Education Dept. To Email 3.5 Million Borrowers of Federal Student Loans

The Obama administration’s education department plans to email approximately 3.5 million  borrowers of federal student loans over the next month, in an effort to boost enrollment in the government’s income-based repayment programs. The department will be sending emails, starting this month and continuing through December, to a range of borrowers that they think will benefit from enrolling in the program.

“The campaign will target borrowers whose grace periods will end soon, borrowers who have fallen behind on their student loan payments, borrowers with higher-than-average debts, and borrowers in deferment or forbearance because of financial hardship or unemployment,” Brenda Wensil, the chief customer experience officer for federal student aid, wrote in a notice posted online Friday.

One target category of borrowers appears to be those who are in a grace period and owe more than $25,000, the sample email text indicated. Though a department spokesperson declined to comment on which other borrowers would be targeted, the spokesman, Stephen Spector, said more details would be announced later in the week.

The campaign is a part of Obama’s higher education reform plan unveiled in August, which more controversially included a plan to issue college ratings based on affordability and student graduation employment outcome, as well as numerous other factors.

Despite previous attempts by the administration to promote the income-based programs and ease the application process, enrollment remains low. Fewer than 7 percent of federal direct loan borrowers whose loans were in repayment had enrolled in an income-based repayment plan by June 30 of this year, according to the department’s data.

Consumer and borrower advocates praised the new outreach program, but said that the administration has much more work to do as far as enrollment in income-based repayment programs.

“This is a hugely positive step towards making sure that people how need to know and might benefit from these income-based programs are getting the information they need,” said Lauren Asher, the president of the Institute for College Access and Success. “We’re happy to see this is moving forward.”

via Matthew Altier http://matthewaltier.com/2013/11/04/education-dept-to-email-3-5-million-borrowers-of-federal-student-loans/

New Report Highlights Importance of Early Childhood Education

As Louisiana begins making early childhood education a priority, a study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation was released Sunday night,  emphasizing the importance of early childhood education, particularly stressing the importance of high-quality preschool programs as well as health-care coverage, for a child’s future success.

According to the study, of the 62,000 three and four year-old children living at or below 200% of the poverty line in 2011, 52% were not enrolled in preschool, according to the study. That is, however, better than the national average of 63%.

Studies have shown that a child’s enrollment in preschool at this age is pivotal to a child’s educational, social, and intellectual development and success later in life. Children entering kindergarten that have no experience or preparation for learning at a level commensurate with their age, are more likely to lag as they progress through elementary school.

“High-quality early care and education play an important role in preparing children for success and lead to higher levels of educational attainment, career advancement and earnings,” the study states.

Additionally, other factors in early childhood education can hinder a child’s development. The study showed that childhood learning disabilities were not screened and tested for in 65% of Louisiana’s low-income children younger than six years of age. That’s comparable to the national average of 70%, though states like Massachusetts, had only 30%.

The report indicates a need for states to institute programs to support parents, allow access to high-quality early childhood education, and institute a more comprehensive ways to assess a child’s early development and learning capabilities.

Louisiana aims to do this with it’s new early childhood education program, which is being implemented in 15 school systems this year. The program seeks to consolidate and unify preschool centers receiving public money under a common set of standards and assessments. State officials hope to expand the program to all publicly funded centers by 2015.

The pilot program is part of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education initiative. It grew out of Act 3 of the 2012 legislative session.

“I think the significance of Act 3 is that it puts eyes on the importance of the early years in a child’s life, and it has created an opportunity for the state and citizens to invest in children very early on,” said director Anthony Recasner of Agenda for Children, the non-profit that is organizing Louisiana’s early childhood program in New Orleans. “The state hasn’t really thought holistically about investing in early childhood development before. … Act 3 focuses on the importance of all the early years, not just the three and four-year-olds.”

 

via Matthew Altier – Professional Experience http://matthewaltier.org/2013/11/04/new-report-highlights-importance-of-early-childhood-education/

Can Mobile Phones Really Improve Small Holder Farming in Nigeria?

Cutting out the middleman. Imagine sending mail without a mailman; you wouldn’t have to pay for stamps. How about learning calculus without a professor; you wouldn’t have to pay for tuition. The mailman and the professor might have to find different jobs; but in an alien world, where cutting out these middlemen are possible, I bet the people are much happier. With the money they save, they could buy more fun stuff, like food, movies, books, toys and alien computers.

One day, gmail and wikipedia respectively will make mailmen and professors obsolete. Even if you don’t agree with that, at least believe that technology plays a huge role in cutting out middlemen.

Even in the third world.

