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College Admissions Consultant
About Janet Rosier

Tuition Fees Based on Your Major?

Tuesday, November 27, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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What is going on in Florida? As a former resident of the Sunshine State and a proud graduate of the University of Florida, I was dismayed to read what the state is proposing regarding higher education.  According to this article, “Pricing Out The Humanities” in Inside Higher Ed, the governor of Florida has appointed a Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform and their recommendations are quite surprising, such as charging more tuition for certain majors.

“Quoting the task force’s language on differential tuition, petition co-creator Norman Goda said, “The theory is that students in ‘non-strategic majors,’ by paying higher tuition, will help subsidize students in the ‘strategic’ majors, thus creating a greater demand for the targeted programs and more graduates from these programs, as well.””

History professors at the University of Florida have responded by starting a petition against this recommendation.

According to this article, “the model endorsed by the task force would aim to hold in-state tuition rates for “high-skill, high-wage, high-demand (market determined strategic demand) degree programs” steady for at least three years, making them potentially more attractive to students than other majors. Although the task force report doesn’t officially recommend strategic majors, it names several possible categories previously identified by the Florida university system’s Board of Governors, including 111 in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); 28 programs in globalization; and 21 in the health professions. (Such degree programs currently account for 37 percent of degrees granted within the system, with a 21 percent increase during the past four years). Core humanities disciplines did not make the list.”

While I agree that we should encourage students to major in STEM programs, and we certainly need more engineers, not every student is cut out for these majors. I, for one, was not. You could make tuition free and I still could not be an engineering major; my brain just doesn’t work that way. And, as someone married to an electrical engineer and mother of a mechanical engineer, I see the difference.  Studying the humanities prepares students in a different way and I am against making them second class studies or penalizing those who want to major in this area. And, as I have pointed out in previous blogs, many people who major in one of the subjects that come under the heading humanities go on to earn graduate degrees so comparing job placement after a bachelor’s degree is not a fair comparison.

The article states that Governor Rick Scott said he wants to run Florida’s education system more like a business. I couldn’t disagree more.

Categories: General

First Time Back Home for College Freshmen:

Tuesday, November 20, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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Happy Thanksgiving to All. I wrote this blog in 2010 and it is still relevant.

This week, college freshmen will arrive home for a four day– or even longer –Thanksgiving break. For many, this will be the first time they have been home for an extended visit since they left the nest in late August or early September.

Here are some tips for getting through the “first time back home” adjustment.

My first surprise when my oldest came home for Thanksgiving, was finding how much time he wanted to spend with his friends. As his mother, my perception was that he just left friends and this was family time. However, he left his college friends and his high school friends were now all home at the same time and they all wanted to get together.  OK, I got over that one pretty fast. It was also an easier adjustment with him since his college gave students an entire week off. Even though he spent plenty of time with friends, he still graced us with his company. A little. It may be helpful to establish some time, like Thanksgiving Day, that is set aside just for family.

Many parents find that when college freshmen come home after living on their own for several months, they think they are all grown up and no longer need to follow rules. I am sure that if you poll ten people on the right way to handle this, you will get at least eleven opinions.  This is a family decision that each of you will have to make. As for me, house rules still apply when you come home. Of course, as each child got older and matured, the rules became more flexible or were renegotiated. I gave in on some things but not all, and other things are never negotiable, no matter how old you are.

This is a good time for your college freshmen to de-stress, sleeping in their own beds and eating real food again.  So, give them a little space. Try and ask about classes in a way that won’t put them on edge. Don’t ask about grades. Instead, ask her who she thinks has been her most interesting professor. Ask about the roommate in a casual fashion. This way, if your student is having roommate issues maybe she will open up to you and you can guide her on how to negotiate problems or discuss who at her college she can go to for help.

Your freshman may come home looking a little different. This is a time when some kids decide to experiment with fashion, with their hair (blue Mohawk?) or with piercings (oh, that’s what an “industrial” is). Brace yourself and try and remember that most of this is temporary and harmless.

Lastly, enjoy your Thanksgiving, be thankful your kids are in college and get ready for the long winter holiday when they will be home for three to six weeks.

