In the college search, students gravitate towards lists. They love the shorthand comparison of schools provided by rankings such as U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges.

But recent news that Claremont McKenna College submitted inflated SAT scores casts a shadow over the rankings. The vice president and dean of admissions at the 1,200-student school in Claremont, California, admitted misrepresenting data from 2005 to 2011. Although the scores were exaggerated only slightly, small differences can influence the rankings.

Claremont McKenna ranked ninth among national liberal arts colleges in the latest U.S. News list.

The SAT scores have a weight of 7.5 percent in the formula for ranking colleges, according to Bob Morris, of U.S. News. The school also misreported the student-testing scores to the U.S. Department of Education; its regional accrediting body, Western Association of Schools and Colleges; and other publishers. Claremont McKenna has promised "in the near future" it will supply the magazine with the correct average SAT scores so it can determine the impact the misreporting had on the ranking of the school, Morris, who oversees the rankings for U.S. News, wrote on its website.

The episode demonstrates the lengths to which colleges will go to improve their position and adds fuel to the criticism of the validity of the rankings.

Inside Higher Education today ran an opinion piece by the president of Colby College, in Maine, calling the incident a predictable scandal. "We should have seen this coming," writes William Adams. Colleges use a variety of methods to game the system that are on the margins of acceptable practices, he says. The system encourages deceit and has a corrupting influence on higher education, according to Adams.

Adams suggests it's time for colleges to take collective action and not participate in the ranking system, but admits a boycott is unlikely.

The National Association of College Admission Counseling, a nonprofit membership group of admissions counseling professional based in Arlington, Va., has cautioned students about placing too much importance on the U.S. News rankings. In a report last fall, NACAC said the rankings create confusing impressions about college quality.

A committee the group convened to discuss the U.S. News rankings recommended that it remove the "class rank" and "standardized testing" metrics from the rankings formula and instead include factors that measure student satisfaction and engagement. It also suggested that less weight be given to the survey of other administrators about a school's reputation. The group called for more educational information to be given to members about the rankings and that NACAC work with education publishers to encourage development of do-it-yourself lists for consumers so the selection process will be driven by personal fit over generic rankings.

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In the next few months, high school seniors will make their final decisions on which college to attend. Many will be thinking back to their campus visits a year ago. Which school was it with the cool climbing wall? Best food? Newest dorm? Others will be sitting around the kitchen table with their families talking dollars and cents. Which school has the best aid package? Will it be worth taking out all these loans?

In a new e-book, Is a College Education Still Worth the Price? A Dean's Sobering Perspective, Richard Schwartz, professor of English at the University of Missouri, Columbia, encourages students to look beyond the fancy new fitness facilities and look at what really matters: the quality and value of the education.

When students find the right fit and are engaged, higher education can indeed be worth it, says Schwartz. "There is no question it is valuable," he says. Research shows the investment pays off in higher lifetime earnings. Yet the exploding cost of college and the watered down curricula at many universities means that students who want a solid education have to be aggressive in seeking it out, writes Schwartz.

"Look between the lines," he says. "Look at the ratings, but take that with a grain of salt. Look at the curriculum, where the faculty are trained, and at the library." Do some research, ask deep questions, and seek advice beyond professionals in the college business.

Schwartz maintains there is too much marketing and emphasis on "brand" today in higher education. In many institutions, standards are slipping and money is put into an array of services when the priority should be on instruction, according to Schwartz. Enrollment has grown, but faculty numbers have not risen significantly. At the same time, there has been an increase in the nonteaching academic staff. Universities have become cities that offer services that often duplicate those in the surrounding community, driving up costs, he notes.

The number of hours the average student studies per week is substantially lower than it was 50 years ago, says Schwartz. Why aren't students studying more? "They don't have to. We aren't asking them to do much," he says. Students are keeping journals, rather than writing papers. They are reading fewer books.

The flood of students (not all of whom are passionate about being in college) has given pressure to the lowering of expectations at many schools, Schwartz suggests. "The contemporary diploma seldom carries any guarantees; it is merely a certificate of attendance," he writes.

