“. . . a University of California regents panel on Wednesday approved a 32 percent fee increase for undergraduate and graduate students, including a midyear increase that will hit students’ pocketbooks in January.”

Here’s the scoop from the LA Times:

Regents are expected to approve yet another increase, arguing it’s needed to avoid further course reductions and staff furloughs. The plan draws statewide protests. Police arrest 14 at UCLA.

Caught between state funding cuts and rowdy student protests, a key committee of the University of California’s Board of Regents on Wednesday reluctantly approved a two-step student fee increase that would raise undergraduate education costs more than $2,500, or 32%, by next fall.

If the action is endorsed as expected by the full board today, the annual cost of a UC education, not including campus-based fees, would rise to $10,302 — about triple the UC costs of a decade ago. Room, board and books often add an additional $16,000.

The regents faced a large and noisy rally at the UCLA hall where they met, and demonstrations were held at several other UC campuses across the state. But regents, some saying it was the toughest decision of their tenure, contended they could not avoid the fee hikes without damaging the academic quality of the 10-campus, 229,100-student university.

“I hate to say it, but if you have no choice, you have no choice,” UC President Mark G. Yudof told reporters after the committee vote. He empathized with student anger, but said it would be better directed toward state lawmakers who have cut education funding.

The regents acted despite appeals from students such as Victor Sanchez, president of the UC Student Assn., who urged the board at least to postpone a vote until the outlines of next year’s state budget are clear.

“These proposals are egregious to say the very least,” said Sanchez, a UC Santa Cruz senior. “The dreams of so many are being shattered as we speak. When will enough be enough?”

The meeting was interrupted three times with anti-fee-hike chants and choruses of “We Shall Overcome,” leading to 14 arrests. Outside, some in a crowd of about 500 students and labor-union activists threw sticks and other objects and pushed against a large contingent of campus police in riot gear. Several students and police suffered minor injuries, police said.

“Fees are going to be so high that people are not going to be able to attend this institution,” said Kenia Acevedo, a UCLA law student who attended the meeting. “It is a devastation to what is supposed to be a public institution.”

The UC fee hikes and similar increases by the California State University system earlier this year are part of a national trend. As the recession has brought sharp declines in tax revenues, states have shifted more of the cost of public colleges and universities to students.

The regents’ finance committee approved the new fees for UC’s undergraduates 10 to 1, with only student Regent Jesse Bernal voting no. The full board is expected to endorse the change today, along with even higher increases for students in professional schools such as law and medicine.

In addition to a jump in basic fees for graduate students, those in professional schools will see an increase in the surcharges for their degrees ranging from $280 to nearly $5,700 more a year depending on their major and campus. For 2010-2011, fees for graduate students at UC Berkeley’s business school would be $41,654, not including living expenses; for UCLA’s law school, $40,522; for UC San Francisco’s medical school, $31,095.

If regents approve the increases, undergraduates would first see a $585 rise in UC fees for the rest of the current academic year. With another increase starting next fall, the total cost would be $2,514 higher than it was this fall.

Given large cuts in state financing and grim predictions for next year, the regents said they had to hike fees to avoid further reductions in course offerings, faculty hiring and student services. They also said they do not want to extend into a second year a furlough program that reduces most UC employees’ pay by 4% to 10%.

UC administrators emphasized that a third of the income from the undergraduate fee hikes and half of the extra graduate fees would go toward financial aid, and that more than half of undergraduates would be fully cushioned from the increases. The regents panel also approved a policy that would cover all the basic education fees with UC, state and federal aid for families with annual incomes under $70,000, up from $60,000 this year.

The promises about financial aid did not calm students’ anger at the regents, however. At one point, the crowd outside the meeting hall at UCLA’s Covel Commons surged against the doors and a few people threw sticks, plastic bottles and rags dipped in vinegar at police, according to UCLA police spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein. She said campus police used taser guns twice in light stun mode. No arrests were made outside the building. Of the 14 arrested inside, 12 were students, Greenstein said.

Critics say UC should first take more steps to reduce wasteful spending, trim the highest executive salaries and use more income from profitable medical centers to aid other programs.

UC often compares its finances to four other public universities: the State University of New York at Buffalo and top universities in Illinois, Michigan and Virginia. With the new fee hikes, UC’s costs for undergraduates for the first time would be higher, by about $300, than the average of those four institutions, according to a UC report.

In January, the regents reduced freshman fall enrollment for the current year by 2,300 students, or about 6%, because of what they described as insufficient state funding. On Wednesday, they approved a request to the state that would increase funding by $913 million and warned that they might cut the freshman class next fall by another 2,300 if enough money is not available.

