The global ranking of American education has gone down to #10 from #1. Can we control this situation in a poor economy?

Decline in Educational Standards - Now What?
By Sheila Danzig

At the commencement of the 09/10 educational year, President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, have been busy making untiring efforts for the development of strategies to maintain the competitive status of American higher education in the 21st century economic chaos - possibly because of the fact that in the previous 10 years, America has gone down from the first position to the 10th among countries giving birth to graduates. Among others, the Obama - Duncan duet have various strategies on the go to extend the educational year, making the school hours similar to the time other nations spend teaching their people. Degrees are required to advance and getting appropriate funding has become extremely important.

During his speech at the Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY in the middle of September 2009, the President threw light on a number of issues. According to the President, it is well-known that a highly educated nation would lead to a highly competent American future. The progress of new industries is directly dependent on efficient workers who have clear and complete knowledge regarding their skills in specific fields. Up till now, our primary and secondary schools have been trailing several competitors, particularly in major fields such as math and science. A majority of high school graduates who are completely ready for college do not attend four-year or two-year schools because of the affordability factor. And approximately 40 percent of students who begin college don't actually finish college education. A majority of students slip through the cracks, all along the educational pipeline. Now, this loss is not only limited to students but it actually leads to the loss of both our country and its economy.

However, considering the brighter side of this picture, the House of Representatives just passed the 'direct student loan program'. According to reports on 'Congress Matters', Obama's strategies take account of:

* Making an investment of around $2.55 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions for the provision of students with the support they require to continue school and graduate.

* Making an investment of $3 billion to strengthen the accessibility of college and completion of support programs for students,

* Making an investment of $40 billion raise the maximum yearly Pell Grant Scholarship to $5,550 I 2012 and to $6,900 by 2019,

* Lowering the interest rates on need-based - or financially supported - federal student loans by making the interest rates on such loans uneven starting in 2012. These interest rates are presently maintained to shift from 3.4% to 6.8% in 2012,

* Making it more convenient for families to use financial assistance by making the FAFSA form simpler;

* Offering loan forgiveness for military participants who have to leave for duty in the middle of the educational year.

* Improving the Perkins Loan program, a campus-based program that offers low-cost federal loans to learning individuals.

People who are vigilantly eying Obama's policies including Bill Clinton and Randi Weingartner have appreciated Obama's plans and are keenly looking forward to their completion.

Apart from funding there are a number of other hot issues as well. Firstly, the delivery system of the higher education appears to desperately need and may require fixing owing to the thousands of American students displeased with the value of education from the highly-priced private institutes. A majority of them would instead enroll in an affordable state college having established quality teaching strategies and keep away from graduating with a great debt when they gain their degree. A good number of students do not consider graduating from a high-status private college having achieved 'nothing' and departing with a huge debt. On the other hand, online degrees serve to be a cheaper alternative and are becoming increasingly popular, these days. So, online study can prove to be an ideal option.

The Washington Monthly has just published a new college ranking - which is totally different the traditional U.S. News and World Report. In accordance with the Washington Monthly's ranking, all state universities hold the top status including: University of California at Berkeley, San Diego, and Los Angeles. The metric system applied in these universities for determining rank position is dependent on: Pell Grants for each student, total number of students offering national service, and various other less traditional initiatives.

In the current economic turmoil, public (state) colleges may serve as an extremely pricy choice for the middle-classed family. The New American Foundation supports an asset-developing program that has imminent and priceless analyses regarding families which are badly affected from the economic crisis.

A brilliant starting ground for these families to begin enhancing 529 college savings plan is to make sure that the states provide an number of traditional investment schemes including: capital preservation investment choices, like a money market mutual fund, and funds granted on the basis of age that start off more strictly but eventually become more protection-focused once the child reaches the age of attending a college.

An additional measure taken for the improvement of college savings plan is to ensure complete disclosure which is clear-cut and simple to be aware of. This enables the families to have an insight on what they are spending in and the extent of risk present in undertaking such investments.

To Obama, Higher Education in America is worth saving - it is possible!

Sheila Danzig is founder of Degree.com, http://www.degree.com and Career Consulting International, http://www.TheDegreePeople.com and BG Publishing International. Danzig holds a Bachelor's degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York, a Masters degree from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and a Doctorate from Universidad San Juan de la Cruz where he is currently a professor. Danzig has co-authored a paper on the acceptance of the 3-Year Indian degree which has been published at IMMIGRATION DAILY among other publications worldwide. The books she has written include, One Year to Your College Degree, The Big Book of College Scholarship and Financial Aid Information, Power Publicity, and How To Market Your Law Practice, Invisible Marketing. She has been married to William a business man and composer since 1968, has two sons and 2 grandchildren. Her favorite job is of grandmother.

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