March 10th, 2008
Blog Roundup 3/10/08: Where Have All the Students Gone?
Good morning campers! Let’s get right to it:
The Washington Post reports that college demographics are on the brink of change, with an overall decrease in applicants (sighs of relief from parents of tweens everywhere) and, in particular, a decrease in the most common college population: white kids. The article notes that there should be an increase in Hispanic applicants, but not necessarily students. The article quotes ACE president David Ward noting that Hispanic families are often reluctant to borrow the astronomical sums of money required to send a child to a four-year college.
Universities, of course, not so excited about this trend. Not only will they have fewer students beating down their doors, but they may have to start using their endowments for funding if parents won’t cough up.
In other news, here is a nifty list of Facebook apps that are particularly helpful for online students and teachers.
Higher Ed Watch surveys the growing gaps between haves and have-nots — and by this I mean universities, not people — and applies it to college sports.
And this? This is just cool.
Thanks for the link
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Do you know how much a college depends on the admission fees to fund its admission process? I.e. If not enough students apply will that have a negative effect on the school? Something I’ve always wondered about…
Comment by Kelly Sutton — March 11, 2008 @ 7:20 am
I’ve always viewed admissions fees as the way they pay for the people who go through and sort all the applications, but if not enough students apply, they’ve probably got a bigger problem than a lack of revenue from admission fees. They have to either lower their standards or start suffering from lack of tuition payments.
Comment by Calliope — March 17, 2008 @ 5:38 am
An application fee is a good way to slim down the number of applicants, just as (conversely) the promise of a $40 parking ticket is a good way to slim down the number of cars parked on a street the morning of a designated street cleaning. I’d never considered that the cost might be going directly towards paying those who review the applications. More likely that a candidate is paying for the privilege of being considered for admission to a school’s program. BTW I applied to 5 grad schools, the fees ranged from $50-$110
Comment by Scout — March 18, 2008 @ 11:04 am