The Week in Review: The Top Five Admissions Stories

April 28, 2012  —  

Greetings from the floor of NAGAP in fabulous Austin, Texas. We have been following the student loan debate all week long, so much so that we dedicated two-fifths of our weekly Admissions round-up to it. If you have yet to see President Obama’s performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, make sure you do not miss our first post below.

President Obama Slow-Jams the News on Student Loans

Who knew that President Obama was such a smooth talker? While they were both in North Carolina this past week, The President “slow-jammed the news” on Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night. He drew attention to the growing discussion surrounding the interest rate on student loans, which is set to double this coming July. His suave performance was only enhanced by Jimmy Fallon’s crooning. The President really connected with viewers by sharing his own personal story of paying off his college loans while raising his family.

Correcting Claremont McKenna’s 2010 Admissions Statistics

US News will not be changing Claremont McKenna’s current Number 9 Ranking on their Best College List. Despite the school falsifying standardized testing scores since 2004, they have maintained their place within the top 10. They just released the correct information through a legal document, and there will be no change from U.S. News. The News source will continue to handle misreporting on a case-by-case basis.

Bringing Open Education to the Mainstream

MIT and Rice University are among the first schools to bring open education to the general public through their high quality and free online courses. While these schools are innovative, the push for widespread implementation has slowed down as of late. Faculty and textbooks are playing a role in the hold up. Schools want these courses to be as rigorous and authentic as if the student was in the classroom, so finding the time and resources to make this vision a reality is not as easy as one may think. The good news is, help is on the way.

Obama Student Loans Push: President Making Appeal To Young Voters In Iowa

Now that Mitt Romney is the presumed Republican Presidential candidate, President Obama has decided to step off the sidelines ( where he was focusing on his daily business) and began to campaign. First stops? Ohio and Virginia! The President will be attending rallies next weekat two Universities to discuss the rise in student loans. He plans to keep the attention of young voters by discussing topics that are of great importance to them.

7 Reasons You Might Want To Skip College

Do infographics really say it all? Buzzfeed.com released a very image heavy list of the reasons why high school graduates might want to skip college? Most reasons have to do with the increase in student loan rates, which we can understand. But, the 6th reason has to do with moving South— and after a week in Texas, for the NAGAP conference, we don’t think that is all too bad!