Posts Tagged ‘college costs’

The State of the Union, The State of Your Education

Categories: Student News

Following tonight’s  State of the Union, President Obama will begin a series of speaking events across the country, traveling to Iowa, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado tomorrow and Thursday before arriving in Michigan on Thursday evening at the University of Michigan.

We need not skirt the issue that this is an election year, and of course the President must do what he must do to secure votes–especially in Michigan–but considering his speaking events concern higher education, well, then they should be considered.

So, what is the President going to chirp about?

Well, we’ll hear about it in the SOTU, but if we were to guess what Obama was going to say about education, it would probably be along the lines of affordability. He’s been hitting the issue fairly hard lately, especially since his election campaign is focusing on a middle-class message. In fact, Obama released a webcast last week that hinted at the SOTU’s content. Parts of that speech suggested that it would modeled on December’s Kansas speech that focused on “getting people the education and training they need so they’re ready to take on jobs of today and tomorrow.”

You can see in our previous posts that Obama has been revving up his focus on college costs. For instance, in December he met with college leaders to discuss tuition affordability. Why is this such an important issue? Well, on top of it being an election year, college tuition is rising faster than inflation! With budget and funding cuts, public universities are losing their funding flexibility. Many public universities are looking for out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition, to balance the books. On top of this, student-loan debt is estimated to be $1 trillion.

So, sshhyeeeah. President Obama has a lot of ground to cover in terms of higher education. And if he can resolve even a portion of the issues at hand…well, I’m sure some college-bound students would be happy to extend their vote to him.

What’s your take on the affordability issues? If you were in power, how would you solve the problem?

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President Obama Meets with College Leaders Over Tuition Affordability

Categories: Student News

Don’t worry bros, President Obama has got your backs. Just like you, Mr. President is totally bewildered by college costs and wants to figure out a way to make tuition more affordable for normal people.

To help get to the bottom of this predicament, or at least crack the surface, the president met privately with university presidents and chancellors at the White House this Monday. Wouldn’t you be super pumped if the president just invited you over to talk IN THE WHITE HOUSE?

So, the meeting occurred, and according the The Chronicle of Higher Education, the point of the gathering was to figure out ways to bring down “overall campus costs” across the United States. What a lovely idea!

According to Inside Higher Ed, the people present at the meeting were…

3 state university systems: Nancy Zimpher, chancellor of the State University of New York; Francisco Cigarroa, chancellor of the University of Texas System; and William E. (Brit) Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland.

3 from public universities:  Holden Thorp, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Freeman Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland at Baltimore County; and F. King Alexander, president of California State University at Long Beach.

1 from a community college: Thomas Snyder, president of Ivy Tech Community College, the Indiana community college system.

3 private nonprofit college presidents: Jared L. Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University; Larry Shinn, president of the famously tuition-free Berea College; and Robert Mendenhall, president of Western Governors University, whose model of fully online, competency-based education has been embraced by numerous states in recent months..

The meeting was said to be very open and engaging. Different parties brought up various desires such as one to see more minority students pursue science, technology, engineering and math disciplines, to which, I can only imagine President Obama responded, “Then let’s BRING DOWN THE COST.”

Here here!

What would you have said at the meeting if you were present? Do you have a solution to college costs?

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15 Colleges and Universities with Best Return on Investment

Categories: Student News

In light of the current financial atmosphere and increasing cost of college tuition, a lot of people are wondering if it’s even worth it to go into debt for a college education. Well, fortunately for those who do wind up paying mind-blowingly large heaps of money to pay for their higher education costs, research generally shows that they will earn millions more than peers with no college education over the course of a lifetime. So–good news–there’s definitely a return of investment for most college degrees.

According the Daily Beast‘s college rankings, degrees from certain colleges are worth even more in terms of return on investment (ROI). But, this ROI ranking doesn’t just take into account money, although it’s a big part of it. This ranking takes into account nostalgia and good memories from college, aka: happiness.

So,the Daily Beast’s list of schools with “Best Return on Investment” is based on satisfaction of alumni with college experience along with donations to school and Payscale.com’s ranking the colleges worth the investment.

