Year-round Pell Grants Are A Lifeline

By Daniel de Vise

Here is a guest post from Vinton Thompson, President of the Metropolitan College of New York.

The House majority has voted for large cuts in Pell Grant support for low-income college students. These cuts would be disastrous for many students attending urban institutions and should be opposed. But lost in the discussion of these draconian cuts for all recipients of maximum Pell support is another Pell cut proposal that would target some of our nation’s most deserving students.

President Obama’s administration proposes to end year-round Pell Grants, which support students who go to school all year. This program, only a year and a half old, has given a lifeline to hardworking, non-traditional adult students. It supports their efforts to earn a life-changing B.A. faster and more efficiently than is possible in the traditional two-semester academic year that evolved in another era to serve young residential students.

In academic year 2009-2010, 666 students at Metropolitan College of New York, a small, nonprofit urban commuter institution in Manhattan, received Pell Grants. One hundred fourteen of these students relied on year-round Pell Grants. One is Khassaundra Whitley, who presently works as a teacher’s aide. She began her studies in Summer Semester 2010, planning to become a school teacher or social worker. To meet the requirements for a position that is opening at her current workplace, she needs to obtain her bachelor’s degree within the next year and a half. MCNY’s year-round, three full-semester academic calendar offers her the opportunity to accomplish this goal. But to complete her bachelor’s degree on this tight schedule she is relying on year-round Pell. Without it she will not be able to meet her goal on deadline.

Or take the case of Sabrina Soto, another student who first enrolled in Summer Semester 2010. She has two children, attends school full-time and works in a mental health facility. She needs her bachelor’s degree to qualify for promotion to supervisor. Thanks to year-round Pell, the New York State Tuition Assistance Program and some transfer credits, she has already completed her associate’s degree and is hard at work on her bachelor’s degree. Year-round Pell will make it possible for her to attend during Summer Semester 2011. Sabrina believes that being able to earn her degree quickly and without interruption is important to her success.

If year-round Pell comes to an end, dedicated students like Khassaundra and Sabrina will have to slow down their educations or go deeper into debt. In the first case, students’ dreams and higher-order contributions to the economy will be postponed (a postponement that may go on indefinitely if interruptions lead to loss of momentum and dropping out of school). In the second case, greater debt leads to greater risk of loan default. Neither outcome is in the students’ or the nation’s interest.

The administration contends that year-round Pell has not accelerated completion of bachelor’s degrees. No data has been offered to support this position. It is unlikely that only 18 months of experience would make it possible to do a thoughtful evaluation of this program, given that it takes a minimum of 16 months to earn a two-year associate degree going year-round. The administration also contends that the program has proved unexpectedly popular, an odd argument for discontinuation. Instead, the strong demand indicates that year-round Pell grants have met a real need in the target low-income student population.

Mr. Obama has made increasing college graduation rates a national priority. Rescinding year-round Pell grants would undercut this effort. Why target a group of students who are especially diligent and support-worthy to bear a disproportionate impact of national budget cuts? Surely there are better alternatives to share the inevitable pain.

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Posted by MCNY Admissions Blog in About Applying, Admissions, Paying for School, Students. 1 Comment »

Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Latest Report For Teachers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest report of the occupations expected to have the largest number of job openings through 2018 (measured by anticipated number of jobs added from 2008-2018) indicates  that both post-secondary and elementary school teachers are among the top 15. Job openings for post-secondary teachers are expected to jump by 257,000 through 2018, while jobs for elementary school teachers will grow by 244,000.

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Posted by MCNY Admissions Blog in Admissions. Comments Off

No Guarantees in Applying to Graduate School

We all live in very credentials oriented world. A bachelor’s degree is not as highly valued as it once was, but try to get by without one and you are up for a rude awakening. Still, today, a master’s degree still sets individuals apart. Not everyone planned on going to graduate school when they first enrolled in college. Many return to graduate school after many years absence from college. Some with well developed skills and work experience directly related to the studies in which they want to pursue a Master’s, others going off in entirely new career directions.

In either case, an admissions decision will have to be made on the basis of what evidence you provide to build a case that you will be successful in your studies. In most cases it will be the cumulative educational experience exhibited on your transcript (transcripts) or most recent transcript over and above a standardized test taken on Saturday last December.

An admissions interview may help you to identify how your application will be reviewed and how likely it may or may not be that you will qualify for admission.

I have to admit though, too many factors are taken into account in making an admissions decision to justifying whether one applies to one school or another. And, you can’t decide  based on gut instinct alone.

In the worst scenario you may need to look in a different direction or build a better case for yourself so that (better prepared) you may look to receive a different answer at a later time.  Sometimes, additional evidence such as new coursework completed with better grades can help you do this. I know that this may seem harsh to some, but graduate study is serious stuff. It is certainly no place to learn to write.

So, I guess my advice to those who think they want graduate school but aren’t willing to take the plunge and risk rejection is to apply anyway.

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Posted by Steven Lenhart in About Applying, Admissions. Comments Off

Steven Lenhart is the Dean of Enrollment Services at Metropolitan College of New York.

Welcome to MCNY’s Admissions Blog!

My name is Steven Lenhart and I’m the Dean of Enrollment Services here at MCNY.

We are developing this blog to share with you more about the school, our programs, our students…and to hear from you…help you figure out whether MCNY is the right fit, answer your questions, and address your concerns.

I’ve been with Metropolitan College of New York for over 20 years – it’s an extraordinary school and I feel very passionate about what we do here. What I find so outstanding about MCNY is that, unlike most other institutions of higher learning where so much of the curriculum is theoretical and has no basis in the real world (but the promise is there that one day the learning will prove to be relevant), at MCNY what you learn tonight, you will use on the job tomorrow.

We have created a learning environment where what is learned is entirely relevant and practical and efficient. The focus of learning is on you, your personal and professional growth and development and on making you competitive in the workplace.

One of my goals is just to make sure we can communicate as fluidly and transparently as possible. If you have any topics you’d like to hear about feel free to email me directly at slenhart@mcny.edu.

The entire Admissions Staff will be contributing to this effort – so here’s a big shout out to the group and many thanks, in advance, for your help.

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Posted by Steven Lenhart in Admissions. 11 Comments »

Steven Lenhart is the Dean of Enrollment Services at Metropolitan College of New York.

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