond?

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Many students at Manhattan Academy for Arts and Language all still learning English.  Most of them are recent immigrants.  The idea of applying and going to college can feel totally foreign.  That’s where Victoria Del Toro comes in.

VICTORIA DEL TORO:  Are you going to lose out on that money?

STUDENTS:  No.

VICTORIA DEL TORO:  You call somebody else.  So, colleges work the same way.  So, when they e-mail you, they track who responds to what.  And they want to know that you’re responsible, right?

HARI SREENIVASAN:  This is her second full year at the school, as part of a program called College Advising Corps.

As the school’s only dedicated college counselor, her mission is to have all of the school’s nearly 400 students believe college is an option.  It’s a mission that could be challenging in most American high schools.

But, at Manhattan Academy, few have any friends or relatives who have experience with American higher education.

EDUCATION - Rethinking College

also from 'Greed Files'

"Should financial aid only go to college students in need?" PBS NewsHour 8/19/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  At many colleges and universities, merit-based scholarships are meant to attract the best and the brightest students.  But opponents say they can inadvertently end up rewarding the richest applicants.  That’s why some schools have started giving out need-based aid only.  Hari Sreenivasan explores how Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania made the jump to improve its economic diversity.

MAN:  Congratulations.

(APPLAUSE)

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Michael DiAntonio is the face of a new college bidding war.  A gifted student in high school, DiAntonio was offered thousands of dollars in merit scholarships at several universities, even though his family was wealthy enough to pay full tuition.

MAN:  Michael Anthony DiAntonio III.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

HARI SREENIVASAN:  DiAntonio turned down the scholarships and chose instead to attend Franklin & Marshall, a private college in Pennsylvania, that offered him no aid at all.  His family paid full tuition, room and board, $60,000 annually for four years.

This spring, DiAntonio graduated, and despite the high costs, he and his family say the education here received was well worth the investment.

MIKE DIANTONIO, Franklin & Marshall College Graduate:  I would say it’s worth it 100 percent.  I could really excel and push myself as hard as I could and come out of it with an amazing education.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Education experts say a growing number of colleges across the country are offering their precious scholarship money to families who can already afford it.

MICHAEL DANNENBERG, Education Reform Now:  The concept of using financial aid as bait has been increasing, bait for upper-income families.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  According to Michael Dannenberg with Education Reform Now, more affluent students means a better bottom line for schools.

MICHAEL DANNENBERG:  Colleges are kind of in a competitive market, competitive game to get high-paying students.  So they use financial aid as a tool.

Basically, a college that’s got $20,000 to give out in financial aid, so it can get four students who will pay $15,000 out of pocket, as opposed to one very needy student who can pay nothing.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  So, what could have cost the college $20,000 for one student instead earning the college $60,000.

In fact, that’s the path Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was on, until five years ago, when the school took a hard look at the low-income students they were excluding.

EDUCATION - Early College

"Does early college for high school students pave a path to graduation?" PBS NewsHour 8/18/2015

Excerpts

SUMMARY:  In a Texas border town where nearly all high school students live in poverty, the school district is trying an experiment to get more kids into college.  Instead of waiting until students graduate to enroll them in higher education, the school is pairing with a local college to offer courses for free.  Hari Sreenivasan looks at whether this method for closing the college graduation gap is working.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  When superintendent Daniel King walks the halls of his South Texas high schools…

DANIEL KING, Superintendent, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District:  How it’s going?  How are you guys doing?

HARI SREENIVASAN:  … he’s not focused on the fact that nearly all of his students live in poverty or that almost half learned English as a second language.  What King talks about almost exclusively is college.

DANIEL KING:  Have you started college classes already?

STUDENT:  Yes.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  In a district on the Mexican border where most adults have no college education, Daniel King is intent on ensuring that their children get one before they even leave high school.

DANIEL KING:  What are you going to study?

STUDENT:  In the medical field.

DANIEL KING:  In the medical field?  Any idea what yet or…

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Seven years ago, King’s district, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo, partnered with South Texas College to offer classes for free to all 8,000-plus high school students.

DANIEL KING:  It brings a lot of purpose to high school, because college becomes something concrete for them.

Are you going to have an associate degree or…

DANIEL KING:  These students have the potential to leave here with two years of college under their belt.  So, that’s a big economic savings.
-----
HARI SREENIVASAN:  So far, more than 95 percent of the students who graduated Pharr-San Juan-Alamo District with an associate’s degree have gone on to pursue their bachelor’s.

BOOK SHELF - College Degree Value

"Why getting a college degree doesn’t always pay off" PBS NewsHour 7/9/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Today college is seen as crucial for career success and prosperity.  "Will College Pay Off?" is a new book by Peter Cappelli, and the answer, he suggests, is that it depends -- on the price tag, how fast a student finishes and what job they get afterwards.  Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks to Cappelli about finding an educational path that makes financial sense.

PAUL SOLMAN (NewsHour):  Graduation day for the class of 2015 at Philadelphia Academy, a charter school in Northeast Philly.

MAN:  The greatest senior class in Philadelphia Academy history.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

PAUL SOLMAN:  Since history here only goes back 12 years, the greatest might actually be a true superlative, but this is also a fairly typical senior class in America these days with about three out of every four grads attending college in the fall.  The national average is 66 percent.

STUDENT:  I’m going to Temple University.

STUDENT:  Delaware University.

STUDENT:  Bloomsburg University.

STUDENT:  Community College Philadelphia

PAUL SOLMAN:  And since everyone knows college is crucial for career success, these kids will prosper, right?  After all, it was in the 18th century that Benjamin Franklin, who founded the University of Pennsylvania here in Philadelphia, said, an investment in education gives the best returns.

PETER CAPPELLI, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania:  You can do enormously well going to college in the U.S., the right kids going to the right college.  And you can do really poorly as well.

PAUL SOLMAN:  Peter Cappelli, a professor at Penn’s Wharton’s Business School, is the author of “Will College Pay Off?”  He says that, from a strictly economic point of view, the answer isn’t always yes.