Meanwhile, outside a Long Beach meeting of the Cal State Board of Trustees, about 100 students, faculty and staff members from campuses as far away as San Francisco marched, chanted and carried picket signs to protest fee hikes and enrollment cuts.

Trustees of the 23-campus Cal State system approved what they called a “Recovery and Reinvest” budget that seeks $884 million in restored and new funding from the state. Chancellor Charles B. Reed exhorted the governor and legislators to “keep their promise” to support the system, which is struggling with severe funding shortfalls.

The protesters did not disrupt the meeting, but said they were very angry about how the university is being managed and about undergraduate fee increases of 30% approved earlier this year.

Megan Hinojosa, 20, a psychology student at Cal State L.A., said that many of the classes she needs have been cut or are oversubscribed and she fears it will take her far longer than planned to graduate.

“It’s just harder to be a student in this system,” she said.

. . . all the leaves are brown
and the sky is gray
I’ve been to the bursar
on a winter’s day . . .

. . . if I don’t pay them
I won’t graduate, no way
California Screamin’
on such a dead-broke day.

**********

Don’t forget to check out all my admissions-related articles and book reviews at College Confidential.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Democratic mayor, Luke Ravenstahl, wants to tax the tuition that Pittsburgh’s college students pay. As if going to college wasn’t expensive enough. Check this out: 

Pittsburgh eyes students’ wallets

The city is home to seven colleges and universities, and though their real estate is tax-exempt, their tuition isn’t, says Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who plans to impose a 1% tax on tuition as part of his budget for 2010.

Nearly 100,000 students study in Pittsburgh, and “they’re not paying a dime for any city services they might receive,” Ravenstahl says. The 1% tax would range from $20 for students at Carlow College to $400 for students at the city’s priciest university, Carnegie Mellon. It would generate $16.2 million next year, according to the proposed budget.

“He calls it a fair share tax. We call it an unfair tax,” says Mary Hines, president of Carlow College and of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education. The group will challenge the tax in court as an end run around universities’ tax-exempt status, Hines says.

If Pittsburgh succeeds in becoming the first city to tax its students, other cities will follow, says Terry Hartle of the American Council on Education, a lobbying group for universities. “It’s a new and untapped potential source of revenue,” he says.

Only 6% of Carlow students pay the full $20,000 tuition, Hines says, and they can’t afford more costs. The tax also will make Pittsburgh less appealing to students, she says. “We want them to realize they are coming to an exciting city that will welcome them with open arms. This does not do that.”

Pittsburgh faces a $15 million budget gap and a deadline from the state Legislature to rescue its pension fund.

Pittsburgh’s tax-exempt institutions, like those in many college towns, have made donations in lieu of taxes: $14 million from 2004 to 2006. The non-profits’ proposal to give an additional $5.6 million over three years is “not enough,” Ravenstahl says.

The controversy in Pittsburgh is the latest in a long-running town-and-gown debate over whether tax-exempt institutions contribute enough to offset loss of real estate tax revenue:

• In April, Providence Mayor David Cicilline proposed a tax on students of $150 per semester at schools including Brown University and Providence College. The schools have made voluntary contributions to the city since 2003. The tax would require state legislative approval.

• In Boston, a task force started in January by Mayor Thomas Menino wants to standardize and increase payments from educational and medical non-profits. The city got $8.4 million from 13 colleges this year and $4.9 million from nine hospitals.

Did you happen to note a common thread running among the three mayors mentioned in the article? Probably not, since USA Today has an amusing habit of omitting the political affiliation of Democratic politicians linked to unpopular behaviors. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

On the counterpoint, here’s one college student’s objections to Ravenstahl’s proposal. Patrick McDermott is a senior majoring in journalism and history at Penn State-University Park.

Tuition tax must not come to life

Think your tuition is too high? Apparently Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl didn’t think so.

Ravenstahl planned to add a 1 percent tax on college tuition to the students who attend the city’s seven colleges and universities, according to USA Today. The move was designed to raise funds for the city in the midst of the struggling economy. Thankfully, the proposal was shot down yesterday by a state oversight committee because it was deemed illegal.

Students everywhere are by no means immune from the crippling effects of the economy. We are feeling the crunch just as much as anyone else, especially because we are either unemployed or making next-to-nothing in part-time jobs . . .

. . . Perhaps the most ridiculous part of the entire scenario is Ravenstahl’s reasoning for imposing the tax. In order to supplement the city’s finances, he planned to charge students because they don’t help pay for the city’s public works.

