Are high schools that refuse to rank their seniors actually hurting their chances for admission at various colleges? Guidance counselors and college admissions officers probably differ on their views. Until recently, class rank was a major factor in deciding so that admissions directors knew how one student compared to another. Last year, up to 40 percent of high schools did not rank their seniors nor give that information to colleges, as reported by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Jim Bock, dean of admissions and financial aid at Swarthmore College said, ‘If we’re looking at your son or daughter and you want us to know that they are among the best in their school, without rank we don’t necessarily know that.’ If high schools do not provide enough general information about what their grades mean, many admissions directors may have to weight SAT scores more heavily. Colleges would most likely come up with their own student ranking if high schools only provide a distribution of their grade averages across the senior class. A recent internal review at Vanderbilt revealed that their admission rate was highest for students with a class rank and lowest for those from schools without general data about grades or a rank. Kenyon College reported that 60 percent of their enrolled freshmen of last Fall applied without a rank. Kenyon’s dean of admission, Jennifer Delahunty Britz believes, ‘It allows you to tailor your admission process to what your institution strives for.’ I suspect at other colleges, grades without a context probably means that admission officials are making estimations and possibly not the most informed decisions.

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John Wasik, columnist for Bloomberg News, recently pointed out that whaling captains in Alaska are getting better tax breaks than college students on this year’s IRS returns. He wasn’t kidding. As written in IRS Publication 553, “whaling captains, if recognized by the Alaska Eskimo Commission, may deduct up to $10,000 of necessary whaling expenses.” That’s about $6,000 more than the highest deduction college students can take on their tax returns. And 2005 will be the last year the tuition and fees deduction will be allowed. That means $2,000 will be the most a student can gain in the form of a tax credit for 2006. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the last time tuition at any of our nation’s public institutions equalled $2,000, somewhere around the mid-1970’s? Who is kidding whom? Š

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The indicators as to how we are competing with the rest of the world are how many students are prepared to go on to college and graduate school and how many are being left behind. In 1991, the United States ranked second in college preparation. In 2001, we were fifteenth. We currently rank 17th in the world with our high school graduation rate, at 74 percent. In tests assessing basic knowledge and skills, U.S. students rank 15th in reading, 19th in science, 24th in mathematics and 24th in problem-solving. While this is not earth- shattering news, it continues to show that we are not keeping pace with other world leaders in education. Why is this important? Right now, we are on the edge of beginning to retire the segment of our population with the highest attained education, the baby-boomers. And other nations around the world are investing huge sums of money to make sure their countries are prepared to compete in every field. Twenty other nations have made higher education a major focus in their spending. India and China are leading this charge. China alone, is building 800 new universities within the next ten years which will educate approximately 20,000 to 30,000 students each. Now it is really more important than ever to make a bigger financial commitment to educating our country’s future workforce. Š

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Maine is the first state that will allow a state income tax deduction for contributions to any 529 College Savings Plan effective in 2007. Currently, any state that already offers this type of tax break only allows it for contributions to the in-state plan. The Maine deduction will also be capped at $250 per beneficiary annually. The Connecticut General Assembly is currently considering legislation to create a state income tax deduction($5,000 for singles/$10,000 jointly) to their 529 plans. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia currently offer a tax deduction for resident contributions to their state plans. According to Investment News, the more than $65 billion currently invested in 529 College Savings Plans is expected to increase to $300 billion by 2010.

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