September 2010 newsletter
share this pageBorrowing for college students continues to rise
Minnesota college students rely increasingly on borrowing to pay for college: In 2009, total loans taken out by students and their families exceeded $1.6 billion — up from $1.2 billion in 2007. Over those two years, student reliance on borrowing grew faster than their use of public or institutional grants.
Student borrowing patterns vary among different kinds of institutions. According to analysis from the Minnesota Private College Research Foundation of the most recent data, students enrolled at for-profit institutions rely the most on borrowing; on average 80% of all aid used at those institutions is borrowed. Meanwhile, students at the Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC) nonprofit member institutions receive 42% of their aid through borrowing. That’s the lowest share among the higher education sectors.
Currently, more than 70% of Minnesota college graduates accumulate debt. The amount students borrow varies by sector. The average debt of graduates from four-year publics and four-year nonprofit privates (including MPCC institutions) ranges from about $24,000 to $29,000. Meanwhile, graduates from for-profit institutions see their debt averaging $40,000 — far exceeding the other sectors.
MPCC member institutions minimize student debt by providing substantial institutional grant aid. The $375.5 million in institutional grant aid and discounts awarded by the 17 member institutions makes up nearly half the aid used by their students. (Further, the grant aid provided by MPCC member institutions is 70% of all institutional grant aid awarded in the state.)
When looking at borrowing over time, each sector has experienced growth. This growth could be due to enrollment growth (more students to borrow money), borrowing to cover rising tuition in lieu of equal increases in government aid or families borrowing due to losses in household income due to the economic recession.
The for-profit institutions show the greatest increase between 2007 and 2009, with borrowing nearly doubling; meanwhile, their enrollment increased 31%. State four-year institutions had the second greatest enrollment increase over 2007 but had a smaller change in borrowing. Minnesota Private College Council member institutions had the smallest increase in student borrowing over 2007, while enrollment increased 2%.
One principal concern about rising student borrowing for financing higher education is the payback amount required. Banking industry studies suggest that a manageable student loan payment should equal 8% or less of a borrower's gross income. That means that for a student to pay off $25,000 in 10 years, with a payment of 8% of income, the student would need to earn $45,000 or more. As borrowing rises, another area for attention is how default rates may be impacted. Overall, the concern is that as students rely more heavily on college loans, the debt involved can create a financial burden that takes years to shed.
Tempering any worries about borrowing levels should be consideration of the value of the investment. Certainly, recent research substantiates the longer-term benefits of completing a post-secondary degree. But students do need to take care in determining the level of debt that is appropriate for them, given in part the degrees they are earning and their ability to forecast future income. A level of debt that may make sense for completing one kind of program at one institution may not make sense for another program elsewhere. At our member institutions, admission and financial aid officers are available to help families with these questions.
And for policymakers, concern about rising levels of student borrowing should trigger renewed attention to financial aid. While at our nonprofit private colleges, institutional aid has continued to grow rapidly, public need-based aid — through Minnesota's State Grant program and the federal Pell Grants — has failed to keep up. Underinvestment in the State Grant program could threaten the ability of low- and middle-income students to be able to access higher education at any institution.
Professors keep learning relevant
Professors at Minnesota's private colleges have a singular focus on teaching. And to make sure they're effective, many adapt and broaden their repertoires to increase student engagement in the learning process. With the start of the new academic year, we gathered a few examples of tactics that are hitting the mark with students.
Vial of sand holds clues
At Macalester College,
geology professor Karl Wirth has developed three scenarios that he uses
in his introductory geology class to help students learn. After reading
the book The Power of Problem-based Learning, he was inspired to integrate real-world problems into the course.
The first scenario (Trouble in Paradise) involves "the Dude," a
fictional college alumnus who lives on a tropical volcanic island.
Concerned about the possibility of an imminent eruption, the Dude sends a
vial of sand and a message to the college, asking the students for help
in assessing the volcanic hazard risk and a response. He doesn't
mention where he is, so students are not able to use geographic clues to
infer the nature of an eruption.
"It's a bit of a leap for students in this first exercise, but I tell them that if they know the sand's mineral content, they can start to make testable predictions," Wirth said. Students use a scanning electron microscope to analyze the sand, which gives them information about how the volcano is likely to behave if it erupts (explosively like Mt. St. Helen or quietly like Kilauea in Hawaii).