In Ravenstahl’s words, “they’re not paying a dime for any city services they might receive.” I can buy that — students, in many cases, don’t have to pay property taxes and other fees that support local infrastructure. But that doesn’t mean they don’t add money to the city’s pockets; in fact, students pump money into the local economy simply by spending their disposable income . . .

. . . The state oversight committee got it right — not only is taxing tuition unjust, it is also illegal in Pennsylvania. Ravenstahl’s plan is unnerving, though, because of its lack of consideration for students coupled with its presumed appeal to council members in college towns. The attempt to tax education could send ripples throughout college communities across the nation and put an unfair burden on students and those people who help pay for their college education . . .

I’m with McDermott. “. . . not only is taxing tuition unjust, it is also illegal in Pennsylvania [not to mention stark Ravenstahling mad] . . .”

It is to laugh (almost).

**********

Don’t forget to check out all my admissions-related articles and book reviews at College Confidential.

I quickly made the necessary adjustments to my compositional style, though, and went on to become a famous Internet blogger [insert loud laughter here]. Seriously, now’s the time, high schoolers, to take a good, hard look in the Mirror of Truth to see just how well prepared you are for college. Here’s what can happen if you gloss over those gaping shortcomings before that crucial first semester on campus:

CUNY’s got math problem:

Report shows many freshmen from city HS fail at basic algebra

More city kids are graduating from high school, but that doesn’t mean they can do college math.

Basic algebra involving fractions and decimals stumped a group of City University of New York freshmen – suggesting city schools aren’t preparing them, a CUNY report shows.

“These results are shocking,” said City College Prof. Stanley Ocken, who co-wrote the report on CUNY kids’ skills. “They show that a disturbing proportion of New York City high school graduates lack basic skills.”

During their first math class at one of CUNY’s four-year colleges, 90% of 200 students tested couldn’t solve a simple algebra problem, the report by the CUNY Council of Math Chairs found. Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal.

The lack of math skills means the CUNY students – nearly 70% of which come from city schools – could struggle to keep up with peers, fail classes or even drop out, the professors charged.

The council submitted its report in September 2008 to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein with a plea to work with city schools.

“We didn’t hear anything until this past June,” said Lehman College professor and math chairman Robert Feinerman, noting there was a discussion about working together at the time. “But that whole thing seems to have petered out.”

CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein countered that he and Klein joined forces several years ago to “tackle the problem head on…. At the senior colleges, we’ve seen massive improvement,” he said.

City Education Department spokesman David Cantor said the agency had been working to improve standards even before the professors’ report.

“We had already moved to action,” he said.

Still, several Hunter College freshmen approached yesterday had trouble figuring out some of the problems.

“I just did this earlier. Now I forgot it again,” Jennifer Fortune, 18, who graduated from Brooklyn’s Edward R. Murrow High School, said when asked to answer one of the questions. “I was only required to take two years of math in high school, but I forgot a lot of it.”

John Jay College sophomore Ahmed Elshafaie, 19, who graduated from Long Island City High School, said he avoids math classes.

“I don’t want to ruin my GPA,” he said. “High school standards were really low.”

Okay. Let’s take up the challenge:

Solve for x: 5 − (x + 2) = 5x

Is that simple enough? If not, let me know and I’ll back ‘er down a notch.

Think the problem of students being unprepared for college is limited to New York? Check this from Michigan:

Students unprepared for college

Most of Calhoun County’s 2010 high school graduates are not prepared for college — and they’re lagging behind their peers in other parts of the state, according to a college readiness test all students must take before they graduate from high school.

About 10 percent of students in Calhoun County are college-ready, compared with about 16 percent statewide, based on results from the ACT. High school juniors take the ACT as part of the Michigan Merit Examination.

The science and math portions of the test were especially challenging for students in Calhoun County. About 16 percent of Calhoun County students are ready for college-level science courses and about 19 percent are ready in math.

Those troubles in math hit home for Sherry Ulrey of Battle Creek. Ulrey said felt her youngest daughter, a freshman at Michigan State University, should have been better prepared for college math classes.

Last year, Ulrey had her daughter, a 2009 Battle Creek Central High School graduate, take a night math class at KCC. Ulrey said she heard about students who graduated in 2008 and did well in calculus at Battle Creek Central but were placed into remedial math in college. She was worried the same thing would happen to her daughter, who took math up to the precalculus level in high school.

“When I saw the girls ahead of her not making it in math, I said, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’” she said . . .

And so on and so forth it goes.

What does your Mirror of Truth show you about your college prep skills? The sharks are circling.

**********

Don’t forget to check out all my admissions-related articles and book reviews at College Confidential.