Still, there is good news in American higher education. "Greatness can still be found there, and opportunity," writes Schwartz. "The individual student, however, must want it enough to seek it out, tenaciously."

Schwartz has worked at the University of Missouri, the University of Wisconsin, and Georgetown University and has held positions as associate dean, dean, and interim provost.

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Bolstering the push to improve college- and career-readiness in high school, researchers say they have new evidence that more rigorous courses do indeed help the odds for student success — especially for disadvantaged youth and those attending disadvantaged schools.

An article in the American Educational Research Journal this month looks at the courses high school students took and how that affected high school graduation, as well as entry to and advancement in postsecondary education. Using panel data from a census of public school students in Florida, authors Mark Long, Dylan Conger and Patrice Iatarola demonstrate a strong case for the benefits of requiring students to take challenging courses.

The researchers found that students who took Level-3 math courses by 10th grade had higher test scores, were more likely to graduate from high school, and were more apt to attend a four-year college. The same advantage was evident for those who took rigorous classes in English, science, social studies or a foreign language. Across the five subjects, taking a rigorous course raised the likelihood of attending a four-year college by 7 to 9 percentage points and two-year college by 2 to 4 points. It also translated into raising student's college GPA and the number of cumulative credits they earned.

(The authors used propensity score matching, based on 8th grade test scores, student characteristics and school effects, within groups of students.)

The paper concludes that taking a rigorous class, across subjects, is advantageous at any point in high school, but is even stronger if taken in 9th or 10th grade. While most relationships were the same across demographic groups, Hispanic, African-American and poor students experienced a slightly higher increase in high school graduation rates when they took a rigorous course by 10th grade.

While these courses may produce better educational outcomes, the authors note that an unintended consequence could be stressed out and overworked students. The paper finds diminishing returns for students already taking hard classes; the best gains are among students from disadvantaged and high-poverty schools. They suggest a possible approach may be to shift students from taking no rigorous courses into taking some, while avoiding going overboard for those with already demanding course loads.

An abstract of the article, "The Effects of High School Course-Taking on Secondary and Postsecondary Success" can be found here.

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Many Americans are turning to community colleges for affordable education and job training in today's tough economy. But the two-year institutions are finding it a challenge to ramp up services amid growing enrollment and declining state support.

A new report released today from the Center for Community College Student Engagement based on four surveys of students and faculty reflects the gap between the promise of community colleges and the reality. While 79 percent of entering students say they want to complete an associate degree, just 45 percent meet that goal in six years, the data show. There is also a disconnect between services offered on campuses and student participation.

Getting incoming students up to speed academically appears to be part of the problem. When students enter a community college, about 74 percent report taking a placement test. This determines whether they have to take remedial classes, which often can bog down students and delay completion, research from the Community College Research Center has revealed.

The CCCSE surveys found only 28 percent of students prepared for the placement tests with materials provided by the college. About 44 percent of participating colleges offered some kind of test prep, but just 13 percent make it mandatory for incoming students.

After taking the placement tests, 72 percent of the students were put in developmental education. Colleges provide supplemental instruction and tutoring to help those who are struggling academically, but the surveys found few students took advantage of those supports, and most schools don't require it.

Working 30-plus hours a week is the norm for 42 percent of community college part-time students and 18 percent of those attending full-time. About half also are caring for children. The report concluded that just 26 percent of students had a college staff member talk to them about how to balance their course load with their work and family responsibilities.

About 15 percent of the community colleges surveyed require students to take success courses that teach study skills and time management and have been linked to course completion and better grades, the report notes.

Early warning systems for struggling students hold hope for retaining students. In the surveys, 14 percent of respondents say that they have experienced academic difficulties and been contacted by someone at the college, while 27 percent of faculty members say that when students are struggling in their classes, they notify someone else in the college who is part of a systematic early warning system.

