myUsearch blog

Greetings readers! It has been a scary amount of time since I last wrote. The shocking thing is our individual perception of time in relation to certain events or activities. For example, it seems very long ago that I wrote my last article. Yet, the oil spill seems so fresh and recent. As a Gulf Coast resident, I have been deeply affected and have felt a strong desire to help. I know that there have been lots of people from all over who have rushed– or wanted to rush toward– the Gulf coast in order to volunteer in some form. But what can you really do to help?

Photo by Mindful Walker

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‘Tis the season to start searching for “perfect” gift for the grad in your life.  That’s no small task.  Trying to balance the personal with the practical can be quite a challenge.   The key is to avoid procrastination.  Great presents rarely happen overnight.

 Photo by Judsond 

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Today is blog action day. Bloggers around the world will unite to speak out against one common cause: Climate Change

Whether or not you ‘believe’ in climate change is not as important as whether you can recognize the universal, moral imperative of consuming less. If you practice steps toward consuming less, you will improve your own health and lifestyle, and as a bonus, you’ll save the planet.

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myUsearch has just announced the winner of its scholarship for international and undocumented students: Student X. Student X, who must stay anonymous to protect herself and her family, was brought to the US by her parents when she was only five months old. After several attempts to become legal US citizens, her family decided that if they wanted to provide a better life for their children, they would have no choice but to stay in the country illegally. So, like the thousands of other undocumented students in this country, Student X grew up as a normal US student and came to know the United States as her home……until she graduated from high school and realized she was not eligible for in-state tuition or financial aid.

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Today we have a guest post from Kelsey Murray:

Kelsey Murray is a junior at the University of Oklahoma studying advertising. She also writes about news, trends and advice for college students at EduInReview.com, an educational resource helping students at all stages of the education process find student loans, scholarships, testing advice and more.

As a college student, I rarely pay attention to the news and politics. There’s nothing I can do about the drought in Eastern Africa and politics don’t typically interest me because they don’t apply to me. But now, with President Obama in office, things are starting to get a bit more interesting and applicable to me.

Photo by Jurvetson 

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College seniors have 3 things on their minds: Finding a job, getting some money, and building a future. There’s a catch though. If you don’t find the job, you won’t have the money to build your future. Momma’s Boy, Daddy’s Little Girl. Nicknames that show you rely on your parents in one way or another were not always cool… until now. Moving back home after graduation has been the latest trend for clear economical reasons and you’re not seen as a total dork either!

 College graduation picture by Miss Karen 

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Chelsea Lorimor recently won our scholarship contest, Why the SAT/ACT Doesn’t Measure Me. She is going to be a freshman at Mesa State in Colorado. She hopes to become a teacher and move back to her hometown Palisade, Colorado.

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The DREAM Act

The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (a.k.a. DREAM Act) is a piece of proposed federal legislation that, if passed, would provide certain undocumented immigrant students who graduate from U.S. high schools the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency. In order to be eligible, the students would:

 Dream Act photo by dreamactivist

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A report was recently published by the American Association of Community Colleges on the topic of distance education through community college institutions. The report said that enrollment rates for distance education have increased by 11.3% from fall 2006 to fall 2007 and an increase of 18 % over the previous year.

Photo by Chris Radcliff.

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The question of how federal policy might influence higher education is a pretty daunting and slightly difficult issue to respond to. There is no doubt that with a new President and a new cabinet, we are headed for some big changes in both our K-12 and Higher Education institutions. Like everything else with this administration . . .

 Obama photo by Steve Rhodes

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More and more college campuses are taking steps to become more green. Not only are colleges looking for ways to save energy and reduce costs, but many colleges also recognize that their environmental practices can have a big impact on a student’s college decision. These trends have encouraged many colleges to change their ways, but now a little friendly competition will give campuses another nudge. The America’s Greenest Campus contest has recently announced that they will offer prizes totaling $20,000 to encourage college campuses to become more earth-friendly. The website is keeping track of which colleges got more people involved in the contest and which college reduced the most carbon emissions per participant.

Photo by duygu.

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On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009- also known as the $787 billion economic stimulus package. The program is meant to jump-start the faltering economy and create jobs.

Photo by marcn.

But what does it mean for colleges, universities and the student who attend them?

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As our connections to the world become increasingly far-reaching and globalized, it’s more important than ever to provide education on issues from a broad perspective. Health is definitely one of those issues, and in response, more and more colleges are seeing the need to offer programs in Public Health to undergraduate students.

photo by ydnar

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Starting this fall at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, all graduates will be spending at least two weeks off-campus studying abroad in order to fulfill requirements for graduation.

Photo by Al Ianni.

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The new GI Bill effective in August will cover a veteran’s tuition up to the price of the most expensive public undergraduate institution in the state (based on in-state tuition), even if the student is at a private college.

In one part of the bill, called the Yellow Ribbon program, private colleges that cost more than the most expensive public option (or public schools looking to cover more tuition for out-of-state students) can develop a matching program with the Department of Veterans Affairs. The college would establish how much tuition they’d be willing to cover for how many students, and Veterans Affairs would also match that. Yellow Ribbon is meant to be a nod of respect to veterans, but how many colleges are actually likely to jump on board?

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Back to the Books?

The “R” word. We hear it every day. the recession has probably affected your employment situation in one way or another. How can you land a new job or hold onto the one you have in this economy? Competition is fierce and upper-handed employers pick and choose from top, experienced talent. There’s no time like the present to better your qualifications, so you’re heading back to college, right?  STOP.

Photo by just make it (gone again!) 

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The U.S. Census Bureau recently released its report on Educational Attainment in the United States. Educational attainment is still far from equal among Americans, but the percentage of the population graduating from high school and college appears to be rising steadily. The report is primarily based on two sources, the 2007 American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey. It provides data for educational attainment by demographics such as age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin. While the report shows many positive trends in education, some of the information reveals shocking gaps in educational attainment. Read on for some of the highlights of the report. (more…)

I always dreamed of college as a place where your ideas are questioned every day and where social change just bubbles to the surface. When we hit campus this fall, many of my friends and I organized, rallied, or voted for the first time, and finally in November we witnessed the historic election of Barack Obama. Although so many other topics were at the forefront of the campaign, the new President will have to face a number of issues that affect college and college-bound students. As we look forward on the day after the inauguration, here’s a look at a few of the new administration’s ideas and goals for improving higher education.

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Martin Luther King Day: Monday, January 19, 2009.  It is one of only three federal holidays in which the United States celebrates an individual person. In the past, minority access to higher education has been a controversial, or rather taboo, topic, but not today. I’d like to share the contents of this post to praise the advancements that the US has made in raising minority numbers in colleges and universities around the country and to look back and see how far we’ve come from the days of MLK.

 Photo by Nelson Piedra 

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Imagine that one day, the entire University of California shut down. That would be 262,845 students without a college to attend. That’s a quarter of a million students that no longer have the grasp of higher education within their reach. This number represents the amount of actual students that will be turned down by California community colleges. Last week, Scott Lay, C.E.O of Community College League of California, sent out a release stating that budget cuts may deny these students acceptance to a community college. (more…)