(Vocus) November 16, 2010 — ScholarshipPoints, an Edvisors online education company, recently announced that its final $ 10,000 scholarship of 2010 will be awarded on December 15th. The December drawing will mark the fifth time this year that ScholarshipPoints has awarded a $ 10,000 scholarship to a single student and brings the total amount awarded to over $ 115,000 in 2010. This far surpasses the $ 75,000 awarded in 2009, and reinforces ScholarshipPoints commitment to defraying the cost of college for students in need of financial assistance. To ensure funds are used for educational purposes, awards are sent directly to the student’s financial aid office.
With over 1.3 million members, ScholarshipPoints is the fastest growing college scholarship rewards program in both membership and scholarship funds. In addition to the $ 10,000 scholarship drawings, the ScholarshipPoints program gives away a number of $ 500, $ 1,000 and $ 2,500 scholarships every month. “Being an out-of-state student has put financial pressure on me from the beginning,” said Melissa Jones, winner of the September $ 10,000 scholarship drawing. “I can now focus solely on my academics during my last stretch of college without the financial burden.”
To enter the December 15th $ 10,000 Scholarship drawing and become a member, visit http://www.ScholarshipPoints.com.
Wisconsin Connections Academy (WCA), the state?s high-quality, highly accountable virtual public school, announced today that it will expand from serving grades K-8 to K-12 starting in the 2011-12 school year. This news comes as families from across Wisconsin prepare for the public school open enrollment period — a time when families choose K-12 school options for the upcoming school year. This year?s public school open enrollment period will be held from February 7th to February 25th, 2011.
?We have received numerous requests from satisfied parents who want their children to continue with the Connections Academy program beyond the eighth grade. Given this strong interest and the school?s success, we determined that now was the time to expand,? said Michelle Mueller, principal of WCA. ?We are very proud of the innovative school option that we provide for students across the state of Wisconsin and look forward with excitement to this new chapter for WCA.?
In addition to providing a seamless K-12 school experience, WCA?s comprehensive new high school program will be a challenging, standards-based curriculum offering high schoolers a wide variety of rigorous courses which provide a solid foundation for whatever path they choose upon graduation ? attending college or starting a career. Each high school student will be loaned a laptop for the year and core courses cover subjects in math, science, language arts, and social studies; electives range from foreign languages, to digital technology, journalism, and art history. Honors and AP courses will also available, along with comprehensive, academic, college and career-planning guidance services.
A pioneer in virtual public schooling, Wisconsin Connections Academy opened in 2002 and is chartered through the Appleton Area School District (AASD). In the 2010-2011 school year WCA will serve over 400 students from communities throughout Wisconsin. WCA students receive a personalized education and learn at home under the guidance of a state-certified AASD teacher, along with oversight provided by a parent or guardian Learning Coach. WCA is designed to meet the needs of students and families who are looking for alternatives to the traditional classroom ? those who need a flexible schedule, learn at a different pace from their peers, are looking for a different learning environment, or need more individualized attention.
VIDEO: A Day-in-the-Life of a Connections Academy Family
WCA?s successful and proven track record is widely known and drives parent and student interest in the online school. WCA consistently meets Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, a measurement defined by the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act that allows the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and district is performing academically according to results on standardized tests. Once again, in the 2009-2010 school year, WCA received successful AYP marks across all objectives. Also in a 2009 Connections Academy survey of parents with students enrolled in WCA, 95 percent of families in WCA gave the program an ?A? or ?B? when it came to grading the school. More than 96 percent of families said they would recommend WCA to families with children attending other schools.
?These favorable results help demonstrate our commitment to student success and serve as useful measures for parents comparing the public school options available in our state,? Mueller said. ?I encourage families to learn about WCA?s K-8 program and our new online high school at one of the many upcoming parent information sessions planned throughout the state. This next year is going to be very exciting for all of us.?
To learn more about WCA visit our website or call 1.800.382-6010.
