President Obama on Friday called on Universities and Colleges to stop their rapid increases in the cost of tuition. In confronting those institutions the President promised to pull federal funds should universities find it necessary to increasingly raise the price of admission.

The speech came as President Obama spoke with a group of students at the University of Michigan. In his speech Obama noted that he was ”putting colleges on notice” while promising that the era of tuition hikes is coming to an end.

“You can’t assume that you’ll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down,” Obama said during his speech to students.

Obama spoke about his financial aid proposal which he first announced during Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Obama’s new plan goes after “campus based” aid such as Perkins loans and work study program. While $142 billion in federal grants and loans were distributed to college students in 2011 only $3 billion went to those program, a number Obama would like to increase to $10 billion annually.

In explaining the importance for a college education the President noted:

“In the coming decade, 60 percent of new jobs will require more than a high school diploma,” he said. “Higher education is not a luxury. It’s an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.”

In speaking about the need to better monitor performance and tuition at American Universities  Obama education secretary, Arne Duncan noted:

“Historically, we’ve funded universities whether or not they’ve done a good job of graduating people, whether or not they’ve done a good job of keeping down tuition.”

Do you think Universities should be penalized for continuing to raise tuition rates at increasing levels?

President Obama Attacks University Tuition, Calls For Stop To Rapidly Increasing Costs is a post from: The Inquisitr

After administrators at Manhattan’s prestigious Fordham U Catholic university refused to provide a birth control clinic students on campus decided to take matters into their own hands.

Working with local doctors a make-shift clinic has been setup just one block away from Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. At the clinic students can receive free condoms and birth control prescriptions.

The operation is organized by Law Students for Reproductive Justice, a group that is protesting the schools refusal to give out birth control through university health insurance while charging a $100 “per condition” deductible for students to receive contraception from an outside doctor.

According to the group the school is engaged in “bait and switch” tactics by charging students for health care but then refusing to meet their needs in a financially viable way.

The law students told the New York Daily News:

“The university’s position seems to be ‘What do you expect, this is a Catholic school?’”

They continue by noting that while the school features a “religiously diverse student population” many students are stunned to learn just how bad the “Catholic aversion to birth control” is, or “don’t expect it to affect health care.”

In the meantime school officials are not apologizing for their ways, stating that as a Catholic university they are following the reproductive views of the church.

Do you think the university has erred by charging $100 for contraception related visits that are obtained through off-campus doctors or should students at a Catholic university not complain about the religious organizations views?

Fordham U Students Setup Birth Control Clinic Just Off Campus is a post from: The Inquisitr

Syracuse University has officially fired associate head basketball coach Bernie Fine as reports of child molestation continue to mount.

In a statement to the press the school’s senior vice president for public affairs said:

 ”At the direction of Chancellor Cantor, Bernie Fine’s employment with Syracuse University has been terminated, effective immediately.”

Fine, 65, has been with the school for 36 seasons, giving him the longest active streak for consecutive seasons at a single Division I school.

Fine has been accused of prior molestation by three men, accusations that originally placed the coach on administrative leave while an investigation was started.

Speaking about the allegations Fine called the claims “patently false.”

Early today I reported that a third man, Zach Tomaselli, 23, had come forward to say he was molested by the coach in a Pittsburgh hotel room in 2002. Tomaselli had traveled to the game with the coach 9 years ago with the encouragement of his father, a friend of Fine’s.

I tried to reach out to Fine this morning with no success, later in the day his attorneys Donald Martin and Karl Sleight  released the following statement:

“Any comment from him would only invite and perpetuate ancient and suspect claims,” and “Mr. Fine remains hopeful of a credible and expeditious review of the relevant issues by law enforcement authorities.”

Do you think the school reacted in the correct manner by firing Bernie Fine before an official investigation was completed or should he have been placed on administrative leave indefinitely until his case comes to a close?

Syracuse Fires Associate Coach Bernie Fine As Sex Scandal Claims Escalate is a post from: The Inquisitr

My first thought was that it meant a year less of drunken debauchery, but according to Stephen Trachtenberg, president emeritus of George Washington University, availability is more the reason the programs aren’t catching on.

Trachtenberg says not enough schools are implementing the programs. The VP of another college spoke to the Washington Post about the general disinterest in the accelerated programs, saying students often don’t have the motivation to complete the rapid-pace courses:

The recent proliferation of three-year degrees has heightened interest in accelerated study among college freshmen. But enthusiasm tends to peter out.

