Education

No Football Scores but Lots of Other Stats on Alabama Colleges, from PARCA

The average annual cost of attending an Alabama college ranges from almost $29,000 to about $8,500. Graduation rates vary from 70 percent to 26 percent. And the chances of a college’s former students earning more than $25,000 a year vary widely too. In an analysis published Tuesday, the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama focused on cost, outcome and other statistics for the state’s colleges, and discussed factors involved in those numbers. The information from colleges nationwide was released last month by the U.S. Department of Education in its College Scorecard.

by Liz Harris

Reputation, Cost, Location, Tradition: Big Factors when Alabama Students Choose a Home-State College

Year after year, Hoover High School sends large numbers of graduates off to Alabama public colleges, second only to Bob Jones High School in Madison City Schools. Cindy Bond, College and Career Specialist there for more than a decade, says that a college’s academic reputation is key to her students’ decisions. In recent years, though, cost has played a bigger role in the choices, she says.

by Trisha Powell Crain, Alabama School Connection

Oxford High School: An Exception

Oxford High School is a standout on Alabama’s map of remediation rates. It has low rates for both two-year (27.4%) and four-year (9.2%) college students. Its combined remediation rate is 16.8%, about half that of the state’s overall rate of 32.1%.

by Trisha Powell Crain, Alabama School Connection

Fall Behind, Pay the Price: Remediation Rate Story

The 2014 Alabama high school graduates who arrived at state public colleges last fall often faced unhappy news. One in three found themselves unprepared for college math or English classes. Click on the map above and use its interactive features to learn about schools in your community. Or continue to read more.

by Trisha Powell Crain, Alabama School Connection