Monthly Archives: June 2015

affordability, AP, chart of the week, junior college/community college, outgo, resources, saving ON college

Chart: The Savings of Dual Enrollment

Chart: The Savings of Dual Enrollment

Dual Enrollment Savings (Ohio)

This time of year emails from one my Google Alerts, set to the keywords “college degree,” flood my inbox with stories from local papers around the country celebrating students who have not only graduated high school, but done so with junior college credits and even in some cases full-blown degrees under their belts. These students have participated in dual enrollment programs, wherein high schools and colleges collaborate to offer college courses to high school students which then earns them credits at both institutions.

While the articles usually celebrate the premature academic achievement and head start on college, the potential tuition savings of the arrangement don’t receive much, if any, mention. However, this can be a critical savings strategy for the students willing to step to it. Usually dually enrolled high schoolers get to earn these college credits at severely discounted or completely waived tuition rates. Kids who enroll in my local JuCo via its dual enrollment program get to take college coursework for free, and this is not uncommon.

This chart, brought to us by Charlie Boss of the Columbus Dispatch, explores the potential savings earned by recent high school graduates in Columbus, Ohio, thanks to dual enrollment’s benefits. Note the number of students per high school and divide that into the potential amount saved at both Ohio public and private colleges. It is not at all uncommon for these students to save tens of thousands of dollars for spending their high school time in a college classroom.

Certainly, in addition to the more popular A.P. credits high school students should look into local dual enrollment programs. In doing so they have the potential to not only get a head start on college and career, but also several credit hours’ worth of tuition for free. For another exploration of dual enrollment’s ins and outs stay tuned for my next Tip of the Week.

affordability, alternative schools, costs vs benefits, dual enrollment, junior college/community college, outgo, resources, saving ON college, tip of the week

How to Kill Two Birds with One Stone

How to Kill Two Birds with One Stone

Two cartoon style blue birds with orange beaks apparently dead and belly-up next to a grey stone with a literal depiction of the saying kill two birds with one stone on an isolated white background

What if I told you about a system wherein students at 73% of the high schools in the country students could fulfill their high school graduation requirements AND earn college credits at the same time? What if I then told you that in most cases these college credits could be had at severe discount, or even for free? You might be surprised, like I was, that the vast majority of students to whom this opportunity is available fail to take advantage of it. Continue reading How to Kill Two Birds with One Stone →

family help, general guidance, income, resources, results economy, saving FOR college, tip of the week, values, work

Moving Beyond Just Giving Fish to Kids

Moving Beyond Just Giving Fish to Kids

Fisherman of Lake in action when fishing, Thailand

∼ Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for the rest of his life ∼

We’ve probably all heard this saying at one point or another. It relates a poignant and pithy philosophy of giving we should all take to heart. Any time someone else needs our resources we can either meet that need from our reserves- just to be back at square one the next day- or we can take a little more time with that person to teach them how to meet that need on their own forevermore. There’s also an unstated but relevant practical corollary to this idea we should note: if men want to catch fish for themselves they not only need the skills to perform the task but also the equipment.

How can we apply these principals regarding men and fish to kids and college funds? Continue reading Moving Beyond Just Giving Fish to Kids →

affordability, chart of the week, graduation rates, outgo

Chart: The Correlation Between Smarts, Income, and Graduation

Chart: The Correlation Between Smarts, Income, and Graduation

grad rates by grades and income

We’ve previously seen the high, and increasingly so, correlation between college graduation success and a student’s family income level. While dropout rates have soared of late overall, the lower income student certainly has suffered this fate disproportionately.

However, correlation does not equal causation. Are kids dropping out because of money or are other factors at work here? Continue reading Chart: The Correlation Between Smarts, Income, and Graduation →

affordability, affordology, career implications, chart of the week, costs vs benefits, graduate earnings, outgo, return, work

Chart: The Job Outlook for Young Graduates

Chart: The Job Outlook for Young Graduates

youth unemployment, underemployment

Here we take a look at data derived from the findings a major breakdown of recent economic data by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in a report titled “The Class of 2015.” While the report breaks down the recent economic results and outlook of today’s young adults in various ways today we’ll look at one key piece of information on every graduate’s mind: the broad employment picture in America for young adults.

As it currently stands, unemployment plagues about 7.2% of today’s college graduates aged 21-24, with an additional 14.9% of the same reporting underemployment. Note that this particular report defines underemployment as wanting to work full-time hours but only finding part time work. If we look to a broader definition of underemployment, that being having a college degree but working in a job that only requires a high school diploma, we discover that a full 46% of young college graduates are thus underemployed in lower level jobs.

If we generously allow for argument’s sake all of the graduates behind the data fit both underemployment definitions (employed part time AND in a lower level job), these reports would still indicate that just more than half of all college graduates aged 21-24 are either unemployed or underemployed.  Continue reading Chart: The Job Outlook for Young Graduates →