New education plan takes multiple factors into account when considering universities.
Baruch’s exceptional education and low tuition rates make it one of the top colleges in President Obama’s new college affordability plan. This plan aims at providing colleges with more financial aid in hopes of making higher education more affordable to more people. It ranks schools based on their performance and targets colleges that take in a large amount of low-income students. This means colleges like Baruch can offer quality education to more students at a low cost.
By making Baruch more affordable, graduates and students can worry less about student debt and concentrate more on their studies. In 2009, only 34 out of 1042 students were unable to pay back their loans in three years. This meant that this small amount of students affected will only decrease further with Obama’s plan. By capping the loan payments to no more than 10% of the borrower’s monthly income, the borrower will no longer have to struggle through the week on bread crusts.
Washington Monthly’s list of ” 2013 Best Bang for the Buck” ranked Baruch College in third place. Despite maintaining higher graduation and Pell grant rates, and having a lower loan default rating, Queens College took second place due to their slightly lower net price. In addition to Washington Monthly’s ranking, the Education Trust Fund named Baruch as one of the top schools that caters to most needs of low-income students. In addition to this praise, PayScale recently placed Baruch within the top ten percent of colleges that most likely grant high return on investment for graduates.
Baruch is among the top schools whose students are expected to most benefit from President Obama’s new plan and this change could not have come at a more crucial time; in the last three years alone the CUNY schools have suffered 200 million in budget cuts. This is surprising given that there has been a 12% increase in enrollment in that same period; however, Governor Cuomo plans to increase and secure the budget so it reflects the higher enrollment. In 2009, 44% of students at Baruch received Federal Pell Grants. Baruch is considered one of the most successful schools for low-income students. With this plan, more of these students can fulfill their potential without worrying about the financial burden associated with a quality education.
With the average amount of debt that a student graduates with being $26,000, the President’s new plan caps payments to 10 percent of the student’s monthly income. After six months after graduation, the students transition into the repayment period regardless of employment status; if the student has not made a payment in 270 days, the loan defaults. Those who enter the loan repayment period and default within three years are considered part of the default rate, and when apportioning federal aid to schools, this is used in the decision process. Baruch’s current default rate is around 3 percent, compared to the national average of 8 percent. With higher education trends shifting as the economy strengthens, Baruch may receive more federal aid if the President’s plan is approved.
Article Referenced: http://ticker.baruchconnect.com/article/obamas-new-education-plan-to-benefit-baruch/
New York City is associated with the finer things in life such as world class cuisine, the stunning views and the sophistication of a bygone era. Tavern on the Green embodied all of these things and as a result was one of the most popular restaurants in the country (serving over 500,000 diners in 2007). The American cuisine restaurant, tucked away in Central Park on the Upper West Side neighborhood, opened nearly 80 years ago had closed in 2009 due to trouble after the financial collapse. Over the last few years the restaurant was used as a visitors center and a gift shop for tourists. In 2011, David Salama and Jim Caiola (Philadelphia natives new to the culinary scene) purchased the restaurant and since then have been hard at work meticulously re-vamping the restaurant for it’s December re-opening. These two are leaving no stone un-turned in bringing their vision for the new Tavern on the Green to life. From the grooves in the utensils to the shade and depth of the plates, every piece of tableware must fit their vision. The new restaurant is going to be half the size of the original and have a completely new interior. The pair hopes that their thoughtful consideration of every detail will leave a lasting impression on their diners.