I deal with many high schoolers who go on to college and maintain contact with some of them over the years. Of course, I have two children who went through the college experience, as did I (back, as I always say, when dinosaurs roamed the earth). In thinking about my question, I wondered if the true, idealistic purpose of “higher education” has ever completely realized among the majority of the millions who have passed through the ivy gates.

Well, as luck would have it (there are no coincidences, you know), I found a cool article by John M. Crisp, who teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. He has answered my question, in some ways more completely than I could have answered it myself, even after an extra-long walk. Here’s his opinion of what college is all about:

So what exactly is a college for?

Here’s a question that all thoughtful college professors must ask themselves occasionally: Beyond the football and fraternities, the manicured lawns and the book-lined shelves in their own offices, beyond the binge drinking and parties and networking and casual sexual liaisons, beyond term papers bought and sold and sometimes actually written, beyond all of the genuine hard work and study and examinations, what, after all, is college for?

The college campus as a seat of hoary scholarship and learning for learning’s sake is still an attractive ideal, but it’s been a long time since the primary objective of college was the nourishment of scholars. Quite reasonably, students (and parents) have demanded that college degrees focus on information, skills, and credentials that lead to profitable employment, and colleges and universities have tried to accommodate them.

The days when students acquired broad backgrounds in traditional studies such as history, art, literature, and language are, for the most part, gone. These disciplines are still a part of the curriculum, but they’ve been reduced to make more room for practical and marketable courses that support students’ majors and, eventually, their professions and careers.

At the risk of oversimplification, the traditional academy, with its interest in the humanities and theoretical science, has always had an uneasy relationship with the practical, and often anti-intellectual, American spirit and its preoccupation throughout our history with colonization, survival, the frontier, industrialization, and business.

After all, students who study history, literature, art, drama, music, language, and so on — disciplines that are seemingly unconnected to the goals of modern business — sometimes develop attitudes that are disagreeable to the corporate world.

For example, students who spend too much time studying these disciplines may develop an enhanced capacity for critical thinking, even skepticism, that could conflict with the single-minded corporate impulse toward profit. They may acquire a broader worldview that interferes with the ability to focus on the concrete concerns of business. Their knowledge of pure science and geography may make them less willing to tolerate the pollution of our environment, a common by-product of modern business.

Students who study these traditional disciplines may develop an inconvenient set of ethics that would make some modern business practices impossible. Their ability to think and to communicate may generate an empowerment that will make them less docile and compliant workers.

This is the subversive side of the university, the side that represents an undeclared challenge to the corporate values that we otherwise accept so readily. The side that keeps colleges and universities from becoming mere vocational schools. Despite their practical inutility, it’s important that these traditional disciplines be preserved and practiced, not only by scholars and philosophers, but also to some extent by all who aspire to be educated participants in our democracy.

Is it too much to hope that voters with a better grasp of history, philosophy, and literature would elect better leaders? And would leaders who had studied less business and more history and philosophy have a better understanding of the world and humanity and, therefore, be more receptive to voices of caution and less willing to repeat the blunders of the past? One can hope.

In the meantime, may colleges preserve their fading role as a place where students can still learn more about the world than just how to do a job. Despite its essentially utilitarian mission, my own college maintains strong programs in music, drama, and art. We try to teach our students some history and science and math, even if they’ll never use them in their careers. In the English Department, we try to expose them to a few good books and teach them how to write a little better.

We call these disciplines the “humanities” because … well, they’re what make us human.

I guess I should add my two cents here, too. In my carefully considered opinion, college is, essentially, about learning how to learn. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” My college experience taught me how to learn about–and examine–my own life.

Introspection may be among the rarest of qualities in today’s youth. Their lifestyles are so kinetic, even frenetic, that by the time they arrive at college, they blow right past the learning how to learn part. They are so distracted by texting the world, updating their Facebook pages, and gearing up for party weekends (they begin on Thursday nights), that they arrive post-graduation ill-equipped to know who, in fact, they are and how to mange the myriad circumstances and curve balls that life will throw at them. If they had learned how to learn, they would be able to solve many problems that may have already derailed them, in one way or the other.

Here’s my challenge: What do you think college is for? Let us know.

**********

Don’t forget to check out all my admissions-related articles and book reviews at College Confidential.

If your school doesn’t have an honor code and you’re headed to college, perhaps it might help you to know what to expect when you go to a college that expects its students to follow one. Here’s some helpful information about the primary purpose of Codes:

No less an authority than Wikipedia defines “honor code” as such:

An honor code or honor system is a set of rules or principles governing a community based on a set of rules or ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within that community. The use of an honor code depends on the idea that people (at least within the community) can be trusted to act honorably. Those who are in violation of the honor code can be subject to various sanctions, including expulsion from the institution. Honor codes are most commonly used in the United States to deter academic dishonesty.

