In my view there are two types of college readiness, both quite important. One type is intellectual readiness. This readiness has to do with whether a student possesses the requisite skills for college success. Reading comprehension, basic math skills, and writing ability are the key variables here. Students with significant deficits in any of these areas are starting college at a disadvantage, since college coursework assumes a basic command of literacy and numeracy. In Colorado (and elsewhere), media coverage of the high number of students requiring remedial coursework as they start college demonstrates awareness of the importance of this kind of readiness.

The second type of readiness gets less attention, and is less understood and commented on. This type is emotional maturity, including the discipline required to work hard and prioritize studying, basic time management skills, and a willingness to assume responsibility for one’s choices and actions. In an age where “helicopter parents” have managed virtually every aspect of the lives of their offspring, and with fewer and fewer students working during high school, even over summer breaks, many students may be at a loss at how to take on responsibility for their lives. Yet this is what they must do to be successful in college.

Having spent much of my career as a higher education administrator designing and managing programs to increase student success, I have found in my current career as a college planner that I’m pretty good at predicting which of my clients are ready in this latter sense. When comparing extremely bright but immature students with those with lesser intellectual gifts who are disciplined, my money is on the worker bees nearly every time.

So how do we move the unfocused, unmotivated bees along? Sometimes delaying fulltime college attendance can be just the thing.  There is nothing like a yearlong job to foster additional maturity and appreciation of the benefits of college study. Another option might be a gap year, where students complete service projects while travelling and/or studying with fellow students in an established program. A graduated start, say, at a community college, paired with part time work or an unpaid internship at Mom or Dad’s office or business can also be a good way to go. The idea is for the student to consistently engage in something that builds maturity and promotes life learning while they wait out a year.

Exhibitors will be present from programs all over the U.S. and overseas (as well as some within CO), and there is a keynote speaker scheduled at 1 p.m. The address of Denver Academy is 4400 E. Iliff Avenue, Denver 80222. More more info about Gap Year programs, see http://www.usagapyearfairs.org

Hope to see you there; I am definitely attending for part of the time!

What is the value of extracurricular activities in the college admissions process? Reviewers view these positively, and they WILL boost your chances — provided they generally fit these guidelines:

1. Activities demonstrate that you are well rounded and capable of sustained commitment; they are NOT more important than grades or test scores. A long list of clubs and activities does not make up for poor academic performance.
2. It is better to demonstrate depth with activities over breadth. One or two types of involvement lasting multiple years counts for more than a large laundry list of tried-and-dropped interests.
3. Activities demonstrating leadership potential speak well of you. If you began with basketball as a freshman reserve player, and ended your senior season as the varsity team captain, this shows your commitment over time as well as the respect of your coaches and fellow players. Remember that an important aspect of leadership is taking responsibility, so you don’t need to have held an important-sounding title to act as a leader. Organizing a successful awareness or charity event on your own counts as leadership too.
4. Consider mixing it up just a little. For example, if you are heavily into the arts and an orchestra and band member, check out student government for something different, involving a distinctive skill set. Similarly, if you are primarily athletic, look at service activities as a way of expanding your comfort zone.
5. Don’t forget that summertime can be a way of increasing involvement in experiential activities such as volunteer work. I have a promising current client (high school junior) that I’ve known since she was 12, when she and her Mom volunteered along with me at a local animal shelter. Emma pursued that involvement for over two years and then moved on to increasingly responsible volunteer positions at the Denver Zoo. With her interest in biology this long-standing volunteer commitment with animals will serve her well next year when she applies to colleges.
6. Finally, remember that work counts as an excellent extracurricular involvement also. Holding a part-time job or unpaid internship over a period of time is a time-honored, and perhaps increasingly rare distinction.

With any extracurricular involvement, be certain that you can describe what you did and what you learned from the activity.  This is a true test of the value of such experiences, and the key to getting as much value for them as possible in your college applications.

The Snow Dragon at the top was created by one of my neighbors after a recent Denver snowstorm. I thought it was brilliant! By clicking on it you can see the amazing detail better.

The 2001 law has been regarded for some time as deeply flawed, although Congress did not succeed in amending or nullifying it. The primary outcome of the waivers will be removal of the punitive results of failing to meet standards; for now, schools will still participate in testing and tracking students at predetermined grade levels.

