Universities Weblog

College decisions are right around the corner. If you're thinking about spending a couple of years at a community college and then transferring to a four-year institution, you'll have plenty of company. But most who try this route fail.

According to a recent study called the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, many students attend community colleges part-time, meander through their studies while holding jobs, hop from one college to another, encounter financial difficulties, and never complete even the associate's degree. So are community colleges still gateways to universities (assuming they ever were)? Apparently not.

Here are a few other findings, as cited in USA Today:

– 45% [of community college students] are the first in their families to attend college.
– 60% work more than 20 hours a week.
– 35% of community college students say they began their studies at another college.
– 84% never participate in extracurricular activities.
– 53% want to transfer to a four-year college or university.
– 45% predict financial burdens will lead them to drop out.

So if you're headed for a community college next fall with dreams of transitioning seamlessly into a four-year institution, best of luck. Just keep in mind you'll be swimming upstream.

Despite "winning" last year's Supreme Court battle on affirmative action, the University of Michigan has experienced a drop in black enrollment. And it's not alone in that regard.

Across the country, public flagship universities such as Penn State, Minnesota and UNC have seen similar drops. The reasons? Some speculate that African American students have been put off by affirmative action wars, and now consider these institutions potentially hostile environments. Others point to the low number of blacks who score high on the SATs, which results in a "bidding war" for those students, many of whom choose private institutions offering scholarship aid. Still others claim that public universities are pricing themselves beyond what most middle- and lower-class families can afford, and that this phenomenon disproportionately affects minorities.

But no one is absolutely certain why blacks (and not Hispanics) are enrolling at decreasing rates, especially at institutions that try mightily to recruit them. We'll see if this trend continues over the next few years.

Our long national nightmare seems to be over: Graduating college students will once again find jobs.

Spurred by a growing economy, recruiters are returning to campus looking for talent. Over the past few years, seniors have faced an unaccommodating market, requiring them to take lower-paying jobs or to mortgage the future with a stint in grad school. Now, finally, things are looking up.

Take, for example, this bit from a recent AP story:

College hiring is expected to increase 13 percent over last year, according to a new survey from National Association of Colleges and Employers. Seven out of 10 employers said they expected to increase salary offers to new college grads, according to the survey released late last week, with an average increase of 3.7 percent.

Four in five employers called the job market for new grads good, very good or excellent; last year fewer than two in five did.

According to the article, the hot fields are accounting, finance, nursing and computer science. But even liberal arts grads should fare better. So says Wayne Wallace, director of the career resource center at the University of Florida, in the piece. "'Any major' is the No. 1 demand," he says. "We have plenty of employers that say if you are a college grad and want to … learn our business, we will take you from that point on."

Should make for a happier spring.

So you're planning your college admissions strategy, trying to package yourself the best way possible. Good grades? Check. Decent SATs? Check. Recommendations? Yup. Community service? Uh….

Well, don't sweat it. It seems volunteer activities don't rank high among admissions officials' priorities, and they tend to ignore those who "dabble" in it, anyway.

Here's an excerpt from a New York Times article:

About 7 percent of colleges place considerable importance on extracurricular activities, including volunteer work, a 2003 report by the National association for College Admission Counseling says. In contrast, 23 percent place a high value on the written essay and 18 percent on a teacher's recommendation letter.

That does not mean that counselors are advising students to ditch volunteer activities, but many say they are warning them not to bother if their goal is strictly to appear well rounded on applications.It's probably better, then, to spend that time studying or (heaven forbid) not doing anything. Relaxation has its place too.

Although the U.S. is home to many of the most recognizable business schools in the world, many Americans are opting instead for an M.B.A. on European soil. As a result, applications to European B-schools have soared.

What are the advantages? Students cite the global focus of the programs, the opportunity to study with people from different cultures, the chance to learn new languages, the (sometimes) lower cost, and the ability to complete a degree in one year.

On the downside, university officials warn that quality varies considerably, so students should stick with accredited schools.

So if you think an international M.B.A. will give you a more exotic resume, a possible advantage with jobs requiring a global outlook, then perhaps you should venture abroad. For starters, check out options in England, France and Spain. But don't assume you can't gain that global perspective right here in the U.S. of A.

(Source: University of Virginia)Public universities have morphed from state funded to state assisted to state located. Take the University of Virginia, for example. Think Richmond pours resources into its shining jewel, one of the most respected schools in America? Guess again—the state funds a measly 8 percent of the university's operating budget. So in essence, UVA functions primarily as a private institution.

Now some publics are considering cutting ties with their state governments altogether. They seek the autonomy to set their own tuition levels, regulate their own spending policies and admit exactly whom they want. To again use UVA as an example, the state froze tuition increases four of the past eight years, all while reducing its own revenue stream. That sound fair? So the onus shifts to the universities, requiring them to raise more private money and secure grants.

And raise tuition, thereby passing the costs on to students and families. That's the real fear among opponents of privatization, that top public universities will become even more elitist than they already are, in the process squeezing out the middle and lower classes. Some flagship publics now resemble privates in terms of student affluence, and tuition hikes could further widen the gap.

Nobody's found an easy solution to this mess.

Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard, recently spoke at a celebration of the College Board's 50th anniversary. He discussed America's rising economic inequality and the role education may or may not play in reducing the gap.

Summers cited several stats to bolster his case, including the following:

– In the United States today, a student from the top income quartile is more than six times as likely as a student from the bottom income quartile to graduate with a B.A. within five years of leaving high school.
– At selective institutions, only 10 percent come from the bottom half of the income scale. In other words, children whose families are in the lower half of the American income distribution are underrepresented by 80 percent.
– Only 5 percent of students scoring above 1200 [on the SAT] are from the bottom income quintile. In the highest range of scores (1550 and above), there were only 175 low-income students based on self-reported data, compared to nearly 2,000 high-income students.Among his recommendations, Summers claims "we" should "reduce the distorting impact of the vast industry of test prep courses, essay writing consultants, and private college counselors that has sprung up to help students with means navigate and even manipulate the college admissions process, thereby magnifying the underlying inequalities in educational opportunity and academic preparation." I agree, though no one polices that activity, so there's no "we" to control it. It's simply a market-driven reality.

And notably, Summers defends the SAT, saying that it is "predictive of academic performance in college and of subsequent career success." Of course he would defend it in this venue: The College Board owns the SAT.

Nonetheless, the speech is well worth a read.

Business schools always talk about modifying the curriculum to better reflect business practices. Now they seem to be adapting to another phenomenon: changing student populations.

Enrollment in full-time MBA programs has leveled off, but part-time and executive programs are flourishing. As such, students are bringing more experience into the classroom, and many are already managers. They want to study the finer aspects of management—leadership, ethics, strategic thinking—and are less concerned with the nuts and bolts of business.

"The MBA programs are so standardized and designed for people without experience that they have nothing to do with management," says Henry Mintzberg, professor of management studies at McGill University, as reported in a Christian Science Monitor article. "They're about business, but they don't turn anyone into a leader or manager."

Some might question if any academic program can instill leadership qualities. But nonetheless, the point here is that B-schools continue to change and adapt to market pressures, and persist in playing servant to two primary masters: prospective students and the businesses that hire their graduates.