Volume 10, Number 4 |
In This Issue: Training and Careers Community and Technical Colleges |
What is the best financial investment you can make during your lifetime?
If you bought Microsoft stock in 1986, and held it for the past ten years,
your annual return would have been 780%. Unfortunately, most of us missed
out on Microsoft so what else brings in the big return? While some may recommend
buying a home or mutual funds, few financial investments come close to the
return provided by a college education.
If you are a male attending a public university, you can expect to receive
in career income, $32.50 for every dollar you spend on higher education.
This is equal to an annual return of 78%. For females, that same dollar
for college will bring a return of $17.80, or an annual return of 43%. Ask
any banker or broker if they can guarantee annual returns at this level
and they will just laugh.
Tom Mortenson is a highly respected policy analyst for higher education.
The data provided here comes from his report on Opportunity for Postsecondary
Education, 3/97. Mortenson clearly sums up the value of higher education
when he says, "As an investment, college is as good a
buy today as it has ever been. This is not because college is cheaper--it
most certainly is not--but becaust the labor market for those without
college education has collapsed since the early 1970s."
The 43-78% return noted above does not include any grants or scholarships
a student may receive. If grants and scholarships pay for 50% of a educational
costs, the annual return on the amount paid by the student/family would
be 86-156%. The value of searching for available need or merit-based grants
and scholarships is enormous when the return in lifetime earnings is considered.
A Few GREAT Investments
Investment Original Cost/Total Value Annual Rate of Return
4-year public college degree $12,000/$396.000 78% (male over 42 year career)
1-share Microsoft stock $21/$1638 780% (from 1986 to present)
Home in Washington State $15,000/$200,000 22% (current return for home purchased
in 1941)
Less than 10% of today's workforce takes advantage of their own employer
sponsored re-training and corporate financial assistance to further their
education. It is not difficult to find a job with an employer who pays for
all or part of any education expenses. Below are examples of educational
benefits at a selection of Pacific Northwest companies. For more on educational
benefits information contact the human resources office at these or other
companies.
Company Name - Headquartered, Description of Educational Benefits
Hillhaven Corporation - Tacoma, All employees are eligible, 80% of educational
costs are covered by the company. There are numerous seminars given and
offered to all staff including topics such as: budgeting, stress management,
handling change, etc. Several scholarships are also available to qualified
employees.
Nintendo of America - Redmond, All full-time, Part-time and seasonal employees
are eligible. Must be employed for three months prior to enrollment. Maximum
benefit is $1,500 per calender year. Courses must be pre-approved and be
taken at an accredited college, university. 100% reimbursement for 3.0 GPA
and above. 50% reimbursement for 2.0-2.9 GPA. All reimbusements for regular
part-time and seasonal employees are reduced by 50%.
PriceCostco - Kirkland All employees are eligible. Tuition reimbursement
program for job related areas. Scholarship for students of color in the
business field. (Scholarship placed presently in selected schools.)
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. - Everett, All employees eligible, 100% of
educational costs are reimbursed when a 2.5 GPA is received. 50% of book
costs may be reimbursed after 6 months employment. There are also a variety
of in-house programs. These are available to all employees.
Intermec Corp. - Everett, Full-time employees - after 90 days of employment.
100% of tuition at public institution, 75% of tuition at a private college,
and 50% of textbooks costs are reimbursed. Internal training includes leadership
training, blue print reading, other electronic assembly skills, first aid/
CPR, time management, team building, negotiating skills. All employees are
eligible.
Advanced Technology Laboratories - Bothell, Must be a permanent, full-time
employee (working 30 hours per week); in good standing (not under verbal
or written warning); and have three months of service prior to the beginning
of class to be eligible for educational reimbursement. $5,000 maximum per
fiscal year.
source: Back to School, published by College Planning Network
Sometimes it is important to step back and look at the big picture. The
difference between community colleges, technical colleges and trade schools
can be confusing. The following is a basic guide to what makes each of these
colleges unique.
Because of their open enrollment policies and their flexible scheduling
of classes, state community colleges offer a valuable option to students
pursuing a first degree or who are interested in updating existing work
skills. Their friendly environments can offer encouragement to students
who are unsure of abilities or goals. In offering evening as well as day
classes, community colleges accommodate the adult who must work while attending
classes. Their low cost in comparison to four year schools offers an attractive
alternative to students who are concerned about financing their education.
An added advantage is the agreement in many states between four year institutions
and community colleges to allow a student receiving a two-year associate
degree from a community college to be accepted with junior status at any
four year college or university state-wide.
Public technical colleges can prepare students for jobs in existing vocational
fields. Because most programs are open entry/open exit, they allow the student
to enroll when a vacancy exists and leave when the student is ready for
employment. Most programs at the technical schools are hands on, practical,
skill-building classes designed to prepare the student for immediate employment.
