The government is moving forward with its crackdown on the country’s for-profit schools, aiming to protect students from taking on too much debt to attend schools that do nothing for their job prospects.

The Department of Education has finalized its “gainful employment” rule, which will ban for-profit schools like DeVry University or Apollo Group Inc.’s University of Phoenix from accessing federal financial aid dollars if too many of their graduates are unable to find jobs that pay enough to allow them to afford their student loan payments. If graduates owe too much relative to their income, or too few former students are paying back their tuition loans on time, schools stand to lose access to Pell grants and federal student aid. Such a loss would seriously crimp schools’ ability to attract students.

“These new regulations will help ensure that students at these schools are getting what they pay for: Solid preparation for a good job,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Thursday. “We’re giving career colleges every opportunity to reform themselves but we’re not letting them off the hook, because too many vulnerable students are being hurt.”

Most students at career colleges and vocational schools pay tuition with federal financial aid dollars — as much as 90 percent of a school’s revenue can come from government aid. But that leaves taxpayers on the hook if students can’t find good jobs and default on their loans.

And they are defaulting in large numbers.

Students at for-profit institutions such as technical programs and culinary schools represent just 12 percent of all higher education students but 46 percent of all student loan dollars in default. The average student earning an associate degree at a for-profit school carries $14,000 in federal loan debt versus the $0 debt burden of most community college students.

To read the full story: Yahoo! Finance

The House Republican budget is now out in the public. Though it’s in sharp contrast to Gov. Tom Corbett’s spending plan, the parameters of the budget had been public for several days before Tuesday’s official announcement.

The GOP plan would maintain Corbett’s $27.3 billion spending level, but dramatically increase funding for State System of Higher Education and state-related colleges and universities. Instead of losing more than half of their state funding, SSHE schools would receive 85 percent of last year’s budget, while Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln universities would lose a quarter of their state support.

“I think everybody standing behind me was as surprised as you were, when the governor proposed a 54 percent decrease in funding for our 14 state-owned universities,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Adolph. “Many of these universities are the economic engine in those communities.” In all, the House GOP plan provides $377 million more than Corbett’s budget for higher education.

House Republicans would also increase funding for K-12 education, and restore the accountability block grant program, which many school districts use to fund early childhood education efforts. (The block grant funding would be less than half of its current level, but Corbett wanted to completely eliminate the program.)

Other changes include a 5-percent reduction for General Assembly funding–about three times as large of a cut as Corbett proposed–and $55 million more for hospitals across Pennsylvania.

To read the full story: Newsworks.org

Employers plan to hire 19.3% more recent graduates this year, says a report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The association surveyed 174 schools from February through April.

The increase in open positions means employers have half as many applicants per job now than at this time last year: 21.1 applicants this year vs. 40.5 in 2010.

Students are confirming the trend, says Lonnie Dunlap, director of career services at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. “What we’re seeing this year is that some of our students are getting multiple offers, which we’re thrilled about.”

The top-paying major for the class of 2011 is chemical engineering. It has an average starting salary of $66,886, the association report says. The accounting services industry has the most projected job openings for this year: 7,244 spots.

The Midwest is seeing an increase in manufacturing, information technology and sales openings, says Kelley Bishop, executive director of career services at Michigan State University. Not only can these companies now afford to hire graduates, they need to because they put it off during the recession, Bishop says.

A Michigan State survey of 4,600 employers found that companies will hire 10% more graduates with bachelor’s degrees this year, the first increase in two years.

Priya Suresh, a member of Northwestern University’s class of 2011, landed a job in November and will start work in August.

Her advice to jobless graduates is to use the university career resources. .

Daniel Zuccari, a journalism major who graduated with George Washington University’s class of 2011, hunted for a year before landing a job this month.

“I t felt great to get that offer,” he says of the communications position at a global professional consulting firm in Pennsylvania.

To read the full story: USA Today

As colleges and universities begin setting tuition for the upcoming academic year, a few schools are already touting their efforts to keep costs down.

Last Thursday, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia announced a 3.9% tuition increase, its “second smallest … in 43 years.” A day earlier, The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., released the news that its board approved a 10% cut in tuition and fees for the coming academic year.

A cynic might think the schools are angling to stay below the Education Department’s radar. As part of an ongoing plan to help keep spiraling tuition charges in check, the department will annually publish online, starting in July, a list of schools with the highest percentage increases in tuition and fees in a three-year period, along with the 5% of colleges reporting the highest overall sticker prices. Schools that don’t provide the data risk losing access to billions of dollars in federal student aid.

But colleges also recognize that families are struggling. Nearly two-thirds of incoming students reported that the “current economic situation significantly affected my college choice,” says an annual survey of more than 200,000 full-time first-year students attending four-year colleges. It was released last month by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute.

