Admissions

Higher Ed Roundup: Week of March 24 - March 28

Ed Policy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:44:00 -0400

Study Reports Record Congressional Earmarks for Higher Ed

Unforeseen Consequences from Changes in Texas Admissions Policies

Concern about Credit Cards on College Campuses

Study Reports Record Congressional Earmarks for Higher Ed

While many in Congress have decried the practice of pork-barrel spending, a new study reveals that U.S. lawmakers handed out $2.25 billion in earmarks for colleges and universities in the 2008 fiscal year, mostly for scientific research. The analysis, which was conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education, found that spending on academic earmarks is up $300 million since the Chronicle's last survey on the subject in 2003, and about $1.75-billion since 1998. The number of institutions receiving earmarks has increased significantly too, up 25 percent from 2003, with the most going to Mississippi State University, which received $43-million for 30 such awards. Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, was the most frequent seeker of earmarks, followed by Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Pete Domenici (R-NM).

Critics say that many colleges lobbied for earmarks to circumvent the more rigorous grant review process used by federal science agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Chronicle questions whether the money spent on these pork-barrel projects would have been better spent on the NIH, whose budget has failed to keep pace with inflation over the past several years.

Unforeseen Consequences from Changes in Texas Admissions Policies

A change in the admissions policies at Texas's public universities that was intended to increase minority enrollment and socio-economic diversity of the campuses -- without using affirmative action -- has not achieved its goals, according to several new studies presented at the American Education Research Association's annual meeting this week. The studies, which were conducted by the Texas Higher Education Opportunity Project, looked at the impact of a policy the state put into effect in 1999 that guarantees students admission to the public college of their choice if they graduate in the top ten percent of their high-school class. The state implemented this new policy after a federal appeals court in 1996 barred the use of race-based admissions in admissions at the state's public colleges.

Researchers found that the 10 percent plan did not lead to higher minority enrollment even though more black and Hispanic students were eligible for admission, suggesting that fiscal concerns and a lack of college-going history in their families may have prevented matriculation. Similarly, another paper found that there was not as much of an increase in socioeconomic diversity as expected at the flagship campuses, as the bulk of new applicants were top students from wealthier high schools.

Concern about Credit Cards on College Campuses

As credit card companies deploy more aggressive marketing tactics on college campuses, a new survey from the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups finds that more than two thirds of college students have credit cards and are using them in ways that put them at a perilous risk for increased debt. According to the report, 34 percent of students reported carrying a balance on their credit cards, the amount of which increased throughout their college years, to an average of $2,623 by the senior year. That amount increases to $2,785 for student loan borrowers, and to $4,116 for those with a history of defaulting on their credit card debt. Meanwhile, 24 percent of students say they use their credit cards to pay for tuition.

Soaring credit card use on college campuses has already attracted the attention of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who announced plans last month to investigate colleges relationships with credit card companies. Four-fifths of students surveyed by U.S. PIRG said they support stricter rules for credit card marketing, saying that they receive an average of five mail solicitations and four phone calls from credit card companies each month.

Roundup: Week of January 28 - February 1

Ed Policy — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

PHEAA May Pay $15 Million For 9.5% Loan Payments

The Department of Education has asked the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), one of the country's largest nonprofit student loan providers, to repay as much as $15 million in federal payments it improperly obtained by exploiting a subsidy program that guaranteed loan providers a 9.5 percent rate of return on government-backed student loans. The request comes two months after an audit by the Department’s own Inspector General found that PHEAA had improperly obtained $34 million in subsidy payments. The Department rejected these findings and suggested the $15 million price tag but is ultimately letting PHEAA decide how much it has to repay. A PHEAA spokesman suggested to The New York Times that the lender may end up with "zero liability." PHEAA is the first party in the 9.5 scandal to be held financialy accountable for its actions. In 2006 another lender, Nelnet, was caught with $278 in improperly obtained Department funds. The Department asked for the money back, but then let Nelnet off without paying anything. In light of Nelnet’s free pass, Rep. George Miller, the California Democrat who is chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor, called the PHEAA request "a step in the right direction."

