The Week in Review / Educational Policy Institute

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Still Arguing About the Cost Issues

February 22, 2008

Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute

As I sit today in my son’s high school classroom, “shadowing” his every move (and he appears to be sleeping in study block!), I am taken to write a commentary following the report in yesterday’s InsideHigherEd.com regarding the College Cost panel conversation at The George Washington University on Wednesday. The event happened to follow the announcement by Stanford University and Washington University in St. Louis to meet the financial need for all families, virtually eliminating tuition for families with earned incomes under $100,000.

I’ve talked about this in depth on several occasions, and, much to your chagrin, I’m going to do it again today. Many of the speakers speaking at GWU were on target during the discussion, but I’d like to point out a few of their comments and put my own spin on it. READ MORE

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SPECIAL NOTE: REMEMBER THAT EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION FOR RETENTION 2008 ENDS MARCH 15 AND THAT THERE ARE ONLY A FEW MORE STUDENT SUCCESS WORKSHOPS LEFT, INCLUDING BOSTON, WASHINGTON, ATLANTA, COLUMBUS, AND VANCOUVER.

Did you know?

As of 2006, 84.3 percent of children in the United States had parents who were fluent English speakers. The other 15.7 percent did not.

Source: Education Week Research Center, Education Counts!





	California's schools gird for steep cuts Jason Song, The Los Angeles Times Schwarzenegger's budget plan triggers trims in programs and plans for layoffs in L.A. County and elsewhere. Leaner Class Sizes Add Fiscal Stress to Florida Districts Michel McNeil, Education Week With a total price tag pushing $10 billion, Florida’s class-size-reduction mandate —the nation’s toughest—is under fire, as school districts call on lawmakers to weaken the 2002 constitutional requirement before it is fully phased in later this year.	When ‘Unequal’ Is Fair Treatment Lynn Olson, Education Week By dividing the Montgomery County, Md., district into two zones, and addressing needs in both, its leaders are conquering achievement gaps. 173 area pre-K programs show poor scores Nirvi Shah, The Miami Herald The state rated 173 Broward and Miami-Dade County preschools that offer free prekindergarten with scores lower than last year's passing score, the state Department of Education said Monday.


	Higher Education Gap May Slow Economic Mobility Erik Eckholm, The New York Times Economic mobility, the chance that children of the poor or middle class will climb up the income ladder, has not changed significantly over the last three decades, a study being released on Wednesday says. Stanford drops tuition for some students Steve Rubenstein, The San Francisco Chronicle In a radical change to its financial aid program, Stanford University will announce today that it will no longer charge tuition to students whose families earn less than $100,000 a year.	As Lending Tightens, Education Could Suffer Jonathan D. Glater, The New York Times Major commercial education companies are scrambling to ensure a steady stream of college-level students despite the credit squeeze, with some preparing to offer student loans themselves. Conservatives Just Aren't Into Academe, Study Finds Robin Wilson, The Chronicle of Higher Education Divergent life choices may explain the dearth of right-wing scholars.


	Commonwealth funding for students BBCnews.com A scholarship scheme for students from developing countries has been launched by the University of Glasgow to mark the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Russian Court Shuts Down University That Offered Politically Sensitive Courses Anna Nemtsova, The Chronicle of Higher Education A Russian court has ordered a university that receives support from Western organizations and had offered courses in election monitoring to shut down immediately, in what professors said was the first time an entire university had been closed for political reasons under President Vladimir V. Putin.	Degree no job guarantee in China Don Lee, The Los Angeles Times Until the start of this decade, a college degree in China put you in elite circles. The government arranged jobs for graduates in public agencies or state-owned enterprises. Unemployment wasn't an issue. But of the nearly 5 million young people who graduated in June, about 1.45 million were still unemployed in the fall, according to a study published last month by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Researchers estimated that by year-end, about 75% of the recent graduates had found jobs.


	Alberta Progressive Conservative plan to cut student loan interest Joey Coleman and Erin Millar, Macleans.ca If elected, the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party will cut student loan interest. The party unveiled its post-secondary education platform Monday to a lack of fanfare. Universities offer perks to top students Louis Brown, The Toronto Star Universities vie for best with air vouchers, personal visits, swag	Children of Canadian Soldiers Killed on Guard Duty Granted First of New Scholarships Macleans.ca Three children from the growing list of Canada’s bereaved military families became the first beneficiaries Saturday of a new scholarship fund set up as a sign of community support for the nation’s Armed Forces. The Canada Company fund, backed by some of the country’s top business leaders, is designed to supplement the benefits provided to children who have lost a military parent during active service.


	One size won't fit all, says uni boss Yuko Narushima, The Sydney Morning Herald The Federal Government's one-size-fits-all approach to university funding has been slammed by the Vice-Chancellor of Australian National University, Ian Chubb, who yesterday said the system punished the best institutions and ignored the needs of individual universities.	State tries to stop teacher strikes Farrah Tomazin, The Melbourne Age THE State Government has intervened to try to stop public school teachers from going on more strikes next week over wages and working conditions. Loan change would lift VET Guy Healy, The Australian PROPOSED changes to the Howard government's loans for vocational education students will have a "terrifically stimulatory" effect on public and private institutions, a leading private consultant says.


	Closing the Expectations Gap 2008 Achieve.org On the anniversary of the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools, Achieve releases its third annual 50-state progress report on the alignment of high school policies with the demands of college and careers: Closing the Expectations Gap, 2008. Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Mobility in America The Brooking Institution & The Pew Charitable Trust This volume, authored by a team of scholars at the Brookings Institution, is one in a series of major research products that aims to further enlighten the public dialogue on economic opportunity. Left Pipeline: Why Conservatives Don't Get Doctorates Matthew Woessner and April Kelly-Woessner This research is some of the first to take a scientific look at the politics of the professoriate.


The Educational Policy Institute is an international non-profit think tank dedicated to the study of educational opportunity. The Week in Review is a weekly publication that highlights the top news stories, reports and statistics related to academic preparation and access and success in the US, Canada, and beyond. The publication also features a commentary written by either President Watson Scott Swail, EdD or Vice-President Alex Usher. To submit comments, news releases, or submissions, please email Dr. Watson Scott Swail at wswail@educationalpolicy.org or call (757) 430-2200.