The Online Degree Dorm Room

Associate Online Degree Programs | A Hurricane Katrina Survivor Story

Posted by bposton on November 19th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Here’s a great story I read about a Hurrance Katrina survivor who’s now persuring her degree online

Sharon Truly had never evacuated for a hurricane.

So when Hurricane Katrina came barreling through New Orleans, she thought it was just another storm and decided to
ride it out at a motel with her husband, her son and her 21 exotic birds.

“In one day, everything you have in your whole life is wiped out. That fast,” Truly said, with a snap of her fingers,
as she looked through photographs of the things she lost.

Truly, who suffers with seizures, migraine headaches, a chronic respiratory disease and ruptured disks in her back,
is unable to work. She must have oxygen to sleep at night. Her oxygen concentrator was flooded and she also had
trouble getting her prescriptions filled. She eventually relocated to Memphis, Tenn.

That’s when she heard about the Memphis and Shelby County Community Services Agency, a member of Katrina Aid Today.

Truly’s case manager helped her find an apartment and furnish it, and get her prescription medications refilled.
The case manager also is helping her map out a plan for her recovery, and assisted her in applying for an educational grant.

Today, Truly is working toward her bachelor’s degree online and plans to start a home-based business selling
vitamins and nutritional shakes.

What a great success story. I wish you all the best, Truly

Just so you know, Katrina Aid Today is funded through a $66 million grant to the United Methodist Committee on Relief and monitored by Federal Emergency Management Agency. It’s a consortium that consists of 25 agencies with years of
disaster recovery case management experience serving either as national partners or as local service providers under
the Katrina Aid Today umbrella.

Although it has been more than a year since Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf Coast,
the figures confirm that many people across the nation are desperate for aid. This consortium plans to
assist about 70,000 more Katrina-affected families over the next 11 months.

Kudos to Katrina Aid Today!!

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | Some states give 539 plans get tax break

Posted by bposton on November 18th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

If you’re saving for college, you’re probably already up to speed on the benefits of
investing in a state-sponsored 529 college savings program.

Ah, but what you might not know about are the tax parity laws.

There are a lot of states that give up-front state tax deductions or credits to residents who enroll in their own state-sponsored 529 plans.

But until April, no state allowed residents to receive a tax break when investing in out-of-state college savings plans.

Did you know that?

Well that all changed when Maine, and then Kansas, enacted a tax parity or state tax deduction law enabling families to invest in any in-state or out-of-state 529 college savings program and receive their own state’s tax deduction.

Yeah 529 plans are a popular way to invest for college, but those who try to compare plans state-by-state run into a great deal of confusion when navigating the different tax treatments.
Residents of Kansas will have an open door to other states’ 529 college savings programs starting with the 2007 tax year. Previously, they only received a tax advantage if they chose the state’s 529 Learning Quest plan, which is administered by Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins and managed by American Century Investments.

While Learning Quest is a nationally competitive and well-managed plan, Kansas residents will now be able to utilize the annual adjusted gross income deduction of up to $3,000 per beneficiary ($6,000 if married and filing jointly) for contributions made to whichever 529 college savings plan best meets their investment objectives. 

Many other states have introduced parity efforts in their legislatures, but they’ve not been going anywhere. That’s because these states are worried about tax revenue loss or they want to protect their own in-state 529 college savings franchise. But they’re missing the benefit of providing their residents with more choices and enhancing competition in the 529 industry.

Tax parity is a great way for states to help families catch up with escalating college costs. The tax deduction will help level the playing field among college savings plans, challenging program managers to shape programs competitively, which will ultimately provide the best savings plans for consumers.

So write your state senator and tell them to support tax parity for 529 plans!!

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | Why do we have to lie about it?

Posted by bposton on November 18th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

This doesn’t make sense to me…

Why do people have to lie on their application?

Yes, it does happen, evidently a lot. According to a survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com, 57 Percentage of U.S. hiring managers say they have caught a lie on a candidate’s application.

Seems that lying to employers is done more often than lying to the IRS

So why do we have to lie? Are we that focused on getting the job - no matter what? Maybe so.

But it’s certainly not worth it. OK maybe if you lied on your application and didn’t get caught you think it’s OK. But lying has a way of catching up with you.

At least that’s been my experience

Oh by the way, that study also said that 93 Percentage of U.S. employers did not hire a candidate after discovering a lie on their resume.

Don’t you just wonder about the other 7 percent who did hire a liar?

Hey “hire a liar” - that rhymes!

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | More employers accept online degrees

Posted by bposton on November 18th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Here’s some great news if you’re thinking about getting a degree online.

I just read a report that said 85 Percentage of U.S. employers say that online degrees are more acceptable today than they were five years ago. That’s according to a survey conducted by Vault Inc.

That’s not all. The report also mentioned that 86 Percentage of U.S. employers would be willing to accept a job applicant with an online degree.

Now in my opinion, that should be 100%

But it is improving. What needs to happen is that employers need to understand that there’s no different in the quality of an online education than one received in a traditional classroom environment.

And it seems to be taking place. The study indicated that 34 Percentage of U.S. employers have encountered a job applicant with an online degree. and 20 Percentage of U.S. employers have hired a job applicant with an online degree.

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | Should colleges do a better job of reporting?

Posted by bposton on November 16th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

As a follow-up to my last post, the US Department of Education has suggested that colleges start collecting and reporting data on student improvement at their schools.

What’s interesting is that there are already tools out there that colleges can (and many do) already use to do this data gathering.

For example, the National Survey of Student Engagement is a collection of data for both 4 year and 2 year schools that measure the time and effort seniors and freshmen say they put into various educational activities.

And as I mentions, many colleges are already using these tools. The problem is, they are not reporting the data to the public, or they’re making it very difficult to find on their websites. And of course, there is no way right now to link any of this data together so that you can compare the data across many colleges.

So that’s why the Department of Education is proposing that the Federal Governement provide matching funds for colleges and states that publicly report this data. And they have the dream of linking all this data to one main website - theirs.

So that’s the crux of the issue with the USDE’s recommendations. How much is the Goverment willing to get involved in the collection and reporting of how well students are doing (like the No Child Left Behind act is forcing primary schools to do) and how willing are the colleges and universities in the US to do so.

Ben 

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associate online degree programs | Margaret Spelling in the hot seat

Posted by bposton on November 15th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Seems like good ol’ Miss Spelling is in the hot seat again.

Yesterday’s USA Today had a front page article about how she’s having to defend her plans to reform the USA’s higher education system.

Well, what do you expect? She compared getting a college degree to “buying a car” in that you need to compare schools to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.

That’s a little too simple an anology for me. how about you?

Now, I agree that we do need to have a better way to compare colleges, but there’s so much subjectivity in all of that, I really don’t think Uncle Sam can do a better job than say the US News and World Report, which ranks colleges every year.

Oh by the way, Miss Spelling created the ”commission” that studied and made the recommendations that she’s now trying to put in place. A monopoly of ideas? Well, one commission member thought so. He refused to sign the commission report, stating that it created a “fake sense of crisis”. 

More on this later

Ben

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