Great resource on the benefits of college

I like this resource College Board has. It's visual, interesting, and reminds us that higher education enriches our lives in ways that extend beyond the wallet:

http://advocacy.collegeboard.org/five-ways-ed-pays/home

This video sums it up nicely:

It's a long way to 40/40/20

Troubling (but sadly, not shocking) article in the Oregonian the other day about the number of Oregon high school students that go on to college.
http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2012/04/only_59_percent_of_oregon_high.html

This one sparked a long string of comments, which are sometimes just as interesting as the article.

For all the folks who commented about a college degree not being worth anything, I beg to differ, and so does the Buerau of Labor Statistic's annual report on wage earners who have high school diplomas vs. bachelors degrees and advanced degrees. It's always sticky with statistics, of course, but in general folks who had a high school diploma made an average of $24,000 less per year compared with someone with a four-year degree. A bachelors degree is by no means a silver bullet to getting a great-paying job, but it at least puts you in the running, and safeguards people from the rates of non-employment and under-employment that folks with less education.

Gov. Kitzhaber has announced his much-heralded 40/40/20 plan - that by 2025, 40% of Oregon students will enroll in a two-year vocational or technical program, 40% will enroll in a four-year university, and 20% will graduate with a diploma. You read that correctly - that means zero dropouts, and a huge influx of students into our public education system if we even come close to meeting those goals. Some have, ahem, met this with skepticism....
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/david_sarasohn/index.ssf/2012/02/oregon_sets_a_higher_ed_goal_o.html

 What do you think of these goals? What would we need as a state, as a system, as a mindset, to achieve them?

First blog post. Welcome to 1997, Kelly.

Okay, so I'm a bit behind on the curve on this blog thing. But being forced to create a blog (for a course I'm taking) may have been the best thing I've done in awhile. See, I have this yellow notepad I keep at work. I write down anything and everything I'm supposed to do, hope to remember, and work I should plan on tackling as one of those ubiquitous "summer projects." Heaven help me if that notepad ever disappears. But time flies, and those notes get buried - those best laid plans are often laying somewhere under a pile of new projects.

But this seems like a promising way to organize, highlight, and engage in conversations about the wide world of college admissions and other topics that directly connect. And maybe I can even share some information along the way that adds value for other admissions professionals, or simply illuminates for loved ones and friends why I do what I do, and why I love it so much. Off we go!