“A lot of students are interested in it,” said Dave McFadden, executive vice president of Manchester College. “A smaller number of students sign up for it, and an even smaller number finish it.”

The programs do offer a significant benefit in cost savings- aside from less time in college, students can also work sooner and begin paying off student loans. But there is a trade off in flexibility:

“If you try to do it in three years, your options are limited,” said Candace Evilsizor, 17, a rising freshman from Phoenix who plans to enroll in the three-year program at American University.

Evilsizor likes the idea of accelerated study. But, as a Global Scholar, she also wants to see the globe. In a three-year program, she might not have time.

“They say you can study abroad for a summer. But I want to study abroad for a full year. So I’m not sure how that will work out,” she said.

There’s one more benefit to accelerated study- students who go on to graduate programs can receive a master’s in five to six years. Do you think as the economy continues to falter, the idea will catch on more?

George Washington University President: Three-Year Degrees Not Catching On is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you come here often, you know how I feel about Portal. Basically, I’m pretty sure watching my first child’s first steps will pale in comparison to playing Valve’s masterpiece from beginning to end for the first time. Sorry, future Greenhough Jr.

And now, I need to enrol in college again. Why? Because Portal just became required ‘reading’ for all students at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Excellent!

Is this the first time a videogame has made the book list at a higher education facility? Possibly! Either way, as a famously brainy game, Portal is a great choice. Other games that were considered for the course included Planescape: Torment and BioShock.

Portal’s inclusion is all thanks to lecturer Michael Abbott, who also edits The Brainy Gamer. Abbott says Portal will be a “core text” of a new course called “Enduring Questions”. This is a required course, so all students at the college will have to take it.

Apparently, Enduring Questions is “devoted to engaging students with fundamental questions of humanity from multiple perspectives and fostering a sense of community. Each section of the course includes a small group of students who consider together classic and contemporary works from multiple disciplines. In so doing, students confront what it means to be human and how we understand ourselves, our relationships, and our world.”

[Via The Brainy Gamer]

Portal on the reading list at Wabash College is a post from: The Inquisitr

While the tech blogosphere likes to think of itself as the center of the blogging world it is really just another player in the much larger world of blogs. As a way to share information and encourage people to become involved there really isn’t much at this point that can surpass what blogs can bring to the table.

Involvement is a key part of what makes blogs ideal for letting people know what is going on and this is something that colleges and universities are beginning to understand. Dozens of colleges like Amherst, Bates, Carlton, Colby, Vassar, Wellesley, Yale, and M.I.T. are embracing student blogs to the point that many of them are prominently displayed on the college, or university’s main page.

Of them all the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been a real front-runner where the blogs are posted predominately on the admissions homepage, as well as including hundreds of responses from prospective applicants – with no editing.

Not all colleges are willing to go to the extent that MIT has as they are still weight the benefits against any possible downsides. A lot of them are taking it slowly with plans to add student bloggers to pass along what student life is like on the campus.

“Blogs can certainly help humanize the process,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “The flip side is that a few anxious high school students may think and worry too much about what someone wrote on their blog, and present themselves in a slightly different way than who they really are. And there’s always the concern about the political ramifications, that bloggers may open up an issue or topic that starts something negative.”

But Mr. Lord of Haverford said prospective students’ interest in the summer bloggers calmed his worries.

“High school students read the blogs, and they come in and say ‘I can’t believe Haverford students get to do such interesting things with their summers,’ ” he said. “There’s no better way for students to learn about a college than from other students.”

Source: New York Times – M.I.T. Taking Student Blogs to Nth Degree

This year M.I.T had four open spots for student bloggers which saw 25 freshman applying for them and according to Mr. McOwen, director of communications at M.I.T.’s admissions office it was a hard choice to select the final four. While many might think that the writing will be more about the upside of university life it is not always such the case but surprisingly those in charge don’t shirk from those types of posts.

And not all posts are positive. Ms. Kim once wrote about how the resident advising system was making it impossible for her to move out of her housing — expressing enough irritation that the housing office requested that the admissions office take her post down. Officials refused, instead having the housing office post a rebuttal of her accusations; eventually, the system was changed.