About Connections Academy
Connections Academy is a leading, fully accredited provider of high-quality, highly accountable virtual schooling for students in grades K?12. Through tuition-free public schools, full-time and part-time private school programs, and turnkey online programs for bricks and mortar schools, Connections Academy delivers superior, personalized education for students, with the freedom and flexibility to experience our online learning community from anywhere. The combination of certified teachers, a proven curriculum, technology tools, and community experiences creates a supportive and successful online learning opportunity for families and children who want an individualized approach to education. In the 2010?11 school year, Connections Academy will serve students in Arizona, California (Southern and Central), Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming through its public school programs. It serves students worldwide through the online private school, National Connections Academy. Connections Academy offers grades K through 12, though some public school programs do not offer all grades. For more information, call 800-382-6010 or visit http://www.ConnectionsAcademy.com.
Connections Academy is now on Facebook and Twitter.
Visit our blog for learning tips, virtual stories and more!
The election-season debate brought newfound attention to the ever-increasing national debt, which stands at more than $ 13.8 trillion, or nearly $ 44,600 per U.S. citizen. This number dwarfs levels of personal debt, and it can have an impact on the future value of individual savings and investments, according to Kevin Gallegos, vice president of Freedom Debt Relief (FDR) LLC.
Collectively, Americans owe on three major types of debt: the government’s taxpayer-paid national debt, individual consumer debt (including credit cards, mortgages and auto loans), and student debt. Freedom Debt Relief took a snapshot of each type of debt today, and what individuals can do about each debt.
A survey of 5,000 prospective international students conducted by Hotcourses Inc in October 2010 revealed 55% would choose to study in the US as their first choice, followed by 50% indicating the UK as their second choice and in third place 36% would choose Australia, just above Canada at 34%.
There were some country of origin differences, with 93.4% of Chinese students indicating the US would be their first choice, compared to 86% of Indians, whereas 92% of Malaysians would prefer to go to the UK as their first choice and 83% of Indonesians preferred Singapore as their first choice of study abroad destination.
When asked whether they had studied or lived abroad before, 80% of the students indicated they had not, leaving 20% who had. In funding their planned study abroad, a key factor for the US economy which generates $ 18.8 billion from international students, 37% of students said they would use personal or parental funds, 42% would aim for scholarship support and 21% aimed to get a student loan. In planning the process of which country, location and university to attend, 35% of those responding said they spent more than 12 months researching the decision before making an application. Over half of those surveyed (55%) said they spent 12 months or more in planning the process. Students between the age of 21-30 who are most likely to be planning for graduate study, spend longer than undergraduate students in making their decision – many commented that they are currently in work which affects their timescales.
When asked why they wanted to study abroad, 39% of students said to get a better education and a further 39% indicated they believed a foreign degree would lead to a better job in their home country. Only 8% indicated their motivation was to immigrate to the country in which they planned to study.
In selecting a country in which to study the top 3 factors indicated as being “very important” were the country’s education reputation, the cost of study and safety. The least important consideration was the desire to meet people from their own country. Similarly in selecting a university or college, international students said the most important factors were the quality of the program, tuition fees and the university ranking.
Choosing a university or college to apply to, 71% said they were doing so to a school they had never previously heard of before embarking on their research with 98.2% saying their primary method of research was online via search engines. Both the university website and advice from alumni and friends were mentioned as important factors in helping students come to a decision of where to study.
Despite the fact that the majority of schools do not have information in local (non English) languages on their websites, 79% of students said it was very important to have information in their native language, not least because 69% of these said their parents would require this information.
Mike Elms, CEO of Hotcourses commented: “It is perhaps not surprising students take over 12 months to make this decision as most of them have not studied or lived abroad before and it is a very significant emotional as well as financial commitment. It is surprising that so few schools invest in having information in local languages given the efforts they go to in recruiting international students and also because of the crucial role parents play in funding their children’s education.”
About the survey
The survey was carried out online during October 2010. It was marketed to international students through the Hotcourses range of international websites. 19% of participants were Chinese, 25% Indian, 12% Indonesian, 11% Nigerian, 8% Malaysian, 7% Vietnamese, 6% Pakistani and Iranian, 3% Taiwanese and Ugandan.
About Hotcourses
Hotcourses was founded in 1996. It runs websites aimed at making it simple for students to find the right choice of school and program all over the world. Currently Hotcourses covers the following destination countries: the UK, Australia, USA, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand. The company runs websites in 21 countries and 16 languages around the world. Hotcourses has offices in Massachusetts, USA; London, UK; Sydney, Australia and Chennai, India.
