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NEWS | January 2010 - all articles

This page includes all articles in the January issue of NEWS. Return to summary or go to the NEWS archive.

Preparing for a new job in a new economy
Fact you can use
Deficit to dominate 2010 legislative session
Working to make ends meet
Briefs

Preparing for a new job in a new economy

It’s not hard to find someone who’s out of work, with 200,000 Minnesotans unemployed. Two-year colleges have seen an uptick in enrollment driven by a sour economy, while enrollment at private institutions has remained stable. Nonetheless, Minnesota's Private Colleges are playing a role in helping people get back on their feet — or stay on them. We share examples from three of our member institutions.

Josh Loy, 32, was laid off from a manufacturing job last April. “I had no interviews for five months and was very stressed out,” he said. Thankfully, he had seen the writing on the wall and was enrolled in a business management program at the College of St. Scholastica’s St. Cloud location. Loy graduated with a B.A. degree in December and said he can’t express how much his professors and advisors helped him. “Several wrote letters of recommendation, others were my venting avenues; they gave me the whole nine yards.”

Loy liked interacting with other adult students and discovered that they were all very purposeful about their education. “Everyone did the work and it drove me to be more successful,” he said.

Loy recently landed a job working as a youth counselor at St. Cloud Children’s Home. He plans to enter a graduate program in management in the near future, “It will probably be at St. Scholastica,” he said.

A delayed impact on privates?
Don Wortham, who directs St. Scholastica’s extended studies program in five Minnesota communities, said that he expects an increase in the college’s enrollment further down the road, when students coming out of two-year programs move to baccalaureate institutions to complete their degrees.

St. Scholastica offers extended learning in St. Paul, St. Cloud, Brainerd, and Rochester, as well as through Duluth evening programs and online programs. There's a foundation of liberal arts and experience that supports students in their current or desired careers, Wortham said. “It's been said that St. Scholastica's brand of learning is ‘liberal arts with its sleeves rolled up.’ We believe that having physical locations is what serves students best; we are a local option that offers students a lot of flexibility.”

Increasing the options
Julie Sipma attends St. Scholastica's St. Paul campus, after having been laid off twice in the past 16 months from large health care companies. “They made a business decision to re-structure and I got caught in it,” she said.

Sipma has a business degree and an LPN license, but she recently enrolled in St. Scholastica’s graduate program in management. She attends class one night a week and has been impressed by what she’s seen. “What’s really cool is the diversity of ages, genders and people from all different professions. The program is very versatile and gives me more flexibility in what direction I can go,” she said.

Although Sipma has always worked in health care, she’s open to pursuing a different career. “Life is a journey; I just keep moving forward.”

Picking up the pace
At St. Catherine University, many programs serving adults were already in place, according to Greg Steenson, associate dean for admission and market development at the institution. The main reasons adult students enroll at the school is because they want a new career or want to move to the next level in their current career, he said.

“What’s different is that we’re seeing more students speeding up their degrees; they think that finishing their degree will make them more secure.” Steenson has also noticed that students are more concerned with outcomes. “They want a clear sense of what the degree will lead to and if it will be worth it; they are looking at financial aid and crunching numbers,” he said.

Steenson noted that he’s seeing more interest in undergraduate health care, social work and teaching programs. At the graduate level, interest has picked up in organizational leadership and accounting areas. “Attendance has been huge at our graduate program information sessions,” he said.

Seeking more security
Mariah Hendrickson, 31, is pursuing an associate’s degree in Health Information Management at St. Kate’s and hopes to eventually complete the four-year program as well. She had a scare in June when the newspaper company she works for threatened to eliminate her department. “They’ve given us another year to meet our advertising goals,” she said.

Although Hendrickson has a partially completed education degree, she felt that the health care field would offer more security in this economy. She looked at technical colleges but wasn’t happy with the attention the advisers gave her. That’s when she called St. Kate’s. “I talked to an admissions counselor at the Minneapolis campus and she was amazing.” Hendrickson needed someone to listen to her and understand her situation. “She put me on the right path,” she said.

Hendrickson has two children ages 8 and 7. They are her motivation, as she wants to ensure she can support them. “I don’t have a choice; I have to do it in two years,” she said.

Using career center resources
At Bethel University, the career center has experienced a noticeable increase over the past year in alumni seeking services related to job change or job loss, director Kathy Scholljegerdes said. In response, the center has made sure its Web site is more customer-friendly and added software that lets alums tap into national job postings. Scholljegerdes said that her office has also trained its career counselors to better serve the needs of mid-career alums and those with more complex needs. “We encourage alums to use our career counseling — it can give them direction and help with their job search strategy.”

Tim Roach, 56, is one Bethel alum who took advantage of the career center’s services. He has a master’s degree from Bethel and recently lost his job after 21 years at Deluxe Corporation, due to downsizing. He had designed training programs and curricula for a call center at the company.