The authors call on community colleges to inventory current practices and look closely at data to determine their effectiveness. They also advise schools to choose what to care about and then how to leverage resources. "If everything is a priority, then nothing of significance gets done," the report notes. "Given limited resources, colleges must identify the intentionally designed experiences that will have the largest possible positive impact on the largest possible number of students."

The report, "A Matter of Degrees: Promising Practices for Community College Student Success," also includes descriptions of model programs across the country and is the first in a series of reports exploring promising practices for strengthening community college student engagement and success.

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While many high school seniors are relieved to have the college application process behind them, others find these few months of waiting to be anxiety-filled.

A senior blogging for The New York Times about her college search says her mom has tagged this period the "post-application roller coaster."

Rachel Yang, a student at Minnetonka High School in Minnetonka, Minn. was thrilled when she submitted the final college application and thought she could finally relax. "Not so. Everyone, I think, will tell you that waiting here, in college-app limbo, is the worst part of the process. I thought I was free, but I could not have been more mistaken," she writes. "It's weighing on our very house; everyone's on pins and needles."

New findings from a survey of incoming college freshman indicates students may be increasingly disappointed with the news they receive this spring from their dream college.

Acceptance rates at students' first-choice school was 76 percent in 2011, down from 78.9 percent the year before. There is a stable gap of about 18 percent between acceptance at first-choice institutions and attendance, according to The American Freshman: National Norms 2011 by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program and the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.

The percentage of students attending their first-choice college is 57.6 percent—the lowest since the question was first asked in the survey in 1974. Last year, the figure was 60.5 percent. The downward trend began in 2006, according to the survey.

If you are a first-generation student, you are not as likely to enroll in your first-choice, four-year institution as someone from a family with college-going experience. While first-generation college students are being accepted to their top college pick at about the same rate as those whose parents attended college (75.9 percent versus 76.2 percent), just 54.8 percent of first-generation students actually attend compared to 58.9 percent. The gap is even wider for first-generation women.

The report's authors note that these findings underscore the need for high school counselors and college admission staff to provide extra support for first-generation students going through the college-selection process. The survey found first-generation students were more likely than others to indicate that living near home was a priority and they were twice as likely to indicate a teacher advising them was very important in their decision.

Here's another perspective: The average selectivity rate—the percentage of applicants who are offered admission—at four-year colleges and universities was 65.5 percent in the fall of 2010, according to the latest survey of the National Association of College Admission Counseling. The percentage of admitted students who enroll (yield rate) was 41 percent.

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At the same time students are paying more of their own share of college costs, many are becoming more serious about their studies, a new survey shows.

The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2011 is a survey of more than 200,000 incoming first-time, full-time college students at four-year institutions and is conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute as part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies.

Among the survey highlights showing students are more academically oriented when entering college:

• The percentage of incoming first-year students who took at least one Advanced Placement course in high school rose from 67.9 percent in 2009 to 71 percent in 2011, and those who had taken five or more went up from 18.7 percent to 21.7 percent in the same period.

• When it comes to homework, 39.5 percent of high school seniors said they spent six or more hours a week studying, up from 37.3 percent in 2010.

• Just over 69 percent of students said they frequently took notes during class as high school seniors, up from 67 percent last year.

• Freshmen increasingly expected to discuss course content with their peers outside of class (48.8 percent in 2011, up from 46.9 percent the year before), something that is connected with staying in school and better performance.

• Drinking is down: High school seniors who said they drank beer occasionally or frequently as high school seniors dropped from 38.4 percent in 2010 to 35.4 percent in 2011; those who consumed wine and/or liquor fell from 43.3 percent to 41.1 percent.

College freshman also face increased financial pressure in the economic downturn. The survey highlighted those changes, as well:

• Incoming students paying for college with grants or scholarships was down, from 73.4 percent in 2010 to 69.5 percent in this year's survey.

• The proportion of students receiving $10,000 or more in grants or scholarships in 2011 dropped to 26.8 percent, compared with 29.2 percent in 2010.

• About 13.3 percent of freshman expected to take out $10,000 or more in loans to pay for just the first year of college. In 2001, the figure was 5.6 percent.