Given the election season, education reforms will continue to be heavily debated, especially the cost of higher education, boosting college readiness, and the appropriate balance of federal and state control over instructional standards. The Denver Post reported on Feb. 7 that the number of high school students in Colorado who do not test as college ready has increased again, although several state colleges are showing better retention rates with those students. Clearly in Colorado, NCLB did not improve college readiness. On to the next thing, time for a junket to Finland to see what they’re doing that works so well!

As a former higher education administrator who both conducted studies and utilized data to build and enhance student support programs, I appreciate ways in which statistics can both illuminate and obscure reality. A recent case in point is the ongoing scandal implicating Claremont McKenna College of CA in the falsification of SAT scores of newly admitted students.

More so than misrepresentation by colleges, my bigger concern as an independent educational consultant is that families don’t always know what to ask of an institution, and secondarily, how to interpret the answers. For example, I suggest to my clients that they ask not just about the employment rate of recent graduates, but the percentage of recent graduates who are employed in their field of study.

I recommend especially that the parents of girls ask about the number of reported sexual assaults on campus over time, and suggest that they not be mollified by the number of blue-light emergency phones located near dorms and on the quad, but by prevention programs targeting student attitudes and risk factors – since the majority of sexual assaults on college campuses involve acquaintances and alcohol consumption, and don’t occur out of doors.

Similarly, while schools are delighted to report on their most popular majors and award-winning faculty members, few parents have heard of NSSE, the National Survey on Student Engagement, a research project that digs deeply into the quality and type of learning that occurs at many schools.  In their latest report on 2.1 million students at 750 U.S. institutions, NSSE reports on wide-ranging practices and experiences associated with high levels of learning and development, from the number of hours spent studying each week, classes requiring research papers, conversations with faculty members outside of class, and percent of first-year students doing service learning in conjunction with freshman classes. Not every school participates in NSSE, and among those that do, outcomes may not be fully reported unless they are positive. (See http://nsse.iub.edu/html/annual_results.cfm)

Educational consultants and college planners are among those in the know about some of the nuances of comparing colleges, and this likely accounts for the increase in the utilization of such professionals. Whether you work with a seasoned professional or not, do your homework and ask some hard questions when considering college choices!

In response, a number of schools have developed and become known for excellent entrepreneurship programs. According to entrepreneur.com, here are 12 of the best in the nation. I have added location and total undergraduate enrollment info:

Top Entrepreneurship Programs

#1 -U of Houston, Houston, TX: 30,688

#2 -Babson College, Babson Park, MA: 2007

#3 – Baylor U, Waco, TX: 12,575

#4 – Syracuse U, Syracuse, NY: 14,201

#5 -U of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA: 17,380

#6 – Washington U, St Louis, MO: 7239

#7 – Brigham Young U, Provo, UT: 30,684

#8 – U of Arizona, Tucson, AR: 30,665

#9 – Northeastern U, Boston, MA: 15,905

#10 – U of Oklahoma, Norman, OK: 20,892

#11 – Temple U, Philadelphia, PA: 27,702

# 12 – U of Dayton, Dayton, OH: 7843

In Colorado, entrepreneurship certificates can be earned in undergraduate business programs at CU-Boulder, Colorado State U, the University of Denver, and Colorado Christian University.

For the following I went on the College Board website, and looked at the published information associated with cost and financial aid for several Colorado institutions. In particular, I chose to examine tuition, room and board; average percentage of need met; average amount of need-based scholarships and grants (assistance that doesn’t require repayment later); and average indebtedness at graduation.  Here is what I found for several key institutions for 2011:

CU-Boulder

• TRB = $20,430
• % need met = 90%
• S&G = $7393
• Grad debt = $22,683

CSU

• TRB = $17,214
• % need met = 73%
• S&G = $10,114
• Grad debt = $19,523

CO Mesa U

• TRB = $15,205
• % need met = 59%
• S&G = $4460
• Grad debt = NR

UNC

• TRB = $16,373
• % need met = 61%
• S&G = $2097
• Grad debt = NR

Ft Lewis

• TRB = $13,602
• % need met = 67%
• S&G = $3884
• Grad debt = $18,780

Colorado College

• TRB = $50,450
• % need met = NR
• S&G = NR
• Grad debt = NR

University of Denver

• TRB = $48,273
• % need met = 82%
• S&G = $22,695
• Grad debt = NR

Regis University

• TRB = $31,188
• % need met = 79%
• S&G = $20,392
• Grad debt = NR

Conclusions

One general observation is that there are some real educational bargains available in the state. The winner among the publics for percent of need met was CU-Boulder at 90%. The winner among the privates for the same measure was DU at 82%. Given the far higher cost of attendance at DU, however, this outcome translates into many fewer actual dollars.

