Education Week
Gentry Magazine
Changes to Federal Student Loan Programs
Posted on Mon, 07/02/2012 - 16:00
The interest rate on student loans will remain at 3.4% thanks to Congressional action last week. But there are other important changes to federal student loan programs that students and families need to be aware of. For example, the "grace period" on subsidized undergraduate loans -- under which the government paid the interest for six months after students left college -- has been eliminated. Inside Higher Ed has a good brief article on the highlights of the new status quo here.
Purdue University joins the Gourmet Guide
Posted on Mon, 07/02/2012 - 02:08Purdue University of West Lafayette, Indiana, joins the Gourmet Guide! We wish we were on a college road trip this summer so we could stop in at Bruno's for the "Drew Brees" pizza or grab a burger at the deceptively named Triple XXX, which has been featured in USA Today Travel as one of the “51 great burger joints across the USA," as well as the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive Ins, & Dives.” If you're visiting the Purdue campus, check out the recommendations from Jacqueline F. Hills, Senior Assistant Director of Communications at the Office of Enrollment Management, and her staff, here.
Walter Pineda, Miami Country Day School
Posted on Mon, 07/02/2012 - 01:39
Walter Pineda is paying it forward. The Associate Director of College Counseling at Miami Country Day School in Miami, Florida, is a first-generation college graduate who attended college through the help of a counselor. When his family emigrated to the United States when he was four years old, “I was at a disadvantage from other students,” says Pineda. “How to apply, what does it take, how to pay for it, what you do to pay for it – it was foreign to all of us. It was the help of a counselor and resources I could find in the library that enabled me to apply.”
After graduating from University of Rochester, Pineda began his own career in college counseling at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Five years ago, he joined the staff at Miami Country Day, a diverse coeducational K through 12 school with approximately 975 students. The upper school has a strong college preparatory program that includes a commitment to community service — a culture that Pineda says he particularly appreciates.
As our Counselor of the Month, Pineda shares his advice for students and families here in our Q&A:
Caltech Joins the Gourmet Guide
Posted on Tue, 06/26/2012 - 20:17From California institutions like In-N-Out and Peet’s Coffee to vegan fare, sushi, Argentinean steakhouses and healthy Mexican take-out, we’ve got recommendations for you from the Admissions staff of California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Personally, we would head for the Pie ‘n Burger. What’s not to like at a place with that name! Check all the reviews here in the Gourmet Guide.
College Admission in China
Posted on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 19:53Visit our Facebook page to follow coauthor Robin Mamlet's five-city book tour of China. In today's pictures, Robin visits the Nanjing Confucian Temple. She writes: Confucius promoted education and the temple in Nanjing is famous for having been the largest test site in all of China. An incredibly taxing exam was given nationally and the best in each province were selected to come to Nanjing for another even more difficult test. The test site at the Nanjing Temple accommodated 10,000 -- selected from all of China to take the highest level of exam. Only men were allowed to take the exam! And only 30 to 50 could be chosen from the 10,000 to go on and become a government official,a position considered the most prestigious in the land. Talk about selective! Within the temple, there is a "wishing wall.". On the wall, people hang their "wish cards," or jin bang ti ming ka. You can wish for whatever you like, for yourself or - more often - your son or daughter: high scores on gao kao, the Chinese national exam that determines placement in the top Chinese universities, or to get into a top college, for example. Last night there were thousands of jin bang ti ming ka up because at 10p.m. the Nanjing gao kao results were being released. Above is a wish card. See more at our Facebook page here.
Writing the Essay: Pushing the Right Brick for Diagon Alley
Posted on Mon, 06/18/2012 - 17:39
Today, we welcome guest blogger Irena Smith, a writer, teacher, and independent college consultant, on how to find the story you will tell in your college essay. Spoiler alert: it might be as simple as knowing the right brick to push to enter Diagon Alley or having a reputation for eating like a defensive lineman.
There is an old saw, beloved of debate teachers and public speaking coaches, that goes something like this: at any given funeral, given the choice between lying in the coffin or delivering the eulogy, most people would rather be in the coffin. The point is not a subtle one: not many people love public speaking.
Ignoring the "Broccoli Talk"
Posted on Fri, 06/15/2012 - 17:14
We're guest blogging at Examiner.com today on strategies for surviving the college application process in the face of the urban myths in the media and scare-mongering on the soccer sidelines. Thank you to Examiner.com's Lauren Starkey for the opportunity to share our thoughts and advice on embracing the facts and ignoring the hype. So what exactly is "broccoli talk"? Find out here. You'll recognize it immediately, we're sure!
The Difficulty of Standardizing Cost Information for Students
Posted on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 21:41
"Buying a Refrigerator, Choosing A College" Don't miss this thought-provoking article by Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson of the Chronicle of Higher Education on the difficulty of providing clearer, more standardized information to prospective students about the potential cost of their college degrees. "College pricing is complicated," the authors note. That is the strength and the drawback of higher education in the United States. There are more than 2,600 four-year colleges and universities in the United States and they are all different in everything from their curriculums, missions and financing to their football teams and tastiness of the food service. Choosing a college is an exercise in finding the right personal fit. So how can students and families expect a one-size-fits-all ingredient label when it comes to cost? That diversity in cost and financing at a college -- like the diversity in engineering programs or arts opportunities from campus to campus -- creates both opportunities and risks for students looking for the right fit.