• Unemployment for parents of incoming freshman continued at high levels— in 2011, 4.7 percent of students' fathers didn't have a job and 8.6 percent of their mothers were unemployed, about the same as the previous year for both.

The 2011 Freshman Norms report is based on the responses of 203,967 first-time, full-time students at 270 of the nation's baccalaureate colleges and universities. The survey has been conducted annually since 1966.

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Although families could start filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on Jan. 1, many put it off.

However, with dwindling financial-aid dollars, some institutions and states are doling out awards on a first-come, first-serve basis until funds are depleted. Dates vary by state, but some require students to fill out the FAFSA in February and March. (Click here for a list of deadlines by state.) FAFSA must receive applications no later than June 30.

So it's smart to apply now. It's a common misconception to wait until you file your taxes first. Experts say to estimate and get started.

U.S. News and World Report has a good article on how to avoid common mistakes on the financial-aid application.

For more information or help in filling out the FAFSA, go to here or call 1-800-4-FED-AID
(1-800-433-3243).

You can also follow the U.S. Department of Education for FAFSA advice on Twitter (Twitter handle @FAFSA).

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In a speech this morning at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, President Barack Obama reiterated the call in his State of the Union address for colleges to keep tuition down and announced efforts to make costs and performance of schools more transparent so students can make informed choices.

"This country has always made a commitment to put a good education within the reach of all who are willing to work for it, and that's part of what helped to create this economic miracle and build the largest middle class in history," said Obama. "Now we've moved to an information age, a digitalized age, a global economy. We've got to make that same commitment today."

Obama is proposing a College Scorecard for all degree-granting institutions that students could use to compare schools based on their needs, affordability, and career and educational goals. Colleges also would have to collect earnings and employment information so students can get a sense of the job outcomes they could expect, according to a fact sheet just released by the Administration.

"Parents like getting report cards," said Obama. "From now on, parents and students deserve to know how a college is doing—how affordable is it, how well are its students doing? We want you to know how well a car stacks up before you buy it. You should know how well a college stacks up."

The administration also would like make the financial aid shopping sheet, announced in October, a requirement for all schools to make it easier for families to compare college financial aid packages.

To pressure colleges to keep tuition down, the president proposes linking federal student aid to college performance. Schools that keep tuition low and graduate a relatively large share of Pell Grant-eligible students would be rewarded with a larger share of money through Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG), Perkins Loans, and Work Study.

"I'm telling Congress we should steer federal campus-based aid to those colleges that keep tuition affordable, provide good value, serve their students well," Obama said today. "We are putting colleges on notice ... you can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down. We should push colleges to do better. We should hold them accountable if they don't."

The president acknowledged in his speech that state budget cuts have been the largest factor in tuition increases at public colleges over the past decade. He would like to challenge states to come up with innovative ways of improving higher education in this tight economic climate. The administration is proposing a new $1 billion Race to the Top for College Affordability and Completion competition. The program would push states to revamp the structure of state financing for higher education; align entry and exit standards with K-12 education and colleges; and maintain adequate levels of funding for higher education.

"We're telling the states, if you can find new ways to bring down the cost of college and make it easier for more students to graduate, we'll help you do it," said Obama. "We will give you additional federal support if you are doing a good job of making sure that all of you aren't loaded up with debt when you graduate from college."

In Michigan, the president also promoted the idea of extending the federal tuition tax credits, doubling the number of work-study jobs in the next five years, and keeping federal student loan interest rates down — all outlined in Tuesday's State of the Union speech.

All these proposals would need the approval of Congress to move forward.

For more, see the Politics K-12 blog today and The New York Times.

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In today's tight job market, young people especially need all the help they can get.

A free online toolkit launched Tuesday by the Young Invincibles and the American School Counselor Association has detailed job-market information, including college majors with the lowest unemployment rates by state.