Wirth said he has been surprised at how much students identify with the Dude. "Past students still stop by and ask me how the Dude is doing," he said.
The real-world nature of the problem is what makes the exercise powerful, Wirth believes. "It's designed to be a muddy situation; there isn't one right answer, but those answers supported by sound evidence and reasoning are better. In the process of solving the problem, students learn the geology that would normally be encountered in a more traditional lecture course"
Wirth said the exercise allows students to learn more deeply because they construct the knowledge themselves. "Having to think about evidence and solve murky problems is a lifelong skill," he said.
Learning from entrepreneurs
Last spring,
Concordia University, St. Paul's business faculty injected some
real-world experiences into their courses in accounting,
entrepreneurship and microeconomics. Based on student requests for
practical and applied learning experience, the school partnered with
community development organizations to make that happen.
Concordia professor Bruce Corrie said that students had a chance to meet with ethnic business owners at Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis and at restaurants along St. Paul's University Avenue to learn about the ethnic markets.
"The students met with community and business owners from the University Avenue area and learned about the challenges around the light rail construction project. Students also offered suggestions for how ethnic businesses could tap into the mainstream market," Corrie said.
Students later said that this experience helped make their academic courses more relevant and gave them new insights into the ethnic markets.
Corrie was impressed enough with the results that he said the school will integrate similar experiences in other business classes. "These students' understanding of neighborhood and ethnic businesses will give them an advantage when they enter the job market," he said.
Hands on production
When Chris Johnson joined
Bethany Lutheran College's communication department a decade ago, he
knew that there were great career opportunities in sports broadcasting.
In order to compete with larger schools' broadcast journalism programs
though, Johnson aimed to find a niche for Bethany. That happened a few
years ago when the school decided to invest in a remote production
trailer to give students experience outside the studio.
Partnering with a local cable company, Johnson arranged for students
to produce broadcasts of Minnesota State University-Mankato hockey games
from the trailer. Since then it's been used to broadcast athletic
programs from UMD, political programs and theatrical performances. Last
spring the school took it a step further by involving students in
designing and setting up a brand new trailer with high-definition video
capability.
"As a liberal arts college, we want students to understand the whole process, not just be skilled in one part. They learn how to connect and operate all the equipment, adjust to weather and venues and get set up in limited amounts of time," Johnson said. "They really learn problem-solving on the fly."
When there's a client and you're in the middle of a live production, you have to respond fast, Johnson said. An ESPN producer who hired Bethany for a production told Johnson that his student crew was fantastic. "When the audio guy had trouble, the graphics guy helped — he knew what to do too."
Johnson noted that people often work in isolation in the broadcast field, so when crew members know all aspects of the process they work more cohesively and confidently.
Senior Marcus Taplin said that his production trailer experience gave him a leg up in snagging an internship with the Fox Sports North in the Twin Cities this past summer. "Having repeatedly done productions from the trailer, I already knew the protocol and order of doing things," he said. "I was able to apply what I knew at Fox."
Johnson said that recruiters know about the Bethany program and its graduates are now working at ESPN and TV stations around the country. "This experience sets them apart and can propel their résumé to the top."
From fundraising to door-knocking, the act of running for office can be high-stress, thankless and expensive — and things usually don’t get any easier once a candidate is elected. What, then, makes a busy person with a career and family foray into the world of politics?
This year, several grads of Minnesota’s private colleges have thrown their hats into the ring in hopes of being elected. More than 40 of the state's 201 legislators are currently alumni of private colleges and universities in Minnesota.
We asked three such graduates what motivates them to seek office and what their experience with the process has been like so far.
Michelle Benson: Taking her turn at leadership
Michelle
Benson is nothing if not well-rounded, as her undergraduate degree in
chemistry, her M.B.A and her role as a mother of two boys demonstrate.
So when she felt that political leaders weren’t listening to her
concerns, she decided to add a new responsibility to the list.
Benson (B.S., ’91, St. Catherine University and M.B.A., ’96, University of St. Thomas) is the Republican candidate for the District 49 Senate seat. She has been an accountant, an auditor and executive director of an IT security organization. Though she is committed to the potential new position, she knows it will not be her job forever — nor does she want it to be.
