Giving back for the holidays 2015 edition

Ashland University

Winter break is a great time for high school students to start actively volunteering in their communities. Nonprofit organizations are in desperate need of hands-on help as well as donations to help make the season a little more festive for those in need.

And if you’re waiting to hear from colleges or are otherwise stressed out by the college application process, what better way to work off nervous energy than by helping others?    

For those ready to accept the challenge, here are some holiday ideas for more “entrepreneurial” high school students: 

• Organize a toy collection drive. Find a “Giving Tree” (or other community gift exchange for kids) or add contributions you’ve collected The Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots initiative.
• Sponsor a family for the holidays.
• Host a food drive or volunteer at a local food pantry or food bank. Check out Youth Service America’s service learning lesson plans for some ideas on projects targeted to ending childhood hunger.
• Gather classmates to make holiday cards to distribute to local nursing homes, hospitals, prisons, and to send to troops overseas. Visit www.redcross.org/holidaymail for specifics!
• Volunteer at a homeless shelter or a family crisis center. Enlist friends and family to help cook and/or serve a meal to those in need. Or organize a holiday party complete with decorations and presents.  The National Coalition for the Homeless offers a number of ways for volunteers to help combat homelessness and support families in shelters. 
• Put your craft skills to work and host a sewing party to make sleeping bags or blankets for the homeless. Check out Maddie’s Blankets to see what one local high school student was able to do.
• Organize a coat drive and donate the items to One Warm Coat.
• Host a present-wrapping table at your local mall or help wrap presents for an organization serving others. The wrapping service provided at the Fair Oaks Mall by DECA students from Fairfax County Public Schools is a great example.
• Sponsor a gift card drive and collect cards from local grocery and department stores to donate to organizations serving the needy.
• Rake leaves, shovel snow, prepare a meal, or simply visit an elderly neighbor or relative.  It’s estimated that over 50 percent of nursing home residents never have visitors.This simple gesture can make a world of difference during the holidays (and throughout the year).
• Organize a knitting circle, get yarn donations, and make hats for newborns, the homeless or chemo patients (free patterns may be found on the Knitting for Charity website).
• Host a story hour at a local library.
• Gather friends together and go caroling at a local senior center or a senior care community.  Include songs representing other languages and cultures.
• Sign-up for a charity walk or run. There are walks for breast cancer, diabetes, leukemia and hundreds more. Winter is a great time to plan ahead by seeking out a charity, setting a goal, and beginning training. Don’t forget to get your family, friends, and community involved. Donations to your cause make great holiday gifts!
  
  
• Foster a dog for the holidays or volunteer for weekend pet adoption events, which become very busy just before Christmas.
  
  
• After the holidays, volunteer at a local recycling center to help manage the influx of post-holiday waste.

In northern Virginia, Volunteer Fairfax has put together an online Handbook for Holiday Heroes, in which agencies and nonprofits are invited to list their holiday needs and wishes. Check it out for some additional ideas.

The point is to use time over the holidays to begin the process of community involvement and to give a little more than you receive.

88 colleges post total cost over $60K

Harvey Mudd College

Not so long ago, a college priced over $50,000 was viewed as a novelty. In fact, as recently as 2008, only five colleges posted prices over $50K, for tuition, fees, room and board.  By 2010, the number reached 104, including the first public university to cross that line—the University of California at Berkeley.  A year later, 125 colleges appeared on the $50K list and included the University of California at Santa Cruz, along with Berkeley.

Flash forward to 2015, and $50K almost seems like a bargain.  This year, 88 U.S. colleges and universities are charging more than $60,000, according to data gathered by the College Board and compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education.  And this is up from nine colleges as recently as two years ago.

While private colleges and universities continue to dominate the list of high-end institutions, dwindling state support for postsecondary education has pushed up costs at public institutions as well.

The College Board reports that the average published price for tuition and fees at public four-year colleges is $9,410 for in-state students in 2015-16, up from $9,145 in 2014-15, a 2.9 percent increase.  For out-of-state students, the average published tuition and fee price was $23,893 or 3.4 percent more than the previous year. 

At private four-year colleges, average published tuition and fees went up to $32,410 from $31,283—a 3.6 percent increase. Including room and board, average charges for this year total $43,921, at private institutions.

But no one, or at least very few families, pays sticker price thanks to various forms of financial aid. 

In fact, the College Board estimates that in 2015-16 full-time undergraduates at private nonprofit four-year colleges pay average net tuition and fees of about $15,000, after considering grant aid and federal education tax credits and deductions.  At public institutions, average net price comes to about $4000.

But keep in mind, this doesn’t include room and board, which for public institutions added an average of $10,140 to total cost.  At private colleges, room and board averaged $11,510.

Locally, a handful of private colleges appear on the $60K list.  These include Georgetown University ($63,771), Johns Hopkins University ($63,750), George Washington University ($62,485) and St. Johns College of Annapolis ($60,592).

While not quite hitting $60K, the most expensive public institutions in the country for out-of-state students are the University of Michigan ($54,030), followed by UC Riverside, UC Berkeley and UC Merced. The University of Virginia ($53,482) and the College of William and Mary ($51,494) come in 5^th and 9^th respectively.

