First of all, what is a reverse-transfer? Many school administrators define reverse-transfers as students who transfer from four-year institutions to community colleges to complete part or all of their educations. Today, education professionals are seeking to better understand these students and their motivations for transferring.

A recent issue of Sociology of Education – an American Sociological Association journal – features a report that explores the socioeconomic differences among college transfer students. The sample of students followed in this report began their postsecondary education at a four-year institution. From this group, 33 percent transferred at least once within eight years of graduating from high school. Another 20 percent transferred “laterally,” from one four-year institution to another, and 15 percent transferred in “reverse” to a community college.

Among all these different transfer students, lateral transfers were much more likely than reverse transfers to complete their bachelor’s degree – 69 percent compared to 22 percent. However, both of these figures are lower than the graduation rate of students who don’t transfer at all. They completed their bachelor’s degrees at a rate of 79 percent.

So, if graduation rates are lower for reverse-transfer students, why do some students choose this route? Many education experts assumed that a student’s income, or the income of his or her family would be the deciding factor, but this was actually not the strongest indicator of a transfer decision. According to this study, the strongest indicator of a student’s transfer status is his or her parents’ education level.

Most often, students whose parents had more than a bachelor’s degree were some of the least likely to reverse-transfer. But on the other end of this spectrum, students whose parents had not completed high school were most likely to transfer to a community college.

What could be some reasons behind these trends? Sara Goldrick-Rob, a professor of education policy studies and sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, believes first-generation college students face unique challenges and struggle academically during their first year of college. But Professor Goldrick-Rob does have ideas for how to better support these students. In her opinion, four-year colleges have the responsibility to offer these students extra resources to help them succeed. Opportunities for extra advising and information could make the difference in these students’ lives and educations.

So, depending on your situation, leaving your four-year college for community colleges or online colleges might be a better choice. But if you’re thinking about it, explore some of the resources available at your current school. Sticking it out might be the better choice in the long run.

While it’s not surprising that being tech savvy is a great asset for any job seeker, it does come as a bit of a surprise to find that the demand for technology workers has officially surpassed the demand for trade workers and vocational careers.

The latest report from Dice reveals that tech skills are becoming increasingly in demand, as evidenced by this new report of various job postings around the nation.  The numbers reveal the quantity of times various skills were desired from the employer.  The sample is supposedly representative of job postings in America, and shows us that various technological skill sets are now what most companies are looking for most often:

Operating Systems
1. Windows — 8,445
2. Unix — 6,997

Databases
1. Oracle — 9,119
2. SQL — 7,389

Programming Languages
1. C, C++, C# — 9,354
2. J2EE/Java — 8,676

Colleges who specialize in technological training, such as Potomac College and the surrounding cluster of tech schools of Virginia are likely to see increased enrollment over the next few years as an effect of this industry shift.  With many first time college students getting enrolled in this fields, there is also a significant amount of professionals returning to school to obtain more up-to-date credentials for their résumé.

Still, the largest single factor used in deciding out what one should do with their working life comes from passion – and this is still, by and large – the most determinant factor students employ when enrolling for their college programs.

It’s like Confucius says – “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.

A mysterious superhero has descended upon several Universities throughout the United States.

Recently, at least nine college institutions have received gifts totaling over $45 million from a mystery donor. What’s unusual is no one, not even the universities, knows where the money came from.

Typically when an educational institution receives an anonymous donation – they are allowed to know the identity of the donor.  In the recent donation sweep, however – lawyers and middlemen have cornered academic institutions into signed agreements not only disallowing them to know the identity of the donor, but promising not to try and find out.

Some of the schools that received the donations are the University of Iowa colleges receiving 7 million, the University of Southern Mississippi college receiving 6 million, and Purdue’s Indiana college receiving 8 million. It’s not clear whether the gifts come from an individual, organization or group of people with similar interests.

All donations were given on March 1st. Each came with the stipulation that most of the money must go to student scholarships.
Donations have dwindled at several colleges, and many schools have been trying to make ends meet during this economic downturn. These gifts show that someone recognizes the importance of higher education and truly wants to make a difference in the lives of students.  Historically speaking, and only exempting some of the Ivy League institutions – a larger endowment is a typical prelude to enrollment increase.

I would certainly be on the lookout at these specific universities enrollment metrics over the next academic year – as opportunity might arise for those looking to attend one of their programs.