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The Inside Story of How Colleges Evaluate Extra-Curriculars

As college admissions have become drastically more competitive, the focus on extra-curricular activities has increased as well. Students today are getting involved in their high schools, communities, and on the playing field and in performance much more than ever before. Parents are programming their children from very early on to "get involved." High School counselors preach everyday, "more clubs, more activities, more service." Some of my clients have given me resumes that are 5 pages in length! And they haven't even graduated high school yet! At the same time, many students get overwhelmed by the wide variety of extra-curricular options and fail to get involved with anything in depth. Other students will ignore extra-curriculars entirely until... Read More »

More Troubling Stats about Shape of Job Market for College Grads

Job news is bad all over, but most discouraging for this year's college grads.  Business Week is reporting both statistical and anecdotal snippets in a report on the job market this week.  At commencement, only 33% of Harvard's Class of 2010 had job offers, many of them at positions with low levels of responsibility and wages. Unemployment among people under 25 years old was 19.6 percent in April, the highest level since the Labor Department began tracking the data in 1948. And scariest of all is the story of Matt Grant: Read More »

It’s Time to Get Over Sticker Shock

For the last 10 years or so, private colleges have made huge strides to make college more affordable for middle-class families.  Even though sticker prices may be rising, discounts have been rising along-side.  In 2008, the latest year for which data is available, the average discount rate for first-time, full-time freshman was 42 %.  According to the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), the increase in discounts has been driven by the economic downturn.  In their survey of 355 independent institutions, NACUBO found discounts to be at an all-time high.  In our practice, we have observed similar discounts, with some students receiving discounts of 75-100%.  When students are a good fit for the prospective college,... Read More »

Young and Recession-ed in Houston

New column in the Houston Press today about how local young people are being affected by the recession.  A local graduate from UT-Austin, Katelyn Orenchuk, has been unable to get a job since moving home to Houston following graduation in September of 2008.  Katelyn has applied for numerous jobs, but has not even gotten a call back yet.  The most moving words in the piece, and words that must absolutely break her family's heart, are as follows:

"The worst part is feeling that I'll have to settle for being less successful than my parents. Every generation is supposed to feel that they're going to do better. I don't want to be a burden on my family, but feeling that... Read More »

Tags: grads, jobs, unemployment

Budget Cuts, Huge Tutition Increases at Public Universities

April 13, 2010 by Hayden Shumsky  
Filed under College Newswire

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JNES5HNW74N9 At least 39 states have cut assistance to public colleges and universities, resulting in reductions in faculty and staff.  In some states the budget crises created by the recession have created massive problems on campus.  In California, tenured faculty have been asked to take wage cuts and are working up to 21 unpaid days this year.  Further, budget cuts and tuition raises in the University of California system have faced huge resistance from faculty and students.  For the first time in decades, UC campuses have seen student occupation of administrative buildings, student and faculty joint protests and marches, and on-campus rioting. The conflicts are less aggressive at other state universities, but are causing great... Read More »

Tags: college, cost, public universities, tuition

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