Students at The University of Manchester have launched a free financial advice website aimed exclusively at students in a bid to combat the effects of the credit crunch, including the imminent rise in tuition fees.
Tell Me Money was created by Business graduate Joe Levi, 21, and offers students help with managing their personal finances. Tell Me Money is a free website, which provides money saving advice, an interactive budget calculator, the latest student offers and an online community to share financial tips. All the articles are written by students, which adds a personal touch to the tricky topic of personal finance and users can also directly communicate with each other through blogs and forums.
Monterey College of Law extended its run of 2010 “good news” stories by announcing eight new lawyers from the July 2010 California Bar Exam results released Friday, November 19. Matthew Bogosian, Daniel Cullem, Andy Kim, Molly Koontz, Olga Mikheeva, Eric Milliken, Deanna Trinidad, and Tyson Wiles will soon be sworn-in as MCL’s newest California lawyers.
Mitchel Winick, President and Dean of MCL, stated, “We are extremely proud of our eight new lawyers. Passing the California Bar Exam is one of the highest professional achievements because the State Bar sets the standards to make it the hardest bar exam in the country.” The State Bar of California reported a 54.8% overall pass rate for all applicants for the 2010 July Bar exam, the lowest state bar exam pass rate in the U.S., and a five percent drop from last year’s July bar exam results.
MCL’s graduating class of 2010 has a cumulative pass rate of 71%, which means that three out of the last four graduating classes at MCL have exceeded a 70% cumulative pass rate. “This level of success places MCL graduates among the top achievers among state-accredited law schools in California,” reported Assistant Dean Wendy LaRiviere. “It is also worth noting that the one graduating class below 70% is only two people short of reaching that level after adding one new lawyer from this exam,” pointed out LaRiviere. “Law school graduates are not limited in the number of times that they can retake the bar exam, so MCL’s cumulative pass rates continue to improve due to the tenacity and dedicated efforts of our graduates.”
MCL will be hosting a public swearing-in ceremony at the law school’s Community Justice Center at 100 Col. Durham St. in Seaside, Thursday, December 2nd at 5:30 p.m. Monterey Superior Court Judge Lisa Mineta will be officiating at the ceremony. The law school also welcomes local graduates of other law schools who passed the bar and who would like to participate in the swearing-in ceremony. Individuals are welcome to contact Lisa Williams at 831-582-4000 for further information.
In addition to celebrating the success of its graduates, it has been a busy year for MCL. The law school opened its new Community Justice Center this past April as only the second law school in the U.S. to achieve Platinum LEED certification. Platinum LEED certification represents the highest standard for “green” building design and construction. MCL also opened a new first-year law school program in Santa Cruz this year and has been granted authorization to begin offering a graduate LL.M. degree in International Law at the main campus as early as next year. The law school received national press, including more than one envious comment, in August when it became the first law school in the U.S. to initiate a program that provides iPads for each MCL law student.
This past month, MCL also announced its intended affiliation with San Francisco-based Alliant International University. Under the proposed affiliation agreement, MCL will remain a separate non-profit college, but will offer its M.L.S., J.D., and LL.M. law degrees as part of Alliant’s professional graduate degree programs. The affiliation agreement creates the potential for future joint-degree graduate programs, international law programs, and provides access to Federal student loan programs for MCL students. The proposed affiliation agreement requires approval from the State Bar of California, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and the U.S. Department of Education before it is finalized.
“All of our efforts are focused on continuous improvement of our legal education programs,” said Winick. “We are very pleased that the continued success of our graduates on the California Bar Exam represents an important indicator that we are moving in the right direction.”
As shoppers enter a fourth holiday season with a stagnant economy and high unemployment, many parents and grandparents are looking for Christmas gifts that can pull double-duty as good investments. Instead of buying a frivolous gift that will be quickly forgotten or an e-gadget that becomes obsolete overnight, parents are buying holiday gifts that will continue to pay off over time. Enter financialfootprint, a company that offers young adults personalized financial solutions and financial education via one-on-one meetings and an array of online tools. Designed specifically for young adults, the program provides guidance about personal finance issues ranging from student loan options to credit card basics.
