According to data compiled by Inside Higher Ed, the number of public four-year universities in America declined by 2.3 percent from 2019-20 to 2020-21 and the number of private nonprofit four-year colleges fell 0.8. During those years, the number of community colleges dropped by 2.7 percent. Read more
“My older son, who is graduating from an elite college this year, was most looking for high status in the colleges he put on his list five years ago. Now our daughter, who is just as accomplished academically, is thinking about costs and the careers that colleges can prepare her for. It looks like a new era of practicality has dawned.”
– Jaime, a mother who lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia
If you are a teacher, a parent or a high school student, chances are you know about the familiar Common Application (“Common App”) that was first offered in 1975. It’s a great program that has allowed tens of thousands of students to apply to multiple colleges of their choice by submitting just one application.
Which colleges accept the Common App? You can find a recently updated list HERE.
Information teachers, parents and college counselors should know . . .
In years past, colleges often required incoming students to take certain remedial courses in math, science, or other subjects before becoming fully enrolled. Often, students took those courses at community colleges, or in special programs the colleges offered, before becoming fully enrolled students. Read more
If you are a teacher, a parent, or a student, you have heard the news that starting in 2024, the on-paper-SAT will be phased out and all American students will only take the test online.
Despite a list of FAQs about the SAT that the College Board has made available online, we still do not know the answers to questions about the new test. Here are some important questions that seem to still be unanswered: Read more
USA Facts is an organization that compiles statistics about dozens of areas of American life: employment, the pandemic, climate change, and more. For educators, a visit to the USA Facts page of statistics on American education is a real eye-opener, full of surprises and facts that provide a newly informed perspective. Read more
If you are a high school teacher or guidance counselor, you know that a growing number of American colleges and universities have temporarily or permanently ended the requirement for applicants to take the SAT or ACT exam.
Will the test requirement for applicants go away permanently? No one knows for certain, but it could. In addition to the growing list of colleges that do not require the tests, the organizations that administer them are losing money. Read more
As you know, a major scandal involving college admissions has been making headlines since 2019. A number of very wealthy parents – some of whom are celebrities – paid vast sums of money to a college admissions counselor of sorts, who then pulled all kinds of strings to get their kids into elite institutions that included USC, Stanford, Yale, and others.
How did that counselor help those students get into top colleges? In some cases, he found ways to assure that they would earn top scores on standardized tests. (In one case, he allegedly stated that one student required special accommodations on a test, then he had that student take the test in a private location where he could answer questions for her.) Read more
The idea of transferring from one college to another has always been on students’ minds, and chances are it always will. Students who are just starting their first college year think, “Well, if things don’t work out at the college I have chosen, I can always transfer.” And students who are in their second, third or later years of college think of transferring too, for many reasons. Some would like to transfer to a college that offers stronger instruction in their chosen major. Others transfer for financial reasons. The list of reasons is a large and as varied as students are. Read more
“What this means is that the American Dream for many low-income students has been deferred, perhaps permanently. Young people not born to well-off families will not surpass their parents in income and home ownership, they will not surge into promising careers, and they will not trust the American system to do right by them.”
– Source: “New Data: College Enrollment for Low-Income High School Grads Plunged by 29% During the Pandemic” by Richard Whitmire, the 73million.org blog, December 10, 2020 Read more