FECSBA News Watch | FAMILIES OF EARLY COLLEGE STUDENTS - BAY AREA

Imagine magazine, published by the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth (CTY) program, offers a CD containing a collection of 45 university reviews from its archives. Each review combines contributions from multiple gifted students who have been part of CTY and who attended or now attend those colleges.

The CD includes reviews of these selective colleges and universities: Bowdoin; Brown; Caltech; Carleton; Carnegie Mellon; Case Western Reserve; Claremont McKenna; Columbia; Cornell; Dartmouth; Duke; Emory; Georgetown; Georgia Tech; Harvard; Harvey Mudd; Haverford; Johns Hopkins; Lehigh; MIT; Middlebury; NYU; Northwestern; Oberlin; Pomona; Princeton; Rice; Rose-Hulman; St. John's; Stanford; Tufts; UC-Berkeley; UCLA; UC San Diego; U. of Chicago; U. of Michigan; U. of Pennsylvania; USC; U. of Texas; U. of Virginia; U. of Wisconsin; Washington University; William & Mary; Williams; Yale.

To read a sample review or order the CD ($20) see the Imagine Web site.

Labels: national

The New York Times blog "The Choice" has expert answers to questions about community colleges, including especially young students attending them before transferring to four-year universities, in "Answers About Community Colleges."

Labels: California community colleges, national

The Early College High School Initiative is a program famously championed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. From its Web site:

"Early college high school is a bold approach, based on the principle that academic rigor, combined with the opportunity to save time and money, is a powerful motivator for students to work hard and meet serious intellectual challenges. Early college high schools blend high school and college in a rigorous yet supportive program, compressing the time it takes to complete a high school diploma and the first two years of college.

Since 2002, the partner organizations of the Early College High School Initiative have started or redesigned more than 200 schools in 24 states and the District of Columbia. The schools are designed so that low-income youth, first-generation college goers, English language learners, students of color, and other young people underrepresented in higher education can simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an Associate’s degree or up to two years of credit toward a Bachelor’s degree—tuition free."

PROGRAM WEB SITE

Labels: early college high school initiative, national

The New York Times' education section, "The Learning Network," presents an interesting assignment for students in "The Cost of College: Graphing Tuition Prices and Other Expenses."

The piece ask students to look at these questions: "How do the costs of two-year, four-year, public and private colleges vary and compare? What factors have fueled the community college enrollment boom? In this lesson, students analyze the rise in tuition costs and consider the implication of the economy on the costs of college. They compare and investigate college education costs and create graphs to represent the data, and then research and graph their own anticipated college costs."

FULL ARTICLE

Labels: national

A homeschool teacher writes on Homeschool-Articles.com that her 19-year-old son has recently graduated with his B.S. in computer science. She then goes on to recommend early college for other homeschooled teens, saying "I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen the point in wasting time. I was always the kid who read ahead in class, finished homework before leaving school for the day, and saw no point in filling out sixteen workbook pages on a concept I already knew. When it came to educating my four boys, I’ve taken a similar approach. Once the basics of a subject are mastered, they can move ahead as quickly as they like, earning college credit while still in high school. Why not?"

She then goes on to list some of the ways homeschoolers can get started accumulating college credits early.

FULL ARTICLE

Labels: national

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that 58 private colleges and universities have now passed the $50,000 per year mark for room, board, and tuition in 2009-10. Last year only five institutions charged this much.

FULL TABLE

Labels: national

In an article posted on the Web site of Bard College at Simon's Rock, which offers especially young students the chance to attend college, Patricia Sharpe writes about the "Early College High School Initiative" championed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The article, "Early College: What and Why?" is excerpted from the book, Time for Change: New Visions for High School, edited by Robert W. Smith.

FULL ARTICLE

Labels: national, very young students

"The Choice," the higher education blog of The New York Times, has reported on a debate about the merits of leaving high school early to go to college, citing a discussion on College Confidential. The Choice invited opinions from its readers. There are 54 comments so far, with interesting perspectives on the issue.

FULL COLUMN

Labels: national

From the Pew Research Center:

"The share of 18- to 24-year-olds attending college in the United States hit an all-time high in October 2008, driven by a recession-era surge in enrollments at community colleges, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Just under 11.5 million students, or 39.6% of all young adults ages 18 to 24, were enrolled in either a two- or four-year college in October 2008 (the most recent date for which comprehensive nationwide data are available). Both figures -- the absolute number as well as the share -- are at their highest level ever."

FULL STORY

Labels: California community colleges, national

Victoria Campbell, 13, homeschooled and completed high school requirements at age 10. Now, at 13, she's enrolled full-time at the University of Connecticut.

Excerpt from The Stamford Advocate's story:

In a given year, UConn receives about 15 to 20 applications from students deemed "very young," or under 16, according to Lee Melvin, interim vice president for enrollment planning, management and institutional research.

"We would have to consider all people that apply, regardless of age. They can be 8, they can be 98," he said.

If admitted, very young students don't receive special assistance or guidance, "because we don't want to single that student out because of their age," he said.

FULL STORY

Labels: national, very young students