“The reduction in tuition at Sewanee recognizes today’s new economic realities,” says John McCardell Jr., president of The University of the South, commonly known as Sewanee. “Higher education is on the verge of pricing itself beyond the reach of more and more families.”

The Education Department began nudging colleges toward greater transparency last July, when it published, at www.collegenavigator.gov, average net prices based on family income for schools that receive federal financial aid. Beginning Oct. 29, colleges will be required to post a “net price calculator” on their websites to help families estimate more precisely what they will be expected to pay.

The idea is to help families plan. It might also encourage some students to consider colleges whose published prices might have scared them off. Next year, for example, the University of Pennsylvania’s sticker price will be $53,976, but average freshman grants are estimated at $36,250, which would bring the tab to $17,726. At Sewanee, published tuition, fees, room and board prices next year come to $41,518, down from $46,112. It’s still working on financial aid details, but about 70% of freshmen this year received grants averaging $23,779.

To read the full story: USAToday

Just in time for the fall semester, New Jersey has sent colleges and universities within the state a reminder about its new law regulating credit card issuers on campuses — including a ban on the freebies that used to lure college students to sign up for the cards.

Piggybacking on the 2009 federal law, New Jersey’s Credit Card Solicitation Act that went in effect in May requires credit card companies to register with the college or university before soliciting students on campus. The companies also have to provide an on-campus program to teach about interest rates, card balances, minimum monthly payments, among other credit issues. New Jersey’s law also bars credit card companies from enlisting debt collectors against the parent or guardian of a college student unless the adult agreed in writing to be liable for the student’s debts.

The Higher Education Opportunity Act requires colleges to release required book lists at the time of class registration. Publishers must disclose prices and revision information to schools.

Proponents say the law will give students more time to take advantage of textbook buy-back programs, book rentals and prices that are often lower online than in college bookstores. They expect it will also force professors to pay more attention to the cost of books they assign.

“Until this year, many schools didn’t give the book list until the week before classes, and you really had no choice but to head to the college bookstore,” says Christine Frietchen, editor in chief of ConsumerSearch.com.

FULL STORY: http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/2010-07-30-textbooks30_ST_N.htm

USA TODAY-

More than 60% of students borrow money to pay for college. If you’re one of them — or you’re the parent of a college student — it’s important to understand some of the changes that took effect on July 1, including:

•All federal student loans are now issued through the federal government’s Direct Loan program. In the past, banks and other financial institutions provided federally guaranteed student loans through the Federal Family Education Loan Program, but the health care reform bill enacted in May ended subsidies for lenders.

FULL STORY: http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2010-07-06-yourmoney06_ST_N.htm

USA TODAY- Even as Michigan endures the nation’s highest unemployment rate, there are jobs available in select fields for people with the right skills.

Among the “hot jobs” highlighted by one college are pharmacy technicians, call center specialists, computer numerical control machinists and quality inspectors. The average wage for those jobs typically ranges from $12 to $16 an hour.

The trick? Making sure people have the training and education to take advantage of them.

Lansing Community College is so convinced the jobs are out there that it’s offering a money-back guarantee for students if they don’t get an offer of full-time work in the state within a year of finishing one of the four programs.

FULL STORY: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2010-04-09-michigan-college-jobs_N.htm

The Lower Merion School District, embroiled in lawsuits over laptop cameras and redistricting, faces the possibility of a substantial tax increase for next school year.

The current budget contained the largest tax-rate percentage increase in the region. The preliminary $201.5 million proposal for next year calls for a 4.39 percent tax hike. If that passes in June, the tax on a house assessed at the district median of $258,440 would rise $243. The total bill would be $5,774.

Among the biggest factors driving the proposed tax rate are salary increases, a substantial hike in benefit costs, and a drop in tax revenue, the district said in presenting the plan.

Last year’s 6.6 percent tax hike was the highest percentage increase among the 64 school districts in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania suburbs. During the last five years, the percentage increase in district taxes has been among the highest in the region, as well.

Lower Merion was tops in the region in per-student spending in 2008-09, at $21,663; the Philadelphia School District ranked 60th, at $11,426.

Even with the recent increases and high per-pupil spending, the district has one of the lowest school-tax rates in Montgomery County. Because of substantial tax income from commercial properties, it ranked fifth from the bottom in school-tax millage among the county’s 22 districts.

Much of the tax increase in recent years was due to construction of two high schools at a combined cost of more than $200 million. Harriton High opened in the fall; Lower Merion is scheduled to open this fall.

Another expense during the last two years was $2.6 million for 2,620 laptops for students. The computers have drawn attention in the last week after allegations that they were used to spy on students.

The program started in the 2008-09 school year, and all high school students had laptops in the fall. The preliminary budget, which the board passed Feb. 16, contains no more money for the program, district spokesman Douglas Young said.

FULL STORY: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20100226_Lower_Merion_School_District_proposes_4_39__tax_hike.html