Rory O'Sullivan, policy director for Young Invincibles, a Washington-based nonprofit advocating for 18- to 34-year olds, said young people are looking for more career guidance. This fall, the organization released results of a survey that showed eight in 10 young people know that higher education is more important to their generation than their parents', but that they feel college is becoming increasingly out of financial reach.

With young people facing a higher unemployment rate than the rest of the population, O'Sullivan says the "Skills That Work Toolkit" is an attempt to connect students with fields that are hiring so they can maximize their education dollars. While the job information is available elsewhere, the website organizes it in an easily accessible format for users, he said.

The toolkit can be used by high school counselors working with students transitioning to college and careers.

The information on the website will be updated and the resource section expanded throughout the spring, added O'Sullivan. The toolkit release is part of the Campaign for Young America, a project and bus tour led by Young Invincibles and dozens of partner organizations to reach out and engage young people in solving the nation's economic challenges.

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President Obama's focus on college access and affordability in last night's State of the Union Address was welcomed in the higher education community. But his strong language of putting colleges "on notice" to rein in tuition costs left some wondering how that could be achieved in the current economic environment.

Just this week, news came out that colleges lost $6 billion in state support, an average of nearly 8 percent in the past year.

Yet the president said college shouldn't be a luxury and threatened to decrease federal support for colleges if tuition keeps rising.

"We can't just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; we'll run out of money," said Obama. "States also need to do their part, by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets. And colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down."

While no details were provided in the speech, a document released by the White House last night said the president is "proposing to shift some federal aid away from colleges that don't keep net tuition down and provide good value."

Obama praised colleges that were innovative by offering three-year degree programs, leveraging technology for learning, and having no-frills campuses. But Obama urged more efficiency to make college affordable because higher education is " an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford."

Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said it's tough to remember a time when a sitting president spent so much prime time talking about financial aid during a State of the Union. While everyone wants to keep the net price of college down, it's not easy in today's economy, he said.

"We're always concerned about proposals that would penalize schools, and ultimately students, for tuition increases when many times what causes a tuition increase is out of a college's hands," said Draeger. "Decreased state appropriations, increased operating costs, because of things like energy prices, can't be controlled by schools."

David Baime, senior vice president for government relations and research at the American Association of Community Colleges, said he was encouraged that the president emphasized the fact that states need to do more to support higher education. "Our colleges have done a great deal to curb their costs," he said. "But the reality is that tuition will continue to increase if states continue to cut their support."

Obama also called for community colleges to partner with local businesses to help create jobs. Baime said he was pleased that Obama recognized the contributions of community colleges in providing job training and the need to have resources to prepare the future workforce.

To pay for college, the president said he wants to double over five years the number of work-study jobs for college students who agree to work their way through school.

Last night, he also urged Congress help lower the cost to students by halting a planned increase of the interest rate on federal subsidized Stafford student loans, which will go from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in July if no action is taken.

"We welcome the president's leadership in keeping interest rates low," said NASFAA's Draeger. "Having student loan interest rates double this next July is going to come as a shock to many students.".

Rich Williams, higher education advocate for US PIRG, issued a statement last night applauding Obama's position to stop an interest-rate loan hike. He noted that the move could affect 8 million borrowers. For those who take out the maximum $23,000 in subsidized student loans, the additional interest could add up to $5,200 over a 10-year payment period and $11,300 over 20 years.

"In this economy, we cannot double the student-loan interest rate," said Williams. "Students are already weighed down by state budget cuts, struggling family finances, and uncertain job prospects."

The president also proposed permanently extending the American Opportunity Tax Credit that provides up to $10,000 for four years of college. About half of all undergraduates take advantage of the benefit.

To better prepare student for college, the president challenged state governments to require students to stay in school until they graduate or turn 18 (something that 20 states do now).

In a panel discussion following the speech last night, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the proposal would address the high dropout rate in the county now that is "economically unsustainable and morally unacceptable." Students who do not finish high school are often condemned to a life of poverty, he said. "Graduating from high school is just a starting point," said Duncan. "If you don't have that, doors shut very, very quickly."

See Politics K-12 for a full story on the scope of the president's remarks on education last night.

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