Bargain-Hunting Students Swarm State Universities

Protests spread across Ivy League campuses

(NEWSER) - Half of those surveyed in Harvard's class of 2010 went into finance or consulting; at the University of Pennsylvania, the figure was even higher—and some students are fed up with the "brain drain." Inspired in part by the Occupy movement, students have launched protests against recruiting by big banks, consulting firms, and hedge funds at top universities ranging from Princeton to Stanford, NPR reports. "You've got 20% to 30% of some of the top talent in this country going into a sector that is not necessarily contributing to economic and social productivity," says movement leader Teryn Norris. More»

Our current system is badly outdated: Kevin Carey

(NEWSER) - It's time to bring the college admissions process into the modern age, writes Kevin Carey at the Atlantic . He doesn't mean the process by which elite students get into Ivy League schools—he means the real world, where the vast majority of students end up picking a school because it happens to be nearby and cheap, or because of "what their friend's older brother's girlfriend said that one time at the mall." The problem is that far too many students drop out because they pick a poor match. More»

And it's followed by Princeton, says Forbes

(NEWSER) - Forbes is out with its annual rankings of the top US colleges, and Williams College of Massachusetts is in the No. 1 spot for the second straight year. At $55,000, "a Williams education is certainly not cheap, but the 2,000 undergraduates here have among the highest four-year graduation rates in the country, win loads of prestigious national awards like Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, and are often rewarded with high-paying careers," writes Michael Noer. More»

Schools worry more about luxe sports fields and pharmaceutical patents

(NEWSER) - It's a hot question these days: Is college worth it? But writing for the Los Angeles Times, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa don't beat the same old "expensive! bad job market!" angle into the ground. Instead they wonder if it's worth it because it's just becoming so darn easy to graduate. Arum and Roksa, sociology professors at NYU and UVa, respectively, tracked thousands of students at more than two dozen schools, and what they found smells pretty academic lite: In an average semester, 32% of kids had no classes that required reading more than 40 pages a week; 36% studied solo for just five hours, or less, a week. And a third—shockingly—showed no substantial gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing ability after their four years. More»

Pysch major not the optimal choice for those seeking riches

(NEWSER) - Debating between engineering and English? Prospective college students may want to factor in a new census-based survey of salaries and careers in USA Today that projects the lifetime earnings of 171 college majors:

• No. 1: Petroleum engineering majors can expect to make $4.8 million over a 40-year career, an average of $120,000 a year.
• Lowest pay, with degree: For counseling/psychology majors, it's $1.16 million ($29,000 a year).
• No college degree: High school grads can figure on lifetime earnings of $770,000.