Kentucky River News
January 28, 2004
Summer fun is just around the corner: Volunteers needed for weeklong summer
day camp in Perry County
The Perry County Summer Reading Camp is looking for some volunteers. This
camp, which will take place at Buckhorn State Lake Resort this year, helps third
and fourth graders who have trouble reading. This is the Perry County Summer
Reading Camp’s second year. It will take place July 11-15.
The camp, in a partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington, St. Mark’s
Episcopal Church in Hazard, the Kiwanis Club, The Presbyterian Church in Hazard,
and Hazard Community and Technical College, is designed for young people who
are reading below grade level.
“Reading is a crucial skill for kids,” commented Jenny Williams,
the camp’s director and a teacher at Hazard Community and Technical College.
“If kids can’t read well, then it’s nearly impossible for them
to do well in other academic areas.”
Reading Camp doesn’t look, feel, or smell like school. In the mornings,
the kids rotate through six learning centers which are staffed by trained teachers.
In the afternoons, they participate in fun “camp” activities, like
swimming, crafts, singing, and hiking.
The camp will host up to 25 students. Organizers are taking applications for
volunteers at this time. They particularly need teachers. “Working with
those kids was wonderful,” commented Ann Quillen, a retired teacher who
worked at last year’s camp. “They were so eager to learn. That camp
is a wonderful resource for our community.”
The Perry County Reading Camp also needs counselors, support staff, and donations
to sponsor kids. “There are so many ways that people can help,” Williams
pointed out. “I’m so fortunate to be involved in this project. I hope
others will come lend a hand, too. Believe me, the adult volunteers get as much
out of this program as the kids!”
For more information about the Perry County Reading Camp, contact Jenny Williams
at Hazard Community and Technical College at 487-3210.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
January 31, 2005
More Students Plan to Work to Help Pay for College
Record percentages of freshmen also expect to take on high debt
Record-high percentages of students expect to work while attending college
and to take on large chunks of debt to pay their tuition, according to an annual
national survey of incoming freshmen conducted by the Higher Education Research
Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles.
The proportion of freshmen who anticipated owing at least $3,000 at the end
of their first year of college reached a new peak, 29.6 percent, rising steadily
from 24.1 percent in 2001. The largest percentage of students in the 40-year
history of the survey -- 8.8 percent -- foresaw borrowing more than $10,000
as freshmen, a consistent rise from 5.6 percent in 2001.
Almost half of college freshmen -- a record 47.2 percent -- said there was
a "very good chance" that they would have to work during the academic
year. Many more women than men -- 53.3 percent compared with 39.6 percent --
believed they would have to get a job to help pay for college.
A rapid increase in tuition brought on by tighter state budgets and a faltering
economy, combined with a decline in the buying power of grant aid such as federal
Pell Grants, are a few of the reasons students and their families are bearing
more of the cost of higher education.
"Especially for families making less than $50,000, grant aid covers only
a small portion of the costs of attending college," said William J. Goggin,
staff director of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, a
federal panel that counsels Congress and the Education Department on student-aid
issues. "This is a really important problem for these students because
they work to avoid borrowing more, but the money they make lowers their aid
eligibility for the next year -- it's a downward spiral."
A number of studies have shown that working more than 20 hours a week increases
the likelihood that a student will drop out of college. Furthermore, federal-aid
forms count 50 percent of the wages (over $2,420) dependent students earn in
a calendar year as available funds for the next year -- even though students
may use them to pay for their current year's tuition.
Nearly 300,000 incoming freshmen completed UCLA's comprehensive survey at the
beginning of the fall semester, answering more than 300 questions about topics
including their values, recreational habits, political preferences, family situations,
and personal finances.
The survey is a widely cited source of data on college demographics and attitudinal
trends. Each of the 440 participating colleges receives a profile of its students'
answers.
Less Diversity, More Apathy
Interaction between students from different racial backgrounds dropped slightly
in 2004, according to the survey: 67.8 percent of those surveyed reported that
they frequently socialized with someone from a different racial or ethnic group
in high school, dropping consistently from 70 percent in 2001.
A growing number of students appeared unlikely to have a diverse set of friends
in college. Only 63.1 percent reported that they expected to socialize with
people outside their own racial or ethnic group, the lowest level since the
question was first added to the survey in 2000.
Social groups may indeed be less diverse at some public universities in large
states like California, where the recent demise of affirmative-action programs
means that fewer minority students are gaining acceptance, said Sylvia Hurtado,
director of the institute at UCLA.