Stanford University has a useful page discussing honor codes across the country:

The honor code is a major part of life at colleges and universities across the United States. Although each college has its own way of preventing and dealing with cheating whether it be judicial committees, fundamental standards, or peer juries, most incorporate some sort of honor system.

What is an Honor Code?

The honor code is a statement addressing issues such as cheating, stealing, and misrepresentation, made by a school or other institution in which its participants pledge to adhere to. Honor codes are self-regulating because under an honor code, students are required to turn in other students in violation of the code. Some issues addressed in honor codes are the following:

o Cheating
o Plagiarism
o Fabrication
o Multiple submissions
o Misrepresentation
o Unfair advantages

Most college honor code violations are cheating and plagiarism, therefore, some Honor Codes also include guidelines or points of emphasis to help keep misunderstanding and problems to a minimum. Many of the honor codes write that students should distinguish what is truly their work from other people’s ideas. The honor codes also recommend that students should know exactly what their professors expect and want on a particular assignment.

In traditional “honor code schools”, there are honor pledges, student-organized honor systems, unproctored exams, and the requirement to turn in suspected cheating incidents. Some schools do not have a traditional honor code, but they usually have a set of rules or some writing that articulates the fundamental rights and responsibilities of all students. These fundamentals cover not only academic work and integrity, but also campus life. These rights include respecting all students, faculty, and staff, respecting other people’s property. Regardless of the type of honor code it employs, all colleges and universities are trying to insure an ethical and fair environment for all students.

Links to honor codes and fundamental standards of different universities:

http://www.upenn.edu/osl/acadint.html

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/vpsa/judicialaffairs/honor_code.htm

http://www.stanford.edu/%7Esecurity/policies/fundamental.html

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/HonorCouncil/history.htm

http://www.aas.duke.edu/admin/deans/trinity/honcode.html

What Happens When Violations of the Honor Code Occur?

According to most college websites discussing the Honor Code, the most frequent violations occur when a student submits another person’s work as his own, or when a student gives or receives unpermitted aid. Examples of these types of violations are anywhere from copying another students problem set or handing in a paper that was bought of the web.

Almost all the colleges have a judicial system that either student or faculty run. In most cases, once a violation is reported, the accused student must go before a panel of their peers or faculty members. Once a student is found or pleads guilty, they usually receive a suspension from the university and community service hours. The harshness of the punishment depends on the severity of the violation committed, the truthfulness of the accused student, and the level of premeditation. In most cases the student still receives a grade in the course where the violation occurred.

Site that deals with honor code violations:

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/report/record/honor_code.html

As always, there are some excellent threads on the College Confidential discussion forum. Here are some regarding honor codes.

You may even have to deal with college honor codes before you get to college. Here’s a Haverford College essay requirement from their application:

Haverford is a community in which members of a diverse student body and faculty can live together, interact, and engage academically and socially in ways that promote both personal freedom and community standards. If a diverse community is to prosper and if its educational goals are to be fully realized, community members must make genuine attempts to come to terms with their differences. Mutual understanding is fostered by respectful communication.

Haverford’s Honor Code engenders a climate of trust, concern, and respect. The Honor Code affirms, for instance, the importance of not seeking unfair academic advantage by cheating or plagiarizing. The Code also requires community members to take responsibility for their words and actions in the social realm. The Honor Code serves as an educational tool without being a list of rules, leading students to hold each other accountable and to resolve conflicts. By encouraging respectful dialogue and conduct, we hope to create an atmosphere that is open, respectful, lively, and conducive to intellectual and personal growth.

Haverford’s Honor Code has been in place for more than 100 years. Each year the Haverford student body reconsiders its commitment to these values, recognizing that the community and the Honor Code must continue to change and grow. The Honor Code is publicly re-evaluated and reaffirmed every year, yielding a dynamic living document that has a real presence in life at the College. Matriculation at Haverford will enable you to take part in this process of growth and change. To read a complete version of the current Honor Code, or for additional information, please visit www.haverford.edu/code.

We recognize that reading about an Honor Code is very different from living with it. Nevertheless, if you come to Haverford, the Code will be a part of your college life. We therefore ask you to write a reflective essay of 1-2 pages in response to one of the following prompts:

1. Given the dynamic nature of the Honor Code and the opportunity you will have to shape and change the Code if you come to Haverford, what issues and ideas do you think are essential for an Honor Code to focus on, and how should an Honor Code address them?

2. Write about an experience in which you encountered a tension between personal freedom and community standards. Discuss the experience and the underlying issues, how you dealt with the tension, and whether or not there was a satisfactory resolution.

