Are the financial aid award letters your institution sends to returning and prospective students clear, correct, complete, and comparable to other institutions’ award letters? The federal government thinks that too many are misleading and difficult to compare.
Articles: Enrollment & Retention
11/29/2011
Deep admiration for the self-made men and women of business is all but encoded into Americans’ DNA. This is all well and good. Where would we be if innovators like the late Steve Jobs were reviled instead of admired? Where would our colleges and universities be without the businesslike approach to management that has become their hallmark?
11/29/2011
At one time, each of Connecticut’s 12 community colleges ran its own financial aid office by its own rules. Ten years later, the Connecticut Community College System has doubled the number of students. Now all 12 colleges use FAFSA alone to determine eligibility. All use the same “satisfactory academic progress” requirement for students who receive aid and those who don’t.
11/29/2011
Working one’s way through college is the norm for community college students: 85 percent work part- or full-time. With an average tuition bill of $2,713 a year, only 13 percent turn to student loans.
11/16/2011
Henry Ford brought efficiency to the forefront of American business with his assembly line, which introduced automobiles to the masses. “The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed,” he once said.
11/16/2011
Five years of falling application numbers is hard to swallow in good times, but when the economy turns sour, as in recent years, the situation goes from disappointment to outright concern.
Such was the case at Wayne State University, in Detroit. The late-2000’s recession struck Michigan especially hard, and with the state unable to maintain prior funding levels, the university’s graduate admissions woes came into even sharper relief.
11/16/2011
As if new student orientation wasn’t busy enough, the University of Oregon registrar’s staff was faced with processing thousands of pieces of paper containing Advanced Placement test scores that had arrived not long before the arrival of eager freshmen.
11/16/2011
Laden with application forms, transcripts, financial aid documents, and more, the admissions function is awash in paperwork. As frustrating as it may be for prospective students who have to compile and send such documentation, imagine being on the receiving end.
9/27/2011
The oft-noted statistics are grim: only about half of college students complete any degree or certificate within six years, according to the Information Center for Higher Education Policy Making and Analysis. In the fall of 2010, public policy firm HCM Strategists and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched a series of conversations for institutional leaders dedicated to increasing success for students traditionally underrepresented in higher education.
9/26/2011
As I write this, the markets have tumbled again, the Chronicle notes "renewed jitters" at colleges and universities, and Moody's warns of a mounting backlog of deferred maintenance on campuses, a sign to rating agencies of weakened financial positions.
9/26/2011
The presidential primary calendar is kicking off in just a couple months, and this is good news for those colleges and universities able to leverage the momentum of the presidential election process every four years to help gain visibility.
9/26/2011
Very few colleges and universities have actually cut their tuition, according to a National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities survey of members released in June. Other measures have been taken, though. Some institutions have frozen or allowed buying of four years, including Catawba University (N.C.) and the Sage Colleges (N.Y.). Others have committed to lower tuition increases than in the past.
9/26/2011
- 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy: Free program from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants to help Americans understand their personal finances through every stage of life
- CashCourse: Free, noncommercial online educational materials from the National Endowment for Financial Education
9/26/2011
Six years ago, when Ted Beck became president and CEO of the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), a nonprofit dedicated to helping Americans become more financially capable, student financial literacy had been overlooked by colleges and universities for a number of years.
"When I would talk to university presidents, parent groups, and students, they all thought [financial literacy] was a very important skill, but it was lacking in the college setting," recalls Beck.
9/26/2011
These days, most students are never more than an arm's reach away from their mobile phones. They live, eat, and even sleep near their phones, and increasingly, many of these devices are smartphones. A study from IDC Research found the worldwide mobile phone market grew nearly 20 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2011, fueled by high smartphone growth. Clearly, there is a growing opportunity to engage high school prospects via their mobile devices.