In Nigeria, there was an issue of corruption when distributing subsidy inputs to small holder farmers. Officials believed they deserved a higher return for their service of verifying and issuing these subsidies. In response to protest against this corruption, the government introduced a new subsidy policy: the Growth Enhancement Scheme. Instead of sending subsidies to farmers via corrupt officials, the government has started to simply send out subsidy vouchers to the mobile phones of registered farmers. So for example, before, the government would buy fertilizer, and issue them directly to farmers via officials. Now they just give farmers vouchers so they could buy fertilizers from private companies on their own.

Response to the policy has been mixed. People who failed to register as farmers are not enjoying the new system, and are hoping the government would revisit their communities. So they still see the government as inefficient. But on the other hand, people who received the vouchers have realized better fertilizers, which has resulted in better production. This is probably because the money saved from cutting out the middle men left room for buying better-quality fertilizers.

One farmer said “Our only fear is that they may stop sending us the text messages on our mobile phones.”

 

via Matthew Altier – Improving Higher Education http://mattaltier.org/2013/10/17/can-mobile-phones-really-improve-small-holder-farming-in-nigeria/

Americans Doubt the Rigor and Quality of Online Education

Many Americans say that the value and format of online education are equal to or better than traditional education, many Americans still doubt its quality, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.

A majority of the adults surveyed appeared to appreciate and recognize the flexibility of online education, saying that it provided a superior format that allowed most students to succeed in, and that it provides a wider variety of options for a curriculum focus. Additionally, of the more than 1,000-adults surveyed, one-third also stated that the value for the money students pay is better than the traditional classroom-based education, and 34% believed it is equal to the value of traditional education.

However, despite the acceptance of online course formats and access, a report on the poll stated that Americans’ views are still “tepid at best.” Many still believe that the quality of both the instruction and the instructors is far below that of classroom-based education. Furthermore, nearly half of those surveyed believe online degrees are less readily accepted by employers than traditionally earned degrees.

The nonprofit organization Public Agenda recently released a survey that supports that belief. The survey found that the majority of employers said they prefer applicants with traditional degrees from average universities over those with an online degree from a top university, despite the fact that nearly the same amount said online programs require more discipline on the student’s part.

Separately, a Gallup survey asking participants to rank the quality of education by different institution types (four-year university, two-year college, and internet based programs), found that 5% viewed online programs as “excellent,” while 18% said that the quality is “poor,” and “34% said those same programs are “only fair” in terms of quality.

“If leaders in the field want online learning to have equal status with campus-based programs, they need to do more to demonstrate high standards for instruction, testing, and grading,” the report says. But Jeff Davidson, strategic initiatives manager of The Free Education Initiative at the Saylor Foundation, says this mind-set is the result of a lack of awareness and familiarity with online education. ”I don’t think there’s any weight to the belief that quality suffers in online education any more so than with a lot of brick-and-mortars. We know brick-and-mortar degrees vary in quality, and that’s the same with online,” Davidson says. “Are there diploma mills online? Absolutely. But there are brick-and-mortars doing that as well.”

The Gallup report’s authors see an opportunity for free online education to expand. There is established promise for expanding online programs, they say, because they offer a much more cost-effective route to higher education at a time when tuition costs have been on a sharp rise, student debt continues to accrue to dangerous levels, and college graduates from established universities continue to have underemployment and unemployment problems directly after graduating.

However, online education may further fit an additional niche in that more Americans, the authors write, believe obtaining job-specific knowledge and trade-craft experience is more useful as far as developing a skill-set than earning a college degree. ”This broadly suggests that online programs offering more targeted curriculum – distinct from a traditional bachelor’s degree – or even certification in specific skills, could ultimately transform how students approach postsecondary education,” the report says.

On the whole, 50% of adults say obtaining job-specific knowledge and skills is more important than receiving a degree from a top-tier university. The numbers are about split, with a slight tilt in favor of knowledge and skills, for all age groups, education levels, and political affiliations. In fact, only those over the age of 65, non-white, those with postgraduate degrees, and Democrats, said they believe having a college degree is more important.

Davidson says online education programs will expand and improve the same way traditional programs have in the past, particularly in the areas of perceived weaknesses, such as quality and rigor. ”Perception will catch up with reality, that there are quality programs,” Davidson says. “Is every program quality? Of course not. But that’s true with a building, too.”

via Matthew Altier – Professional Experience http://matthewaltier.org/2013/10/16/americans-doubt-the-rigor-and-quality-of-online-education/

New York Education Chief Defends Cancellation of Common Core Exams

On Tuesday, New York Education Commissioner, John King, defended the decision to cancel four upcoming forums on New York State’s new education standards, saying the scene at the first meeting in Poughkeepsie “made it impossible to have constructive dialogue.”