"The diversity in classes at a lot of the large public universities has
decreased," said Ms. Hurtado. "Just in the University of California
system alone, the number of African-American students attending has gone down
incredibly."
Yet students said they cared less than ever before about those issues. Only
29.7 percent cited "helping to promote racial understanding" as an
"essential" or "very important" goal for them, compared
with 46.4 percent in 1992.
More students also said they believed that racial discrimination was no longer
a problem in America, with 22.7 percent agreeing with that statement, the highest
level in the history of the survey. Among different racial and ethnic groups,
however, the percentage varied greatly. While 24.9 percent of white students
supported the statement, only 12.5 percent of African-American students and
18.3 percent of students that the survey calls Hispanic/Latino agreed.
It is unclear whether less interaction among different groups led to the shift
in views or vice versa. Ms. Hurtado notes that survey participants this year
had many other concerns competing for their attention.
"Everything else in the news took a higher priority for students,"
Ms. Hurtado said. "The election and the war were heating up when they took
this survey, so issues related to those things took much more precedence in
their minds."
Some colleges are spearheading efforts to promote interaction and understanding
among students from different backgrounds. At the University of Michigan at
Ann Arbor, for instance, Lester P. Monts, senior vice provost, secured a $144,000
grant from the Ford Foundation to begin developing a National Center for Institutional
Diversity.
The center will produce studies on the impact of diversity on interactions
among students, classroom learning, and curriculum development.
"We won't simply address issues of student representation," said
Mr. Monts. "We will also explore institutional diversity in terms of curriculum
and faculty."
Political Polarization
Election-year politicking seemed to have a divisive effect on students. More
than ever before identified themselves as "far right" or "far
left," at 2.2 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.
Another 26.1 percent of students said their political views were liberal, compared
with 21.9 percent who self-identified as conservative. Both of those figures
increased from the previous year.
A plurality of incoming freshman (46.4 percent) considered their political
views to be "middle of the road" -- the lowest proportion in more
than 30 years.
During an election year, it is common for students to become more politically
polarized, but the numbers for both extreme categories were never as high, according
to Linda J. Sax, chief author of the UCLA survey and an associate professor
of education in residence at the university.
More students also seemed interested in politics and current events. More than
34 percent of students ranked "keeping up to date with political affairs"
as one of their "very important" or "essential" life goals,
continuing a four-year rise in that figure. In 2000 only 28.1 percent gave the
same answer.
The proportion of students, 25.5 percent, who said they frequently "discussed
politics" reached its highest level since President Clinton's first-term
election in 1992.
Students' views on many political issues differed from those of freshmen surveyed
in recent years. Support among students for an increase in federal military
spending dropped to 35.4 percent, a considerable decline from 45 percent two
years ago.
This year's freshmen were also more disapproving of capital punishment than
their predecessors: 33.2 percent said they agreed with the statement "the
death penalty should be abolished," the highest figure since 1980.
At the same time, the number of students who agreed with the statement "there
is too much concern in our courts for the rights of criminals" fell to
58.1 percent, the lowest level since 1976.
Despite the rising interest in political issues, working to promote changes
in the system did not rate high on students' list of priorities. Only 19.7 percent
ranked "influencing the political structure" as an "essential"
or "very important" life goal, a drop from its peak of 22.5 percent
in 1993.
"They may be less interested because they feel that there is less that
they can do to really change things," said Ms. Sax. "Since we began
asking this question in 1969, it has always been a relatively low goal for students
because it requires more active involvement than just thinking or talking about
politics."
Booze, Food, and Gay Rights
For the first time in 22 years, the proportion of students who reported drinking
beer frequently or occasionally did not decline, rising slightly to 45.5 percent,
up from 44.8 percent in 2003.
Smoking had been losing popularity among students every year since 1998, but
this year the proportion of students reporting that they smoked cigarettes stayed
about the same, at 6.4 percent compared to 6.3 percent in 2003.
In a trend that was perhaps related to those findings, more students reported
that they were "frequently bored," in their high-school classes, at
a record high of 42.8 percent, compared with 40.1 percent last year. But the
highest proportion of students ever -- 47.5 percent -- reported earning A averages
in school.
Freshmen entering Catholic colleges expressed more support for homosexuals
than did their counterparts at public universities and other religious colleges.
While 27.2 percent of students at Catholic colleges said they agreed "strongly"
or "somewhat" that "it is important to have laws prohibiting
homosexual relationships," 31.3 percent of students at public institutions
and 43.7 percent of students at other religious institutions agreed with that
statement.