3. The Honor Code at Haverford creates an environment of deep trust, respect, and collegiality between professors and students which, in turn, fosters open dialogue and free intellectual exchange.  Talk about the conditions you think are essential to allowing this type of dialogue and exchange in both academic and non-academic settings.

Awesome, huh? I wonder how many Haverford applicants had somebody else write their honor code essay.

So, keep all this in mind when you’re doing your college search. The behaviors you take for granted now, in high school, could become problematic for you if you enroll at a college with a strictly enforced honor code . . . honest.

**********

Don’t forget to check out all my admissions-related articles and book reviews at College Confidential.

There are varying opinions about the relative importance of the SAT I and ACT. In my professional view, however, I think that colleges are loathe to admit just how important they view test scores, even the test-optional schools. Why? Well, professing too much emphasis on scores makes them look somewhat mono-dimensional and detracts from their contention that they use a “holistic methodology” (wow, cool phrase there, huh?) to give their applicants a fair-shake, broad-swath look.

Anyway, our test-prep friends over at IvyBound.net have issued an interesting statement about the importance of test scores. Here are some excerpts:

Why A Good ACT / SAT Score is more important than ever.

Most competitive colleges value standardized tests more than ever.  Over the last 25 years, more and more competitive colleges have EMPHASIZED high test scores because it gives them a way to evaluate students with disparate school records.  A small number of competitive colleges did drop SAT as a requirement over the last 25 years, but this pales in comparison to those that have affirmed merit scholarships based on SAT scores over the same period.  (Students and parents should distinguish competitive from non-competitive, where decent academic standing and an ability to pay are sufficient for acceptance.  This list of schools that do not require the SAT or ACT is heavily weighted with non-competitive colleges.)   At competitive colleges, admissions officers blatantly admit that the SAT now carries more weight as an admission criterion compared to 15 years ago.

College admissions offices compete with one another for applicants.  The most prominent survey, US NEWS, makes SAT / ACT score a huge category for ranking the schools.  Incoming GPA is not ranked in the US News survey.  This means that students with high GPAs often lose in the admissions game to students with lower GPAs but higher SAT or ACT scores.

Admissions offices also compete by offering the strongest candidates money, and the last 20 years have seen the flowering of MERIT-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS.  Prior to 1990, scholarship money was awarded only to athletic recruits and to students with high financial need.  Today, almost every competitive 4-year college awards scholarships to entice academic talent, and their assessment of “talent” is the SAT / ACT score.  Awards of $2,000 – $200,000 are based largely on SAT or ACT scores . . .

. . . Conclusion: students with high aspirations should not overlook the importance of a good SAT / ACT score. More schools should provide direct SAT coaching, because a good course can help students to 200+ point improvements, which can significantly open opportunities.  Since 92% of all competitive colleges take the best math score and combine it with the best reading score, it makes sense to plan on taking the SAT three times.  If you know you can excel on a third SAT, not trying is leaving opportunities on the shelf.

So, you can likely see that the answer to the question, “Hey, how important–really–are test scores?” is, in most cases, “Very.”  Don’t let the holistic PR front lull you to sleep. Wake up and smell numbers!

**********

Don’t forget to check out all my admissions-related articles and book reviews at College Confidential.

Okay. What exactly does vicarious mean? In general, it means, “taking the place of another person.” You have to ask yourself the hard question: “Do I want my kid to seek Ivy so that the ‘prestige’ [whatever that means] will rub off on me?” Be honest. You’re reading this in private and no one is impatiently waiting for your answer. Just nod your head if it’s true. You don’t have to attend a VKSers Anonymous meeting, stand up, and say, “Hello. My name is Dave Berry and I want to live vicariously through my kid.” Just be aware of your stance here.

The purpose of this post is to increase your sensitivity to your kids’ deep-rooted potential. If, after being properly sensitized, you judge that your son or daughter has true competitive potential for the Ivy and elite admissions process, then you may become an advocate for that outcome, should you choose to do so. However, if your intentions are rooted anywhere near your own self-interests, then you should do some serious soul searching. You may be gambling with your kid’s long-range happiness and college success.

Loud Angry Voice from Offstage: “Hold it, dude. You almost just put me to sleep telling me that I should be a talent scout for Princeton or Harvard. Now you’re saying that I shouldn’t? That’s one confusing message, man.”

Not really. The message to parents is pretty straightforward: “Observe your kids. Discover who they are. If they’re competitive, advocate some top colleges.” That’s all. Notice that the message is not: “Dedicate your life to getting your kid into the Ivy League, come hell or high water.” There’s a big difference. Don’t be a vicar for your kids. They’ll have a hard enough time living their own lives. Don’t burden them with the extra weight of your unfulfilled dreams.

