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As I sit here this morning, eating a bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal, sifting through the latest college news feeds…

I came across an article from CBS.com that highlites a new category in the latest edition 2009 Princeton Review of nationwide college rankings.  The Green Honor Roll.

Actually, there are 62 new categorys in all, but the Green Honor Roll seems to be getting the most media attention.

If you ever wanted to know how Princeton Review puts this list together, check out their How We Do It page.

 So, you’re probably wondering what the considerations are for making it on to this special category?

1.  The amount of money spent on local or organic food

2.  Energy consumption from renewable sources

3.  The availability and/or requirement of an environmental education.

For some reason, I can’t seem to understand why the amount of money spent on organic food would be of major significance to make this list, but obviously, Princeton did.  Anyway, here is the list!

Green Honor Roll (in alphabetical order)

Arizona State University at the Tempe campus
Bates College (Lewiston, ME)
Binghamton University (State Univ. of New York at Binghamton)
College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, ME)
Emory University (Atlanta, GA)
Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
Harvard College (Cambridge, MA)
University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH)
University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)
University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
Yale University (New Haven, CT)

This book is a must have for students and/or parents considering their college options.  It’s now available at your local bookstore and online retailers.

According to research conducted by Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn of Cornell University:

30 to 35 percent of men graduated from a four-year college by the time they turned 35 years old, in the 1960’s. This statistic has remained constant for close to 40 years, (Excluding the Vietnam war).

Women on the other hand, fared much worse in the 1960’s with 25 percent receiving a college degree.  As of today, almost 40 percent will graduate from a four-year college.

Equal or Above Equal Graduation means Equal Pay….Right?
Inflation-adjusted average hourly wages for young college graduates in 2007 were $21.09 for men and $18.17 for women in 2007. (According to the Economic Policy Institute)

These wage statistics are a bit dissapointing to hear, yet I wonder how factors such as graduates with a degree in teaching degree affect the results?  It’s no secret that a teaching degree pays less money than most other degrees.  Women still occupy a high percentage of jobs in education, in fact, a recent story on MSN cited statistics released by the National Education Association (NEA), that men made up just 24.4 percent of the total number of teachers in 2006.

The main reason?  Status and Pay.

So if men aren’t taking teaching positions because of status and pay, what kind of role does that play in skewing the wage gap?

On average, freshly graduated medical sudents owe $140,000 in student loans after graduating from med school.  A recent survey by nonprofit Association of American Medical Colleges says that debt influences one third of all medical graduates and their choice of specialization.

2006-2007 earning statistics as broken down by medical field:

Family-medicine doctors: $161,000 a year (Source: Merritt, Hawkins & Associates)
Radiologists: $380,000 a year (Source: Merritt, Hawkins & Associates)
Orthopedic surgeons $413,000, (Source: Merritt, Hawkins & Associates)

2006-2007 earning statistics as broken down by medical academic field:

academic family practice: $140,038 a year (Source: Medical Group Management Association)
academic orthopedic surgery: $205,904 a year (Source: Medical Group Management Association)
academic radiology: $272,737 a year (Source: Medical Group Management Association)

The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College and Free Tuition
The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University hopes to encourage students to pursue academic medicine by awarding all incoming students full scholarships to cover their $43,500 tuition (Approximately $43,500/year).

Students will still have the responsibility of paying for living expenses, misc. fees, equipment and books, but the free tuition program should drastically reduce the total debt load on incoming students next year.

Source: WSJ

An undercover investigation targeting drug trafficking at San Diego State University in California uncovered a major underground drug ring on fraternity row, authorities said on Tuesday.
 

The investigation began when a 19-year-old freshman sorority member died a year ago from a cocaine overdose at San Diego State University.

Just Months away from Graduating

Prosecutors said one of the students accused of dealing cocaine was one month away from being awarded a master’s degree in homeland security.

Another student was who was arrested was a month away from a criminal justice degree.

Authorities seized several guns, at least $60,000 in cash and about $100,000 worth of drugs, including marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, and methamphetamines.

Some drugs bought and sold by students were traced to gangs linked to Mexican cartels, according to the DEA.  Investigators discovered that many students in fraternities were aware of organized drug dealing within their houses.

Source: International Herald Tribune

The following information is based on the latest information from campaign releases and recent interviews.

Barack Obama

1. Barack Obama proposes creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will cover the first $4,000 of a college education.

2. Barack Obama proposes to provide $25 million annually in matching funds for states to develop Early Assessment Programs. Some states have developed an voluntary Early Assessment Program that enables 11th graders and their families to help prepare for college by the time they graduate.

3. Barack Obama wants to simplify the financial aid process by eliminating the FAFSA and its complicated calculations altogether. Instead, aid would be based on a much simpler yet equally accurate formula, so that students can predict their eligibility well in advance.

