Archive for the ‘College Note Sharing’ Category

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Harvard Ditching Public Law Incentive

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Those of you on sharenotes.com that are attending Harvard with the hopes of entering the field of public law just lost a big incentive program. Previously Harvard’s program allowed a free year of tuition to students that planned on practicing public law post graduation. Good news is if you are already there the school is going to honor the program, however future classes will not receive the benefit of the program.

You might not think that this program effects too many students, however one of the reasons why Harvard had suspend the program was because they had more student than excepted. I guess there are a lot of public defenders out there! Free tuition at Harvard? It’s hard to say no! The program stipulates that the student agree to serve in the public sector for 5 years, after which they are free to do as they please.

Regardless of the amount of students the real problem is that Harvard announced last month that they were running a 110 Million dollar deficit. As a result jobs have been lost within the university, professors reduced and more cuts are on the way. Sadly this just seems to be another of a long line of universities, private or public that are suffering from the downturn in the economy.

Sadly the condition of the economy is causing students to rethink their careers, their loans, and tuition. It’s also causing schools to have to make tough choices in what programs they are able to offer and how many professors they are able to keep employed. As both schools and students struggle to make their way we all try to find some kind of balance so that we can get a quality affordable education and hopefully a job once we’re done. No doubt everyone on sharenotes.com has felt the cuts and changed at each of your schools. If you’d like to share your experiences, leave you comments below and join the discussion.

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The Results of Black Friday

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Those of us on sharenotes.com are probably watching the economy a lot closer than a college student probably should. But our future livelihoods depend on it. After the number have been crunched from the big sales weekend it seems as though things turned out okay.

I will say this, at least we did not crash and burn. I would have put money in Vegas on the fact that people just aren’t going to spend, but as it turns out, Black Friday just about broke even. People we’re out in droves… I was out there too so I know first hand but it seems as though people avoided impulse buys that often happen in a strong economy. They did however come out for the deals, which were a plenty. I personally bought a whole bunch of super cheap BluRay discs which is just about all I could afford to spend. It also doesn’t help that they were all for me and I still have a xmas list to fill.

Better news however was that “Cyber Monday” the newly founded tradition of online sales the Monday following Thanksgiving was pretty strong. The sales were up about 20% from last years sales. The economy shows signs of life. Much of the online sales are driven by the tech savvy college aged group who often favor buying online to fighting the crowds. Akamai a internet monitoring site, watched 270 retail sites and reported 4.3 million visitors per minute at on point during the day! I think in the coming years Cyber Monday is going to continue to grow under the clicking right hands of college students.

Hopefully this uptick in online sales is an indicator that our economy might be able to survive this holiday season. Free shipping and blow out deals with major retailers helps, but the shear fact that Americans are still willing to get out there and spend money at all is encouraging. So how about you sharenotes.com, did you get out there and hit the stores? Did you hit the online sales? Did you put what little money you have into some drinks to drown your sorrows? We want to hear form you! Leave your comments below and share you tales of mall crowds or killer deals!

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Does Your School Still Have Cafeteria Trays?

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

I know it’s an odd question, but i was reading a report today that states that many schools are getting rid of their cafeteria trays. Most likely there are some schools on sharenotes.com that have been effected by this trend. The schools have given different reasoning behind the decision, all of them surrounding the trimming down of costs and waste.

Some schools have cited a need to reduce the desire to reduce water consumption (both a green and financial decision) by reducing the strain on dish washing. Other schools have suggested that the lack of trays reduces the amount of wasted food. Still others have suggested that going trayless causes students to eat only what they need to fill themselves up, versus simply eating as much as possible. A healthier student body could be the result?

Whatever the reason I can say my personal opinion is that it seems silly. I can see some benefit coming from not having trays. Getting green and conserving is not necessarily a bad thing. But where does it end? How about we get rid of cups too and only drink what we can hold in our hands?

Reportedly, effected students are reduced to balancing their meals like Vegas entertainers or using their folders as substitute trays. Or for the very hungry student, multiple trips may be necessary. Luckily for me I haven’t really had to eat in the cafeteria too often so I wouldn’t have really noticed the lack of trays. But I know that many of you do eat on campus, so I’m wondering if you’ve noticed anything odd at your school?

I’m all for conservation and I feel like if colleges can reduce waste and unnecessary costs that would be a good thing in this economy. I’m certain all of us on sharenotes.com have seen efforts to reduce costs, waste etc… on our campuses, but I think there must be a better way? This one just seems silly to me. What are you thoughts? Leave your comments below with your opinions or experiences and join the discussion.

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UC Schools rocked by tuition hike

Friday, November 20th, 2009

This increase will effect quite a number of students on sharenotes.com. The Board of Regents, the governing body of the UC system of public schools in California voted today to allow a 32% tuition hike which will go into effect next year. The Board has in tense discussions over the past 2 days on the UCLA campus, where many students have shown up to protest the proposed hikes.

Police in riot gear were on hand tp keep the peace while student participated in a peaceful demonstration, blocking the path for members of the Board of Regents as they left. The board defends its position stating that they simply have no money. After years of cut backs they feel as though they have no other place to look for money except the student body.

According to the board, students from households with sub 70,000 dollar incomes will be shielded from the increase and assured that financial aid would be available to bridge the gap. This however comes as little consolation to many students who are wondering if they can still afford their schools.

This is going to make life that is tough, already tougher for a great many of us. Some of us simply will not qualify for anymore loans to cover the difference. And quite frankly even if we do, do we really want to come out of college in THIS economy, with more debt? I feel for the UC student, tuition hikes seems to be effecting many students across the nation. I personally do understand the Boards decision, they are working with the money they have allocated to them. Given the situation of California and the deficit the government has been grappling with, it seem very unlikely that anything will get any better. At least not anytime soon.

How has this news effected your plans? We’d like to hear form the UC students out there on sharenotes.com who want to share their stories. Are you going to stick it out? Being forced to think about community college agin? Leave your comments below and share your thoughts with us.

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Odd College News

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

This story comes way south of the border, all the way down in fact in South America. Brazil to be exact. Probably not too many colleges on sharenotes.com but possibly some Brazilians attending schools in the states. If so feel free to comment. What I am going to do is simply post the headline first and see how that strikes you.

“Brazil student expelled after wearing mini-dress”

Now, am I the only one who finds this sentiment odd? I mean it does say Brazil right? Not BYU or some other conservative school? Brazil is the country famous for Carival. A country who prides themselves on a culture of scantily clan, tanned sun worshipers. They have a style of waxing named after them as well as a cut of bikini. This is a culture who is very secure with displays of sexuality. At least that is the way it is often portrayed.

That’s why I found it so odd to read that this girl nearly started a riot on her campus simply by wearing a oink mini dress. And not an “oh-my-god I can’t believe she’s wearing that!” kind of dress you find at a campus in california or Arizona. Odd.

What I have come to understand is that apparently college students tend to dress more conservative, jeans and t shirts for instance. I guess they keep the mini skirts and thongs on the beaches. Talk about a dichotomy! Still it makes little sense why a simple dress could cause such an uproar.

Although the schools initial reaction was to expel the student, a video of the incident made it’s way to youtube where it generated a lot of buzz. After some pressure by the government to explain their expulsion the school has since decided to reverse their decisions. So I guess all’s well that ends well.

It would be interesting if we’ve got any Brazilian’s on sharenotes.com that could perhaps explain the dichotomy that is Brazil in a little greater detail. If you have anything to add to the discussion please leave your comments below.

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