And based on posted “sticker price” alone, the 20 most expensive colleges in the country for 2015-16 are:

1. Harvey Mudd College, CA ($67,155)
2. Columbia University, NY ($65,860)
3. Sarah Lawrence College, NY ($65,730)
4. New York University, NY ($65,330)
5. University of Chicago, IL ($64,965)
6. Bard College at Simon’s Rock, MA ($64,519)
7. Claremont McKenna College, CA ($64,325)
8. Scripps College, CA  ($64,260)
9. Oberlin College, OH ($64,224)
10. University of Southern California, CA ($64,132)
11. Bard College, NY  ($64,024)
12. Haverford College, PA  ($63,986)
13. Northwestern University, IL ($63,983)
14. Trinity College, CT   ($63,920)
15. Pitzer College, CA  ($63,880)
16. Olin College of Engineering, MA  ($63,781)
17. Amherst College ($63,772)
18. Georgetown University, DC  ($63,771)
19. Southern Methodist University, TX ($63,765)
20. Johns Hopkins University, MD  ($63,750)

Early applications for UVa’s class of 2020 increase by 4%

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia received 16,778 early action applications from prospective members of the Class of 2020, according numbers published yesterday by The Cavalier Daily. This represents a four percent increase over last year’s early application pool of 16,081.

While not committing to a specific number for this year, UVa offered admission to 4,851 early applicants last year, approximately 42 percent of whom were from Virginia. 

“The number of offers depends on the applicant pool,” explained Matthew Charles, university deputy spokesperson, in an email to the Cavalier Daily.

For those still waiting to submit, the regular decision deadline for the UVa Class of 2020 is January 1, 2016.  Last year, the university received 30,840 applications (earlier reports placed the number at 30,853), which represented a slight decrease from the previous year’s total of 31,042 applications. Of these 8,786 were initially admitted, with more added through the wait list process which extended until well into June.

This year, the admissions office is planning to fill 3,675 seats, according to the Cavalier Daily. If accurate, this would represent a slight decrease from the 3,707 students entering the Class of 2019. To accommodate larger classes, the university is currently constructing additional first year housing, which should be completed in August of 2016. 

The university is also in the process of hiring new faculty, in addition to replacing those who have or are planning to retire.

“The Board of Visitors and President Sullivan have authorized 105 new strategic faculty hires over the next five years in response to the expected growth in students,” explained Charles.

UVa reinstated early action in the fall of 2011, after doing away with a binding early decision program. That year, the university received 10,817 early applications. Since then, early action applications have steadily increased each year as students perceive an advantage in applying early.

Early action decisions are scheduled to be announced by  January 31, 2016, although the university usually manages to release them far earlier.

Great colleges with NO application fees

Stanford University

As many families are finding out, applying to college can be an expensive proposition—never mind what follows. US News and Money, About 80 percent of all colleges charge fees, and according to the average cost hovers somewhere around $41 to $42 apiece.  And given the selectivity of some schools, it sometimes feels as if these fees have become a form of fundraising for college admissions offices.

The highest application fee in the country has been for several years that charged by Stanford University.  For $90, U.S. applicants have the honor of joining a pool of almost 42,500 hopefuls from which about 2140 will receive letters of acceptance. Factoring out fee waivers, it’s not hard to imagine that these payments represent a significant source of revenue for the folks in Palo Alto.

According to information provided on the Common Application website, 13 colleges charge a domestic application fee of $80 or more.  These include Boston University, Duke University, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Southern California, and Villanova University. Although all will waive the fee for students with financial need, the average applicant can plan to incur significant expense by applying to a large number of these schools.

It’s worth noting that a number of institutions charge extra for international or out-of-state applicants. Others charge if the applicant submits a paper application but waives the fee for online submissions.

And not surprisingly, fees are mostly going up.  After analyzing data provided through both the Common App and the Integrated Post-secondary Education System (IPEDS), DIY College Rankings found there are now 501 colleges with application fees of $50 or greater, as compared with 490 from last year. The number of public institutions charging $50 or more increased from 239 to 246. As with the rest of life, nothing is getting cheaper.

But there is a bright side.  DIY reports that 413 colleges charge no application fees at all—an increase from 348 last year.  These include all of the military academies—West Point, Air Force Academy, Coast Guard Academy, Merchant Marine Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy—as well as a tremendous range of selective and not-so-selective colleges and universities located in every corner of the United States. In the Washington metropolitan region, Emory and Henry College, Hampden-Sydney College, Hollins University, Hood College, Randolph College, Randolph-Macon College, Roanoke College, St. John’s College, and Stevenson University charge no fee to apply.

And here are 30 additional colleges to consider offering with FREE applications:

1. Agnes Scott College, GA
2. Beloit College, WI
3. Bradley University, IL
4. Bryn Mawr College, PA
5. Carleton College, MN
6. Case Western Reserve University, OH
7. Christian Brothers University, TN
8. Colby College, ME
9. Cornell College, IA
10. Dennison University, OH
11. DePaul University, IL
12. Florida Institute of Technology, FL
13. Florida Southern College, FL
14. Hampshire College, MA
15. Juniata College, PA
16. Kalamazoo College,  MI
17. Kenyon College, OH
18. Lewis and Clark College, OR
19. Marquette University, WI
20. Mount Holyoke College, MA
21. Oberlin College, OH
22. Reed College, OR
23. Smith College, MA
24. Southwestern University, TX
25. Trinity University, TX
26. Tulane University, LA
27. Union College, NY
28. Washington and Jefferson College, PA
29. Wellesley College, MA
30. Xavier University, OH