Roach visited Bethel’s career center and on their advice took the Strong Interest Inventory, an assessment tool that helps identify jobs that fit an individual’s interests and personality. “I was doing lots of writing and creating in my job. The inventory actually reinforced that the job I had was a good fit for me,” he said.  Roach is now looking for a similar position. “I’ve been following several leads and I’m working hard at the job search with a lot of support from my career counselor.”

 

Fact you can use

No student should rule out one of Minnesota's Private Colleges without first checking with the institution about financial aid options. Nine out of 10 of our students receive grants and scholarships that do not have to be paid back. The bulk of that aid comes from the institutions themselves; over eight years institutional aid has grown 129%.

 

Deficit to dominate 2010 legislative session

A sizable state deficit will dominate the next legislative session, which begins when legislators return to St. Paul on Feb. 4. Efforts to control the size of the deficit dominated last session but that doesn’t mean that the problem has gone away. Instead, forecasts released in December show that the state faces a new $1.2 billion deficit for the current biennium, which ends June 30, 2011.

Given the size of the challenge, policy makers will have to focus on filling the deficit — either through additional revenues or more budget cuts. With Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s commitment to no new taxes and the unlikelihood that the House would override a veto of any tax increases, the budget deficit will likely be closed through additional budget cuts. In this environment, even existing programs with strong track records will be at risk.

Looking at the long-term fiscal health of the state, Minnesota will continue to face budget constraints beyond the current biennium. In addition to the $1.2 billion deficit remaining for the current biennium, the December forecast showed a $5.4 billion deficit for FY12-13. Although the Legislature is unlikely to address the state’s full structural deficit problems this session, it will be a dominant force in the November election, where all legislative seats and the governor will be on the ballot.

State Grant concerns
College students and their advocates will be concerned about the impact on the State Grant program, which provides need-based aid to one out of three Minnesota college students from low- and middle-income families. Some of the students attend institutions that are represented by the Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC), but the majority are enrolled Minnesota’s public two- and four-year colleges and universities.

Driven by higher demand for aid this fall, the program already has a $25 million deficit for the current biennium, which ends June 2010. Current law requires that the state make changes in the program for the 2010-2011 academic year that will result in smaller awards and thousands of students losing eligibility.

On other education fronts
In addition to the budget deficit, the other main focus of this legislative session will be the bonding bill. Pawlenty has released his priorities, which include $685 million in new capital projects around the state. Included in his priorities are $130 million for the University of Minnesota and $114.6 million for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The next step is for the House and Senate to craft their own bonding packages.

 

Working to make ends meet

To afford college and have spending money, students have a variety of tools at their disposal. In addition to the government and institutional grants students receive and the loans they take out — many students also work. Two options exist: work-study involving jobs on campus and jobs off campus.

College students work for a variety of reasons. To earn spending money, pay educational expenses, contribute to living expenses and reduce debt are some of the most common reasons given.

The average number of hours worked by students is identical at public and private nonprofit institutions in Minnesota. On average, students who work put in about 20 hours a week — a number that has been stable since 2000. This includes both work-study and outside jobs. This data comes from the Minnesota Private College Research Foundation’s analysis of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study for 2007-08. It tracks students who are enrolled full-time, are Minnesota residents and attend a four-year college or university.

There is a growing body of research that suggests working can affect students’ grades, engagement on campus and critical thinking skills. The consensus is that the effect begins to be negative when students work more than 20 hours per week. Although it has also been suggested that students who work more develop better time management skills, leadership qualities and psychological well-being; students who work 20 hours or less may improve their prospects for academic success.

 

Briefs

• Stop by the Private College Scholars at the Capitol event on Feb. 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to review poster displays and discuss our undergraduate scholars’ findings. You’ll learn something new and help our state recognize these students’ accomplishments.
• Five MPCC institutions appeared on Kiplinger's 2010 list of 50 best values in liberal arts colleges. Our schools also ranked well on the U.S. News & World Report listings for best liberal arts colleges and high school counselor rankings of liberal arts colleges.
• The Chronicle of Higher Education article, Less Politics, More Poetry: China's Colleges Eye the Liberal Arts highlights United International College in China — with which the Minnesota Private College Council has a partnership agreement. The article includes quotes from Bethany Lutheran College Professor Thomas Kuster.
• The Minnesota Private College Research Foundation report Degrees Earned 2008-09 shows that our 17 members provide nearly a third of all baccalaureate degrees produced in the state and more than a fifth of master’s degrees. Member institutions also award nearly 30% of all bachelor degrees earned by students of color.
• The Minnesota Private Colleges Job and Internship Fair will be at the Minneapolis Convention Center, Feb. 16-17. Students will have the opportunity to network with 150+ employers.
• Bethel University hosts a Black History Month Collaboration Project on Feb. 3 with a presentation and program by activist and author Eware X. Osayande, a spoken word performance by Shá Cage and music from a multi-college/community gospel choir. This event is free and open to the public. A reception begins at 5 p.m., followed by the program at 6:30 p.m.