Paying for college is never an easy task, but it can be made even more difficult when a student has lost a parent. Fortunately, there are organizations that recognize the special needs of students like these — organizations like the nonprofit LIFE Foundation.
This year, the LIFE Foundation will award 45 scholarships through its LIFE Lessons Scholarship Program. To win one of the scholarships a student must first submit a video or essay in which they explain the impact that losing a parent/guardian has had on them and their efforts to fund their college education.
While this year’s finalists for the Grand Price Video Entry category have already been chosen, it’s up to people like you to decide who wins. Head over to www.lifehappens.org/vote to view each of the finalists’ videos and select one to win the $5,000 scholarship. But don’t worry, the two runner-ups will each receive a $1,000 scholarship as well.
Starting college is always a daunting prospect, but what if you knew that instead of spending four years working on a degree, you could finish all of your schooling in just three years — saving time and money in the process? It’s an option that some students have pursued on their own, but now some colleges seem to be wising up to it and offering help.
Case in point: three Arizona state universities are considering introducing three-year college programs as an alternative to the more traditional four-year bachelor’s degree program. Though three-year college degrees are par for the course in Europe, in the states it’s a bit of anomaly. The students who manage to complete their college education a year early do so either by tacking on extra classes during their spring and autumn semesters or taking classes in the summer.
Unfortunately this isn’t an option for every student, as it can create a scheduling fiasco, eat into time that’s needed for internships or part-time jobs, or deprive students of the classes they need to take — as not every course is offered during the summer term. In fact, only 2.3 percent of the nation’s undergrads currently graduate in three years, according to the U.S. Department of Education, showing that it’s not the easiest thing to accomplish without the proper support.
But some schools, like Northern Arizona University are considering changing their “Finish in Four” program into a “Finish in Four or Less” program that offers students the chance to graduate early though a combination of guaranteed course availability and advisement. Will this type of program catch on? Only time will tell. But it would certainly offer a much-needed alternative to middle- and lower-income students who would like to save money on tuition, student housing, and meal programs.
Of course, a three-year program will only benefit students who definitely know where their future lies. There’s not a lot of wiggle-room for feeling out majors and being “Undecided” for a year or more; you’ll have to get in, get the courses you need, and get out.
Chime in: would you like to see a three-year program offered at your college?
As some of you may remember, we reported back in October that Emma Watson, who plays none other than Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, had been touring a few U.S. college campuses. Now we can happily report that Watson has made her choice: Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Watson will join approximately 1,300 other students as Brown’s Class of 2013. We’re sure Professor Dumbledore would be very proud.
Hats (or, shall I say helmets?) off to the high school guidance counselors who recently embarked on a 12-day bike tour that covered 400 miles and spanned more than a dozen campuses. God bless her soul, but my college counselor barely walked from her office to our homeroom.
The initiative originated from a Florida-based counselor, Taylor Smith, who told The New York Times he wanted to fuse his love of cycling with the college tours he makes every summer, ones he says help him better advise his students. The unique adventure has since become an annual event, with counselors from across the country meeting up to pedal onto campuses in the name of research.
Among their most memorable experiences? According to NYTimes.com article, Kirk Blackard, a counselor at Christ School in Arden, N.C., said it was not “facts you can learn from the Web site,” but the personal stories he heard while settling in from long days of biking to eat in college cafeterias and rest up in dorms.
I’m thoroughly impressed — not only with the drive of these counselors, but how that drive illuminates an unparalleled commitment to their students. The way I see it, if they’re willing to don spandex bike shorts, pack up a change of clothes in a mini bike trailer, and sleep in a dorm after shackling their bike to the campus bike stand, I bet they’ll go to bat for their students when the time of need arrives.
Think about your average college cafeteria and the tons of waste it produces each year — whether in terms of leftover food, waste products, or cooking oil. While some students may accept it as the status quo, a small group of students from the University of Rochester in New York decided to at least put all that excess cooking oil to good use with a green initiative dubbed UR Biodiesel.
David Borrelli, Dan Fink, and Eric Weissmann are the students behind the UR Biodiesel project, which is now responsible for the school’s only biodiesel bus. Running on 80 percent diesel fuel, the bus relies upon the students’ very own UR Biodiesel lab to convert the remaining 20 percent of biodiesel fuel from vegetable oil. As to why there aren’t more biodiesel buses, the answer may surprise you: the cafeteria simply doesn’t produce enough leftover oil to run more than one at the moment.
To add to the green nature of this program, the students report that many of the tools and materials used to create the biodiesel converter were repurposed from various items across the campus.
Said Weismann, “This initiative is good in terms of the green movement. Even the bus will serve as a billboard for the university’s commitment to sustainability.”
For more on UR Biodiesel, you can check out the project’s home on the Web, www.urbiodiesel.com, or Inside Higher Ed’s article about this initiative and others like it.
If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s when schools overlook a student’s basic — even constitutional — rights with the excuse that their school rules dictate otherwise.
The latest school to do so is John Liechty Middle School, located in Los Angeles, California. After the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board decided to go forth with teacher layoffs and other cutbacks, a group of Liechty students engaged in a silent protest, turning their backs on Monica Garcia, president of the LAUSD, while she was speaking at their graduation.
But rather than commend or support these young students, the principal of Leighty Middle School, Jeanette Stevens, has decided to withhold their diplomas. Considering that the students have completed all of their graduation requirements, there’s no reason to deny them what they’ve worked so hard to achieve — especially for exercising their right to protest.
While a school will argue that this kind of protest is disruptive and goes against their school’s code of conduct — arguments I’ve often heard during my student years — this is a clear case of bullying if I’ve ever seen one. To hold a student’s diploma because they don’t agree with a school board policy, and choose to make it known at a public venue through civil disobedience, is not only disheartening, it goes against what students are supposed to learn at school: how to be respectful, intelligent members of society who stand up for what they believe in.
Do you agree with the principal’s decision to withhold these students’ diplomas? Chime in below.
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Paying for college is never an easy task, but it can be made even more difficult when a student has lost a parent. Fortunately, there are organizations that recognize the special needs of students like these — organizations like the nonprofit LIFE Foundation.
Starting college is always a daunting prospect, but what if you knew that instead of spending four years working on a degree, you could finish all of your schooling in just three years — saving time and money in the process? It’s an option that some students have pursued on their own, but now some colleges seem to be wising up to it and offering help.
As some of you may remember, 
Hats (or, shall I say helmets?) off to the high school guidance counselors who recently embarked on a 12-day bike tour that covered 400 miles and spanned more than a dozen campuses. God bless her soul, but my college counselor barely walked from her office to our homeroom. 
Think about your average college cafeteria and the tons of waste it produces each year — whether in terms of leftover food, waste products, or cooking oil. While some students may accept it as the status quo, a small group of students from the University of Rochester in New York decided to at least put all that excess cooking oil to good use with a green initiative dubbed UR Biodiesel.
If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s when schools overlook a student’s basic — even constitutional — rights with the excuse that their school rules dictate otherwise.