College and University Blog
Resources, help, and insight for your college experience
No Drinking on Campus: Alcohol Free Parties Rising in Popularity
Keg parties, beer pong and binge drinking are three activities commonly associated with college, but recent studies have found that a rising number of students would prefer to participate in events that don’t place emphasis on alcohol.
The percentage of incoming college freshmen who choose not to drink has increased, and alcohol-free events are growing in popularity as more and more young adults want to socialize and have fun without getting drunk.
Organization Offering Scholarships to a Select Minority: White Males
A new non-profit organization in the state of Texas is raising funds to award five $500 college scholarships to a group that they call “an unsupported select minority”— white men.
Students Participate in National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Gaining the dreaded Freshman 15 is a legitimate concern of countless young adults as they head to college—it’s pretty easy to pack on a few pounds when you’ve got late-night pizza delivery and all-you-can-eat dessert bars at your disposal. Eating is a great stress reliever.
The everyday stresses of college can also lead to skipping meals or starving yourself, binging and purging, compulsive exercising, and other food-related issues— college students aren’t immune to eating disorders. February 20-26, 2011 is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and colleges across the country are encouraging students to talk about the issue.
College Spring Break: 6 Favorite Student Vacation Destinations
It seems like the semester just started, but Spring Break 2011 is actually approaching at breakneck speed. The party-centric week of not hitting the books typically falls between late February and early April, depending on your college or university’s schedule.
The most popular spring break destinations vary slightly from year to year, but college students have been flocking to sun-soaked locales for decades. Read on and learn about 6 favorite spring break hotspots.
Higher Starting Salaries for the College Class of 2011
Graduating from college this spring? Be glad you didn’t finish your degree last year—the job market looks brighter for you than it did for your class of 2010 counterparts.
According to recent surveys conducted by NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, more bachelor’s degree graduates from the class of 2011 are expected to be hired than occurred last year with the class of 2010. Average starting salaries have also increased.
Princeton Review’s 100 Best Value Colleges, 2011
As the cost of college increases and federal funding for education dwindles, students and parents want to be aware of the best college deals available.
For the third consecutive year, the Princeton Review has teamed with USA Today to present a list of America’s 100 Best Value Colleges. Fifty public and fifty private colleges were included on the list in two separate categories.
Guns on Campus: Texas to Pass Bill Allowing Concealed Handguns at Colleges
The state of Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry concealed handguns on campus.
Supporters of the legislation feel that self-defense is imperative after several recent lethal shootings at colleges across the country while opponents argue that allowing guns will only make campuses more dangerous.
Bet You’ll Earn Better Grades this Semester!
We’ve all known our fair share of incredibly smart people who earn bad grades simply because they’re lazy when it comes to attending class and studying.
If they’re motivated by money, though, Ultrinsic might serve as some encouragement. Last fall, the new website began taking wagers on grades from students at 36 colleges.
With bets starting at $25, Ultrinsic lets college students wager on whether they can achieve or exceed a certain grade.
Alcoholic Whipped Cream Raising Eyebrows Around Campus
Sounds crazy, but whipped cream is the latest controversial “drink” on college campuses around the country.
With names like Whipped Lightning and CREAM, flavored whipped topping infused with alcohol hit shelves last year. It’s available in a wide variety of flavors including vanilla, German chocolate, raspberry, caramel and even hazelnut espresso, and news stations report the products are flying off the shelves around campus.
Want a Big Paycheck? Top 15 Colleges by Graduate Salary, 2011
Location and cost are two of the biggest reasons students decide to attend one college over another. The majors and degrees offered are also important factors, and parents and students are starting to pay more attention to colleges’ graduation rates, too.
Newly released data from the salary calculation site Payscale.com provides information on the earning potential of some of the nation’s top colleges. Salaries depend on a variety of factors, particularly the graduate’s chosen field, but the mid-career and starting median salaries of graduates from these colleges and universities is rather impressive. Go ahead and take a peek!
