Straight Talk: April 27, 2011

Straight Talk:  The StraighterLine e-Newsletter Issue #9, April 27, 2011
Edited by Jeffrey Lee Simons

In this issue…

Happy Mother's Day

The StraighterLine Scholarship for Working Moms
Because working moms are so important to us at StraighterLine, we are proud to announce The StraighterLine Scholarship for Working Moms. The best essay telling us what going back to school will mean to you and your family will receive a FREE “Freshman Year for $999 program” of up to 10 StraighterLine Courses. 3 Runners up will get free enrollment for 1 month plus 1 free course. Click here for details.

Mother's Day Special Offer
Plus, in honor of Mother’s Day, if you enroll in StraighterLine's College for $99 a month, when you register for a new course by 6/1/11 you’ll get a second course for FREE. That’s a $39 value… free, just for being a mom. Use promo code "Mom2011" during checkout. (If you're already enrolled, use promo code "SLM2011" during checkout and when you register for a new course you can get a second one for free.)

Happy Mother's Day to all our hardworking moms!

Best of The StraighterLine Blog

How to Write an Admissions Essay that Opens College Doors
Did you know that only talking about yourself in your admissions essay is one of the surest ways to talk your way out the door? Find out the 6 deadliest mistakes applicants make when submitting their college admissions essays, in this guest post by Kamala Appel of CollegeAdmissionsTips.com. Read Full Post

Busted Myth of the Week: Business Majors Earn the Most Money after Graduation
What’s the highest paying starting salary after graduation? According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, it’s Chemical Engineering, with a starting salary of $67,000 per year. For the rest of the Top Ten, read on. Read Full Post

Are You Puzzled by Advanced Placement Tests
With the start of AP testing season just a week away, we thought it was a great time to take a second look this post by Barry Lenson about the real reasons so many students are pulling their hair out right now. Read Full Post

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Get a Perfect Fit with Our No-Risk Free Trial

Would you ever buy a new pair of jeans or sneakers without trying them on first? At StraighterLine, we want you to be sure we’re a perfect fit, too. That’s why we offer a risk-free trial of 6 StraighterLine courses. Try us on… you’ve got nothing to lose, and thousands of dollars to save.

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Online Education in The News

For AP Students, a New Classroom Is Online
The Wall Street Journal, Sue Shellenbarger, 4/20/11

The Wall Street Journal reports that online AP courses are becoming increasingly popular options for students in school districts facing budget cuts. Not only are these courses available from online schools in 27 states, but they are also available from private companies.

More importantly, these online AP courses are getting the job done. According to the Journal, “The College Board says there isn't any significant difference in average test scores between students from traditional versus online classrooms…Smaller studies suggest students taking online classes achieve at about the same or higher levels than those in the classroom.” Read Full Article

Burden of College Loans on Graduates Grows
The New York Times, Tamar Lewin, 4/11/11 

Just one more reason to appreciate StraighterLine’s low cost college courses and the fact that we don’t accept federal student loans: The New York Times reports that “Student loan debt outpaced credit card debt for the first time last year and is likely to top a trillion dollars this year as more students go to college and a growing share borrow money to do so.” The article goes on to say that last year, graduates left college with an average debt of $24,000. Default rates are rising, especially for students at for-profit colleges.

But there’s good news, too. The median earnings of a person with a bachelor’s degree were $55,700: $21,900 more than a high school grad, with lower unemployment rates. Read Full Article

Economy sparks rising demand for online college courses
Examiner.com, Arnold Dengler, 4/18/11

According to the Examiner, a new research study shows that 75% of private-sector colleges and universities are seeing increased demand for online programs due to the economic downturn, and 60% of them say online is a critical part of their long-term strategy.

“Online student enrollments continue to be the fastest growing sector in higher education. Private sector colleges and universities are meeting these students' unique needs by virtue of their ability to enact rapid deployment and take full advantage of innovations and new technologies.” Read Full Article

New: Calculus II and 7 other StraighterLine Courses:

Now you can enroll in any of the 8 courses the American Council on Education's (ACE) Credit Recommendation Service reviewed and recommended for college credit last month. Click the subjects below for more information or to get started:

Straight Answers: This Week’s StraighterLine Survey Question:

From the number of responses to the last survey question, applying to colleges right now isn’t at the top of your to do list. So this issue, let’s try a question that connects to each and every one of you:


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Need cash on campus?

Then spread the word about StraighterLine! Tell your fellow students how with StraighterLine, they can graduate sooner with less debt – and you can earn commission money for yourself at the same time. Join the StraighterLine Campus rep program today!

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Burck’s Blast: "Improve higher ed’s effectiveness, efficiency & accountability"

Opinion from StraighterLine's founder, Burck Smith 

Excerpted from article to be published as part of a book sponsored by the Gates Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) by Burck Smith

U.S. higher education, whether for-profit, non-profit or public, is big business. To maintain national competitiveness and meet the new Administration’s policy goals, the number of students served must increase. However, given the state of the economy and the national debt, we cannot afford to spend more to do this. The only way to educate more students without breaking the bank will be to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and accountability of higher education. This requires us to re-think the regulatory structure of higher education to create conditions more favorable for academic and price innovation. Allowing a more efficient education market – one that allows price competition, new entrants, winners, and losers – could impose far greater market accountability. In turn, market accountability can create a stronger relationship between product quality and price paid.

Fortunately, technological change and the resulting competition plus the emergence of new business models are pulling a reluctant higher education edifice into conversations about reform. However, without supportive policy makers, new business models will continue to be forced to perform unnatural acts to succeed. For instance, why must Higher Ed Holdings partner with an accredited college if it is providing the lion’s share of the educational experience? Why must StraighterLine’s credits be limited to only those regionally accredited colleges where the faculty is willing to accept its credits? What value does a university provide in a "private labeled" relationship with a 3rd party that is providing all of the educational resources? What other business models might emerge if the pricing advantage enjoyed by public universities didn’t prevent competitors from entering the market?

From the residential liberal arts experience to vocational training to online baccalaureate degrees to cutting edge research, post-secondary education provides an extraordinary diverse set of experiences to an extraordinarily diverse set of students. This has served the United States well. However, with even more students needing to be served in even more ways through new mediums, the assumptions of the past need to be revisited. It’s time to build a provider-neutral, objectively assessed higher education system.  Read Full Article

 StraighterLine Welcomes New Partner Schools