Economic-Stimulus Law Creates Jobs for Students, Too

CAROL’S SUMMARY: President Obama signed an economic-stimulus law back in February giving $200-million for Federal Work-Study. This will help create more work-study jobs for students with financial need.

Work-study jobs help students with financial need go to college and are predicted to help the economy because the studentsâ€™ wages go to either tuition or housing. Tuition money helps pay faculty salaries that they use toward goods purchased and housing money turns over into the local community-boosting the economy.

Questions to consider:
1. Have you considered a work-study job?
2. Who could you talk to for more information on work-study jobs at your school?
3. How will work study prepare you for success in the world of work?

ARTICLE:

By BECKIE SUPIANO,

From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 19, 2009

Washington

The $200-million for Federal Work-Study in the economic-stimulus law that President Obama signed this week is expected to help an additional 130,000 students, each earning an average of $1,500 a year, according to government estimates. The money, despite rumors to the contrary, will not be pegged to a new community-service requirement.

Rather, an Education Department official said, the money “will be distributed to colleges by April 1 based on existing formulas and information that colleges have already submitted” to the department. Colleges will then be able to give undergraduate and graduate students the money next academic year.

Congress has not yet set the overall level of support for Federal Work-Study for fiscal year 2009. In recent years, the program has received about $980-million, and higher-education lobbyists believe lawmakers will not lower that amount. So the extra $200-million could push the total pot of money over a billion dollars, a height it reached in 2001.

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Princeton Student Finds Passion in Garbage

CAROL’S SUMMARY: Dumpster-diving isnâ€™t just for those down on their luck. A student at Princeton shares his experience dumpster-diving while practicing freeganism to help reduce waste. There is a lot you can learn about yourself and others through looking at patterns of consumption. Of course, some of these findings may not be so appealing, but they are interesting nonetheless.

Questions to consider:
1. What was your initial reaction to the idea of dumpster-diving?
2. What do you think of freeganism?
3. What else can we do to help reduce waste in our society?
4. How can these findings help us as a society to be more aware and leave less of garbage footprint?

ARTICLE:

By STEVE KOLOWICH, From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 20, 2009

As a Princeton University student, Alexander Barnard has access to cafeterias staffed by an award-winning dining service. But he can still tell you the best time to scavenge grocery Dumpsters for edible food.

“Between 9 and 10 p.m.,” he says. “After the stores close, before the garbage trucks come around.”

Mr. Barnard, a senior majoring in sociology, gets many of his meals from the garbage, which is where he says too much of America’s usable food ends up. He is a practitioner of “freeganism,” an activist movement organized under the principle of “limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources,” according to Freegan.Info, an outreach group with which Mr. Barnard is affiliated.

“Freeganism is not just about being cheap,” he says. “It’s not just about living off the waste of society. It’s about trying to make an impact.”

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Interest in Studying Abroad Remains Strong in China

CAROL’S SUMMARY: The economic crisis of the United States has affects overseas. With the value of the dollar falling, studying abroad for students in countries like China becomes more affordable. As a major world economic power, U.S students will do well to learn how these students think, work and apply themselves. Many US students will be working with employees from China and India once they graduate. The more exposure US students can get to these cultures while they are still in college, the better prepared they will be for the global world.

Questions to consider:
1. Have you considered studying abroad?
2. What are the benefits of continuing your studies in another country?
3. What perspective would you have after working a summer, semester or year in China?
4. What opportunities do you have in your own community to learn about cultures like China,

ARTICLE:

By MARA HVISTENDAHL, From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 18, 2009

Shanghai

The Chinese news media has a name for the craze that has gripped students here in the past few years: â€œoverseas study fever.â€ And despite the worsening global financial crisis and a slowing domestic economy, it shows little sign of letting up.

Chinese recruiters say a high household savings rate, a difficult job market, and a steady yuan combine to keep foreign study popular in China. That marks a significant difference from India (The Chronicle, January 9), where students who rely on loans to pay overseas tuition have had difficulty securing credit; and South Korea, where the plummeting won has made Western education increasingly unaffordable. Such troubles suggest that applications from those two countries to study in the United States could drop for this fall.

What happens in Asia is key to foreign-student enrollments in the United States. India, China, and South Korea are the top three source countries for American colleges, sending 94,600, 81,100, and 69,100 students, respectively, to the United States in 2007 (The Chronicle, November 21, 2008).

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What’s in the Stimulus for You

CAROL’S SUMMARY: The Making Work Pay tax credit includes an education-related item: The American Opportunity education tax credit. This would replace the current Hope Credit (but revert back after 2010). The American Opportunity education tax credit would give a $2,500 partially refundable credit for each of the four years of college. Currently, taxpayers receive up to $1,800 nonrefundable credit for each of the first two years.
Questions to consider:
1. Do you think this tax credit will help our economy?
2. Who do you know who is not in college who should be encouraged to go now?
3. What are the potential trade-offs of not having a college degree?

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Measure Provides Tax Credits, College Help, Cobra Subsidy, AMT Patch

By ARDEN DALE, VICTORIA E. KNIGHT and JILIAN MINCER,

From the Wall Street Journal, February 18, 2009

Consumers get spending money and a helping hand with some key expenses under President Obama’s stimulus plan.