Top 10 Most Popular Liberal Arts Colleges
Love em or hate em, people pay attention to college rankings. According to U.S. News and World Report, one of the best indicators of a school’s popularity among students is the school’s yield, or the percentage of applicants accepted by the college that end up enrolling there in the fall.
Facebook for College? Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Gives $2 Million
It’s getting harder and harder to find someone without a Facebook account—as of January 2011, the social network had over 600 million active users, many of them college students.
Hopeful that it will help improve post-secondary graduation rates in the United States, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given $2 million in funding to a company that created an app designed to engage a college’s future and current students by creating an online school community within Facebook.
Community College Overload: High Enrollment Means Less Access to Necessary Classes
In the midst of the recession, community college students are already noticing the impact of high enrollment rates and substantial budget cuts.
The results of a new survey that was specially commissioned to better understand the plight of community college students in order to help them succeed found that one-third of students were unable to enroll in a class because it was already full.
College Health Plan Reform Proposed
Approximately 2,000 colleges and universities have contracts with health insurers to offer student health plans which cover around three million American students. Students typically purchase these health plans when family coverage isn’t available or alternative plans are not affordable.
College health plans are not all the same— some are comprehensive while others offer limited benefits that can put students at risk for a flood of medical bills. How well the plans are regulated also varies widely.
Regulations proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on February 9, 2011 would allow students enrolled in such plans to receive protections similar to those created by last year’s Affordable Care Act.
Students Taking AP Exams in Record Numbers
Data released by the College Board on February 9, 2011 reveals that the number of high school seniors who took at least one Advanced Placement (AP) exam before their graduation has doubled since 2001.
The number of students who performed well on AP exams is up from previous years, but the number of students that did poorly has also increased. Statistics suggest that problems exist in our nation’s high schools.
Online College Courses: An Effective Way to Learn
It seems like online college courses have taken the country by storm. Most brick-and-mortar colleges and universities require traditional-aged students to take a combination of classroom and online courses, and working professionals and adults with families are taking online courses right from their own homes.
They’re trendy at the moment, a the list of advantages of taking college classes online would be enormous, but just how effective are they? Can you really learn at the college level without ever setting foot inside a classroom?
You Thought Your School was Harsh: 4 Incredibly Strict Colleges
Colleges and universities have rules and regulations in place for a reason. Although some of them are undoubtedly annoying, most school policies make sense. Don’t cheat, don’t lie, respect others, follow state and federal laws, don’t light candles in your dorm … the usual. Officials want students to have a good college experience and stay safe on campus.
A few colleges and universities have rules that would be considered incredibly strict by most people reading this. Some folks feel that “Rules were made to be broken!” but they’d better think twice if they plan on attending any of these schools!
Student Loan Default Rates Sky-High Among For-Profit Colleges
For-profit colleges have been under scrutiny for their aggressive recruiting tactics and alleged violations of federal financial aid regulations, but new data shows that student loan default rates among students who attended for-profits are higher than ever.
On Thursday, February 3, 2011, the United States Department of Education released new data showing that many for-profit colleges leave large numbers of their graduates unable to repay their student loans.
College: It’s Not for Everyone, Says Harvard Study
Even though the importance of a college education is drilled into children at an early age, just 30 percent of Americans earn a bachelor’s degree by the time they are 27 years old. High school and college students are dropping out in record numbers, causing some educators to believe that a traditional four-year degree is not the best path for everyone to pursue.
How Much Did You Give? Donations to Colleges Total $28 Billion in 2010
This morning my mailbox was graced with the latest edition of my alma mater’s quarterly journal. I hardly ever read that glossy magazine from cover-to-cover, but I always flip through it for awhile before tossing it aside.
It’s usually a pretty decent mixture of articles about current students and professors, some impressive photos of what’s happening on campus and a section of alumni updates, but one thing’s a given—there’s always a handy-dandy envelope tucked inside, should the urge to send in a donation strike me while I’m remembering my college days.