1. Not so fast with that transcript takedown…
National Review says introducing discretionary power into college admissions may actually make it harder to build better, more diverse classes. Not only does a lack of standardization make it hard to compare prep school students to other prep school students, but it makes it impossible to compare prep school students to “plebs.”
2. A bubble no longer.
Colleges have long negotiated prices to get “butts in seats.” Institutional tuition discount rates for first-time, full-time freshman are commonplace, but middle-class families still struggle to afford college without going into massive debt. Good news: For the first time in decades, net tuition fees are falling slightly, reports the The New York Post.
3. Spare $34b, would you, DC?
MarketWatch reports that nearly $34 billion, or just 7% of the White House’s proposed $469 billion increase in discretionary defense spending over the next 10 years, could make public colleges affordable to all students. Now that we’ve seen the price tag, our next step is getting Washington to prioritize equity of access…
4. The good ol’ social scrub.
Preparing for college used to mean volunteering, participating in extracurricular activities, acing standardized exams and maintaining a high GPA. Now it means all that plus creating a squeaky clean social presence, says Mashable.
Recommended Reading
The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton
Do they have a copy at your local library? WorldCat will tell you.
Anti-semitism, affirmative action and the rise of the meritocracy in college admissions are all covered in this 2006-published title about the “peculiar” admissions systems that we have today.