Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, like so many colleges and universities these days, has been experiencing financial difficulties. As part of their plan to reign in costs, the university is cutting back by laying off staff, trimming its academic offerings while also eliminating the university’s cheerleading team and marching band. Yes, the school that only began playing Division 1 football in 2002 and has one of the worst won-loss records of all won’t be having the two most important crowd cheering programs in attendance for its games this year.

Cheerleaders Ranked Fourth In The Nation

The cut to the FIU cheerleading programs is perhaps the biggest surprise given that cheerleading is the one sport program at the university with a consistent and proven track record.. While the football team tries to show its prowess on the gridiron, the cheerleaders have been racking up awards and are currently ranked #4 in the nation among small coed Division 1-A programs.

According to the Beacon, the student newspaper for FIU, the cuts to the cheerleading program are part of a one million dollar hit to the university’s athletic budget. The school says that they will save $78,000 by axing the cheerleaders while the program’s director says that figure is closer to $25,000. Curiously, the university plans to keep the school’s Golden Dazzler dance squad in place, a team of jazz and hip hop dancers who will be seen at upcoming FIU games instead of the cheerleaders.

Even when the cheerleading coach, Maria George, offered to coach for free, FIU turned her down citing that expenses would still be incurred with running the program. George added that several FIU bound students chose the school for its cheerleading program and might end up going elsewhere as their athletic program closes.

Fundraising And Sponsorship Sought

There is a slim chance that the cheerleading program might be restored if the fundraising efforts now underway by students raises enough money to fund the cheerleaders. FIU officials say that recurring sponsorship of the cheerleaders would help their cause, emphasizing “recurring” so that the program won’t be jeopardized again next year.

Source: Beacon News, FIU

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ACHLS will be a rarity among colleges for two reasons – it will become the first school to offer nothing but history studies and it will operate as a completion college which means that only the junior and senior years of college will be offered. The school will operate in New Hampshire because the state of Massachusetts requires that two-year schools offer associates degrees or transfers to four-year colleges, whereas New Hampshire has no such restrictions. MSL is located in Andover near the New Hampshire border while ACHLS will operate from an office park in nearby Salem, NH.

Small Classes, Limited Admission

Regarding its method of operation ACHLS has this to say – Its curriculum focuses exclusively on American history and legal history, with attention to U.S. history in the context of world history and to the history of important American legal subjects such as constitutional law and regulatory law. All of its professors teach by the discussion method — not the lecture method: in every substantive class the professor leads a discussion among the students of the subject at hand (as done in the best law school teaching). Its classes are all small — no more than a maximum of 20 students.

Annual tuition is expected to cost around $10,000 an amount significantly lower than what most private schools charge. MSL says that ACHLS will start out with a minimum of fifty students during it first year, but it might consider accepting as many as one hundred students if demand proves high enough. MSL believes that ACHLS will be of particular interest to lawyers who often become lawmakers and that the history emphasis will help future politicians make good decisions with a historical aspect in mind.

Curriculum And Application

ACHLS is currently hiring professors and staff while assembling its curriculum. The school plans to teach courses such as: The History of Women’s Rights; History of Sports in American Society; American Reform Movements; Race In American Law; and more. Persons interested in obtaining information about ACHLS and/or in applying to enter its first class, which will matriculate in August, 2010, should contact Paula Colby-Clements. She can be reached by phone at 603-204-3919, by email at colby@achls.org.

Photo Credit — Lize Rixt

Adv. – So you’re planning to leave for college next month! Congratulations, may the coming academic year give you the opportunity to build upon past successes. OfftoCollege.com has helpful tools and tips for this year’s students including college plans for middle and senior high school students. All of our resources are at your disposal and are free to use.

Conservative university BYU recently lifted its three year YouTube ban while at the same time launching a new website to encourage students to be safe while surfing the 'net.