Categories: General

Expect the Unexpected

Tuesday, November 13, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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This fall has certainly given the northeast a run for our money. We had a hurricane that was nicknamed Frankenstorm, as much for its proximity to Halloween as its size and potential for destruction. Unfortunately, the Frankenstorm lived up to it hype. Barely getting over the disruption of Hurricane Sandy we were hit with a Nor’easter that brought snow and to some places, more power outages. Schools just getting back after Sandy had snow days.

What does this have to do with college admissions? Because of the timing of these storms, plenty.  As regular readers of my blog may note, I put up a hastily written blog on Oct. 26 urging students who had November 1 deadlines to try and submit their applications before an anticipated loss of power and internet service. Although many colleges did extend their deadlines, it is not a guarantee that this will always happen.

To add to this, some students who had planned to take the November 3 SAT found that their test dates have been delayed due to issues with testing sites. The NY Times has a list of colleges that are making allowances for students who will be delayed in taking subject tests that normally would have been acceptable for early deadlines.

The lesson here is to expect the unexpected.  My advice to my students is to get everything ready to go well ahead of time.  This is important not only for big weather events but in general too. We live in an online application world where getting your application packet to the post office to be postmarked by the deadline is a thing of the past. Waiting until the absolute deadline is taking a chance that everything aligns just so. The computer is working, the electricity is flowing and the internet gods have been kind. This generally is the case, but barring big national or regional disasters, there are no exceptions to late applications at many colleges.

Categories: General

Some Early Deadlines Extended

Thursday, November 1, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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At Janet Rosier’s Educational Resources, Inc. we are without power or internet but happy to have survived Hurricane Sandy without damage.

On Friday I strongly suggested to seniors with November 1 deadlines to try and get their applications out before the storm and possible loss of electrical power and internet service.  Last year after the freak winter storm that hit our area, some colleges extended their November 1 deadlines.

This year, many colleges have, once again, extended their deadlines. Use this link from the NY Times “The Choice” blog for the latest updates.

Good luck!

Categories: General

Early Applications and Hurricane Sandy

Friday, October 26, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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As Yogi Berra famously said, “It’s déjà vu all over again”.

November 1 is a big day for college application deadlines.  Many colleges that offer binding Early Decision and some that offer Early Action have a Nov. 1 deadline for the completed application to be submitted. We used to say that it had to be postmarked by the deadline. Now it has to be submitted electronically by that date.

Last year on the weekend before this important date we were hit with a freak snow storm and many here in CT and other parts of the country lost electrical power and internet connection for days.

Here we are again with November 1 looming and Hurricane Sandy bearing down.  My suggestion for the seniors out there with Early Decision and Early Action deadlines—get your applications ready and submitted as soon as you are able. Don’t wait. Although colleges may extend the deadlines if there are widespread outages, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Categories: General

Buyer Beware

Tuesday, October 9, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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The rising cost of college and the huge debt that students and their families incur is often in the news.  Sometimes when I see the amount a student has borrowed I wonder why anyone would approve these loans to the family. In my blog post of May 17, I said this about a story I read in the NY Times: “Whatever you may think about borrowing money to pay for college and if that is a good investment in one’s future, you have to wonder how a lender could allow a student and her family to borrow $120,000 for college.”

I just read an interesting article, “The Parent Loan Trap” in The Chronicle of Higher Education that gives some insight into how this happens. This article describes how a young woman went to a private university, NYU, and “even after adding up scholarships, grants, and the max she could take out in federal student loans, the private university—among nation’s costliest—still seemed out of reach.” To help her daughter achieve this goal, the mother also took out federal Parent Plus Loan for $17,000.  The article said that the mother’s yearly income was about $25,000 a year. The daughter only spent two years at NYU—the financial burden was too much and she completed her degree at Hunter College, a public college in New York. The $17,000 the mother borrowed now has a balance of $33,000 with fees and interest.

“How can someone who makes $25,000 a year qualify for a loan of $17,000?” you may well ask. The article gives us the answer. “The loans are both remarkably easy to get and nearly impossible to get out from under for families who’ve overreached. When a parent applies for a PLUS loan, the government checks credit history, but it doesn’t assess whether the borrower has the ability to repay the loan. It doesn’t check income. It doesn’t check employment status. It doesn’t check how much other debt—like a mortgage or other student loans—the borrower is already on the hook for.”