A similar pattern appeared when students were asked if they "strongly"
or "somewhat" agreed with the statement, "Same-sex couples should
have the right to legal marital status." At Catholic colleges, 58.5 percent
of students agreed, more than the 55.4 percent at public colleges and the 40.6
percent at other religious institutions.
Finally, if the men entering college are not healthier than the women, they
certainly think they are. In response to a question that asked students to rate
their physical health, 64.1 percent of males placed themselves in the "above
average" or "highest 10 percent" category compared with only
42.6 percent of women.
More women than men also reported missing school because of an illness in the
past year, 76.6 percent compared with 62.9 percent. Maybe diet is responsible
for the difference: For the first time ever, students were asked to rate their
eating habits, and only 33.7 percent of women said they frequently maintained
a healthy diet, compared with 37.9 percent of men.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 4, 2005
Bush May Try to Kill 2 Pre-College Programs for Needy Students
President Bush may propose eliminating funds next year for two popular programs
that help needy students prepare for college, in an effort to finance an expansion
of his signature No Child Left Behind law to high-school students, higher-education
advocates have told The Chronicle
The college-access programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, have a combined
budget of $460-million and serve a total of about 455,000 students and veterans.
While Mr. Bush's proposal will not be certain until he releases his 2006 budget
on February 7, reports of the potential cuts have alarmed advocates of Upward
Bound and Talent Search, which are part of the federal TRIO programs for disadvantaged
students.
"The administration will argue that it's reprogramming money that is already
going to high school," said Arnold L. Mitchem, president of the Council
for Opportunity in Education.
But the shift will also affect the more than 5,000 participants in Veterans
Upward Bound, which serves veterans with low incomes or who are the first in
their families to attend college. Currently, 45 institutions receive grants
to provide veterans, from the Vietnam War to the war in Iraq, with classroom
instruction, career counseling, and help with applications for college and for
financial aid.
A spokeswoman for the Education Department said she would not comment on budget
requests until the spending plan is released.
Established in 1964 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's war on poverty,
Upward Bound works with needy students in all four high-school grades whose
parents lack bachelor's degrees, as well as with veterans. Talent Search, which
offers a less intensive and less expensive college-preparatory program, was
created a year later, followed by four more TRIO programs. In 1990, Upward Bound
Math-Science was added to deal with declines in student performance in mathematics
and science.
Over the past four decades, the TRIO programs have enjoyed broad bipartisan
support. But in recent years, Upward Bound and Talent Search have come under
fire from the Bush administration, which has questioned their effectiveness.
From a budgetary point of view, the savings from eliminating Upward Bound and
Talent Search would barely make a dent in the proposed expansion of No Child
Left Behind, which is projected to cost $1.5-billion. Advocates for the TRIO
programs say that the shortfall will leave other, similar programs vulnerable
to the budget ax.
Congress could still opt to restore their funds if the president calls for
their elimination, although fiscal constraints could make that difficult. Still,
advocates are vowing not to let the programs die silently.
"If we have to march on the Capitol, if we have to march on the White
House, we will," said Doreatha S. Tyson, who oversees Talent Search and
other access programs at Savannah State University, in Georgia. "National
TRIO day is on February 26, and most times it's a celebration. This time it
must be a movement."
The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 4, 2005
The Stripped-Down College Experience
"Would you like an egg roll with your M.B.A.?" I think as I drive
through the strip-mall parking lot, past the Chinese restaurant, the insurance
agency, and the grocery store, before stopping in front of a small, nondescript
building. Above the glass double doors, red neon letters spell out a university's
name.
The first word in the name refers to a 100-year-old institution in a totally
different state, a state where one can find the university's traditional campus
with its ivy-covered dorms, full-time faculty, and basketball team. My teaching
assignment, however, takes me to this remote location. The eight classrooms
in the mall are considered a "satellite campus." Although I have spent
six years with this institution -- as a graduate student and an adjunct professor
-- I have never set foot on the traditional campus.
Remote classrooms in shopping malls and other offbeat locations are springing
up across the nation. What is it about such strip-mall universities that students
find so attractive? In a word, convenience.
About 600 students drive past four traditional bricks-and-mortar universities
to study at this mall. They attend classes from 6 to 10 p.m., one night a week,
for two to three years. They avoid the numerous hassles of traditional college
registration, like inconvenient class times and full or canceled courses. They
only have to register once, when they enroll. They also avoid long lines at
college bookstores because in this accelerated program, the books are delivered
directly to them through overnight mail. And you sure can't beat the parking.