25 HBCUs Send Letter to House Ed Committee in Favor of Default Rate Change

The presidents and chancellors of 25 historically black public colleges and universities sent a letter on Tuesday to the leaders of the House Education and Labor Committee supporting a provision in a bill reauthorizing the Higher Education Act that would extend the window the federal government uses for measuring student loan defaults from two to three years. By sending the letter, which was also signed by the American Association of State Colleges, the leaders of these colleges sought to undercut arguments being put forward by for-profit college lobbyists -- who are vigorously opposing the amendment -- that historically black colleges would suffer if the provision is enacted. "This amendment will provide more meaningful and accurate information that will help institutions, lenders, and the Department of Education help students avoid student loan default," the black-college leaders wrote. "Default is avoidable, and we know that student borrowers usually default because they are not aware of all the student loan repayment options afforded to them under the law." The House is expected to take up its version of the Higher Education Act legislation next week.

Sallie Mae Settles

Sallie Mae has reached an agreement with its onetime buyers, ending a months-long legal battle and injecting some needed credit into the embattled lender. As a result of the settlement, Sallie Mae dropped a lawsuit it had filed against a consortium of potential buyers — including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and the private equity firm J. C. Flowers & Co. — after they backed out of the proposed $25 billion buyout deal in October. As part of the agreement, the consortium will refinance about $30 billion of Sallie Mae’s debt. The settlement is good news for the financially-troubled lender, which posted a $1.6 billion loss for the fourth quarter last year and recently announced it will cut back on its "subprime" student loans.

Asian Americans, Not Whites, Gain When Affirmative Action Axed

Asian-Americans, not whites, gain the most when affirmative action is eliminated from college admissions processes, according to a forthcoming study (summarized in the Chronicle of Higher Education, subscription required). Using enrollment data from 1990 to 2005 at the University of Florida, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of California campuses at Berkeley, Los Angeles, and San Diego, the study found that enrollment of blacks fell by up to 50 percent after the schools eliminated race as a factor in admissions decisions. Asian-Americans, the same data shows, filled four out of every five spots previously held by black students. For example, at UC-Berkeley, enrollment of Asian-Americans rose from 37 percent in 1995, the year before a ban on affirmative action went into effect, to 47 percent in 2005. The study will be published next week in InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies.

Minority Recruitment: Athletics Success, Admissions Failure

Lindsey Luebchow — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:00:00 -0500

Diversity and minority recruitment are hot button words in most four year college admissions offices. There's congratulations when enrollment demographics show greater racial diversity and consternation when minority numbers drop.

But are college admissions office recruitment efforts working? Colleges will, in a knee-jerk fashion, say: yes, look at our racial and ethnic percentages! College access for minorities is a reality here! But how much is minority recruitment in admissions offices really contributing to the diversity of college campuses?

Unfortunately, at some Division I schools, not much. The black-white diversity on many campuses is not always the result of better minority recruitment. It’s often the result of athletics, and in particular, football.

Inside Higher Ed analyzed data from the NCAA and found that at 46 colleges (of the almost 330 colleges that participate in Division I athletics) athletes comprise at least a third of the black male student population. At 96 schools, athletes comprise at least 20 percent. Compare that to the percentage of all male students who are athletes: 3 percent.

The concentration of athletes in the black male population at public universities in predominantly white states and at smaller elite institutions with high admission standards is particularly striking. For example, at Oregon State University, 46 (35 football) of 122 black male undergraduates, or 38 percent, were athletes. At Wake Forest University, 69 (53 football) of 128 black male undergraduates, or 54 percent, were athletes.