Link to more information about Barack Obama and his plan for College Tuition

Hillary Clinton

1. Proposes to provide a $3,500 tuition tax credit

2. Increasing the Pell Grant (No fixed amount given at this time) Hillary proposes to maintain the value of the Pell Grant by annually adjusting it to take account of rising college costs.

3. Proposes to create a $250 million Graduation Fund which will set out to close the diploma gap with incentive grants that challenge four-year colleges to launch performance-based efforts to improve their graduation rates, especially among low-income and minority students.

4. Simplifying the student aid process

Link to more information about Hillary Clinton and her plan for College Tuition

Source:  Washington Post

A recent Washing Post article talks about how the process of applying to college can be a stressful and problematic time in a high school senior’s life.  Especially with current rejection rates at all time highs.

Side Effects of Applying to College?
Lack of sleep, headaches, stomach pain, and stress are just a few symptoms that can go along with the joys of college admissions.  Most of these may seem harmless, but doctors warn, that stress can lead to depression eating disorders and other mental health problems.

Unfortunately, extreme circumstances of stress can lead to far worse circumstances.  A recent clip from NBC’s, The Today Show discusses college suicide rates which are at an all time high.

Rejection, or Redemption?
A particular story of interest within the Washington Post article; one high school senior was devastated by rejections from Stanford and Princeton after ranking third in his class and scoring perfect SAT scores.

“I realize I didn’t found a company or discover a new insect. I feel like it’s coming to a point where you have to do something like that to get into schools like Princeton or Stanford.”

Today, he is a pre-med student at Notre Dame, says he has new outlook on being “rejected” by those Ivy League schools.

“At the time, it felt like it was the biggest deal in the world that I didn’t get into those schools, but I love it here. Looking back on it now, this is definitely the right place for me.”

How Can Students Cope?
The University of Iowa recommends different stress easing techniques such as assessing and adjusting diet, exercising regularly, and getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night.  Seeking advice from friends, family, and or those who have been through the whole process of college admissions can prove beneficial as well.

Just remember, getting into school is the easy part.  It’s the 4-7 years of hard work that follows which will be quite challenging at times.

Source:  chron.com

Tuition and fees at public universities have risen 40 percent in Texas since 2003.  This article centers around the turmoil forced by the credit markets and has created fears that private student loans will be fewer and more costly for those who can get them.

Community college grows

Community colleges in Texas report a surge of new students, while four-year schools say the cost and uncertainty have had little impact on enrollement.  Close to 50% of Texas college students attend a community college.

Interest rates may be on the rise

Those that do qualify may have to pay higher interest rates. Students generally don’t apply for those loans until summer, so, again as posted before, it’ll be atleast June or July until consumers can see what kind of effect the credit crunch has had on student lending.

Source:  CNBC.com

The House voted on 4/18/08 in favor of an college lending bill 383-27 after tensions mounting that the tightening credit markets, triggered from the subprime mortgage crisis, could limit financial aid for students.

Statistic:  13 percent of companies in the lending market have recently stopped making loans under the federal student loan program.

The legislation gives the Education Department the ability to buy loans from student lenders which in turn helps lenders have more cash available for lending.

Technorati Profile

Sallie Mae and other CEO’s from lending institutions across the U.S. seem to think there’s a big problem with the collegiate loan industry, in part because they can’t bundle their loans into securities to sell to institutional investors.  Why?  Demand has dried up for these type of investments due to investor fear and a downward trend in investor liquidity.  On Wednesday, Citigroup Inc. said it will temporarily stop issuing loans to students at schools where profits have not been satisfactory.

The fact is, no one will know just how bad the situation is until data will become available in June or July as mentioned in my April 17th post.

Help on the Way?

Congressional leaders and the Bush administration are in a bit of a bind when it comes to helping free up more dollars to lend to College students. Why? It would mean a bail out for the lending institutions who created the mess in the first place. Does this sound familiar? (Search Mortgage lending companies and credit crunch in Google )

What to Look for in the Months Ahead

Some areas of interest in the coming months.

College Enrollment/Attendance Statistics (Has student lending affected enrollment rates)
Student Loan Company Earnings Reports (Are publically traded companies earnings reflected upon the lack of money available?)
College Tuition adjustment (If enrollment starts to cool down, will institutions lower tuition rates?)
Employment Data (If the employment rate starts increasing, that will mean less money for the larger more prestigious Colleges)

The CEO of Sallie Mae warned of a “train wreck” coming in the $85 billion education financing market without urgent government intervention according to an article on MSNBC. 

Chief Executive Al Lord told investors on a conference call Thursday, that a market hit by a credit crunch and cuts last year in federal subsidies to student lenders is cause for concern.  Conveiently, his remarks about the the state of the college loan industry came hours ahead of an expected vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on a bill which could help bail out the lending institutions.

A statistic to note in the conference call from Mr. Lord:

Demand for student loans at Sallie was running at $3 billion a month, while the company has only been able to access funding of about $1 billion a month.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24167304/