World-Shaker

College Textbook Prices Increasing Faster Than Tuition And Inflation

College textbook prices are 812 percent higher than they were a little more than three decades ago, the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank, reports. Textbook costs have well outpaced the 559 percent increase in tuition and fees over roughly the same period.

"The CBPP, a left-leaning economic think tank that focuses on state and federal budgets, found that states are spending, on average, 28 percent less per student in fiscal year 2013 than they were in 2008. Consequently, tuition at four-year public colleges has grown 27 percent since the 2007-08 year, though the report notes some states have increased tuition by considerably more. In the cases of Arizona and California, tuition at public universities has gone up by more than 70 percent over the same period. The decline in state appropriations has forced public colleges to rely more student tuition to pay for the cost of education, the report concluded."

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Higher Education Cuts Risk Damaging State Economies For Years To Come

This seems like a good opportunity to practice my surprised face.

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Truthbombs?

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This is what it’s like working at a college when your girlfriend is a middle school teacher.

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Skill Level: College

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This is how to cancel class.

"Many students from working-class families are influenced by limited financial resources and lack an economic safety net, and thus must rely on family and friends for support. Thus, these students’ expectations for college center around interdependent motives such as working together, connecting to others, and giving back,” said Stephens. “Given the largely independent college culture and the ways in which students’ social class backgrounds shape their motives for attending college, we questioned whether universities provide students from these different backgrounds with an equal chance of success."

— An unseen disadvantage: The focus on independence at American universities can undermine the academic performance of first-generation college students

I’d watch it.

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Real Tuition and Fees at a Public, Four-Year College and Average Earnings for Full-Time Workers aged 25-34 with Bachelor’s Degree Only [2000-2010]

"One of the challenges Scott and Florida’s education officials will surely have to grapple with is a criticism that Perry’s initial challenge—and the resulting efforts in Texas—surfaced: At what point do these kinds of bare bones—because that’s surely what it will be—college degrees turn the higher education experience into nothing more than a glorified diploma mill? Besides, the real issue is that state higher education systems aren’t fully funded. If they were, there’d be no need to pass operating costs on to students in the form of staggering tuition increases. Wouldn’t you like to see Rick Perry and Rick Scott tackle that?"

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The $10,000 College Degree? It Might Be Coming to Florida | Education on GOOD (via infoneer-pulse)

Besides, the real issue is that state higher education systems aren’t fully funded.

Boom. Done.

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College Students of 2012 [INFOGRAPHIC]

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How Laurier Students’ Union is using Pinterest better than you are

There are also links to 5 different Pinterest boards: The Campus, The Academics, The Eats, The City and The Social. Each one is a separate category of cool things around the campus or the city in general that upper year students have discovered during their time at Laurier, and things that they think a first year student that has never been to Waterloo or Brantford might find helpful.

For example, The Campus brings up all of the stuff around campus that you might find helpful. The Health Services post links you right to their website and from there you can look at booking an appointment or the different services they offer. Also on the board are ways to get involved on campus. This gets the first years interacting and learning all about Laurier before they even come to campus.

I love everything about this.

"How do we change this mindset going from high school into college?” Clement asked. “The number one way is to put your policy in writing in the syllabus. If the paper is due Monday, and the student is not in class that day, will the paper be accepted after Monday? Will it be accepted after Monday at all? If the answer is yes, until when and with what penalty?"

— This Isn’t High School: Advice for Faculty Teaching First-Year Students

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Why I use headphones when crossing campus

What advice would you give to incoming college freshmen?