King said, in his first public appearance since he was shouted down in Poughkeepsie last Thursday, the remaining four NYSPTA forums won’t be rescheduled, but that he looking to foster “other opportunities to have dialogue with parents.” ”We’ll look for other opportunities to create constructive dialogue, but there’s nothing constructive about a room of people just yelling and heckling,” King said at an elementary school in Troy, Rensselaer County.

King received a large barrage of criticism at Spackenkill High School on Thursday, where parents and teachers angrily expressed their outrage with New York State’s recent implementation of the Common Core, a set of more-difficult standards and standardized tests. The measure was installed in the previous school year. The four remaining forums, which had been originally scheduled to occur in Buffalo, Utica, Albany and on Long Island, were cancelled the following day.

After King gave a lengthy presentation, there was a brief public-comment period where several speakers questioned why King chooses to send his children to a proviate Montessoi school. That led King to stand and again address the audience, which — based on a Youtube video of the event — appeared to incite further outrage from the crowd.” We oversee all the schools in the state, including the non-public schools,” King said in Troy. “My own view is that parents should have the choice of which schools they send their children to and that the children of public officials should not be an object of political debate.”

He continued: “That said, the tone was raucous throughout the meeting. There was yelling throughout the meeting. Actually, one parent tried to ask people to quiet down so that he could hear the conversation, and instead people screamed at him, yelled at him.”

A coalition group opposed to “excessive standardized testing” called on King to resign Monday. The coalition, New York State Allies for Public Education, was formed in August and includes a number of local groups from across the state.

“When a public official such as Commissioner King refuses to participate in the democratic process and refuses to hear the concerns of parents while simultaneously carrying out educational policies that affect thousands of children, he is no longer fit to carry out the duties of the NYS Commissioner of Education,” the group wrote in a statement.

via Matthew Altier http://matthewaltier.com/2013/10/16/new-york-education-chief-defends-cancellation-of-common-core-exams/

Catholic Church Joins Missouri Education Battle

The Catholic Church has most recently decided to get involved in a recent Missouri ballot initiative that would create tax breaks for donating to nonprofit groups that offer scholarships or financial aid for parochial and private schools, reports The Washington Post,

The Archdiocese of St. Louis contributed $300,000 to an entity backing the initiative, while the Missouri Catholic Conference chipped in another $11,000, according to campaign finance filings reviewed by the Kansas City Star. Additionally, the church will also recruit volunteers to collect signatures to get the measure on the November 2014 ballot.

The initiative would amend Missouri’s constitution to allow $90 million in state tax credits to be claimed by organizations and individuals who donate to educational organizations. Half of the tax credits would be reserved for donations to public school districts, while 40 percent — about $36 million — would be reserved for donations to private and parochial schools.

That’s where the church comes in: The Archdiocese runs 148 schools in and around St. Louis, educating about 49,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

“We believe this would very much help to stabilize enrollment — and hopefully to grow enrollment — within the Catholic and private schools,” George Kerry, an adviser to Archbishop Robert Carlson, told the Star.

Supporters of the proposed tax breaks must collect 146,907 valid signatures, or 8 percent of the total votes cast in the last gubernatorial election from at least two-thirds of Missouri’s nine Congressional districts, by May 4, 2014. School choice bills have failed several times in the state legislature in recent years.

via Matthew Altier – Innovation Consulting, LLC http://matthewaltier.net/2013/10/15/34/

Corruption in Education Burdens Poor

A lot of us take education for granted here in America.  We don’t think twice about what we learn, how we learn, or from whom we learn it.  A recent report according to Transparency International reported that almost one in five people worldwide paid bribes to education services last year.  And even worse, the number rises to one in three in the world’s poorest countries.

The rate from the poorest countries is daunting.  The parents of these children are most likely uneducated or came from a poorly educated childhood.  They just want to make sure their child has a bright future, and in doing so, they are taken advantage of by educators who know they’re desperate.  

It’s not solely the teachers or administrators faults for all this extortion that goes on.  A lot of the school systems are not properly funded and can’t afford to pay their teachers and administrators enough money so infact these educators are underpaid and look for alternative ways to make money.

With all the embezzling that happens within the education system, it doesn’t seem to have an end in sight.  In many of these poor countries, the education sector largely makes up the government in these countries.  If the problem consists all the way at the top, who else is there to stop it?

Parents need to keep and stay involved with their child’s education.  They should not have to deal with this type of bribery in order to make sure their child gets a proper education.  Maybe another country has to intervene to help balance out these education systems who are embezzling money.  The money needs to be allocated correctly in order for children to be educated, teachers to be paid, and parents not have to put forth any more money than they need to.  

via Matthew Altier – Improving Higher Education http://mattaltier.org/2013/10/03/corruption-in-education-burdens-poor/

Education Groups Push Plan to Help on Common Core Exams

New York’s youth is experiencing poor scores in the classroom.  Some believe the testing of these kids should be altered.  Seven education groups said Monday that New York should revisit the implementation of its controversial Common Core testing.  They believe students are struggling as a result of the new tougher standardized tests.

