Tag: college

SOCIETY

College Women Embracing More Diverse Sexuality -The Feminism’s Legacy

Most adults identify themselves as heterosexual, meaning they report being attracted to, and engaging in sex with, only members of the other sex. However, women ages 18 to 29 are increasingly rejecting exclusive heterosexuality and describing their sexual orientation in other ways. These changes in women’s sexuality are not mirrored by their male peers. That’s the primary finding in our most recent report on nine years of surveys at the Binghamton Human Sexualities Research Lab, just published in “Sexuality in Emerging Adulthood.” Together with our Binghamton University colleagues Richard E. Mattson, Melissa Hardesty, Ann Merriwether and Maggie M. Parker, we conclude that changes in young adults’ sexual orientation are not just as a result of increased social acceptance of LGBT people – b...
Recent College Graduates Can Enhance Their Online Job Search 6 Ways
EDUCATION, Journalism

Recent College Graduates Can Enhance Their Online Job Search 6 Ways

When recent or soon-to-be college graduates begin to seek employment, many inevitably turn to job-search and networking platforms on the internet. The platforms include some that are college-based – such as Handshake, Symplicity GradLeaders and 12twenty – as well as networking platforms like LinkedIn and PeopleGrove. With COVID-19 having moved job searches more and more into the virtual realm, these platforms are playing an increasingly crucial role in the quest for employment. From my vantage point as a veteran college-based career services counselor, I have also observed that many students and recent graduates don’t make the most of what these platforms have to offer. With that in mind – and in light of reports of bleak employment prospects for new college graduates – here are six tip...
When The COVID-19 Pandemic Closed College Campuses Here’s What Former Foster Children Went Through
EDUCATION

When The COVID-19 Pandemic Closed College Campuses Here’s What Former Foster Children Went Through

The big idea In the first two months of the pandemic, more than half of former foster children lost their jobs and nearly 40% experienced precarious living situations or homelessless, according to a survey of 127 former foster children between the ages of 18 and 26 that we conducted in May and June of 2020. They were among the estimated 20,000 people in foster care who are “emancipated” each year when they age out of the system, beginning as young as 18. These young adults typically lose most of the support the government provides foster children – such as caseworker support and access to health care and housing. Most of the people we surveyed were college students. Like most former foster youth going to college in the spring of 2020, they did not have a stable living situation or family...
Expanding SNAP Benefits On Campus Will Help Stave Off Hunger For 1 In 3 College Students
EDUCATION, Journalism

Expanding SNAP Benefits On Campus Will Help Stave Off Hunger For 1 In 3 College Students

It’s harder to learn when you are suffering from hunger or searching for your next meal. But while around 30 million K-12 students in public schools are eligible for free or reduced lunch, it is a different matter when they leave. Many of those who graduate from high school and enroll in higher education institutions find they no longer have access to federal food programs. The nation’s leading anti-hunger program for adults, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, provides food assistance to almost 44 million Americans. Only an estimated 18% of college students have been eligible for the program in recent years, with a low 3% actually receiving food assistance. This may be changing. Congress recently passed legislation that included relief for the estimated one in three...
It All Depends On How The Program Is Designed, But Free College Programs Can Enable More Students To Go To College
IN OTHER NEWS

It All Depends On How The Program Is Designed, But Free College Programs Can Enable More Students To Go To College

The big idea Free college programs are emerging across the United States as potential mechanisms to improve college enrollment and affordability. Our research examines how the design of these programs influences their effectiveness. We argue that effectiveness depends on the answers to two questions. First, does it help more students attend and complete college? Second, how do the outcomes of the program compare with the resources invested? Free college programs are sponsored by states, private donors and individual colleges. Some programs offer free tuition to attend a choice of colleges and universities, while others provide free tuition to attend a particular school. Programs may be available to students in a particular state, as is the case with the Oregon Promise, or a specific commu...
College Federal Financial Aid Will Be Easier To Apply For – And A Bit More Generous
EDUCATION

College Federal Financial Aid Will Be Easier To Apply For – And A Bit More Generous

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid – better known as FAFSA – is being simplified through the omnibus spending bill that became law in December. The FAFSA is what students must fill out to receive Pell Grants, student loans and many other types of financial aid from states and colleges. Here, Robert Kelchen, an expert on higher education policy, explains what the simplification and other changes mean for students and families. How is applying for federal student financial aid about to change? The good news is the FAFSA will go from having 108 questions to 36 questions, and most students will only have to answer a smaller set of questions about family income and household size. The not-so-good news is that this simplified form will not be available to students until October 2022 to...
GI Bill Opened Doors To College Vets, But Politicians Created A Separate GI Bill For Blacks
EDUCATION, POLITICS

GI Bill Opened Doors To College Vets, But Politicians Created A Separate GI Bill For Blacks

When President Franklin Roosevelt signed the GI Bill into law on June 22, 1944, it laid the foundation for benefits that would help generations of veterans achieve social mobility. Formally known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, the bill made unprecedented commitments to the nation’s veterans. For instance, it provided federal assistance to veterans in the form of housing and unemployment benefits. But of all the benefits offered through the GI Bill, funding for higher education and job training emerged as the most popular. More than 2 million veterans flocked to college campuses throughout the country. But even as former service members entered college, not all of them accessed the bill’s benefits in the same way. That’s because white southern politicians designed the distr...
P-TECH – Pathways In Technology Early College High School, Connects Students College And Careers
TECHNOLOGY

P-TECH – Pathways In Technology Early College High School, Connects Students College And Careers

In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama highlighted an innovative educational program called P-TECH – an acronym for Pathways in Technology Early College High School. The first P-TECH school opened in Brooklyn, New York, in 2011. It was profiled in a 2014 cover story in Time magazine as “The School That Will Get You a Job.” Obama stated that all students should have educational opportunities such as P-TECH. What makes the school unique is that students can earn an associate degree at no cost while still in high school. Students at the schools get the opportunity to compete for paid industry internships. They are also given mentors and a clear pathway from school to college to career with a commitment from business partners like IBM that they are first in line for a...
Food Security For College Students Threaten By Pandemic
COVID-19

Food Security For College Students Threaten By Pandemic

When university presidents were surveyed in spring of 2020 about what they felt were the most pressing concerns of COVID-19, college students going hungry didn’t rank very high. Just 14% of the presidents listed food or housing insecurity among their top five concerns. Granted, these academic leaders had plenty of other things to worry about. Some 86% said they were worried about fall enrollment – a concern that has shown itself to be a legitimate one, especially in light of the fact that low-income students have been dropping out of college at what one headline described as “alarming rates.” As researchers who specialize in the study of food insecurity, we see the dropout rate as being related to a host of underlying issues. And not having enough to eat is one of them. Data support th...
Student Housing Scarce For College Students With Kids
EDUCATION

Student Housing Scarce For College Students With Kids

Before the family housing program opened at his university, Blake and his two young daughters were couch-surfing at the homes of their friends and family. “They only saw me coming and going,” Blake explains, describing how he had to juggle a job at a local casino, college classes and parenting as a single homeless dad pursuing a career in nursing. When the university opened its family housing program in 2014, Blake and his daughters were among the first to move in. Living on campus changed their lives. The girls claimed a place within the college community. They made friends with people across campus, ate with their dad in the dining hall and did homework together as a family. And Blake was able to better focus on his studies. The program – which has since been discontinued – is a rarit...