Showing results by author "Jeffrey J. Selingo"

What is the value of a college degree? The four-year college experience is as American as apple pie. So is the belief that higher education offers a ticket to a better life. But with student-loan debt surpassing the $1 trillion mark and unemployment of college graduates at historic highs, people are beginning to question that value. In College (Un)Bound, Jeffrey J. Selingo, editor at large of the Chronicle of Higher Education, argues that America’s higher education system is broken.

For much of their modern existance, distance-education courses have suffered from an image problem.

Every year, high school students and their parents spend much time, effort, and money on the college search. By comparison, they spend very little time focused on how they will spend their undergraduate years while in college. Yet a series of decisions that start the moment they secure their spot in the freshman class - from choosing a major and courses to finding internships - increasingly plays a much larger role in life after graduation than where someone goes to college.

Saddled with thousands of dollars of debt, today's college students are graduating into an uncertain job market that is leaving them financially dependent on their parents for years to come - a reality that has left moms and dads wondering: What did I pay all that money for? There Is Life After College offers students, parents, and even recent graduates the practical advice and insight they need to jump-start their careers.

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Betsy DeVos, a Republican billionaire from Michigan, to be secretary of education last week. The choice of someone well known for her views on K-12 education sent college officials scrambling just before the long Thanksgiving weekend to find anything DeVos might have said about higher education.

One thing that has struck me about the questions is how little some students and parents know about the colleges and universities they’re considering. While we’re inundated with more college rankings than ever before, it seems that hasn’t made us better consumers.

"Are Colleges Coddling Students or Just Leveling the Playing Field?" is from the October 31, 2015 Ideas and Controversy section of The Washington Post. It was written by Jeffrey J. Selingo and narrated by Jill Melancon.

The beginning of May was the deadline for the last of high-school seniors to make their final decision about where they’re going to college next fall. For some it was a sprint to the finish as they weighed the social and academic fit of campuses still on their list, but also the all-important financial aid offers from colleges.

"Can the Middle Class Afford College?" is from the May 08, 2017 National section of The Washington Post. It was written by Jeffrey J. Selingo and narrated by Sam Scholl.

"Many Colleges Are Failing to Prepare Students for Their Working Lives" is from the October 16, 2015 Ideas and Controversy section of The Washington Post. It was written by Jeffrey J. Selingo and narrated by Sam Scholl.

But a new study of the degree premium, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, finds that its growth has flattened in recent years. While the premium grew rapidly in the 1980s — mostly because of the decline of manufacturing jobs that required just a high-school diploma — its growth slowed in the 1990s, followed by a small uptick in the first decade of the new millennium.

"Did Your College Mislead You about Job Prospects? It Might Become Far Easier to Have Your Loans Forgiven" is from the July 20, 2016 National section of The Washington Post. It was written by Jeffrey J. Selingo and narrated by Jenny Hoops.