Apprentice School: An alternative to college
July 11th, 2016As discussed in last week’s blog post, many young people are faced with higher university tuition rates and student loan debt than ever before. After graduating college, students are confronted with a highly competitive job market, sometimes forcing them to take jobs that they are over-qualified for, or in some instances, leaving them in what feels like perpetual job-hunting mode.
A long time ago, a high school education used to allow for decent wages and a place in the workforce. However, today students need a degree or specialized training. If students are not suited for a four-year university, where do they go to gain experience and the education needed to land a job with decent pay that doesn’t require a degree?
Jeffrey J. Selingo, author of “There Is Life After College: What Parents and Students Should Know About Navigating School to Prepare for the Jobs of Tomorrow,” has just the place. In the article posted below, Selingo writes about a school in Virginia that offers an alternative to college.
Article published June 22, 2016
Written by: Jeffrey J. Selingo
Nearly 40 percent of American workers hold a bachelor’s degree. College graduates are found in virtually every profession: 15 percent of mail carriers have a four-year degree, as do one in five clerical and sales workers and 83,000 bartenders.
Getting a bachelor’s degree is what going to college means to most Americans and is so ingrained in our culture that students who do not march along are often admonished, questioned and considered — or consider themselves — failures.
Read more at The New York Times >>Tagged: Career
Taming college debt: Purdue’s savvy tuition plan(s)
July 5th, 2016According to the White House, nearly 70% of bachelor degree graduates take on college loan debt. This $1.2 trillion debt is ruining many recent graduates’ credit and preventing them from beginning the life they have been working towards. While many colleges are raising their tuition rates each and every year, Purdue University has taken an alternative approach.
Along with a tuition freeze that Purdue has adopted since 2012, they are now introducing a new concept to further help students pay back their debts. This program, called “Back a Boiler,” is an income-share agreement provided by the Purdue Research Foundation. Instead of borrowing from lenders with interest rates, students will agree to pay back a percentage of their income for nine years or less after graduation. This percentage will be based on the student’s income from their post-college job. The Chicago Tribune gives you a deeper understanding of what this program is about in the article posted below.
Article published May 11, 2016
This fall, Purdue University undergrads will welcome two things: their parents waving goodbye and their tuition bills frozen for the fourth straight year — with a fifth tuition freeze coming for undergrads in 2017-18. Purdue under efficiency-wise President Mitch Daniels is showing colleges across the nation how to control costs, restrain tuition increases and still provide a quality education. (And a Big Ten-derhearted shoutout here to the University of Illinois, which has frozen tuition two years in a row for new in-state undergraduates.)
Read more at Chicago Tribune >>Tagged: College, Financial aid
The Teenager With One Foot Out the Door
June 27th, 2016The test taking, application and essay writing, and acceptance waiting are over. Now one of the biggest transitions in a parent’s life is about to take place: you’ll soon be sending your child off to college or boarding school. Many parents want to make the most of their student’s remaining time at home, but your child may have other plans in mind.
This time can feel like you and your family are on an emotional rollercoaster, particularly for older teens heading off to college, but figuring out the psychology behind certain behaviors and how best to approach much needed conversations is important. Lisa Damour, a psychologist in Shaker Heights, Ohio, recently wrote an article about this very topic to help parents and students make this an enjoyable, rather than embittered, transition. We hope it will prove helpful in your household as excitement and apprehension build prior to the start of the next academic year!
Read more at New York Times >>Tagged: College, Personal characteristics
Minding the Gap
June 20th, 2016Taking a gap year, although still relatively rare in the US, is a more frequent topic of conversation since Malia Obama announced her plans to defer college enrollment. Some Shrop Ed students have asked us about the possibility, too, and we feel that as long as a student has a plan in mind for structuring the year productively, the gap year can be enormously beneficial. Deans of admission will want to know your plans when reviewing a request for enrollment deferral so if you’re considering the option, you’ll want to act fairly quickly to put all of the pieces together.
We invite you to read this article on the American Gap Association’s website, and let us know if we can help.