What’s troubling about these statistics isn’t the large number of black student-athletes; it’s the low number of black non-athletes. Minority athletic recruitment is a well-oiled machine, and coaches do a great job recognizing potential in black athletes and providing them with a path to access higher education. (Of course, the issue then becomes, are these schools actually treating these players like students and supporting their academic development, or are they using them as professional money-makers?)

The problem arises when athletic recruitment is used as a substitution for minority recruitment in the non-athlete student population. An admissions office can tout the racial diversity of its student body as a sign of minority recruitment success when in reality it is simply masking its own failures with the athletic department’s success.

This "masking" could become a strategy at schools with large endowments who—in response to criticism from Higher Ed Watch and Congress that they are hoarding their wealth—have been promising to spend more of their money on efforts to increase both socioeconomic and racial diversity. When these schools report their diversity numbers without mentioning how many of their minority students were recruited for athletics, we don’t get a true picture of whether their academic minority recruitment strategies are producing results.

Unfortunately, the NCAA does not collect data from the Ivy League because they don’t give athletic scholarships, so we don’t know the percentage of black males who are athletes at some of the wealthiest schools. But it’s likely that their student populations are similar to other top-tier, wealthy schools like Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, and Notre Dame.

It’s important that schools are held accountable for their recruitment of non-athlete minorities. Many young black males believe that their only path to success is through athletics. If colleges don’t actively recruit them for academic achievement and potential, that perception becomes a reality in many high schools throughout the country.

And admissions offices should take note—there are lessons to be learned about recruitment from athletic departments. Coaches and their staffs are highly successful at finding athletic talent (and the potential for talent) in all types of places. They scour the country looking for students in communities across the socioeconomic spectrum, including in many places not normally paid attention to by the traditional higher education community. Admissions offices should communicate with athletic staff and consider how they can replicate successful recruitment models.

Minority recruitment takes money, time, and new ideas. Many wealthy schools are promising to revamp their recruitment efforts—we just need to make sure those efforts are coming from both the admissions office and the athletic department.

Replace the SAT

Ed Policy — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 01:00:00 -0400

In August, the College Board announced that for the first time since the early 1990s average SAT scores in reading and math had declined two years in a row. The announcement caused hand wringing in the news media and among pundits. Have students' scores dropped because…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.

Making Wealth Work

Ed Policy — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 01:00:00 -0400

Last week, we discussed the paucity of low-income students at the country's wealthiest colleges and universities. We offered a proposal that would require the richest private colleges to devote a portion of their yearly endowment income to help increase the socioeconomic diversity of their students. Some might argue that there aren't enough qualified underprivileged students…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.

When Work Doesn't Pay

Ed Policy — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 01:00:00 -0400

Financing a college education isn't easy for anybody these days, but it's an especially Herculean task if you're a working-class student living paycheck to paycheck. The obstacles to attending college are high, and the more you have to work to support yourself and your family, the less help…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.

A Damaging Leak to the University of Phoenix

Ed Policy — Wed, 02 May 2007 01:00:00 -0400

Two years ago, officials with the Apollo Group, the parent company of the giant for-profit chain the University of Phoenix, scored a coup. Someone at the U.S. Education Department sent them a set of documents that outlined the entire legal strategy of a pair of whistleblowers who were…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.

Roundup: Week of April 2 - April 6

Ed Policy — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 01:00:00 -0400

Financial Aid Directors & Education Dept Official Placed on Administrative Leave

All three financial aid directors under investigation regarding student loan company stock ownership, as identified by the New America Foundation, have been placed…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.

Roundup: Week of March 26 - March 30

Ed Policy — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 01:00:00 -0400

Limited Impact of Merit Scholarships on Enrollment

A new study conducted by James Monk at the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute found the correlation between merit scholarships and higher yields of targeted students at private colleges may be

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.

Roundup: Week of March 5th - March 9th

Ed Policy — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Goodbye, Affirmative Action. Hello, ____?

According to a new report, many state programs in Michigan may be in conflict with the recently enacted Proposal 2, which eliminated affirmative action practices in higher education and business. The Michigan…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.