Brigham Young University, the button-down Mormon school based in Provo, Utah recently lifted its ban on YouTube, the video file sharing site that includes almost everything posted to it from the mundane to the truly violent and hyper sexual. That move will officially allow students returning to campus this fall to access YouTube wherever they are including on library computers as well as in campus housing.

Brigham Young (BYU) instituted its policy in 2006 in order to uphold a campus honor code to help students and faculty avoid online content which isn’t “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.” That code is based on Philippians 4:8, a New Testament passage where the Apostle Paul admonishes believers to set their eyes on things above.

Filtering Out Unwholesome Websites

The YouTube reversal comes as the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) school contends with the ever expanding use of the internet in everyday lives. Professors had complained to administrators that a blanket ban hindered their ability to use YouTube in the classroom while noting that even the LDS had its own channel on YouTube called Mormon Messages. Though the school has lifted its ban on YouTube, they’re keeping filters in place which will hinder access to those sites which espouse pornography, adult content and excessive violence.

In conjunction with lifting its YouTube ban, BYU launched a new website – Be Safe @ BYU – which has been designed to help students avoid phishing scams and viruses as well as to encourage healthy use of the internet,  including gaming and social networking. The site is also sprinkled with tips from LDS leaders who encourage students to use their time wisely while avoiding those things deemed unwholesome.

Source: Brigham Young University

Adv. – By early next month freshmen students will be heading off to college to begin four years of rigorous study and academic success. Plan now to beat the “off to college” rush by jotting down those things you need to take with you. Visit SayCollegeMove.com to discover helpful information which can ease your transition, ensuring that you get off to a right start.

Billions of dollars of college scholarship money is made available each academic year, with untold thousands of recipients receiving
full or partial assistance for their education. Without some form of help many students would find that affording college is well beyond their means.

The current economic slump has put a lot of pressure on colleges and universities, with many cutting their tuition funding accordingly. This means that some students will find that what they’ll be expected to pay for the 2009-10 academic year could go up significantly, perhaps forcing some students to withdraw from school or carry lighter academic load while balancing that with work.

Despite today’s challenges, some organizations, businesses, associations and private individuals are continuing to fund college scholarships with some committing to new or expanded funding. To help our readers keep tabs with some of the newest scholarship offerings out there, SayCampusLife.com will share that information with you from time to time. Please review our current list to see if some of the funding opportunities are of interest to you – in some cases the monies announced have already been awarded, but please bookmark this page for future reference.

SRC – Say Yes To Education is a national, non-profit education foundation committed to dramatically increasing high school and college graduation rates for our nation’s inner-city youth. SRC, a research and development company with its origins in Syracuse, NY, recently announced a $2.5 million contribution to the Say Yes fund to help inner city New York students get the funding needed to attend in state public universities and colleges.

Ford Blue Oval Scholarships – The Ford Motor Company continues to make positive contributions to college bound students. Unlike many of the traditional scholarships available, the Ford Blue Oval Scholarship works with community partners to help students succeed. Visit the website to see how you can register to become a Ford Blue Oval Scholar.

Laid Off Workers – Although not a formal scholarship program per se, a number of community colleges as well as state universities are offering assistance to students who recently lost their jobs. U.S. News & World Report ran a story this past May mentioning this trend, but check directly with your school to see if some assistance is available to you.

Our first list is rather sparse, but we’ll provide additional information once we are able to confirm program details. A number of scholarship programs have awarded funding for the upcoming academic year with some expected to open up their application process for the 2010-11 academic year beginning in September.

Adv. – Are you planning a trip across the USA this summer? Let SayFunTravel.Com be your guide, a travel site that offers free travel guides for all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Find museums, hiking trails, parks, beaches, historical sites and so much more from Alaska to Florida and from Hawaii to Maine and every state in between.

Shelton College may not be the best example of a college which eventually shut its doors, given that it never attained national accreditation. However, it is among a number of schools that have closed its doors over the past two decades (remember Upsala College in East Orange, NJ?) or eventually was merged into another institution. In almost every case, transcripts are entrusted to another school whether there is an official merger or not, giving former students permanent access to their academic records.

