Category: Higher Education/System

The University of Wisconsin System will encourage students to graduate faster as a way to save money as some campuses seek tuition increases to improve their quality, its president said Friday. President Kevin Reilly told the Board of Regents that 29 percent of students graduate within four years, and increasing that rate would allow students to enter the work force faster and free up spots for others. A student can save $15,000 or more in tuition and room and board by graduating in four years instead of five, Reilly said, and that can be accomplished by taking 15 or more credits per semester.

For students concerned about affording college, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly has a piece of advice: Graduate in four years. Only about 29 percent of UW System students graduate in four years. But a student who takes 15 credits per semester and graduates in four years will save about 20 percent in tuition and fees – or the equivalent of around $14,000 – compared to a student who takes 12 credits per semester and graduates in five years.

University of Wisconsin-Madison student leaders say the first year of a four-year tuition increase is already leading to improvements in academics and student services. Associated Students of Madison leaders said Thursday the $250 increase this year for in-state undergraduates was paying for additional faculty to teach in-demand courses in subjects ranging from chemistry to political science.

Students who are applying for graduate school may feel more pressure after 2011, when the Educational Testing Service will revitalize the old Graduate Record Exam with the largest update in 59 years.

The UW System is joining about two-dozen colleges and universities in pledging to improve graduation rates for two specific groups of students. They want to cut achievement gaps for low-income and students of color in half by 2015.A new report this week shows that collectively, 45 percent of such students earn a bachelorâ??s degree within six years, compared to 57 percent for other students enrolled at the schools. (Second item.)

How worried should we be that the debt load for college graduates keeps increasing — while job options keep decreasing?

According to this report recently released by the Project on Student Debt, the average debt for graduating seniors with loans rose from $18,650 in 2004 to $23,200 in 2008.

In Wisconsin, 62 percent of the students graduating from a public, four-year institution had debt. And of those, the average debt was $19,789. Of those who graduated from a private, nonprofit institution in Wisconsin, 70 percent left school with debt. Of those, the average debt was $26,802.

Four years after Francisco Espinosa took out student loans to attend an Arizona trade school, he had not advanced beyond his job as an airline ramp agent in Phoenix and faced $13,250 in student debt. He declared bankruptcy, and a judge allowed him to pay off part of the loan and wipe out the remaining debt. Tuesday, Supreme Court justices considered Espinosaâ??s case in a closely watched dispute that could affect debtors and creditors nationwide when student loans cannot be repaid.

In the past 30 years, coed college dormitories have gone from rare to routine, with nearly all students who live on campus now sharing housing with members of the opposite sex. But a study out today suggests that the shift may have had unintended results. It finds that students in coed dorms are far more likely than those in single-sex dorms to drink alcohol regularly â?? and nearly 2½ times as likely to drink to excess on a weekly basis.

A new report says the University of Wisconsin-Madison ranks among the top ten schools for student participation in international study programs. The Institute of International Education report says Wisconsin’s flagship university ranked sixth among U.S. research institutions in overall study abroad participation with 2,216 participants in the 2007-2008 academic year.

Within the past year, Madison Area Technical College has experienced unprecedented enrollment, adopted a new nickname and logo and unveiled a $350 million facilities plan. Transfer agreements between the college and four-year institutions such as UW-Madison have gone from only a handful five years ago to hundreds now, said Terry Webb, vice president of learner success.

Good grief! UW-Madison is not going to use the Kindle e-book because visually-impaired people can’t find the button that makes the device read to them? Pray tell: Where is the button on a regular book they can push to get that weighty hunk of paper and cardboard to read to them?

The number of U.S. college students studying abroad â?? and the number of international students in the USA â?? are at all-time highs, show data released today.But those increases do not reflect the impact of the recent economic downturn. Theyâ??re based on the latest data available, which date back two years.

And while the report suggests that numbers of U.S. students abroad will grow more despite the recession, the outlook is mixed on whether international growth will continue, says the two-part report, Open Doors 2009, published by the non-profit Institute for International Education, which tracks international enrollments for the State Department.

The number of foreign students attending American colleges hit an all-time high in 2008, capping three consecutive years of vigorous growth, according to new data from the Institute of International Education.Some 671,616 international students attended U.S. institutions in 2008-9, an increase of almost 8 percent from a year earlier. First-time-student enrollments grew even more robustly, by nearly 16 percent.

American universities are enrolling a new wave of Chinese undergraduates, according to the annual Open Doors report. While India was, for the eighth consecutive year, the leading country of origin for international students â?? sending 103,260 students, a 9 percent increase over the previous year â?? China is rapidly catching up, sending 98,510 last year, a 21 percent increase.

Before choosing the career path he’s on today, Jonathan Reid, a doctoral student in history at UW-Madison, considered attending seminary. Many aspects of a religious life still appeal to him, including living among others of faith. So for his campus residence, he chose Pres House, a 51-unit apartment building opened in 2007 by the Presbyterian student ministry on campus. The building’s owners sought to create a place where residents could explore their faith and grow spiritually – a concept that has drawn national attention for its novelty.

UW-Madison students are paying $250 more this year for the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, a program that Chancellor Biddy Martin pitched last year to improve undergraduate education. So what are they paying for? The university has also already spent some of the funding to alleviate bottlenecks in popular courses this fall. In total, the university has allocated about $3.8 million out of $10 million available. Almost $2 million of it is for new faculty, said Aaron Brower, vice provost for teaching and learning.

Itâ??s called the “turkey drop” â?? when first-year college students break up with their high school sweethearts over the Thanksgiving holiday. But thereâ??s a risk that freshmen might break up with their college, too.

Amazon’s Kindle can read books aloud, but if you’re blind it can be difficult to turn that function on without help. Now two universities say they will shun the device until Amazon changes the setup. The National Federation of the Blind planned to announce Wednesday that the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University won’t consider big rollouts of the electronic reading device unless Amazon makes it more accessible to visually impaired students.

The Chronicle of Higher Education posed an interesting question with this article headlined “Are Too Many Students Going to College?”

The piece opens with the following paragraph: “With student debt rising and more of those enrolled failing to graduate in four years, there is a growing sentiment that college may not be the best option for all students.

At the same time, President Obama has called on every American to receive at least one year of higher education or vocational training. Behind the rhetoric lies disagreement over a series of issues: which students are most likely to succeed in college; what kind of college they should attend; whether the individual or society benefits more from postsecondary education; and whether college is worth the high cost and likely long-term debt.”

The new website TodaysGIBill.org was unveiled Monday in an effort to help military service members and veterans pick a college and receive their benefits under the new Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Teachers say failure is something so-called Gen Y students want to hear more about. “They are very concerned with failure,” said Rich Honack, a lecturer at Northwestern Universityâ??s Kellogg School of Management and expert in generational cultures. Current 20-somethings “have always succeeded. Theyâ??ve always gotten trophies when they go out for a sports team. Theyâ??ve always gotten â??Aâ??s. Their parents have told them be the best and protected them from failure.”