February 4, 2008What student loans default rates say, and don't sayFrom an Indiana University study of student loan default rates: Measures of academic momentum and degree completion and the Thanks for that to alert reader Jeff Arthur, who also happens to be vice-president of information systems and financial aid at ECPI College of Technology. Jeff referenced the study in a comment last week, and kindly passed on that and a bunch of other info to inform the discussion of the federal student loan default rates now viewable in the DataSphere. Continue reading "What student loans default rates say, and don't say" » January 30, 2008Student loans: a bunch of 'em don't get paid backNearly 3.5 million federal student loans came due for repayment in 2005. By the end of the year, nearly five percent were in default for non-payment. That's bad enough, but it's actually a gargantuan improvement over 15 years earlier, when nearly one in four of the same loans were in default. Check out the default figures for over 5,000 U.S. colleges for 2003 through 2005 now in the DataSphere. The data comes from the U.S. Department of Education. You can make a number of assumptions from those figures. Some people had legitimate hardships and couldn't pay (although deferments are an option in some circumstances), while others no doubt just shirked their responsibility. But, as the U.S. Department of education sees it, those numbers reflect not only on the borrowers, but on the colleges who awarded the loans in the first place. Continue reading "Student loans: a bunch of 'em don't get paid back" » October 29, 2007Roanoke's demographic futureIf you haven't read David Harrison's fine story on Hurt Park Elementary School from Sunday's paper, please do. It's a terrific story of a school community succeeding despite the currents running against it. It's based in part on demographic, enrollment and poverty data on Roanoke schools you can search in the DataSphere. Hurt Park is in a number of ways emblematic of the trends in Roanoke that teachers and administrators are up against. The short-hand is the city school system is ever more "urban" each year. What that means is, the school system has increasing numbers of both minorities and children in poverty -- groups which historically have struggled academically. That's the oft-talked about "achievement gap." That trend is coupled with decreasing numbers of white and middle-class and affluent children, who tend to have greater academic success. And all this is happening in atmosphere of intense accountability for public schools, in which all students have to achieve, regardless of history and well-documented achievement gaps. Look at Highland Park Elementary, for example. In 1990, about 31 percent of students were poor enough to be eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs. Last year, that number hit 71 percent. Meanwhile, the total enrollment at the school has dropped by more than 50 percent. But what do these demographic trends mean outside the school system? Demographers -- along with common sense -- tell you that, if our youngest residents are trending poor, that's what the adults in the city will look like in 15 or 20 years. Even mentioning that out loud potentially exacerbates the "white flight" that's apparently going on, I know. But it's a statistical reality that matters. Increasing numbers of lower wage earners means less home-ownership, less liquid cash for city businesses, a diminishing tax base, and on and on. The city is all about trying to reverse the trend. Witness the push for more new and higher-end housing in the city -- most especially on city-owned parcels, like at Colonial Green on Colonial Avenue or at Brambleton Avenue and Overland Drive. It's the same idea behind so far fruitless efforts to develop Countryside Golf Course. Then there's the push to revitalize the city's older core with projects like the Day Avenue renovation. There seems to be a lot going on, but it is enough to turn the tide? Is housing the answer, or is the better chance for success in creating a school system that helps ensure that kids who are in poverty now don't grow up to become poor adults? Not that either is an easy -- or exclusive -- solution, mind you. |
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