Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 5 (July)
Aurora Foundation Grants George Mason University $15K
The Aurora Foundation recently presented its first grant to George Mason University and its office of military services. The funds will go to the Success for Veterans program, a series of student development courses for veterans that will be offered this fall. The program is aligned with one of the foundation’s core objectives: to enhance programs specific to student veterans that are critical to their successful assimilation into campus life and ultimately graduation.
George Mason’s office of military services identified a critical need for a program that would offer transition courses specifically for veterans. These are elective courses that will count towards their degree programs and will focus on the student veteran’s transition into a college environment, their personal growth and self-awareness, as well as their career planning and professional development. The foundation believes that programs like these are needed to help ensure that veterans are successful on campus, and in obtaining their degree and ultimately entering the work force.
Founded as a nonprofit in 2008, the Aurora Foundation was established with the mission to improve the chances for successful graduation from higher education institutions for veterans. It welcomes the opportunity to work with higher education institutions to carry out this mission. For more information, contact Beth Miller-Herholtz at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
APU Partners with Wal-Mart to Educate Workers
American Public University reached an agreement with Wal-Mart stores that will allow the for-profit online institution to become the retailer’s “education provider,” offering discounted courses to the company’s 1.4 million employees and awarding them academic credit for “job learning and experience” earned at work.
According to officials at the university, Wal-Mart employees would get a 15 percent discount on the university’s courses. Wal-Mart said that workers who receive company training in areas such as “pricing, inventory management and ethics” could earn as many as 24 credits toward a 61-credit associate degree or a 120-credit bachelor’s degree.
“If 10 to 15 percent of employees take advantage of this, that’s like graduating three Ohio State Universities,” said Sara Martinez Tucker, a former under secretary of education who is now on Wal-Mart’s external advisory council. “It’s a lot of Americans getting a college degree at a time when it’s becoming less affordable.” Wal-Mart executives made the decision to work with an online university (and eventually APU) instead of a traditional brick-andmortar school after surveying more than 32,000 of its employees and learning that most of them wanted the scheduling flexibility afforded by online classes.
Scholarship Guide Available Online
The American Legion, an organization of wartime veterans, recently updated its financial aid handbook, Need a Lift?, a 152-page financial-aid reference guide for veterans, veterans’ dependents and Legion members. The publication contains information on federal and state veterans’ benefits; scholarships for veterans and their dependents and Legionnaires and their family members; tips for applying to college and applying for financial assistance; and a comprehensive guide to colleges and universities listing tuition, room and board costs, and admission and financial aid deadlines. To access this booklet online, go to www.needalift.org.
Dubuque Abandons Acquisition Plans
The University of Dubuque has decided not acquire Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska. For the past several years, UD officials had discussed the possibility of obtaining the college and offering a new academic program. “Regretfully, we must at this time step away from the table,” said UD President Jeffrey Bullock in an e-mail sent to the university’s community.
Plans to acquire the college had involved an academic program that would have brought an environmental science program to the SJC campus, with an emphasis in fisheries and wildlife management. UD students would have participated in the program during the summer and January term.
The decision to abandon acquisition of the college came despite efforts to create a road map for a long-term, renewed educational operation at SJC, which closed in June 2007 without warning and about $12 million in debt.
UD intended to begin modestly, understand the market and grow as opportunities were identified, rather than replace one former educational model with a similar model. “It is clear to me, however, that our expectations for this project differ quite significantly from the expectations of some members of the Sheldon Jackson (College) Board and, most particularly, the leaders of the city of Sitka,” wrote Bullock.
Sitka’s municipal administrator, Jim Dinley, said he was disappointed with UD’s decision, noting that it was difficult for Sitka officials to support a plan that wouldn’t have brought many jobs with it and would have cost the city considerably more in infrastructure improvements than UD.
“It’s hard to contribute economic backing to the school if it doesn’t include us and Alaskan students,” he remarked. “To say it would only be open to Dubuque students and involve two professors was a tough sell.”
In May, UD sent its proposal to SJC and Sitka officials, who returned it with an alternative proposal that proposed the college be run as it was previously.
“Obviously, we do not believe this is the right way to pursue education in Sitka, but it is their campus and, as trustees, that is clearly and rightly their decision to make,” Bullock wrote, pointing out that the alternative proposal would not be viable economically and lacked academic credibility. “We absolutely could not find a way to mount a successful program in Sitka without both the financial and political support of city officials,” he said. ♦