“I don’t believe in politics as a lifetime career,” she said. “I want to be a good public servant and then, eventually, go back to my private life.”
Her decision to run was bolstered by the support of her family and friends, with whom she sat down to discuss running for office.
“They said, ‘You have a good message, you’re running for the right reasons, and you’re willing to do the hard work,’” she said.
Benson relies on that same close-knit group of supporters to keep her grounded. One influence on her civic involvement was her parents, who “were generous with their time, talent and treasure,” she said. “Whether something needed to be done in town or with church, they did it, because it was the right thing to do.”
She also credited St. Catherine University and the University of St. Thomas with creating “an environment that encourages service,” reinforcing lessons learned at home and in her private life.
Benson said she has enjoyed meeting people while door-knocking, including a man who was excited about voting as a new citizen; she also informed a former felon that he was now eligible to vote, which made his face light up, she said.
“People just want to be part of the process,” she said. “They are excited to be involved.”
Jen Peterson: When personal and political meet
For
Jen Peterson (A.A.,’92, St. Catherine University) the importance of
understanding the political process isn’t an abstract concept, but a
practical reality. More than a decade ago, she was a mother who was not
receiving her court-ordered child support. This motivated her to learn
more about her rights — and to get involved in politics to help others.
After learning about the legal system, filing a lawsuit to obtain child support and speaking at the Capitol about her situation, “I thought, ‘at some point, I’d like to be the one making these decisions,’” she said.
Currently a Cottage Grove city council member, Peterson is running as the DFL House candidate in District 57A. While she had mapped out potential political seats years before and was considering a future run for county commissioner, she was surprised to learn that the seat she is currently seeking was not being sought by the incumbent.
“I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’ It didn’t take too much thinking. . . I just didn’t think the opportunity would come up so soon.”
She said being a mother to five children makes her want to be involved in politics. “Kids are great motivators for making people want to stick up for someone or something.”
Her children — and creating a better life for them — was also the motivation when Peterson attended St. Catherine University to attain her degree in occupational therapy. “I had several teachers at St. Kate’s who were very supportive of what I was doing — going back to school as a single mom,” she said.
Peterson, who also serves on two Washington County commissions, recently decided to quit her full-time job as a recreational care coordinator at a nursing home to better balance her family and political life. She is committed to politics even if she does not win this election, she said. “I kind of have this view that if you’re not willing to get involved and be some part of a positive change, you really have no right to complain.”
Bruce Hentges: A living civics lesson
For
former high school teacher and administrator Bruce Hentges (B.A., ’72,
Saint John’s University) retirement offers a chance to practice what he
preached for 18 years in his social studies classroom. Though he has
“never had political aspirations before,” American civics and government
was always his favorite class to teach, he said. “I think we do have a
responsibility as citizens in a democracy to participate to the extent
that we can.”
Hentges is the DFL Senate candidate in District 15; he also serves on the school board for District 742 and is the executive director of LEAF, a St. Cloud-based nonprofit that helps to fund extra-curricular and academic programs in public schools.
Hentges was approached by “prominent DFLers” and asked to consider running; though his decision was somewhat surprising to family and friends, everyone has been supportive. He and his wife do all of their door-knocking together, and have spent almost every night since April doing something campaign-related, he said.
“Unquestionably, the door-knocking has been the most enjoyable part of the campaign,” he said. “I’ve had great conversations, many with people who have conservative views. I’ve always been a person who believes in and is able to talk about politics in a respectful way.”
Hentges said he is not daunted by running for office in the current economic climate. “By nature, I am an optimist — I believe that big challenges like the ones we’re facing provide big opportunities for growth,” he said.
He believes much of his attitude toward life was formed at Saint John’s, where he attended college and played football. He was coached by John Gagliardi, who influenced his overall philosophy of life and his coaching style. (Hentges was also a football coach.)
Would he run for office again if he isn’t elected this time around? Hentges said he’s learned to never say never, but already has a full plate. “I would tend to think that I offered myself as a candidate, I ran a good campaign, and if people don’t vote for me, I can’t be upset about that.”
