College News and Views

College News and Views is a semi-monthly publication that was created to provide you with highlights on a variety of topics in the world of higher education.  Here are some of the latest items of interest:  

Senator Edward Kennedy’s Impact on Students and Higher Education

During his term (1962 to 2009) in the US Senate, Senator Edward M. Kennedy authored more than 2,500 bills.  Several hundred of these bills have become public law.  Here are some of the ways in which Senator Kennedy has impacted higher education:

Student Support Services program - Senator Kennedy supported the creation of the Student Support Services program (Higher Education Act of 1968).  The program provided tutoring and mentoring to low income, first generation students in order to keep them in school and improve graduation rates.  These programs are known today as the TRIO program.  TRIO participants include: Oprah Winfrey; Actress Angela Bassett; NBA Basketball Player, A.C. Green; correspondent for ABC News “Prime Time Live”, John Quinones; the first Hispanic astronaut, Franklin Chang Diaz; the first African-American astronaut, Bernard Harris; and many more.

Basic Educational Opportunity Grant – Senator Kennedy worked with Senator Clairborne Pell in the early 1970’s to support the creation of this grant which came to be known as the Pell Grant.

Direct Lending Program – Over 12 million students have benefited from low cost loans due to Senator Kennedy’s work with the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.

School to Work Opportunities Act – This created a partnership between employers, educators, and others in order to prepare students for careers in high skill high wage jobs. 

College Cost Reduction Act – In 1997 this bill authorized a $23 billion increase in student aid.

Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 – For the first time in a decade the Higher Education Act was reauthorized.  College has become more accessible and affordable by simplifying the application process for financial aid and expanding aid for the neediest students.

Establishing AmeriCorps – Senator Kennedy was the author on a bill that created AmeriCorps and Learn and Save America.  After graduating, over 17 million people have participated in Learn and Save America and over a half million in AmeriCorps.

SAT Class of 2009 is a Record Breaker

Laurence Bunin, senior vice president of the SAT program, said that “The SAT Class of 2009 is a record-breaker” noting that it was the largest and most diverse group to take the test.

This year the average scores were as follows:

• 501 on the critical-reading section
• 515 on the mathematics section
• 493 on the writing section

The average mathematics score is the same as it was in 2008, while the reading and writing scores each dropped one point. Each section is scored on a scale from 200 to 800.

Finding the Right College Roommate

Matching roommates is a tough task for most colleges who sometimes find themselves scrambling after the roommate assignments come out. This can be an extremely busy time of year when students may not be happy with their selection for a roommate.  Finding the right match takes a lot of work.  Here are some options colleges have to make this matching process easier:   

RoommateClick, the web’s leading roommate-finding site, launched in 2006. RoommateClick provides a service that lets students take a proactive approach in selecting a roommate, a task that has historically fallen to campus housing.  Students who find they have mutual interests can request to room with each other through this site.

In the next year RoommateClick looks to face competition in the higher-education market from RoomBug, a Facebook application.  RoomBug allows a Facebook user to specify lifestyle preferences–bedtime, neatness, academic vs. social focus, etc. — and those he or she is looking for in a roommate. The application provides a list of compatible matches with whom the user can then network via Facebook.

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