Disabling the Enabler: Resist the Urge to Become Enabling Parents

Now that we have that straight (and if you’re still with me), let’s talk about a common negative side effect of VKS: enabling. Are you a control freak? Did you always want to tie your child’s shoestrings for them, clean their room, or even do some of their homework? You could be an enabler.

You’ll probably be able to find a number of discussion forums on the Web (here’s The Best college-related forum) where enabling is a hot topic. I have observed many semi-heated exchanges among forum participants discussing how much help parents should offer their children during the college application process. One extreme faction adamantly states that parents shouldn’t even mail their kid’s application for them. The other extreme admits to writing {”editing,” as they encode it) essays for their kid. There are many shades in between.

How does this relate to our discussion of the developmental years? Well, I’m certainly no behavioral psychologist, but my experience shows me that we can inhibit our children’s quest for self-identity by trying to insert ourselves into their developmental trials too strongly. When is it time for them to try to feed themselves (resulting in those classic high-chair-tray food flings)? How about those shoestrings (they might trip and fall down)? And those post-tornado room scenes (I struggled with that)?

It’s not easy. We all want what’s best for our kids, but sometimes we get in the way of what’s best. When we do more for them than we should, we take away some of their independence. Even today, when our adult son visits on holidays, I have to fight my tendency to check the oil and tire-pressure levels of his car. But I don’t. He’s been able to drive tens of thousands of miles successfully without my fussy maintenance checks.

I often wonder how many other self-sufficiencies my kids incorporate thanks to my butting out of their learning curve. Bottom line: Beware VKS and its fallout.

**********

Don’t forget to check out all my admissions-related articles and book reviews at College Confidential.

The New York Times reports a rather amazing statistic.

23 Private College Presidents Made More Than $1 Million

Here are the details (with some very helpful links) from Tamar Lewin’s article:

The presidents of the nation’s major private research universities were paid a median compensation of $627,750 in the 2007-8 fiscal year — a 5.5 percent increase from the previous year — according to The Chronicle of Higher Education annual executive compensation survey.

The highest paid private university executive was Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., with a pay package totaling $1,598,247 in fiscal 2008. Ms. Jackson, a physicist and former chairwoman of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has been at Rensselaer since 1999, and first became the highest-paid university president just two years later.

In this year’s survey, she was followed by David J. Sargent of Suffolk University in Boston, the top earner in last year’s survey, who took in $1,496,593 in fiscal 2008, and Steadman Upham of the University of Tulsa, whose pay package was $1,485,275.

According to the survey, published in Monday’s edition, 23 private college presidents made over $1 million in total compensation, and 110 made more than $500,000. Such large pay packages are still relatively new in higher education: as recently as 2002, there were no million-dollar presidents, only four earning more than $800,000, and 27 earning more than $500,000.

Over all, the Chronicle survey found, the median pay for presidents of the 419 private colleges and universities surveyed was $358,746, a 6.5 percent increase over the previous year. Over the last five years, the median presidential pay, adjusted for inflation, grew by 14 percent.

Why is university presidents’ pay going up so much?

“I think the answer you’d get from the governing boards that set these salaries is that it’s a market and it’s increasingly hard to find these people,” said Jeffrey Selingo, editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education, which has published its compensation survey annually since 1993. “That said, almost every year, presidential salaries have gone up faster than inflation, and faster than tuition, which rankles some people on campus.”

The Chronicle’s information is from federal tax documents for the 2007-8 fiscal year, the most recent data available, but from a period before the current economic downturn. More recently, most colleges have moderated, or frozen, salary increases.

“It’s important to remember that these pay packages were set before the economic crisis began last fall,” Mr. Selingo said. “Since then, many presidents have taken pay cuts, donated part of their pay in scholarships, or had their pay frozen. Next year, it’s likely that we won’t see many presidents getting big raises.”

Mr. Selingo pointed out, however, that even if presidential pay has stopped growing so quickly, tuition has not, with 58 private colleges charging more than $50,000 for tuition, fees, room and board this year, compared with only five last year.

In its previous presidential pay surveys, The Chronicle reported compensation at both public and private universities, and last year, it was the public university presidents who were getting the larger raises.

In the current survey, covering only private institutions, for the presidents of large, complex research universities the pay increase was 11 percent over the year’s inflation rate. Over the last five years, The Chronicle found, their median increase, adjusted for inflation, was 19.6 percent.

Presidents of small liberal arts colleges tend to be paid less, with only John A. Fry, the president of Franklin & Marshall College earning more than a $1 million in 2007-8.

