Blog Archives

Things to Consider with the Military Tuition Assistance Cuts

In light of the recent cuts to the military tuition assistance sequester cuts, our military men and women no doubt have questions as to what options are still left for their education.

Photo: blogs.dctc.edu

First off, these cuts will only effect those signing up for tuition assistance for the first time. Service members currently enrolled in courses approved for tuition assistance are not affected and are allowed to complete their current courses.
These spending cuts are not set for a specific amount of time but will be re-evaluated if the budgetary situation improves.

To make it through the cuts, make use of tuition assistance resources.
While, tuition Assistance has been a key benefit paid to eligible service members, there are other options for financial assistance.

Apply for federal student aid through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Apply for scholarships
Use your VA benefits: Veterans, as well as active service members, may continue to pursue their educational goals with VA education benefits, if applicable, that include: the Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty (Chapter 30), Montgomery GI Bill-Selected Reserve (Chapter 1606), Reserve Education Assistance Program (Chapter 1607), and The Post 9/11 GI Bill.

For more information, visit Saint Leo’s Blog

Posted on March 18, 2013 | Image

Online Learning and the ‘Bandwidth Divide’

Photo: uc.edu

More and more colleges have followed the lead of top schools like MIT, Stanford, Columbia and Princeton in offering free online courses in the name of providing educational access to all. While this is a great idea in opening up education channels that were previously off limits to most, these courses aren’t as accessible as they appear.

Currently about 66 percent of American adults have broadband access at home and only one-fifth of elementary- and secondary-school teachers in the United States could report that all or most of their students have the digital access they need at home. Beyond the US, broadband internet is even harder to come by which limits the effects of open online course on a global scale.

Photo: maximumpc.com

Even in developed countries, potential students face data plans have a data limits. That means those who want to watch hours of lecture videos, which require more bandwidth, might face high charges from their Internet provider for doing so.

For example, in a common internet provider in Canada offers two gigabytes of monthly use (that’s not a typo) to 175 gigabytes—at a cost of $28/mo to $100/mo. Exceeding the cap can cost anywhere from $5 a gigabyte (for the two-GB-per-month plan) to $0.50 per gigabyte. New Zealand’s WorldNet charges anywhere from $31 to $45 (price varies by length of contract requested) for a mighty one gigabyte of monthly use—that’s right. One gigabyte. But should you need to download more than just your email, you can always bump up to one of the company’s higher service tiers. A whopping 50 gigabytes per month will set you back anywhere from $56 to $70. There are some companies in the US trying out the bandwith caps with their customers causing further issues for those who have access.

Some have called this problem the Bandwidth Divide and it’s widening. The difference between those who have access to fast connections and those who have only dial-up speeds or access via a cellphone is larger than most people think. One possible solution for those without access to broadband internet or lack the funds to cover their educational needs is public libraries. But the library solution is not perfect since patrons still have to work within the bounds of limited hours and long wait times for shared computers. More than 40 percent of public libraries reported that they do not meet the Internet access demands of patrons with 65 percent reporting that they lack the number of public computers needed to meet demands.

To read more, visit The Chronicle of Higher Education

Posted on March 8, 2013 | Image

Online courses may widen achievement gaps.

The rise of online learning has forever changed the educational landscape. Online courses enable a greater number of students to have access to a higher education without all the added time and financial costs that traditional campus learning requires. In fact, over 4,600,00 college students are currently taking at least one of their classes online and by 2014 this number will increase to 18,650,000. By 2019, half of ALL classes will be done online. All seems well in the online education industry, at least according to enrollment numbers. However, there is little information on how well these students do in this online environment.

Photo: onlineuniversities-weblog.com

A study conducted by Columbia University’s Community College Research Center investigated this further. The researchers focused their study on Washington State and examined 500,000 courses taken by more than 40,000 community- and technical-college students. Their results indicate that all students who take more online courses, no matter the demographic, are less likely to attain a degree. However, some groups—including black students, male students, younger students, and students with lower grade-point averages—are particularly susceptible to this pattern. Though they did find that older students who juggle studying and raising a family, female students, and students who are typically higher-performing, experienced a marginal difference between online and physical classrooms.

Shanna Smith Jaggars, one of the paper’s authors, said the widening gap could imply that online learning is weakening—not strengthening—education equality.

To read more, visit the Chronicle of Higher learning