Student Loan Blog : classes

Community Colleges Eliminate Friday Classes to Help Students Cut Gas Costs

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:54:00 GMT

Several two-year schools with large numbers of commuter students have reduced the length of their academic week from five days to four in an effort to reduce their students’ commute and help them save money on gas.

Making class sessions longer, these schools have been able to cancel classes one day a week, mostly opting for Fridays. This move has allowed their students, who are typically low-income and often work part-time jobs or support families while going to school, to eliminate one round-trip drive out of their weekly schedules.

Meridian Community College in Mississippi recently decided to extend its four-day week — already planned for the summer schedule — into the fall semester as well, according to a story in Inside Higher Ed (“Dropping a Day to Save on Gas,” May 19, 2008).

MCC president Scott Elliot told Inside Higher Ed that 90 percent of Meridian’s students drive themselves to class, and over half of those students commute an average of 30 miles round trip. By his initial estimates, based on earlier gas prices, which have continued to rise, these students will save at least $200 a semester on gas under the new class schedule.

The school plans to try the four-day-week schedule for at least one academic year before evaluating its effectiveness with focus groups and surveys.

Share this post: email this | del.icio.us | reddit

College Board to Eliminate Four AP Programs by Next School Year

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:26:00 GMT

The College Board’s decision to drop four Advanced Placement classes and subject exams by the end of the 2008–09 academic year is expected to affect about 12,500 students and 2,500 teachers worldwide.

The AP program allows high school students to take college-level courses at their high schools. AP students can earn college credit at most colleges and universities by scoring high enough on national AP tests given at the end of each academic year.

The AP program currently offers 37 courses and exams across 22 subject areas, but officials of the nonprofit College Board have announced plans to eliminate Italian, Latin literature, French literature and computer science AB from the AP program.

Lack of Student Participation Spurs Cuts

The decision came after officials discovered only a fraction of underrepresented minority students take AP exams in those subject areas, writes Education Week reporter Scott Cech (“College Board Intends to Drop AP Programs in Four Subjects,” April 4, 2008).

Italian, which officials say might still be saved if the program receives outside funding, was 400 percent over budget due to the small number of students taking the exams.

“For us, [the question is], are we able to achieve our mission of reaching a broader range of students?” said Trevor Packer, College Board vice president of the AP program.

Budgets of Remaining AP Programs Expected to Grow

Packer said the decision to eliminate the four programs was not connected to the results of a recently released national quality-control audit intended to gauge whether the rapid expansion of the college-preparatory program over the past decade had led to a decline in the rigor for which it has been known.

Of the 146,671 AP courses submitted for review nationwide, 136,853 — 93 percent — were approved, reports The Washington Post (“Nearly All Area AP Teachers Get Passing Grades in Audit,” March 25, 2008).

The 33 remaining AP programs are expected to have their budgets increased.

“We don’t want any AP subject area to be deemed a so-called second-class citizen,” Packer said. “Our top funding requirement should be … professional development and instructional materials.”

Share this post: email this | del.icio.us | reddit

Student-Ranked Top Colleges and Other Tools to Help You Find the Right Fit

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:38:00 GMT

If you’re in high school and looking ahead to college, you probably already know all about U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges,” which ranks colleges and universities around the country. These rankings can give you a great place to start, but if your college search revolves entirely around this list, you’re throwing yourself at the mercy of only one corporation’s definition of “best.”

The “best” school for a potential geneticist may have a stellar biosciences faculty but no intramural sports—if you’re an aspiring genetic engineer who unwinds with regular competitive basketball games, you might want to ask yourself if you would be happy there for four or more years.

If rankings are important to you in making your college decision, consider expanding your search to include other “best” lists that go beyond just academics, that might be able to give you a sense of the campus, the town, the personality of the students, and of whether or not you’ll fit in and enjoy your life there.

The Princeton Review Best Colleges: Students Rate Their Own Campuses

Find out what current students think about their own schools and get various bests (and worsts) for every personality type with The Princeton Review’s Best 366 Colleges. The 2008 edition of The Princeton Review’s annual rankings surveys more than 120,000 students on 366 campuses.

You won’t find any “top schools” overall here. As The Princeton Review explains in one of their answers to an FAQ, “We don’t believe that any one school is the best overall. … Some colleges in our book may be ideal for some students but wrong for others, depending on their interests and needs.”

Instead, the survey results serve up the top 20 schools in each of 62 categories like:

Best Campus Food: Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)
Is It Food?: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, NY)
Dorms Like Palaces: Smith College (Northampton, MA)
Dorms Like Dungeons: U.S. Coast Guard Academy (New London, CT)
Best Classroom Experience: Reed College (Portland, OR)
Most Long Lines and Red Tape: Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, AL)
Biggest Frat & Sorority Scene: DePauw University (Greencastle, IN)
Students Most Nostalgic for Ronald Reagan: Warren Wilson College (Asheville, NC)
Students Most Nostalgic for Bill Clinton: Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA)
Most Diverse Student Body: Temple University (Philadelphia)
Most Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians: Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)
Best College Radio Station: St. Bonaventure University (St. Bonaventure, NY)
Where Intercollegiate Sports Are Unpopular or Nonexistent: New College of Florida (Sarasota, FL)
Where Students Pack the Stadiums: University of Maryland (College Park, MD)

You can find the complete Princeton Review student rankings free online, or buy a copy of the book (list price $21.95). In addition to the rankings and two-page profiles on each of the 366 schools, the book version has a new section with lists of “Great Colleges for 15 of the Most Popular College Majors.”

Other Online Resources and Rankings

For more student rankings and other “best” categories, check out these sites:

Campus Dirt’s Top Ten Lists: Toughest Classes, Easiest Freshman Parking, Most “Wired” Campus, Most Options for Late-Night Food, Where Lectures Are Related to the “Real World,” …
Students Review: University & College Rankings: Top Engineering Schools, Top Schools for Smart People, Top Creative Schools, Top Ivies, Biggest Reputation, …
College Rankings by College Prowler: Grades schools A through F on things like parking, nightlife, weather, guys, girls, campus strictness, and local atmosphere
The Templeton Guide to Colleges That Encourage Character Development: 405 exemplary programs in 10 categories like Volunteer Service, Academic Honesty, Spiritual Growth, and Civic Education

First-Hand Accounts and Campus Tours

Besides doing your reading and online research, ask around. Your friends may know former students who can give you a first-hand opinion of the school you’re interested in.

One of the best ways to get a feel for a campus and the student life is to visit. If you can’t afford the travel costs to check out the campus for yourself, try a virtual campus visit at CampusTours.com or College-Visits.com to get a better feel for what your college life might actually be like once you’re on campus.

Share this post: email this | del.icio.us | reddit