Test scores for students in third through eighth grade sank in the first year of the new standardized testing.  A cause for concern is that this covers six different grade levels all suffering from the same testing.  When implementing this new test, they must have thought students would only benefit from these tests, but the fact that grades are declining already in the first year causes a lot of concern for parents and educators.  Just 31% of New York students in elementary or middle school were proficient in math and reading, down from 65% in math and 55% in english on exams given in 2012.  

The Board of Regents agreed to loosen the requirement that districts provide remedial help to all students who struggled on the exam in September, but with all the students that struggled, it now seems as though the task at hand is too large to help all these students.  If the Board intends on following through on helping all who struggled, it will need to get more teachers and paraprofessionals involved to help the large number of students.  Funding needs to be raised to help accommodate all the necessary students.  

New York has increased funding for schools by four percent each of the last two years.  It seems as though if they want to help these students they will have to infact increase funding yet again, and maybe by more than four percent.  These children are important to our future so we must spend the right amount of money on them to make this right and increase test scores.

 

via Matthew Altier – Higher Education Consultant http://mattaltier.com/2013/10/03/education-groups-push-plan-to-help-on-common-core-exams/

Student Loan Default Rates on the Rise

Many students upon graduating from college have loans to pay back, but not all of them can sometimes.  Default rates are on the rise again.  Rates rose for the sixth consecutive year.  One in ten borrowers, or about 475,000 people who entered repayment in September 2011 had defaulted by the following September, an increase from the 9.1% the previous year.  

With the current state of the economy, these students really are not to blame.  We currently live in a time where jobs are not abundant and when they come across a job, does it pay enough that they can afford a to live and pay their loans back.  

The Education Department uses the default rate to potentially cut funding to institutions that have high large proportions of borrowers defaulting on their loans.  If a college has a default rate higher than 25% for three consecutive years or if it exceeds 40% in a single year, it is barred from receiving federal student aid money.

Not only are the students in trouble, but the institutions as well.  With this data being released, eight institutions now face sanctions for having default rates that are too high.  These institutions need to work with these students to help each other pay back these loans and help keep institutions default rates down.  

Despite their relative inexpensive tuition costs, community colleges at 15% have the highest 2-year default rate of any institution.  This is quite alarming the fact that community colleges have the worst time collecting money back from its students.  Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators raises a good point.  He points out, “I think the data continues to tell us that we have a repayment crisis, not a student debt crisis.”  Maybe they need to reconfigure interest rates or the period of time allowed to pay back these loans.  

 

via Matthew Altier – Innovation Consulting, LLC http://matthewaltier.net/2013/10/03/student-loan-default-rates-on-the-rise/

Students Considering College a Nudge to Aim High

53 percent of Harvard freshmen come from families that make more than $125,000 a year, and 29 of those 53 come from families that make more than $250,000 a year. Meanwhile, most students from poor families who have high grades and high standardized test scores don’t even apply to Harvard, let alone attend it. In addition to the elite competition in admissions, these students worry about high application fees and low financial aid packages. Many of these poor students choose to attend a cheap, nearby college instead.

In response to this trend, the College Board, the group responsible for administering the SAT, has started a nationwide outreach program to encourage low-income students to apply to select colleges. The program will offer fee waivers to 28,000 seniors in the top 15 percent in SAT score, and the bottom 25 percent in income. This is the largest program in response to a recent study which showed that fee waiver availability greatly influenced low-income student decision to apply.

If the effort succeeds, it may create tension in some colleges. College deans and presidents say they want to recruit more low-income students. But not doing so has allowed them to keep financial aid costs low. Because of application fee waivers, they will have to interview more well-qualified poor students, and reject them without looking like bigots.

The College Board also started a campaign of encouraging low-income minority students to take Advance Placement (AP) exams. 3 in 10 African Americans with the academic background to take a math A.P. class do so, compared to 6 in 10 Asian-Americans. The board administers the AP exams, but it claims that the campaign will not profit them, because poor students usually don’t pay to take AP exams anyway. They’re doing this from the goodness of their heart; no profit motive. I wonder how long that’ll last.

Talented poor students are an un-tapped source of economic growth. As a nation, we’d be better off if they could reach their potential; but many colleges that offer great opportunities don’t want that. Laissez-faire capitalism isn’t perfect; what’s good for the overall economy is not always what’s good for an individual business.

 

via Matthew Altier – Professional Experience http://matthewaltier.org/2013/09/27/students-considering-college-a-nudge-to-aim-high/