Here are the top 15 schools:

1. Princeton University

2. Amherst College

3. Dartmouth College 

4. Williams College

5. College of Holy Cross

6. University of Notre Dame

7. Georgia Institute of Technology

8. Middlebury College 

9. Harvey Mudd College

10. California Institute of Technology

11. Carleton College

12. Colgate University

13. Davidson College

14. University of Virginia

15. Union College

5 Unforeseen Expenses Not Included in Your College Tuition

scholarshipsIllustrationIconCollege tuition is crazy expensive. The solution?  Scholarships. There are tons of scholarships you can apply for even today, this minute, now!, you could’ve already done it–and, if you want, here are some easy-to-apply-to scholarships with deadlines approaching.

So yes, tuition can be pretty steep, but there are ways around it if you stay ahead of the game and keep your eyes peeled for scholarship opportunities.

On the other hand, there are some costs to college that are a bit unexpected, and we don’t want them to catch you off guard. So here are five unforeseen expenses that you might have to dole out  some cash for that are not included in your college tuition:

1. Tutoring
You are a very intelligent person, but your physics class is much more difficult than you could have imagined. You totally thought you owned that exam, but when you got your grade back, you realized you need to work a little harder. So you visited the physics resource center, you went to your professor’s office hours, you met up with friends in the class, and the concepts were just not hitting home. Sometimes, the many resources your school provides for you won’t cut it–you need a couple one-on-one sessions with an expert who can give you all their attention and focus on what you’re missing.

Yes, tutoring can be a bit pricey, but failing a class can cost you much more.

2. Labs and materials
This mostly goes for art and design students who can’t simply use a pen and paper to do their work. If you’re an art and design student, you might have to pay lab fees (that goes for science students as well), and you’ll probably have to purchase your materials for your art, which can add up. Try to budget in your lab and materials costs before the semester starts so you don’t overdraw your bank account on canvases and oil paints.

3. Printing
It depends on your school, but usually your college or university will give you an allotted number of pages you can print for free (or that’s already included in your tuition), and then it will start charging you. Be careful for this because many professors will have you print off your own course packs which may be hundreds of pages.

4. Healthcare
Being a student is hard. You’ll study hard. Work hard. And probably party hard. With that entire combination, there’s no doubt you’ll ultimately wind up with some sort of illness. Just be weary; a trip to your university care center isn’t free of charge. Don’t be surprised when you get a bill for the tests you took. Also, don’t be taking CAT scans just for fun. Well, you probably knew that.

5. Computers and computer emergencies
Most college students have their own computers. It’s an expensive tool, but it’s also incredibly helpful–you can do you work on your own schedule, not the computer lab’s.

So there’s the cost of the actual computer, but there’s also the chance that your computer might need to be fixed. Too often it all begins with an ill-positioned cup of coffee, a clumsy roommate, a banana slip on the floor, and boom! Your keyboard is drenched in hot coffee and making weird noises. Or, maybe you downloaded a shady file. There are so many reasons your computer can go rogue–like, maybe it’s one of those computers from the future that was sent back in time to take over the human race–but it’s one of the most important tools you have with you at college, so you’re probably going to put the money down to fix it.

What are some unforeseen costs you experience during college? Leave a comment!

10 Techy Ways to Cut College Costs

Save money in collegeYou know it, they know it, we all know it, college is expensive. On top of your huge tuition bill, you have to pay for books, food and a place to sleep at night–unless you prefer curling up in a library cubicle, which might involve the campus police and then things might get complicated.

So, here’s some techy savvy advice on ways to cut the costs of college from iGeneration’s Zach Whittaker:

Invest in a smartphone with a good data plan so not only your social life can fall into one device, but also hardware features too, like a decent camera and a music player.

E-books are often cheaper than their paper equivalent Don’t forget second hand books on Amazon are also a way to find extremely cheap books at a fraction of the price.

Download large content on campus where bandwidth restrictions are usually non-existent. It’s very easy to bust that monthly download limit at home, especially with fellow students sharing your house.

Take advantage of free Wi-Fi when you can to alleviate the ‘pressure’ on your data plan. But if you are using someones free wireless network in a cafe or coffee house, get a brew out of politeness.

Television on the web might be cheaper than you think. Even catching up on on-demand services instead of paying for the TV licence in the UK would already save out $200.

And to save on money before you get to college or when you’re already enrolled in college, make sure to find scholarships to help you with college tuition!

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