MAILBAG: Flood of Emails About The World Is Your Campus

Each week, I am getting an increasing number of emails from students, parents, educators, school administrators and of course, numerous study abroad program reps who want me to plug their programs.
I’ll be hiring someone to help me sort through these, as I really want to respond to most of them but don’t have the time [...]

Adult Home School: More Online Students Skip the Commute, Earn a Degree From Home

The numbers keep rising:  more students are turning to online courses (distance learning programs) to earn a college degree. 
This article in the Boston Globe offers reasons why more adults are finding online courses to be the perfect learning solution for those facing long commutes, inflexible work schedules and the demands of parenting.  Of course, younger students with [...]

Minnesota Schools Consider Raising Drop-Out Age From 16 to 18

According to this article, Minnesota schools may see a bump up in the drop-out age from 16 to 18. 
Uh oh.
The intent is to “force at least some of the state’s thousands of high school dropouts every year to stay in school.”  Note the word “force” –never a sign of engaged learning.
 Though there’s little evidence nationwide [...]

California Community Colleges to Get $50 Million Endowment From Osher Foundation

Community colleges in cash-strapped California will be getting a boost.  
The San Francisco-based Bernard Osher Foundations has pledged up to $50 million to help needy students at California community colleges in what is believed to be the largest gift ever donated to the nation’s two-year institutions.
Mary Bitterman, the foundation’s president, said:
“The more we have focused on the [...]

Hard Times In Florida: UF Slashes Jobs, Enrollment

According to this article in the Orlando Sentinel, the University of Florida is in hunker-down mode.  UF is slashing undergraduate enrollment by 4,000 students, laying off 138 faculty and staff members, and eliminating some courses and degree programs to make up for the loss of $47 million in state money.
The sweeping cuts announced Monday by [...]

Low Cost, High Tech Creative Solution: Cheap & Savvy Saves the Day

I love hearing stories about colleges that use every resource available to provide education to their neediest–and busiest–students. 
Unfortunately, these stories rarely come from traditional four-year institutions.  After all, they aren’t in business to provide low-cost solutions.
But the community colleges rock.  They tend to have a closer link to those who are working jobs while working [...]

Nooooo! NY To Pay Students Who Take Advanced Placement Tests

Just when you think the emphasis on Advanced Placement tests couldn’t get more ridiculous, here comes an article about a new program that will pay students (mostly black and Latino) to take the Advanced Placement test. 
That link above is to the New York Times article.  There’s also an article about it in the Washington Post (remember that the Washington Post [...]