An October Gallup poll predicted that this Christmas season will bring another year of poor returns for traditional holiday retailers, but financialfootprint has experienced the opposite effect. “We’ve seen an increased interest in our service as we enter the holiday season,” said financialfootprint co-founder Dave Kittredge. “In this poor economy, parents are wondering how they can help their children plan for their futures. They want to give them holiday gifts that are meaningful and pay off over the long term.”
Priced at $ 120, an annual subscription to financialfootprint is a bargain, and the company currently is running a holiday special for only $ 99. The subscription includes an unlimited number of meetings with a subscriber’s own Personal Finance Guide, and access to an array of online tools like budgeting worksheets and a student loan calculator. For Kittredge, who was motivated to start the company by his own experience parenting two young adults, “there is no better gift than teaching your children how to manage money and build a financially successful future.” And at a price-point that most families can afford, financialfootprint is a gift that is within everyone’s reach.
According to a recent survey by the National Retail Federation, the average young adult, aged 18-24, will spend about $ 470 on holiday gifts this year. But 57% of college students are already carrying a credit card balance of over $ 1,000, and one quarter of these students said that their parents help them pay their credit card bill (see table). “These young adults are already struggling with their student finances and they need help,” said Dave Ng, the other financialfootprint founder. “Our service provides them objective financial education and guidance that they are not getting anywhere else.”
Ng chalks up his company’s recent success to having discovered the perfect market niche. “When you look around, there are not many existing financial services that are geared towards young adults,” said Ng, himself a young adult. When Ng graduated from college a few years ago and entered the financial service industry, his friends began coming to him for financial advice. “I realized that there was nowhere for my peers to get unbiased financial guidance,” said Ng. It was this realization that got him talking to Kittredge about starting financialfootprint.
“This holiday season, parents and grandparents are looking for ways to help their children with their finances. Gifts such as money and gift cards can sometimes aid in the short term, but they lack the long term financial impact the gift giver is looking for,” said Ng. “Today, parents are looking for a service to teach their children how to save and manage their money and financialfootprint offers that at a very reasonable price.”
UniversityDecisions.com, a research and resource focused website for potential college students, is helping recent college graduates pay down student loans while highlighting the benefits of getting a college education. On December 1st 2010, UniversityDecisions.com will launch The Success Yearbook
With recently proposed government regulations, in Bill S.3837, on for-profit schools, it is more important than ever before that students do their homework before going back to college. My Colleges and Careers works to provide information to help students prepare for their education and career.
Government Regulations
With staggering numbers showing that graduates of for-profit schools are often unable to repay student loans, and these schools possibly facing strict regulations, My Colleges and Careers provides vital information students need to be prepared.
Many traditional and online colleges that fall into the for-profit category could be facing strict government regulations that may mean they will no longer have the funding needed to operate. The government is investigating whether schools are making false claims and using high-pressure recruiting tactics.
Most for-profit schools, like University of Phoenix, DeVry University and Kaplan Higher Education, depend on the federal financial aid students receive, such as Pell grants and Stafford loans. Even though the schools only enroll 11 percent of college students, they receive about a quarter of all financial aid distributed. For the last school year, for-profit schools received about $ 7 billion from Pell grants alone.
For-profit schools are run by private organizations and companies with the goal of making a profit. These schools are popular among older students and those going back to school. A few of the types of programs offered at for-profit schools include art and design, criminal justice and business.
For-profit schools often offer flexible schedules, programs that can be completed quickly and online courses. Students can find all the information they need about schools, programs and careers in one place at MyCollegesandCareers.com. The site is an extremely useful resource that can help students understand the value of their education investment.
The government is investigating claims that graduates of these schools are ill-prepared, and often unable, to repay their student loans. A large number, 43 percent, of students who default on their loans are graduates of for-profit schools. If claims and investigation results show that for-profit colleges are employing deceptive practices, inflating student grades and keeping students on record even after they have dropped out in order to receive funding, many of these schools may no longer be around, due to strict regulations.
