Posts published on March 20, 2011

Report Looks At Student Debt Issues Beyond Default

Two out of five student loan borrowers were delinquent at some point in the first five years after they started repaying their loans, according to an Institute for Higher Education Policy report. Almost a quarter of the borrowers used an option to postpone payments to avoid delinquency. The study offers a picture of student debt beyond those who default.

Cal State Will Begin Remediation In The Summer

Cal State will require most entering  first year students to begin remediation in the summer. They will offer summer school, on line , and other modalities to these students. This may be the beginning of a national trend.

1. What is Early Start?
Under Early Start, beginning in 2012, entering freshmen that are not proficient in math or “at risk” in
English will need to start the remediation process before their first term. By 2014 students will need
to have started their work on becoming ready for college‐level English.
2. Why an Early Start program?
The CSU is mandated under the state’s Master Plan for Higher Education to serve the upper third of
high school graduates and about half of these men and women do not have college level skills even
though they are fully eligible to attend our campuses including a grade point average of 3.0 or above,
test scores and completion of the A‐G curriculum.
The issue of college preparedness is not a new issue for higher education and certainly not CSU with
over 50% of fully eligible freshmen arriving on CSU campuses without being proficient in math and/or
English. Early Start is simply another effort by CSU faculty, academic leaders, staff and others to help
make sure that these admitted students get this important work done sooner rather than later and to
increase their likelihood of completing their degree in a timely manner.
3. What is different than current CSU policy?
Current CSU policy, as reflected in Executive Order 665, was adopted in the late 1990’s and requires all
entering freshmen to complete their remedial work in the first year of CSU enrollment. Early Start does
not change that timeline; but it does facilitate students’ beginning this work prior to the first term for
which they have been admitted to a CSU campus, so they are better prepared to succeed in their
college courses.
Annual reports are provided to the legislature regarding this policy, the trends on student
preparedness, how many students complete remediation, the demographics of these students, and
the number that were not successful. The most recent report was released this month. All annual
reports including the one released earlier this month can be accessed on our website at:
http://www.calstate.edu/budget/fybudget/legislative‐reports/20110201‐Final‐First‐Time‐
Freshmen.pdf.