I was impressed with the schools that disclosed everything, so hats off to CU, CSU and Ft. Lewis, and a big raspberry for CC, our most expensive institution, which discloses nothing.  Draw your own conclusions as to what might be revealed if they did share their info. I thought CSU looked darn good when their average need-based scholarship and grant amount was deducted from the tuition, room and board charges: $7100, the best outcome among all the schools. Regis looked darn good from this measure as well, coming out at $10,796, far better than DU at $25,578.

Of course this tells us nothing about what might be offered to the most desirable students by way of non-need-based offers; this can be potentially significant, but also highly variable.  So do your homework, and carefully scrutinize those financial aid award letters!

What Are Some Single-Sex Colleges?

Today there are approximately fifty-one single sex colleges in the U.S., with far more of the female-only variety persisting (albeit sometimes struggling), than the male variety. The website http://www.Women’sColleges.org lists some forty-seven women colleges that are still operational (many have closed), including Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, and Smith of PA; Spelman of GA (a Historically Black College); Stephens of MO; The Women’s College of the University of Denver; and Mills of CA. The four extant men’s colleges are Hampden-Sydney, of VA; Wabash in IN; Morehouse of GA (another HBC); and Deep Springs in CA.

Advantages of single-sex colleges

Arguments in favor of single sex education include a belief, supported with outcomes research, that a single-sex environment eliminates much distraction from an academic course of study, allowing both males and females to perform at a higher level. The evidence in support of women’s colleges is even broader, including findings that women’s college grads have more successful careers, earn more money, and are overall happier; and outcomes suggesting that women’s colleges produce graduates with higher self-esteem than female grads from coed institutions.

It is not the case that students at single-sex institutions are lacking in opposite sex companionship should they desire it — in fact, just the opposite is often true. Stephens College is just blocks from the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia, and Bryn Mawr students can take courses and participate in clubs and activities on the campuses of Swarthmore, Haverford, and Penn.

Consider including single-sex institutions in your college search.  You may be surprised at what you discover, and very glad you did!

The photo at the top of this article is of a pet-friendly room in a dorm at Stephens College — one of the few colleges in the nation allowing larger pets!

Observance of Diversity on College Campuses

Something that I thought of today has to do with how diversity and inequality is observed in college curricula. I am very proud that two of the campuses where I have taught feature a requirement that asks students to consider these social realities.  While some may regard a diversity or multicultural requirement to be a mark of political correctness, I disagree. One of my regular classes, Sociology of Prejudice and Discrimination, gives students a platform to consider what conditions give rise to systems of oppression, and what experiences, actions and policies diminish them. I don’t expect my students to agree with me or with each other on these issues, but rather to consider the questions with open hearts and minds, and come to their own conclusions.

In my opinion the presence of such a requirement in the curriculum of a college is an indication of broad, inclusive thinking, and also a commitment to underrepresented student populations, for the examination of multiple realities often helps students from a range of backgrounds feel valued, and validated.

I encourage my clients to examine the curricular requirements of colleges they’re considering, and I hope that examination of the vast range of human experience is a part of what they are seeking.

Simple answer: Absolutely every college-bound student! Some families assume they won’t qualify, and miss out as a result of an unfortunate, mistaken assumption. It is important to know that there are some sources of aid, like PLUS loans, that are not related to need, and there are some surprising income exemptions that you may be unaware of. Go for it; all you risk wasting may be some time, since completing and filing the required FAFSA (Free Application For Federal Student Aid) form costs nothing.

What types of aid are available?

For those who do qualify, what options are available? Pell grants, other state grants, Perkins loans, Stafford loans (subsidized and unsubsidized), funds made available from colleges themselves (increasingly available), other private sources for scholarships, and more! Work Study is regarded as a form of financial aid, so to be considered for this type of on-campus employment you must also file a FAFSA.

The FAFSA can be filed after Jan 1 (the best and fastest way is to apply online), so the time is nigh. For some solid comprehensive information on financial aid, see the Smart Student Guide to Financial Aid site, which features great tools, like EFC (estimated Family Contribution) calculators:

http://www.finaid.org/.

The photo below is of my groovy, sweet new foster dog, Shaboo, pictured on the University of Denver campus, while out on a walkie.  Shaboo isn’t applying for college or for financial aid, but you should! To check Shaboo’s adoption availability, see

http://www.rottieaid.org/