Coming To The End Of The Line

Alice Brown, the former president of the Appalachian College Association, addressed the subject of closing a school in her Inside Higher Ed article, “Time to Close the College?” which appeared there on June 26, 2009. Ms. Brown has worked extensively with small colleges, many of whom had serious and ongoing financial problems, the same sort of issue plaguing some schools during this deep recession. In her research of four colleges that had closed after being in operation for more than one hundred years, Brown concluded that not every college should last forever, rather ways should be found to gracefully close schools once their purpose for operating is no longer relevant. Brown’s full report will be published by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund in the near future.

I won’t rehash everything that Brown said, but I do appreciate her sensitivity to what these schools and their faculty, staff, administrators and students have gone through. Many of the affected institutions were instrumental in shaping the lives of students, some of whom may never had gone to college. But that doesn’t mean that a school whose impact was so strong during another era can or should navigate its way through the 21st century.

Not Waiting For Bankruptcy

As Brown noted, some schools wait until they are in bankruptcy before deciding to close their doors. This is unfortunate because once a school enters bankruptcy, then they lose control over the institution. Everyone gets burned when a school closes in a disorderly manner, with some students forced to hurriedly transfer to another college.

I like Brown’s suggestion that schools “teach out” its remaining students before shutting its doors. The college pending closure accepts no new students but works with those who remain to finish up their coursework and graduate. In my opinion this can even be especially beneficial to the remaining students who would gain additional guidance and oversight as they work their way through school – certainly no one would fall through the cracks as all of the attention would be focused on them.

Close, Merge Or Restructure?

Brown also mentioned other options for colleges considering closing their doors including merging with another college or restructuring to essentially become a new institution with a fresh purpose. However, those options must be workable with all parties concerned realistically weighing whether this is the best direction to take. Ultimately, whatever decision is reached is one that should yield the following response years later – “It was the right thing to do.”

Photo Credit: Michael Lorenzo

Adv. – Inside of two months, most collegians will be returning to campus to begin the next academic year. SayCollegeMove.com wants to ease that transition for students by offering tips and advice on how to prepare and what to take with them.  Find tech gadgets, school supplies, dorm stuff and so much more.

Fun & Wacky College Scholarships You Never Knew About — College scholarships is one of our top subjects, so we thought that you’d get a kick out of those offerings which feature some unusual requirements.  Apparently you agreed, because a lot of people got a kick out of learning that loving chocolate can help to pay for your schooling!

PSAs Encourages College Students To Control Their Debt — When we reviewed the Ad Council public service announcement about college debt, we had our laughs. And so did you. Kudos to the makers of the “Capiche” video which explained what can be a serious manner in a lighthearted way, getting home its message in a smart thinking way.

Andrew Jackson University Goes Tuition Free — The words “tuition” and “free” don’t normally go together but in this case, Andrew Jackson University says it does. We think that you were just as intrigued as much as we were with the school’s announcement about a way for students to take classes at someone else’s expense.

Free Tuition Colleges Really Exist! — Again, the appeal of getting something for nothing remains strong and our list of tuition free colleges was just as much of an eye-opener to us as it was to our readers.

An Easy $300 For College Students — In 2008 when the IRS was attempting to give money away, we realized that quite a few college students may have missed the announcement, hence our story. We like to think that we had a hand in getting some of you to file your taxes, perhaps aiding and abetting your parents who also welcomed the relief.

As always, SayCampusLife.com is dedicated to bringing to you college news from the ordinary to the wacky. We appreciate your readership and invite you to subscribe to our RSS feed.

The Tigers initial ascent to the pinnacle of national college baseball did not begin until they won their first ever championship in 1991. By that time, Southern Cal had already won eleven CWS titles while Arizona, Stanford, Wichita State and Georgia were all rising powers themselves. The school made a name for itself by winning the national championship in football in 2007, but a return to baseball greatness remained elusive.