“PLUS loans, like all student loans, are all-but-impossible to discharge in bankruptcy. If a borrower is in default, the government can seize tax refunds and garnish wages or Social Security.”

Caveat emptor—Buyer Beware.  Before you take out huge loans for your child’s education, even if the child promises to pay back the loan herself as this young lady did, make sure you fully understand what the repayment terms are and how much this will cost you each month.

Categories: General

Finding Your Passion…or Not

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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A colleague posted the link to this article in the NY Times—about students following their passion—and I almost didn’t read it.  Some words associated with college admissions, and students in general, are overused. In my opinion, two of them are “passion” and “voice”. However, when I did click on the link and read the article, I was pleasantly surprised. This was not the usual article about “following one’s passion” but a realistic look at passion and what you choose to do for a living.

The author, admittedly, is a very unusual person in that he had his pick of three very impressive career choices in his senior year of college.

“I had a job offer from Microsoft and an acceptance letter from the computer science doctoral program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I had also just handed in the manuscript for my first nonfiction book, which opened the option of becoming a full-time writer. These are three strikingly different career paths, and I had to choose which one was right for me.”

As an Independent Educational Consultant who helps students through the college admissions process, I hear the “passion” talk more often than most. On one college consortia trip I was on about a year ago, I listened as a professor went on and on about a student’s need to find his passion. It struck me as too much. Too much pressure on high school students and even college freshman to know what their passion is. But more than that, it made me feel like it was too high an expectation—that everyone have a passion and that this passion needs to manifest itself as your career. Otherwise, as Mr. Newport describes the advice given, “we’ll end up bored and unfulfilled”. I remember coming home from that trip and having this discussion with my husband. “Sometimes”, I said, “you just have to have a good job. Then you can have the means to follow other passions in your free time.” If a student has a passion for something, that is wonderful. But not every person has a passion and not every passion can become a career.

After describing his early career experiences, not all of them positive, he says, “Today, I’m a computer science professor at Georgetown University, and I love my job. The most important lesson I can draw from my experience is that this love has nothing to do with figuring out at an early age that I was meant to be a professor. There’s nothing special about my choosing this particular path. What mattered is what I did once I made my choice.

Excellent and refreshing advice.

Categories: General

Is College Worth It?

Monday, September 24, 2012 by:Janet Rosier
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This is a topic that simply will not die. I talked about the flurry of articles asking this question in my blog posts of June 14 and June 28 in 2011. It doesn’t surprise me that there are still articles about this, given both the current US economy and college costs.

Newsweek has a comprehensive article whose title says it all, “Is College a Lousy Investment?” The writer, Megan McArdle, gives us her answer pretty early on.

“Maybe it’s time to ask a question that seems almost sacrilegious: is all this investment in college education really worth it? The answer, I fear, is that it’s not. For an increasing number of kids, the extra time and money spent pursuing a college diploma will leave them worse off than they were before they set foot on campus.”

In this article, Ms. McArdle worries that education and the debt many students carry is going to go the way of the housing bubble.  The article makes a good case that college is very expensive and that today it is very difficult, if not impossible, to “work your way through” as past generations were able to do. The case is also made that what a student chooses to major in has an impact on future employment. However, all of the articles that make this point use an engineering degree versus a degree in English or history– a false choice in my opinion. I don’t think students who choose engineering are really frustrated English majors who opted for the money. They are the math and science kids who like problem solving.

I think the most important point this article makes is that the student needs to be ready and motivated: “James Heckman, the Nobel Prize–winning economist, has examined how the returns on education break down for individuals with different backgrounds and levels of ability. “Even with these high prices, you’re still finding a high return for individuals who are bright and motivated,” he says. On the other hand, “if you’re not college ready, then the answer is no, it’s not worth it.”

I still believe that the question “Is college worth it?” is incorrect–it implies that the only reason to pursue a college degree is to get a job. It isn’t. Going to college is to advance your education and hone your critical thinking and writing skills and with that education, the graduate should be better positioned to get a good job. But the education is the goal, not the job.

Categories: General
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