Moreover, strip-mall universities are "customer-oriented," so they
are generous in accepting transfer credits, and students can finish their degrees
faster.
Because of such conveniences, I chose to complete all of my master's-degree
course work in a strip-mall satellite of a traditional university based in Indiana.
After graduation the same institution hired me to teach at one of its other
mall campuses -- the one that I've just described. Although I now work full
time at a traditional college, the memories of teaching in the mall and at other
campuses like it remain vivid today.
In that first assignment as a strip-mall instructor, I was told to stick to
the lectures and assignments contained in the "course in a box" that
had been sent overnight. I was not to change the syllabus; my role was to be
a "facilitator," rather than a professor with a mind of my own. The
lock-step process made my job surprisingly easy. Every night after class I faithfully
faxed in the attendance sheet. I mailed in the grades on time. Soon I started
receiving offers from that same university for other opportunities to "facilitate"
courses across a two-state region.
My second assignment brought me 55 miles up the interstate to teach an international-business
class in a small town nestled in the middle of knee-high cornfields. The "classroom"
was a converted attic above a real-estate office with ceilings that sloped downward
on two sides. I didn't mind ducking to write on the flip chart, and for 37 cents
a mile, I didn't mind the drive either. I was excited to finally be working
as a professor and wasn't bothered that it was only a five-week intensive course.
Sure, I had hopes of one day teaching in a traditional, ivy-covered hall of
academe, but for now I was content to teach out of my course-in-a-box wherever
the opportunities led me.
After a few more courses, I was assigned to teach economics. This time the
class was held in an inner-city Baptist church that took me an hour to find.
I met my students in a room that appeared to be half Sunday-school classroom,
half kitchen. The students didn't seem to resent my tardiness and even appeared
to enjoy the supply-and-demand diagrams that I wrote while using the side of
the church refrigerator as a white board.
My career as an adjunct road warrior was beginning to take off, and soon I
was hired to teach part time at two more institutions. One was a private women's
college that specialized in equine management. Majestic, pre-Civil War, colonial
buildings dominated the main campus, which was set on a hilltop overlooking
half a dozen horse farms.
But alas, my assignment to teach statistics required me to drive 90 miles away
to a seedy urban area crowded with pawnshops, used-car dealerships, and massage
parlors. I was to teach in a biology classroom rented from a local community
college. A makeshift plywood wall on the right side and a massive dissecting
table on the left squeezed the space down to a cramped half room. In the front
of the class, one remaining stubborn screw was all that prevented the ancient
chalkboard from crushing me if I made one wrong mark while calculating standard
deviations.
Even so, I was padding my CV with additional teaching experience, and the $300
a night plus mileage didn't hurt either. But I couldn't help wondering about
the administrators, nestled away in their comfortable offices back on the main
campus. Had they ever visited this decrepit facility before they booked it?
And what about the students? Was the convenience enough of a benefit to outweigh
the costs? Would they be content to spend their entire college career in a cramped
and dingy half classroom, missing out on the vibrant on-campus experience? Many
of them had their tuition paid by their employers, and unlike parents, the employers
couldn't care less about school spirit, sporting events, the quality of the
cafeteria food, or even campus safety. Few, if any, students had ever debated
with classmates over a plate of mystery meat in the cafeteria, or attended a
ballgame, concert, or art exhibit on a campus. They couldn't participate in
a campus drama, join the French club, study abroad, or even drop by a professor's
office for advice. Once I gave my strip-mall M.B.A. students extra credit on
an exam for successfully answering the questions, "What are the school
colors, and what is the school mascot?" Only one of 20 students got them
right.
I contrast that to my own undergraduate studies at a traditional university,
where I think I sometimes learned more just walking across the campus than I
did in the classroom. I'll never forget the anti-abortion activists who held
giant photos of mutilated fetuses above their heads, the feminists who drew
a 30-foot vagina in chalk in front of the library entrance, or the man, clad
in a sharkskin suit, who boldly preached the gospel from atop a chair in front
of the building where I took Chinese class. At bricks-and-mortar campuses, controversial
subjects like abortion, gay marriage, the military, politics, race, gender,
and justice are debated not just at the podium but on the sidewalks. That sidewalk
culture of protest, music, art, free-love groups, and even hate groups encourages
students to think about life in new ways. The expansive common areas and green
spaces of traditional universities nurture expansive thinking and lively debate,
but students who choose to attend strip-mall universities are left out of the
conversation.
