Universities Weblog

It's always bothered me just a little when I get a credit card offer that seems to have something to do with the fact that I'm a student. I don't know the bank sending me the offer. Why do they know so much about me? Of course, in today's information age i suppose that shouldn't surprise me. Whatever…

According to The Huffington Post, it may get a little harder for credit card companies to come after college students. This, from the blog post:

A flurry of bills is in the works in the House of Representatives and the Senate that would rein in how those companies do business. One proposed change that's triggered interest among lawmakers, particularly as the economy sours, would make it harder for college students to qualify for credit cards.

© The Consumerist

The Pacific Research Institute has a report out on the price tag for remediation at california colleges.

The report seeks to measure the expense involved in remediating students who leave high school without the skills they need to succeed in college in California. It's a very broad, inclusive approach to calculating that cost – taking into account everything from lost wages of students who enter college in need of remediation to the expenses business face when they have to provide extra trainings to such students, and the figure the report comes up with is similarly broad – at least $3.9 billion, and maybe as much as $13.9 billion.

The actual cost of instrution to remediate those students is around $274 million, according to the report…

© Simon Shek

Alpha Kappa Alpha celebrated its 100th birthday in style this week.

The African-American sorority held a dinner at DC's Walter E. Washington Convention Center that the Washington Business Journal described as "the largest-known banquet-style dinner in the history of conventions." Over 17,000 guests attended the dinner and the caterers used 3.5 miles of linen table clothes for the event.

AKA is base in Chicago and was founded at Howard University. Among it's newest member is Michelle Obama, the wife of Democratic Presidential Candidate Sen. Barack Obama, who recently accepted an invitation for induction into the sorority.

© dbking

I blogged on Tuesday about a new piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education on the recently released 2006 Survey of Earned Doctorates. It took a couple of days, but I got my own copy of the tables on Baccalaureate-Origin that show where a doctoral candidate earned their undergraduate degree. I can’t figure how the people at the Chronicle arrived at their conclusions. As I read the numbers, Tsinghua U. and Beijing U. are first and second – which is what the Chronicle said. But Berkeley ranked third, Seoul National University ranked 4th, and Cornell ranked fifth. (The Chronicle placed Seoul NU third, Cornell fourth and Berkeley fifth. A spot at the top of this list is a mark of prestige for major accredited universities. It says that their undergraduate programs produce students who can go on. For a list of the top 50 institutions whose undergraduate alumni went on to earn doctorates in 2006, click "read more" under the picture…
© abbamouse

For decades it's been this way in California. You take the right classes, you keep up a minimum GPA, you make at least a certain score on the ACT or SAT – and you're in, promised a spot on one of the ten campuses of the University of California. Otherwise, too bad. Go some place else.

Now Education Week is reporting that that may soon change…

An Associated Press article published in Education Week said this:

A committee of the UC Board of Regents on Wednesday opted to discuss rather than vote on the multifaceted plan, which would give high school students who have not completed the prescribed college-prep courses or earned minimum test scores a shot at attending a UC campus.

"It's too important to rush through, it's too important to delay," said Regent Eddie Island, who chairs the educational policy committee reviewing the recommendations. He advocated scheduling another meeting where the full board could study the eligibility issue in depth.

The faculty proposal would mean that students could be considered for admission by individual UC campuses beginning with the Fall 2012 term.

© skunks

Would it surprise you if I said China?

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported recently on the release of a report by National Science Foundation – the 2006 Survey of Earned Doctorates.

American Universities awarded 45,596 doctoral degrees in 2006. Of those, 63% went to U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents. Another 31% went to non-U.S. citizens studying in America on a temporary visa. (About 6% of the doctorates in 2006 were awarded in cases where citizenship couldn't be determined through the NSF survey).

A number of Asian countries were represented when doctorates got handed out at U.S. institutions in 2006…

© denn

The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that 8,500 service workers on the campuses of the University of California System started a five day strike today.

The University of California System has 10 campuses, including UCLA, UC Davis, and UC Berkeley.

The Chronicle sums up the reasons behind the strike as follows:

The union, which is affiliated with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, known as AFSCME, represents bus drivers, cooks, custodians, and other service workers on all 10 campuses of the university system. The union and the system have failed for nearly a year to reach an agreement over wage increases.

The strike comes in violation of a court order.

© 33 year old mulberry bush

Harris Pastides has been named president of the University of South Carolina today, according to Times-Democrat of Orangeburg, SC. The paper said that the decision was a unanimous vote by the School Board of trustees.

Pastides has served as the university's vice president for research and health sciences and executive director of the South Carolina Research Foundation since 2003. He was named president after a national search to fill the position.

West Virginia University has a president again – for now.

WVU has named C. Peter Magrath to be interim president starting August 1st, according to the State Journal.

WVU's Board of Governors announced the decision on Tuesday, July 8, at a news conference.

Magrath served as interim Presidency at the University of Nebraska (he'd been the provost there) back in the 1970's. he's served as president at State University of New York (SUNY), Binghamton; at the University of Minnesota (1974-84), and at the University of Missouri (1985-91).

You can find a fuller list of his academic credentials at Who is C. Peter Magrath, published by the Wheeling News-Register.

An interesting piece at the College Admissions Counseling blog: the new TEACH grant for aspiring teachers probably won't be a grant most of the time.

The grant provides $4,000 a year for students that agree to become teachers for at least 4 years within 8 years of graduation. To qualify, according to the blog post, the student must maintain a certain grade point average and agree to teach in a "high need" subject in a "high need"

In other words, just becoming a teacher isn't enough. Even becoming a math teacher may not do the trick. You have to teach in a particular area – an inner city school, or a rural poverty zone.

Four out of five TEACH grants will probably go to students who end up not fulfilling those conditions. And in that case the "grant" becomes an additional loan payment – an unsubsidized Stafford loan.

© popofatticus