By far the biggest tax piece in the plan is the Making Work Pay tax credit. It would put a bit of cash into pockets, probably by having employers withhold less tax. Each eligible worker would get 6.2% of earned income up to a maximum credit of $400 ($800 for two-earner couples). So folks would see an extra $12 to $20 per weekly paycheck, depending on whether the government pays it out over six months or more.
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Statesâ€™ Stimulus Money Is Expected to Be a Salve, Not a Panacea

CAROL’S SUMMARY: The stimulus bill President Obama signed will provide nearly $54-billion in state aid to help with the worst budget cuts proposed for public colleges. During this time, colleges will be faced with retiring professors, a greater number of adjuncts and undergraduates, many of whom need remediation for math or English. Undergraduates will need to take a greater responsibility for their initiative as learners.

Questions to consider:

1. What is the ratio of teaching faculty to research faculty?
2. What are your goals in going to college?
3. If you are at a college, how can you best support yourself with an indreased workload?

ARTICLE:

By ERIC KELDERMAN, From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 18, 2009

Washington

The nearly $54-billion that Congress is directing to state aid for education as part of the stimulus bill President Obama signed on Tuesday may stave off the worst budget cuts proposed for public colleges. But the money is unlikely to be able to plug all of the budget holes, and some university officials worry the measure could make it easier for states to spend less on higher education in the future.

And while colleges welcome the extra money from federal coffers, they note that the money comes with some strings. The funds also will have to flow through the complex political process in the nationâ€™s statehouses before it is appropriated to educational institutions, giving legislators and governors a greater opportunity to influence who will benefit from the money.
Close to three-quarters of the money in what the bill dubbed the â€œstate fiscal-stabilization fundâ€ is designated for states to funnel to public colleges and school districts, which could use the money in various ways, including to restore budget cuts, prevent layoffs, or modernize facilities (The Chronicle, February 16). The rest of the money in the bill will be given to governors to spend on high-priority needs, which could include construction money for public or private colleges, and to the secretary of education to reward performance.

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DPS fails kids, fed school chief says

CAROL’S SUMMARY: The Detroit Public Schools are plagued with funding trouble, a high poverty rate, and some of the poorest scores in the state. And it is estimated that two-thirds to three-fourths of ninth-graders drop out before graduation.

Questions to consider:
1. What can be done to help the Detroit Public Schools?

ARTICLE:

Education secretary says district must be improved

Jennifer Mrozowski and Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News,

Posted February 14, 2009 at www.detnews.com

The new U.S. Secretary of Education on Friday said the federal government has a moral obligation to reform Detroit’s failing city schools, which he said will be a “huge focus” of his tenure.

“Without getting into too many details, I am extraordinarily concerned about the poor quality of education, quite frankly, the children of Detroit are receiving,” Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters during comments on the federal stimulus package. “I lose sleep over that one. And I think the dropout rate there is devastating.”

Detroit must work to improve the education system, he said. In the meantime, the federal government is keeping an eye on the district, where as many as two-thirds of the students may be dropping out.

Visit www.detnews.com for the entire article

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Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes

In lead author Ellen Greenbergerâ€™s study â€œSelf-Entitled College Students: Contributions of Personality, Parenting, and Motivational Factorsâ€ she explores the sense of entitlement students have toward their grades. Hard work is confused with quality work.

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Adolescents Involved With Music Do Better In School

CAROL’S SUMMARY: Studies show that participation in music, such as music lessons or attending concerts, has a positive effect on academic performance in reading and mathematics.

Questions to consider:
1. Why do you think this is?
2. Is your child involved with music?

ARTICLE:

From Science Daily, February 11, 2009

ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2009) â€” A new study in the journal Social Science Quarterly reveals that music participation, defined as music lessons taken in or out of school and parents attending concerts with their children, has a positive effect on reading and mathematic achievement in early childhood and adolescence. Additionally, socioeconomic status and ethnicity affect music participation.
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Study: College success starts early

CAROL’S SUMMARY: Study shows that how a student progresses in elementary and middle school is a major factor on college preparation. High school can not be solely responsible for preparing students for college. Preparations need to be made early on by raising the level of rigor at each educational level.

Questions to consider:
1. What can you do to help your student prepare at an early age?

ARTICLE:

College preparation begins in elementary and middle school, too, authors say
By Tara Malone
Tribune reporter
December 11, 2008

Fewer than 2 in 10 of the nation’s 8th graders are on track to be academically prepared for college, and high school may be too late to bring them up to speed, according to a study released Wednesday.

The report found that how students fare in middle school is a leading predictor of their ability to succeed in college or the workplace after high school. Research by Iowa City-based ACT suggests that students who are not academically prepared going into high school are unlikely to make up ground even with rigorous schooling and academic help. The trend cut across demographic and economic lines.

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Tennessee program standardizes alternative education

CAROL’S SUMMARY: The National Alternative Education Association adopted Tennesseeâ€™s alternative education program as the first national framework for programs to help at-risk students succeed in school. Recommended guidelines include a teacher-student ration of no more than 1:12, participation in secondary programs that tie into career interests, student plans for needs, and cooperation with law enforcement.

Questions to consider:
1. Do you know someone this education program could help?

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National group adopts state’s model

By Juanita Cousins, Posted February 12, 2009 at www.tennessean.com

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tennessee education officials have created the first national blueprint for alternative education programs to help at-risk students succeed in school.

The program sets quality standards for educating students who have been suspended, expelled or have dropped out.

“We are talking about the most challenged of challenging youths,” Tennessee Alternative Education Coordinator James Vince Witty said. “A lot of these students are underperforming academically, have learning disabilities and behavioral issues.”

Last week, the National Alternative Education Association adopted Tennessee’s program as the first national framework for alternative education programs, according to the state’s Department of Education. Witty is the association’s vice president.

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