Bricks-and-mortar universities also serve their local communities. Citizens
use athletics facilities and libraries; professors offer free advice to local
nonprofit groups and small businesses. In contrast, strip-mall universities
capture a portion of the local tuition dollars, but they make little permanent
investment in their host community and provide almost no community service.
Strip-mall universities also make little investment in their faculty. Once
I attended a required "faculty development" seminar, where I was instructed
in the proper way to take attendance. The institution was now granting three
hours of college credit for only 20 hours of actual seat time, and if a student
missed more than two classes in a five-week course, he or she would receive
an automatic F. I'm not sure how much I was "developing" as a faculty
member, but I suppose the meeting was important because they paid me $25 to
attend.
The third institution that hired me as an adjunct was a 150-year-old, traditional,
urban university that had just survived a painful reorganization. The administrators
were eager to increase enrollment, so they adopted some of the tactics of their
competitors, the strip-mall institutions. They shortened their semesters to
eight weeks, relied more on adjuncts, created "in a box" degree-completion
programs, and invested heavily in a marketing campaign. Coupled with its traditional
programs -- campus clubs, athletics, and study abroad -- the changes have attracted
adult students, and enrollment has increased significantly. Blending the two
approaches seems better for the students, the faculty, and the community.
And it may, in fact, be better for many institutions. To compete with the strip-mall
campuses, bricks-and-mortar universities need to offer more-convenient programs
for students while still retaining the rich, traditional, on-campus experience.
In response, and because it is the right thing to do, the strip-mall universities
should find ways to expose their students to the extracurricular activities
that are an essential part of a well-rounded education.
Stuart C. Strother is an associate professor of business and management at
Azusa Pacific University.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 1, 2005
Key Democrats Call for Hearing on Allegations of Wrongdoing by For-Profit
Colleges
The two top Democrats on the House of Representatives education committee on
Monday evening called for "an immediate hearing" on allegations of
wrongdoing that were raised by a 60 Minutes report on the for-profit higher-education
industry.
The report, which was shown on Sunday night, focused on aggressive and misleading
admissions tactics that were allegedly employed at a number of colleges owned
by the Career Education Corporation (The Chronicle, January 31). The U.S. Department
of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the
operations of Career Education, a publicly traded company based in Hoffman Estates,
Ill., which has 82 campuses in the United States and abroad. Another company,
ITT Educational Services, is also under investigation by those agencies.
In a letter to the Rep. John A. Boehner, the Republican chairman of the House
Committee on Education and the Workforce, the two Democratic lawmakers -- Reps.
George Miller of California and Dale E. Kildee of Michigan -- said that it was
"imperative" for the panel to "perform due diligence and convene
oversight hearings" on the allegations to determine whether they were widespread
throughout the industry.
"If we fail to perform this basic duty, then thousands of students may
receive an inadequate education and incur high debt, while taxpayers may once
again be forced to pay to pay millions in unnecessary costs," Representatives
Miller and Kildee wrote.
A spokeswoman for the committee said she could not respond to the letter because
she had not seen it. But she provided a statement that Mr. Boehner had submitted
to 60 Minutes in October, defending the for-profit industry over all.
"Private, nontraditional schools are playing an important role in ensuring
some of our nation's most vulnerable students have access to a high-quality
higher education," the committee's chairman wrote. "Some of these
schools are doing a better job than their so-called nonprofit counterparts,
which receive billions in federal money annually and have high-powered, well-funded
lobbying groups working 365 days a year on their behalf."
Earlier Monday, Career Education issued a written statement saying that it
was "disappointed" that "60 Minutes has opted to paint us --
and by extension the for-profit education industry -- with a broad brush based
on a few allegations by primarily former employees."
In an interview, a Career Education spokeswoman reported that an admissions
counselor from one of the company's Katharine Gibbs Schools, who was shown in
the broadcast providing inflated figures about the institution's graduation
rate, is "no longer an employee." She said privacy considerations
prevented her from saying when or why he left the company.
The price of Career Education stock dipped slightly during overnight trading
following the broadcast, but the stock rose by more than 6 percent in trading
on Monday, closing at $40.30. Many analysts had suggested that the stock price
had been depressed in recent weeks in anticipation of the broadcast, and that
the uptick was an indication that, on first reaction, investors did not find
the report as damaging as they feared it would be.
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