Thirty college presidents earned over $1 million in the 2008 fiscal year, according to a salary report by The Chronicle of Higher Education.  That’s quite a jump from the previous year’s 23.

On the other hand, 78 percent of college chiefs’ salaries were under $600,000 in 2008 and roughly half of them received less than $400,000. In 2007, 82 percent of the presidents’ compensation packages were under $600,000, and 58 percent received less than $400,000.

“As usual, there are a few outliers,” Jeffrey Selingo said, editor of The Chronicle. “When looking at the very big numbers, there’s always a lot of reasons why those people got such high compensation packages.”

With kickbacks of more than $50 million, Selingo gathered salary data from the tax filings of 448 private colleges. The Chronicle’s survey comes at a time of increased tuition rates amid an economic crisis, and it’s likely that this report will spark debates on whether or not college presidents are paid too much.

Read the rest of this entry »

With my senior year drawing closer and closer to its close, and college enrollment beginning, it’s interesting to think about where I will be this time next year. Obviously, down in good old Tulsa, Oklahoma, but how much of me will have changed by then? I remember talking to a parent of a friend recently about majoring options and college and they commented on how in the first six months of college you will experience more change than you experienced in all four years of high school.

This little bit of information was actually a scary thought for me. I will know how to do my own laundry and how to iron by the time school starts, but do I want to change? The key to happiness, in my opinion, is being happy with who you are and knowing you are. In the past four years, I have learned plenty about myself and who I am and I am unsure about this whole changing thing. But thinking about it, maybe there still are some changes that need to be made! Read the rest of this entry »

I recently made the decision to attend the University of Tulsa this coming fall for my undergraduate education. While I have finally made my decision and almost worked out all of my finances, there are other things to do now that I am officially attending TU. I recently received a checklist from them concerning things I still need to do to ensure my spot in the freshman class for the upcoming fall semester.

One of these requirements is my final transcript. At the end of the year, when grades are finalized, many if not all colleges and universities require their new students to send in their final transcript. This is mainly to make sure the student didn’t slip their final semester of high school and may also determine scholarship eligibility. Since some scholarships are merit based, schools require that you maintain your grades even through your final semester. Read the rest of this entry »

While my final college decision didn’t have to be mailed and received by a college till May 1, I figured the smartest thing to do would be to make my decision fast. I put in the mail my intent to enroll form with my housing form and deposits for the University of Tulsa this last weekend and I can’t remember the last time I felt this good about a decision and so relieved.

The reason that I decided to make my decision earlier was to get my finances in order. After figuring out everything I had received financially from Tulsa and other various scholarships, such as a $3,000 scholarship through scouts, I then started finding student loans. Of course, this was not too difficult considering I went to Google and typed in “student loans” and got a huge number of sites offering student loans. After looking at a few options, I finally found a loan and finished my application last night for the loan. Read the rest of this entry »

I know, you are all probably thinking, how many visits is she going to go on?! I hope to say this was my final visit. Of course, each of my visits have been so unique I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to travel and visit so many schools! This visit to University of Tulsa, was much different from any of my visits so far!

The University of Tulsa is a private university with an undergrad population of about 3,000 students.

My best friend and I went to Tulsa Sunday February 15- Monday February 16 to attend what they call Tulsa Time. Tulsa Time was two days filled with a variety of sessions, class experience opportunities and almost anything else you can think of. We toured the sororities, sat in on an Anatomy and Physiology class, and learned about the Pre-Med program. What made this visit so much different from the other visits was that we got to spend the night on campus with an actual TU student!

We got matched with our host before dinner and went to the dorms. We then had dinner with the parents and hosts and after that the parents left, leaving us with just our hosts! During this time we were allowed to do whatever we wanted with our hosts on campus. We met another student who was hosting a few students and had some great discussions not only about Tulsa, but just college in general. We even asked about things you will need in a dorm, but might overlook. Things such as scissors and a bathrobe. So being with a student over night really gave you a good feel of what the campus was like and what the dorms are like and other things you wouldn’t normally experience when just touring and interviewing.

So if you ever get the chance, I would advise doing an overnight college visit! It can really give you a good idea of whether or not the college is right for you!

I can’t believe that the first semester of my senior year is already over! It seems just yesterday I was walking down the halls saying hello to friends I hadn’t seen all summer. Now I’m immersed in finals week and trying to wrap up everything as the semester comes to a close.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how this semester has gone. I’ve had my share of rough patches, but what student doesn’t?! Although I did slack and my GPA will suffer some from this slacking, it will be motivation to push myself even harder my second semester. I also received so far an acceptance letter from the University of Tulsa and a rejection letter from the University of Chicago, beginning another trip down decision lane. Of course, I still have eight schools to hear from so a decision is no where near in my future.

So as first semester comes to an end and the second semester looms close in the future, I look forward to my last semster in high school, but also the things that lay ahead after high school.