For-profit, trade schools offer programs similar to those offered at the
community and technical colleges, but be aware that their credits are seldom
transferable should you decide to continue at a four year institution. These
schools have limited federal or state financial aid grants available to
their students and rely heavily on student loans that must be repaid. Coupling
that with their much greater cost, you will find that community and technical
colleges are a much better educational buy.
Most community colleges offer you the opportunity to receive credit for
knowledge gained outside the classroom. Prior learning credits can often
be gained from life experiences such as running your own business or learning
a foreign language which may be equivalent to material taught in many college
level classes. Check with an academic advisor at the community college you
are interested in attending, for more details. These valid learning experiences
may help you save time and money in earning your degree, but care must be
taken to contact the schools you are considering or to which you transfer.
Not all colleges or universities will accept prior life experience transfer
credits.
Summer often provides an opportunity to visit college campuses for tours
or special workshops. As most colleges have summer sessions into August,
these visits offer opportunities to meet college students and ask key questions.
Students are more likely to be candid about what it's really like on campus.
The following questions may assist prospective students in making college
selections.
1. In a typical quarter/semester, how many pages of writing are you assigned?
How much feedback do you get on your writing?
2. Are student evaluations of faculty members published and widely available
to students? (Such publications help students choose good instructors, and
their presence suggests that an institution is more concerned about students'
rights to a good education than it is about covering up professors' failings.)
3. What percentage of your class time is involved in "active learning"
- for example, analyzing case studies, debating issues, or working on projects
with fellow students?
4. Rate the quality of the advising you received in choosing your courses,
major, and possible career.
5. Describe residence hall life. How close is it to the living-learning
environment described in admission brochures?
6. Does your institution make it easy for a students to grow intellectually,
socially, and emotionally?
7. Is the school's location a plus or a minus? Why?
8. If a younger sibling of yours were considering this institution, what
major advantages and disadvantages would you point out.
The Big Five
Five key questions should be asked before you seriously consider any college.
While many other questions about college can help in making choices, these
five are a great start.
1. What areas of study do you plan to pursue in college? Does the school
offer a good selection of courses in your interest area?
2. Is interaction with the instructor important to you or are you an independent
learner?
3. Would you prefer a campus that is in a city, small town, or rural setting?
Are you willing to relocate to attend a particular school?
4. Would you be comfortable attending a very large (<15,000 students),
or a very small (>1,000 students) college?
5. What kinds of students and social life would you like to find on campus?
Are sports, clubs, and cultural events important to you? Which of these
would you participate in at school?
Most college admission officers and scholarship committees want to know
more about students than statistics and dry facts. At many colleges, essays
are an extremely important part of the admission selection process, simply
because they are the most immediate indication of who you really are. Scholarship
organizations also value the essay as a way to allow the student to present
theirselves as they wish to be seen.
If you are applying for admission or a scholarship, you may be asked to
write about one of these topics:
A meaningful experience or achievement
A local or national issue and its importance to you
A prominent figure in the arts, politics, religion, or science
Your reasons for pursuing a university education (Often this is more specific:
why do you want to enter engineering or how is the study of history related
to your goals?
The essay is the part of the application that allows you to speak for yourself.
It is your arena to tell the admission committee your long and short term
goals, and how that school's program fits your goals. Make sure your essay
does not just repeat information already provided in other portions of your
application.
Present yourself as clearly and fully as possible. Your personal essay should
be dedicated to expounding your good qualities and achievements. Think positively,
and brainstorm! Don't worry whether or not what you have to say is important
enough to catch someone's attention. If you are writing about something
that you truly care about, it will be interesting and worthwhile. Ask friends,
teachers and family to read your essay and provide advice. The best test
of your essay is to re-read it and ask if it could have possibly been written
by anyone else but you. If someone else could have written the same essay,
go back and make it more personal.
How do you say that in...
Are you interested in studying foreign languages? Translation just got easier.
Keith Golden, a computer scientist at the University of Washington can help
with his WordBot Web site. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education,
"The site called WordBot asks users to select a language and the
address of a Web page. A special version of that page then appears. Clicking
on any word summons a translation in a separate window."
Because Wordbot translates word-by-word, the gramatical translation may
not be correct. Also offered is an English dictionary, a thesaurus and a
biotechnical dictionary to look up any word. Wordbot is at: http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/kgolden/wordbot.html
The hunt for private scholarships has never been more active. As college
costs have sky-rocketed, the demand for private scholarships has grown accordingly.
In September, 1997, a new resource will be available to help students and
parents identify and apply for private scholarships, more easily than ever
before.
Since 1998, the Pacific Northwest Scholarship Guide has been published by
the College Planning Network (CPN). The current 6th edition features over
6,000 individual awards, representing $20 million in scholarships available
to local students. The Guide can easily be found in schools and libraries.
