Federal Financial Aid Conference - Orlando, FL.

I am en route to the Federal Financial Aid (FSA) in Orlando, FL today and will be there through Friday before I fly back.[1] I am managing to spend two weeks in Florida in the course of two months. It should be an interesting conference with a few less surprises this year then last year in Las Vegas. It probably just means that changes in federal financial aid policy will just happen later this year or early 2013.

If you will be there and want to meet for coffee or drinks, send me a message on twitter @scottcline or if you are more bleeding edge App.net @scottcline. You can also drop me an email.

---

1. Literatlly at 37,000 feet and going at 633 miles per hour. Currently, over Mississippi about to leave land and cross over the Golf of Mexico.  ↩

Pay as You Earn - Finally →

About time.

The U.S. Department of Education last week issued the final regulations for the new, more-generous student-loan repayment program announced by the president last October. The plan, known as “Pay as You Earn,” will allow some graduates to peg their federal loan payments to 10% of their discretionary income and then have any remaining balance forgiven after 20 years.

via Wall Street Journal

Thoughts on College Board's National Forum

I am currently flying back from the College Board’s National Forum in Miami, FL.[1] I was there as part of the College Board’s ELA program.

My impression of the conference (or forum) was that there is a great deal of passion, hope, and energy in the education professionals who were gathered there. The amount of talent there makes me believe that change is possible even in the face of all of the barriers, all the way through the education pipeline. From pre-K through the highest levels of graduate education there are people working to make the world a better place.

It is great to spend a few days with people who are willing to go base-jumping to make education better for all students. I met many people who are willing to think big, execute and risk everything for students. We need more people like this who are ready to go base-jumping.

It will be very interesting to see where the College Board moves under the new leadership of David Coleman in order to support these people and the education of today’s and the future’s students.

---

1. Since Hurricane Sandy did not hit Miami, I guess I can only really say that it was rather windy and rainy while I was in Miami, but not that I experienced an actual hurricane?  ↩

College Board National Forum - October 24-26 - Miami, FL

As part of the College Board’s Enrollment Leadership Academy I am headed to Miami, FL in two weeks for the College Board’s National Forum.[1] The sessions and presentations are looking really good and I am looking forward to meeting/speaking with a bunch of people in higher education and K–12 from around the country.

If you will be there and want to meet for coffee or drinks, send me a message on twitter @scottcline or if you are more bleeding edge App.net @scottcline.

---

1. Call me strange, but one of my favorite parts of traveling from coast-to-coast for conferences is the five hour flight of uninurrpted time to get work done without phone calls (even though more and more I still have internet access). It is great for getting large sections of writing done. It might have been cheaper and more efficent to book more cross-country flights while writing my dissertation then paying for coffee at a coffee shop.  ↩

No more asking for social network passwords (under the law, instead of just common sense)

The lines are starting to be drawn around online privacy, not only in employement, but in higher education. From Timothy Lee at ArsTechnica:

[Governor] Brown also signed related legislation that prohibits universities from requiring their students to disclose social media passwords. The governor’s office cited a growing problem with universities snooping on the accounts of student athletes.

This does not appear to protect students (or employees) from acts that they do online from being held against them if it is open to the general internet/public. It might sound vain or egotistical to google yourself, but you can bet other people might. Would you rather have you know what they might find before they do?[1]

If you have a common name, that other John Smith, might get you wrongly slandered and you might want to know about it before a particular employer or admissions office does.

---

1. Make sure to log out of your google account before you google your own name. Otherwise your results will be biased much more to you then a general google search might other be so. Also, google search results can be personalized based on your cookie history. Instructions to turn off both on google’s support site  ↩