While most of the highest-paying universities on The Chronicle’s lists are well-known institutions, there are some surprising names as well.

For example, among the five highest paid presidents at master’s level institutions are Guy F. Riekeman, the president of Life University, in Marietta, Ga., which is known for its chiropractic program; Charles H. Polk, the president of Mountain State University in Beckley, W. Va., which offers distance learning and branch campuses in several states; and Jerry C. Lee, the president of National University in San Diego, which has dozens of online degree programs and campuses throughout California.

Many of the pay packages in the survey included deferred compensation.

For the first time this year, The Chronicle survey analyzed the “former officer” pay reported on college’s federal tax forms, and found that 85 of the institutions, about one in five, were paying at least one former officer or key employee more than $200,000 in compensation in 2007-8.

Three of them paid a former officer more than $1 million: Stephen J. Trachtenberg, a former president of George Washington University’s, received a package totaling $3,664,569; Oberlin College paid Nancy S. Dye, a former president, $1,460,420; and Emory University paid Michael M. E. Johns, a former executive vice president who now serves as chancellor, $1,006,188.

**********

One of my favorite paragraphs is this one:

“I think the answer you’d get from the governing boards that set these salaries is that it’s a market and it’s increasingly hard to find these people,” said Jeffrey Selingo, editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education, which has published its compensation survey annually since 1993. “That said, almost every year, presidential salaries have gone up faster than inflation, and faster than tuition, which rankles some people on campus.”

In the words of the pre-teen who lives next door to me, “Ya think!?”

**********

Don’t forget to check out all my admissions-related articles and book reviews at College Confidential.

Of course, file sharing can be risky business. You may have read about the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) suing 16 Cornell University students for copyright infringement. There are other examples of such litigation, so what’s an enterprising collegian to do? Well, here’s some very savvy advice:

Wired.com came out with some common-sense guidelines for those interested in file sharing. Here are some highlights:

Education 2.0: The College Student’s Guide to File Sharing

By Sean Hollister

College: You finally made it. But now that you’re here, how should you spend your first few weeks at school?

By filling up the hard drive of your brand-new Toshiba R500 with loads of music and video files, that’s how. By harnessing the full file-sharing power of a high-speed, university-class network.

But how? Is it safe? Legal? Faster than asking your parents to burn a few DVDs and put them into their monthly care package?

Excellent questions — the mark of a true student. Welcome to File Sharing 101.

How to Get What You Want

Assuming you’ve got your machine connected to the internet and cleaned of viruses and spyware, it’s time to choose a network. Heard of Napster or BitTorrent? Both are peer-to-peer networks through which your computer, equipped with the proper software, can find files to download. The actual file transfers happen between your computer and other computers using protocols that distribute the file-sharing load among all the computers, or “peers,” on the network.

There are several networks, and for each one, a wide variety of clients (the software that runs on your computer) that will let you connect and share files. Network choice is important because it determines how much privacy you have and how much you have to share in return for obtaining access. We recommend two: BitTorrent and Direct Connect, plus a third option — one-click hosting services — for the truly paranoid.

(Educating yourself about legal issues is an important part of your research. Check the second page of this article for more information on the risks involved before you dive in.)

[Cutting now to legal issues (you can read about hot file-sharing programs directly from the article itself) . . .]

Legal Risks

Legal interpretations may vary about what constitutes legitimate sharing of copyrighted content, and we’re not lawyers. Sharing a few music clips with your friends may not violate copyright law, but distributing the latest Hollywood blockbuster to 30,000 other fans almost certainly does. So give some thought to your file sharing before you start. While one-click hosting is fairly private at the moment and darknets keep content away from prying eyes, it’s all for naught if your university actively monitors traffic and is determined to shut down peer-to-peer activity.

We recommend you check your college’s “acceptable use policy” and similar documents to determine their position on file sharing before engaging in potentially illegal activity, or at least make sure you save three grand, the going rate, in case you get caught.

For the legal perspective, go right to the source: the United States Copyright Office FAQ.

You may also want to read online piracy statements from the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, as well as the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s handy guide, How To Not Get Sued for File Sharing.

One final word: If you don’t think file sharing, or simply downloading your favorite songs from the Web, is no big deal, think again. You have to be careful. Take, for example, the case of Jammie Thomas, a single mother of two, who had a judgment levied against her for $222,000 in penalties (!).

Have fun with that lightning-fast Internet connection in your dorm, but ask yourself a question first: “How much am I willing to pay for these songs or movies . . . if I screw up?”

**********

Don’t forget to check out all my admissions-related articles and book reviews at College Confidential.