Wednesday’s win came on the heels of a narrow extra inning victory on Monday followed by a strong Longhorn performance on Tuesday where Texas cooled off the previously hot LSU bats, 5-1. Fears that Texas would once again keep LSU hitters out of the final game were quickly dashed when Jared Mitchell hit a three-run homer first inning homer that led to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Texas responded with two runs each in the  third and fifth innings to tie the game, but the Tigers erupted for five more runs in the sixth to put the game away.

While all of the LSU players celebrated the Tigers victory, for one player this was his second national championship at the Louisiana school. Outfielder Jared Mitchell who is a first-round pick for the Chicago White Sox is also a wide receiver for the football team. The 2007 team won the SEC title and followed that up in early 2008 with a national championship of their own. Mitchell was also named as the CWS MVP, batting .348 with two homers and seven runs batted in.

Sources: ESPN, LSU Sports

Photo Credit: Nathaniel Tutvid

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The Class of 2009 will have its own challenges finding work, but it is the Class of 2008 that has already had several months to a year or more to look for work. As days give way to weeks and then to months, it isn’t too difficult to grasp how discouraging it can be to find few job openings with even fewer job offers. For these former students relaunching their career aspirations is a must so let’s see how they accomplish this goal, tough economy or not.

Update Your Resume – Your resume is a powerful marketing tool even in this day of online contacts and job sites such as Monster, Career Builder and Hot Jobs. Both hard and soft copies of your resume should be current, updated to include any new skills acquired since graduating college. If you’ve done volunteer work, then that information needs to be shown on your resume. Even if you’ve held a job totally unrelated to your field, list that work emphasizing those points which people in your targeted field want to know about. Example – You worked for Target stocking shelves. A modest job, but you can demonstrate how your organizational skills brought order and efficiency to the department.

Revisit Social Media – Today’s grads are savvy with social media, using Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and other sites to connect with people. But, might there be something in your profile which could be damaging to your job prospects? Certainly, you have a right to express yourself but employers also have a right not to hire you even if you don’t know the reasons why you were rejected. Clean up your online profile, making sure that the information you list about yourself is accurate, interesting and a good reflection on who you are. Dump the unrelated avatar; upload a fresh new photograph of yourself in its place.

Scour The Internet – Google your name to see what sort of information is returned with your search. The search engine results pages (SERPs) can reveal a lot about a person and should be searched regularly and deeply to see what shows up. Damaging information about yourself should be removed if possible, but if it can’t then you must be prepared to offer an explanation if asked to do so in an interview. Always work toward making sure that the best information about you finishes on the first few pages of your SERPs.

Get A Makeover – Men and women need to consider how their appearance reflects on who they are. Tongue studs, pierced noses, exposed tattoos, odd colored or wild hair, poor clothing styles and colors are just a few of the things which could make it difficult for you to be taken seriously. Inasmuch as you may want to prove your independence and show your freedom, companies can be selective on who interacts with their customers or who manages their IT department. Conformity is the name of the game in business!

Explore New Options – To date, have you overturned every stone to see what lies underneath? Perhaps you have considered but haven’t gone with the idea of looking for work the next county or state over, a place that could lead to a longer commute or relocation, but one that might yield to you your next job. Or, have you been hesitant about taking a lower level position with a company that interests you? The expression “getting your foot in the door” still remains important – that unrelated position gets you inside of a company you like, allowing you to demonstrate to people who you are and apply for a new position when it becomes available.

Finally, if you’re still stuck and getting no where, consider career counseling through your county’s career counseling center, your church or house of worship, through your college or by other organizations, such as SCORE, who offer assistance to people who are looking for work. Remember, each person you meet is a contact, someone who may know about a job or may know a person whom they can connect you with.

Adv. – All hope isn’t lost even in a tough economy. SayMyCareer.com offers timely advice on how you can succeed, offering job search links, career information, even advanced education tips and ideas at no charge to you.