A lot of the early adopters in technology and social media might like to say that blogging is old and passe in light of our current love affair with a 140 characters but the fact is that blogging is really coming into its own. When universities and colleges are able to see the upside from this kind of involvement I believe it only speaks to a long life for things like blogs.

image: Mark Wilson for The New York Times

Blogging – a new way to increase university admissions is a post from: The Inquisitr

There is no denying the fact that Google is a big believer in cloud computing and web based software. In fact much of their future growth is built on the principal of getting as many people as possible using their software whether it be Google search, Gmail or their Google Docs suite of office type programs. This of course is putting them in direct competition with Microsoft which means it has had to find different ways to get their software in the hands of consumers.

One of the principal ways that they have done this is to use the same tactic that Apple and Microsoft have been using for years – hit the colleges and universities. The first prong of their attach started over two years ago with them making the education providers an offer they couldn’t really refuse in a climate of growing IT costs. Google would provide them unlimited hosted email and other applications all of which would be branded by the institution for the price of – free.

With things like their browser, a possible operating system, and the in development Google Wave being added to this package Google has a chance to become an ingrained part of the student’s lives as they move from school to the business world. Right now Google is already providing services to some 4 million students and is providing serious competition to Microsoft for access to 17 million students on the more than 4,000 campuses in the US.

The campus push is part of Google’s broader bid to breed a generation of workers comfortable with the concept of "cloud" computing, and particularly Google’s version of it, where Google provides free web-based services in exchange for advertising dollars. "We want to build relationships with these users for life," said Jeff Keltner, Google’s business development manager for the program.

Source: Business Insider – Google’s 17 Million Built-in Chrome OS Users (GOOG)

The ability to offer colleges and universities a way to save millions of dollars a year in IT costs is making Google an almost irresistible force for these institutions while at the same time creating a constantly refreshing generation of Google users.

Google’s secret to taking over the world is a post from: The Inquisitr

You gotta love all these studies that get done on common sense things like cow farts or about men falling asleep after sex. Into that class of common sense studies we can now throw the fact that people do choose to read news that fits their views. Well, Duh!

Not happy with the fact that the idea has been long considered textbook or just plain common sense researchers at the University of Ohio decided to prove it with an honest to God study. Their findings?

News readers gorge on media messages that fit their pre-existing views, rather than graze on a wider range of perspectives. In other words, they consume what they agree with, researchers say.

The finding comes out of a recent study which tracked how college students spent their time reading media articles on hot-button issues such as abortion or gun ownership.

Unsurprisingly, students gravitated toward articles that supported their views.

Source: Live Science

The numbers broke down something like this

• participants spent 36 percent more time reading articles that agreed with their point of view
• participants had a 58 percent chance of choosing articles that supported their views
• participants had a 43 percent chance of choosing an article that challenged their view

Okay, now that we have that all cleared up can we get back to this thing about cow farts ‘cause I’m sure there is some more money we could waste on this one.

Gee, tell us something we didn’t know is a post from: The Inquisitr

“Today, despite the economic crisis, it’s as important as ever to focus on investing in innovation so we can continue to make real progress in solving big problems and creating social and economic opportunity,” said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. “In particular, I believe investment in education is essential. Education is the starting point for success for individuals and the prerequisite for economic growth and prosperity for communities. It’s vital that we support efforts to provide children with access to a high-quality education and adults with access to ongoing technology skills training.” 

The DreamSpark program provides no-cost access to Microsoft designer and development tools as well as training for verified high school, college and university students worldwide. Unlike the university and college students the high school students do not sign up for the program themselves. that job goes to the school administrator who is the one that will receive the product keys to hand out to the students. Once they have the students can sign in with their Live ID to the DreamSpark site and download the software.

[hat tip to LiveSide.net]

Microsoft’s free software program now extended to high school students is a post from: The Inquisitr

College in the United States is expensive, and unlike countries like Australia where the Government subsidizes tertiary education and students don’t have to pay upfront, American students usually do. But there’s expensive, and then there’s really expensive.

Sarah Lawrence College has beaten George Washington University into first place on the most expensive colleges in America list, charging students (including board) $53,166 a year to GWU’s $50,312.

Sarah Lawrence is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in Yonkers, New York.

In the tuition only stakes, Bates College tops the list at $43,950 with Sarah Lawrence College coming in at $39,450.

If you’re planning on starting college any time soon, start saving

(via)

Sarah Lawrence College now most expensive is a post from: The Inquisitr