The proposed government regulations would require for-profit schools to meet certain standards in regards to debt-to-income ratios. Schools that have large numbers of graduates who are unable to repay student loans after earning their degrees or online degrees may not qualify for government funding.
However, My Colleges and Careers helps students avoid financial pitfalls by providing information on careers and salaries, so students can plan now to repay student loans. The site also provides information on what students need to do to land that dream job and what education is needed to be successful in a particular field.
What Students Can Do
Although students may have little to no control over whether government regulations will be put in place for for-profit schools, My College and Careers suggests a few things they can do to make sure they make their education worth-while and that they don’t become part of the large number of students who are unable to repay their student loans.
The first things students can do to avoid falling into the trap of being unable to repay student loans is do research about potential schools. Starting on July 1, 2011, for-profit schools will be required to provide prospective students with information about graduation rates and job placement. Before a student decides where to attend school, they should consider these numbers and decide if the school provides the best career opportunities for them and to decide if the diploma awarded will be sufficient to help them land a job that will enable them to repay student loans.
By doing research about areas of study that interest them before they go back to college, or enroll in online college students can find profitable and rewarding careers they will enjoy. Information on salaries, job availability and industry growth or decline is all helpful when deciding if it will be possible to find a job after graduation that is lucrative enough to repay student loans and make the education investment worth while.
An easy way to do this research is to use the Internet to investigate potential careers and schools that offer on-campus classes or classes through distance education. MyCollgesandCareers.com is an excellent place for students to do research on courses, programs and schools, as well as career paths. The site helps students decide what career is best for them and then guides them through the process of finding a school and enrolling in courses.
http://www.mycollegesandcareers.com is committed to helping students find the best school for them so they can earn their college degree and embark on a rewarding career. A powerful resource for individuals who have full-time jobs and family responsibilities, My Colleges and Careers connects people with the programs that help them earn their degree online.
The Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), with generous support from Lumina Foundation, is pleased to announce the release of “Improve Competition,” the final section of 25 Ways to Reduce the Cost of College. “Improve Competition” (an embargoed copy is available here: http://centerforcollegeaffordability.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=129332) will be released December 8, 2010 and features the following five chapters:
#21: Ease the Credit Transfer Process Among Public Institutions: Americans are a nation of movers, and inter-institutional academic migration is commonplace. However, colleges historically have often made transferring credits difficult. Easing this process through bilateral or state-wide articulation agreements can cut costs and improve student completion rates.
#22: Reform Financial Aid: The current financial aid system of loan programs, grants, tax free savings plans and tuition tax credits is overly complex and confusing. Furthermore, it fails to direct aid to the neediest students and encourages students and colleges to spend more money. Reform should involve a vast reduction in the multiplicity of federal programs, the simplification of the FAFSA form, a reintroduction of private competitive servicing of student loans, and moving to vouchering student assistance instead of institutional subsidies.
#23: Reform Accreditation to Reduce Barriers to Entry: Despite failing to assure educational quality, accreditation is a costly certification process that serves as a significant barrier to entry to new and smaller institutions. A good accreditation system would be output-based, provide vastly more information to the public and would require accrediting organizations to be governed by those without any vested interest in the results.
#24: Subsidize Students, not Schools: Currently higher education institutions serve as a middle-man passing aid dollars from the government along to students. Reconfiguring this system to fund students directly would introduce much needed competition between institutions forcing them to be primarily student-centered. This voucher system could also target aid to the neediest and deserving students.
#25: Promote Competition Based on Value, Not Reputation: Colleges largely compete on reputation, quintessentially measured by the annual US News and World Report college rankings which encourage schools to spend more money to obtain a higher rank. However, reputation is not a good indicator of the actual quality of the education a college provides. The most critical element in any solution is developing value-added measures of what students gain from college attendance.
An embargoed (until 12:01 AM, December 8, 2010) copy of each chapter can be accessed at this link: http://centerforcollegeaffordability.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=129332. The full version of the study, which will also be released December 8, 2010 is available here: http://www.centerforcollegeaffordability.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=129325
The entire release schedule for all sections is as follows:
Section One: Use Lower Cost Alternatives……………………………….Wednesday, November 10, 2010
