In the 2009-2019 decade following The Great Financial Crisis, the top 5% experienced the greatest income increase of all Americans, further widening income disparities between the top and everyone else. Contributing to the wealth gap, during the same 2009-2019 decade, Millennials racked up nearly $893 billion in student loan debt to purchase college degrees as…
Since UC admissions officers utilize 14 Comprehensive Review Points, no one single factor determines admissions or not, instead the totality of a student’s high school experience is considered. Additionally, with Comprehensive Review, a student’s entire experience can be considered on a campus by campus basis, according to campus-specific needs. Consequently, when applicants understand each of…
On September 1, 2020, a California Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction, to be finalized on September 29, 2020, barring the use of SAT and ACT scores in Fall 2021 University of California (UC) admissions evaluations. Essentially, the judge implemented a “test-blind” admissions policy, meaning SAT or ACT scores cannot be considered, even if…
Two-thirds of all US universities are expecting enrollment to decrease in Fall 2020, with obvious impacts to fiscal revenues. For universities already reporting growing fiscal deficits from the initial COVID-impact in the Spring 2020 academic term, the loss of revenues can further compound the sustainability of the modern American university. According to the latest statistics…
As the University of California (UC) admissions officers evaluate every applicant according to 14 Comprehensive Review points, understanding each criteria is useful for applicants to prepare accordingly, knowing that the totality of their high school experience will be considered when determining their admissions. The UC admissions evaluators seek a thorough understanding of an applicant’s high…
According to the US Department of Labor statistics, the August 2020 College Tuition CPI dropped 0.7% from the month prior, the largest monthly drop since 1978. College tuition CPI includes: …annual consumer expenditures for undergraduate and post-graduate studies at 2-year colleges, 4-year colleges, universities, and professional schools (law, dental, medical, etc.)…throughout the United States [minus…
As the stock market indexes continue rising, for those living on Wall Street, confidence only grows. However, as the Wall Street “Bunnies” continue gorging on pancakes, the bulging bubble only thins. While those kitties on Main Street, who aren’t getting to drink their milkshakes, build resentment, whose mother is fear. Public attitudes about the economy…
At some universities, SAT and ACT scores are used to award merit scholarships, in addition to being a metric for admissions. (Merit scholarships are awarded regardless of a student’s family’s financial status and based on an applicant’s qualifications, like GPA and SAT or ACT scores.) Many parents are concerned that their children will miss merit…
In the 2020-21 school year, students, teachers and parents are not learning in pre-COVID ways. Kids commute from bed to desk, parents are deputized teachers, and teachers are now broadcast news anchors without the production team. Educators are seemingly rewriting the rules on how to learn, yet trying to rely on the old rules at…
Since 1635, the three-dimensional American classroom, now replicated amongst thousands of school districts comprising millions of school children and teachers, is relatively unchanged. Yet, starting in mid-March 2020, a single RNA sequence causing COVID-19 and the subsequent social response to the health risks, has holistically breeched the brick and mortar walls of the modern American…
Every college applicant, whether high school senior or community college transfer student, has now awakened in their own Wonderland, the Alice of their own journey to discover: To write competitive autobiographical college essays, applicants must reflect on their experiences, in order to define “Who they are” as well as their aptitude, so they can best…
The costs of childcare and college have outpaced wage increases in the past 20 years. So, a growing percentage of a family’s budget is spent caring for children, including paying for educational opportunities, like extracurricular activities as well as college tuition, in hopes of propelling kids toward a sustainable economic prosperity. Yet, as more of…
As the number of newly reported COVID cases increases, university officials in an effort to protect the health of students, faculty, as well as the larger community are diminishing their capacity to educate effectively. According to The New York Times, as of September 3, 2020, over 81,000 college students have been infected with COVID-19 since…
For Fall 2021 first year applicants, earning the academic designation, Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) for University of California (UC) admissions, may be more difficult than in past years. Given the Spring 2020 implementation of Pass/No Pass grading systems, thus the loss of a semester’s worth of letter grades for GPA calculations, Class of…
Creative Marbles Consultancy is offering a new advising retainer to help families navigate the current COVID-induced disruption in education. We can assist in the sometimes complicated transition from a teacher centered (pre-COVID) to a now more student directed learning process, the new normal in the 2020-21 COVID-disrupted school year in order to ensure that long…
