It seems like only yesterday, but 1994 grads might not recognize their school

Coastal Virginia Magazine
May-June 2014

By Kristen De Deyn Kirk

Insight from Steven Roy Goodman, MS, JD, educational consultant and admissions strategist, www.topcolleges.com, in Washington, D.C.:

Practical picks
“My students are much more focused on the connection between their studies and their post-college lives than they were 20 years ago. Students have always been concerned, of course, but the shift in public views about education (public good to private benefit) has seeped deeper into the student psyche.”

Part-time profs
“Today’s students have more classes with fewer full professors (and more part-time adjuncts). The economics of higher education have encouraged universities to hire more adjuncts. If you go back to 1975, approximately 30 percent of faculty were part time. Now, it’s more than 50 percent.”

Change your mind, pay the price
“Depending on which survey you believe, 50 to 70 percent of college students change majors. In my experience, this estimate is bit high. As students incur more and more debt to pay their tuition bills, larger numbers are picking educational paths and then sticking to them.”

A break won’t break you
“More students are taking a gap year between high school and college (exploration, time off, work to save money for college). I am generally supportive of gap years. Besides being potentially interesting and intellectually expanding, they can give many students the ability to think through their college and career paths without the day-to-day responsibilities of multiple high school courses. In the same way that time off can be helpful for adults hoping to recharge their batteries, gap years can do the same for adolescents.”

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