In order to provide students and parents with an electronic on-line version
of the Guide, CPN approached Microsoft to seek help in building a
search engine for the scholarship data. Microsoft agreed and Boeing
Employees' Credit Union is providing additional support for advertising
the on-line Guide and presenting 'The Scholarship Market' workshops in nine
Washington communities.
The new on-line version of the Guide is designed to work with the hard-copy
book, allowing students to sort-out eligible scholarships electronically
and then read the details about the awards in the book. While the on-line
version will include full scholarship information, CPN realises that it
is not always convenient to read through detailed listings while connected
to the Internet. Ideally the on-line Guide will be a tool to make the book
a more valuable resource. The on-line version will also be updated regularly,
while the book is published every two years. The on-line Guide will also
offer Web links to scholarship organizations and applications where available.
The new on-line guide will be hosted on CPN's College Planning Web site
at www.collegeplan.org, is is set to kick-off September 15, 1997. Nine Scholarship
Market workshops are being scheduled throughout Washington State, and will
be hosted by local high schools. A full workshop schedule will be posted
in the Fall 1997 issue of this newsletter. For more information on the Guide
or workshops, visit CPN's Web site or call (206) 323-0624.
Last Year, 1,700 students received scholarships to attend college in Japan.
None of them were Japanese. Japan has long encouraged students from around
the world, to come attend Japanese colleges. The Japanese Ministry of Education,
through the Short-Term Student Exchange Promotion Program, plans to increase
the number of students to receive scholarships from 1,700 to 5,000 per year.
Scholarships are from six months to one year. Interested U.S. students must
be attending a college with 'sister school' arrangements in Japan. Scholarships
subsidize tuition and housing with a monthly stipend (currently $670) and
an arrival allowance of $420.
Difficulty with language is the major obstacle to study in Japan, however,
11 Japanese Universities now offer programs with courses taught in English.
For more information, contact the Association of International Education
on the Internet at http://www.aiej.or.jp.
source: The Chronicle of Higher Education p. A46, 4/18/97
(samples from the Pacific Northwest Scholarship Guide - upcoming 7th edition)
Walter H. Meyer - Garry L. White, Memorial Educational Fund
c/o College Planning Network
Campion Tower - 914 E. Jefferson
Seattle, WA 98122-5366
Contact: Vicki Breithaupt
Phone: (206) 323-0624
Deadline: 2/15/98 Amount: $2,000
Renewable: yes No. of Awards: 16
No. of Application in 1997: 101
On-line Application: yes, www.collegeplan.org
Eligibility: geographic (WA)
high school
undergraduate
graduate
returning
Criteria &
Procedures: A completed application, with essay, activity list, and recommendations.
An official transcript from the high school or college the student is currently
attending or if not currently in school, an official transcript from the
last school they attended. A copy of a completed 1998-99 Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or 1998-99 FAFSA Student Aid Report (SAR)
Washington Scholars Program
Higher Education Coordinating Board
917 Lakeridge Way
Olympia, WA 98504
Contact: Ann McLendon
Phone: (360)753-7843
Deadline: see below Amount: tuition
Renewable: yes No. of Awards: 147
No. of Application in 1997: 1 per high school
On-line Application: no
Eligibility: geographic (WA)
high school
academic achievement
Criteria &
Procedures: High school principals nominate 3 students for each legislative
district (must be top 1% of class). Award is equal to public college tuition
but can be used at identified private colleges in-state. Must maintain a
GPA of 3.3 to be considered for renewal.
Discover Card Tribute Awards
Washington Association of School Administrators
825 5th Ave. SE
Olympia, WA 98501
Contact: Eileen Bushman
Phone: (360) 943-5717
Deadline: 1/10/98 Amount: $1,250-2,500
Renewable: na No. of Awards: 9
No. of Application in 1997: na
On-line Application: no
Eligibility: geographic (WA)
high school (junior)
Criteria &
Procedures: Must be a Washington high school junior with a minimum GPA of
2.75 (in 9th and 10th grade). Selection is based on leadership, service
and talent factors. State winners compete for national awards of $10-20,000.
Applications available mid-October.
Educational Opportunity Grant
Higher Education Coordinating Board
917 Lakeridge Way
Olympia, WA 98504
Contact: Barbara Theiss
Phone: (360) 753-7845
Deadline: 7/15/97 Amount: $2,500
Renewable: yes # of Awards: 300-500
No. of Application in 1996: 600
On-line Application: no
Eligibility: geographic (13 WA counties)
undergraduate (jr. sr. only)
Criteria &
Procedures: Must be a Washington resident who has a 2-year Associates of
Art degree or junior standing, and will be attending a different institution
than the one attended for the first two years of college. Must demonstrate
financial need and award amounts will not exceed financial need. Students
must be from the following eligible counties; Benton, Clark, Cowlitz, Franklin,
King, Kitsap, Pierce, Skamania, Snohomish, Spokane, Thurston, Walla Walla
and Yakima.
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