A conversation with Stanford President John Hennessy

I read the news today oh, boy

I heard it too.

Florida To Raise University Tuition Statewide 15%

Cal State Schools May Slash Enrollment

Economic Crisis Hits Colleges In Pennsylvania

How Will Obama Help College Costs?

Florida Matters “Brain Drain”

Go to a State University in Florida You should listen to this.

FIU may cut jobs, degrees

The state's economic downturn has forced FIU to consider eliminating degree programs and more than 250 jobs. (More)

FSU is closed for transfer students

Due to budget and enrollment constraints, it has become necessary for us to move up our transfer application deadline (for Florida AA students) for Fall 2008 to Friday, April 4th.   The online application for Fall 2008 will be turned off at midnight on Friday, April 4th.   Academic credentials must be received by Wednesday, April 16th or the application will be cancelled.  Students who have already been sent a hold letter because we are awaiting CLAST and/or foreign language will have until the end of the semester, May 15th, to provide proof that they have met these requirements. 

-Dr. Bruce Janasiewicz, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, FSU

USF Raises Bar For Transfers

Prospective students transferring to the University of South Florida will meet a higher bar for entry based on newly updated standards, the university announced this week.  Keep reading . . .

The Florida Legislature's higher education plan

Today The St Petersburg Times offered this story -- Fight over higher education governance gets nasty. It was one of those articles that I had to set down about every paragraph and pace the bungalow. But right next to it was this column by Howard Troxler which nicely reminds the reader what is really going on. Just read both pieces and remember to vote. You could write someone too, not Howard. Someone else who is supposed to represent your interests.

USF will significantly limit the number of transfer students it accepts each year

USF is officially saying 2,500 over three years.  I am betting the number will be larger.  Not by design, but by unintended consequences.   

 Two quotes you should take note of: 

It will help the research university improve the caliber of its students. And it will make better use of branch campuses such as St. Petersburg - perhaps bolstering a politically tricky bid for $15-million to build a campus in Lakeland.   

Translation: There are more empty seats at these campuses, which are cheaper to run,  so you should look into them as an option.   

        If you've got a 3.0, and a degree from a community college, your future is pretty assured here," (provost Ralph) Wilcox said. "If you have a 2.0, it's unlikely you'll be admitted.           

Translation: Stop Slacking  

Read the whole article St Petersburg Times article.

This is happening at every University in Florida.  So don't think you are safe.

Credit Woes Hit Funding For Loans to Students

That headline is from this Wall Street Journal piece. If you have a student loan-- loan is usually sold off before you ever receive a check. Heck, sometimes it's sold off before you even apply.

Say you, and a million other peeps, take out a student loan. The loan companies only have so much money right? So they need to get more money to make new loans. What the loan companies do is take like a million dollars worth of loans (or some other number) bundle them together and securitize them. Once they are a security, other people and institutions them.

The bank is happy because it now has more money. It can make more loans which it will later securitize so it can get more money and make more loans. It’s the circle of life if you are a bank. The students who took the loans are happy they get to go to college. The peeps who bought the securitized loans are happy because student loans are unbelievably safe. By the time these loans are paid off, and the securities reach maturity, the peeps who own the security will be rolling in dough.

But here is the new problem. No one is buying the bundled loans! Thus far, I have read several pieces and no one is talking about Stafford or Perkins loans --yet.

But I'd keep watching this issue or reading this blog.

Florida Universities could turn away 60,000

Oh, I have your attentions now!

Start Reading . . . or you can listen to this!

I still plan to have more on this issue soon.