A Necessary Luxury A Necessary Luxury
A father councils his son to find work he's passionate about, after losing his own job as a in a bank buyout.
Sep 20, 2010 / Adam Zobel
Football vs. Asian Studies Football vs. Asian Studies
While the University of Texas at Austin's football team receives generous funding, the Vietnamese language program is being cut—even though it's the third-most-spoken languag...
Sep 20, 2010 / Dan Treadway
History Helps Students Understand the Present, but not When History’s Cut From The School Curriculum History Helps Students Understand the Present, but not When History’s Cut From The School Curriculum
After taking an enlightening AP European History course, the author hopes that enrichment courses will survive the budget cuts to education.
Sep 20, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Demetrius Shahmehri
Overcoming the Hurdles to College as a Navajo Student Overcoming the Hurdles to College as a Navajo Student
A college degree shouldn't have to seem out of reach for American Indian young people—and they shouldn't have to compromise their cultural heritage in the process, either.
Sep 20, 2010 / Candace Bogody
Failing New Jersey’s Schools Failing New Jersey’s Schools
Nation Student Writing Contest Winner: A freshman at Old Bridge High School reports on how New Jersey's budget cuts have cheated her and her fellow students of a quality education.
Sep 20, 2010 / Melissa Parnagian
The State of the Student Left The State of the Student Left
Highlights from a panel from the US Social Forum on the politics of the contemporary American student Left.
Sep 17, 2010 / StudentNation / Laurie Rojas
Major Student Loan Mistakes, and Ways to Avoid Making Them Major Student Loan Mistakes, and Ways to Avoid Making Them
The economy's long nosedive has done more than raise unemployment rates and housing foreclosures—it's also contributed to a devastating increase in the amount of student debt. Following a recent Education Department report on debt repayment figures, Gawker compiled a list of the top ten universities for student debt, which is topped by NYU's staggering $659 million total. This year also marked the first time in history that outstanding student loan debt exceeded outstanding total credit card debt, with student loan debt nationwide increasing at a rate of about $2853.88 per second. It's a grim landscape for students who've borrowed money, and one that is rife with ways to exacerbate the amount owed. In light of this, Sarah Deveau has provided a helpful list of tips and practices to avoid via the San Francisco Chronicle. Highlights from the pieces, "The 6 Worst Student Loan Mistakes You Can Make" include smart warnings against tempting practices like falsifying information on a student loan application, spending loan money on non-essential purchases and missing payments. "Some experts suggest that your monthly student loan payment should be no more than 10% of your expected salary," Deveau writes. "Calculate your monthly loan payments based on a 10-year repayment schedule, including interest, the find out the average starting salary for your career choice. If your loan payments will be higher than 10%, look at reducing the amount you borrow, either through producing more income or switching to a less expensive program." The bottom line, she says, is this: A student loan is often the first large sum of money a young adult must manage themselves. Avoiding common money mistakes when it comes to financing your college education is crucial to graduating with only good debt, and as little of it as possible. Some of it seems fairly no-brainer, but Deveau lays it out in concrete, practical terms that should make a lot of sense—especially to students taking on loans for the first time.
Sep 10, 2010 / StudentNation / Carrie Battan
Schools vs. Slogans Schools vs. Slogans
The disconnect between the realities of public schools and the policy prescriptions coming from the White House is the crux of the problem in education.
Sep 9, 2010 / Editorial / Pedro Noguera
Freshmen Specimen Freshmen Specimen
When we willingly donate parts of our bodies to science, who should profit?
Sep 9, 2010 / Column / Patricia J. Williams
For-Profit Colleges’ Latest Lesson to Students: How to Fight Stricter Regulation of Schools For-Profit Colleges’ Latest Lesson to Students: How to Fight Stricter Regulation of Schools
For-profit colleges have been enlisting students to write letters opposing proposed regulation that could limit federal student aid.
Sep 7, 2010 / StudentNation / Marian Wang, ProPublica