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🤖 🦾 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are all the rage (and a lot of hype) right now in higher ed (and elsewhere)…

• On the “Next Office Hour,” October 5 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, we’re going to examine how to use AI/ML on the administrative side of colleges and improve student pathways through higher ed.
• I’ll be joined by Mary Strain, a leader for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Services at Amazon Web Services, Tim Renick, Executive Director of the National Institute for Student Success at Georgia State, among others.

👉 Register for free here (and to get a recording afterwards).

In a recent newsletter, I wrote about the curse of the full-payers: how they have become a rarer commodity over the last decade—”the result of declining household incomes in the U.S., increasing sticker prices at colleges, and more families simply saying No to paying full price even when they can.”

We get another view of this trend through data released in late July by economists at Harvard’s Opportunity Insights project. That study was a look at who gets into the nation’s top colleges, using a unique combination of tax records, college enrollment records, SAT scores, and admissions data.

Much of media coverage of the study focused on something we already knew: that the wealthy get into the Ivy League and so-called Ivy Plus schools at a higher rate than everyone else with the same SAT/ACT scores.

But the study also included data on dozens of other schools beyond the Ivy League. Open Campus put together this cool interactive graphic to show how students enroll at different rates at specific colleges based on their income—even when they have similar test scores.

As I clicked around the graphic, what I found interesting was that when it comes to the pool of potential full payers, there are stark enrollment differences between the very wealthy (top 1% in the study earn more than $611,000 annually) and the uber wealthy (the .01%, which are a good bit higher).

A few are like Bowdoin College, where wealthy families are way more likely to be enrolling than the middle class and where it’s almost a straight line up from the merely rich to the very rich.

Here is Santa Clara University in California:

Then there are places like American University, which struggle to attract rich families at the same rate as the merely well off:

And then there are the public flagship universities, like the University of Alabama, which are magnets for out-of-state wealthy students.

University of Alabama

Take a spin around the Open Campus interactive and let me know what you find that’s interesting or strikes you. Then hit reply. I might include some of your thoughts in a future newsletter.

📚Recommended books for the fall

Late summer and early fall are popular times to release new parenting and education books, and this season is no different. My mailbox has been filled this year with previews of books, several of which I highly recommend, including (in order of release):

Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports–and Why It Matters

By Linda Flanagan.

Ok, so this one is from last year, but after shuttling my oldest daughter around to swimming all year and then spending most of my early summer volunteering for the swim league in Montgomery County, MD, I finally got around to reading it. For Gen X and Millennial parents, Flanagan traces how youth sports have changed dramatically from the local and school fields to a year-round competitive and lucrative industry that has led to burnout and injuries for our kids. For those of us with kids, she shows what happened to youth sports and explains how to make it fun again. And for those in higher ed, what we need to worry about when kids who have been playing a sport almost since they could walk show up on campus.

Middle School Superpowers: Raising Resilient Tweens in Turbulent Times

By Phyllis L. Fagell

As the father of two middle schoolers, this book is likely to be by my side this school year ahead. Fagell spends her days as a professional school counselor working with middle schoolers, and so she brings the goods and outlines the 12 superpowers that middle schoolers need to activate when they face the most challenging situations, from flexibility to healing to balance. My favorite chapters are on belonging and risk taking because they are not only backed by research and science, but these two superpowers in particular are critical for adolescents to develop for success later on in college.

Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic-and What We Can Do About It

By Jennifer Breheny Wallace

I love the title of this new book. Although the subject is stressful, the book is not. It’s such an easy read, mixing together personal stories of kids and families we can all identify with, along with a healthy dose of research to back up the advice given throughout. The big takeaway from the book is that in our worry about the scarcity of opportunities for young adults right now we have put more pressure on our kids to perform rather than helping them feel like they “matter”—and have intrinsic self-worth that’s not tied to a high GPA, test scores, or getting into the “right” college. As Lisa Damour tells Wallace, “the difference between getting a 91 and a 99 is a life.” I love that quote!

Erasing the Finish Line: The New Blueprint for Success Beyond Grades and College Admission

By Ana Homayoun

I was lucky enough to be asked for a pre-review of this book, so let me share my full blurb, which says it all: “Getting into college has become an endless series of jumping through hoops for teenagers, yet when they get to campus they don’t often know their purpose for being there. In this timely and important book, Ana Homayoun gives students and families the blueprint they need to launch into a fulfilling life and engaging career. At a time when the skills needed to keep up in any job are churning at an ever faster pace, Homayoun provides us with a guide to the foundational skills that will help us succeed no matter what.”

Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World

By Devorah Heitner

Every day as I scroll through my feeds on Facebook and Instagram and see the updates on my friends’ kids (or even post my own), I wonder: would I have wanted this when I was a kid? In a day and age where every moment of life can be shared—and most worrisome, compared—Heitner shows me and other parents how to help tweens and teens balance identity, privacy, and reputation in the digital (and very public) world they’re growing up in. I love the storytelling of Heitner in this book because she shows us examples—backed up with easy-to-understand research and advice—that I think any parent navigating this world can relate to. Few parents grew up in the world that our kids are now navigating, and I’m thankful to Heitner for giving me this guide to show me how to support my kids.

🎧 Future U. returns next week

Before Season 7 of the Future U. podcast kicks off next week, I wanted to share some episodes you might have missed from this past season before the long Labor Day weekend:

Season 6: Final Report. Michael Horn and I look back on the past season and the stories we’ve covered, from college rankings and affirmative action to religion and student mental health. We picked our favorite episode and make predictions for what’s next.

What We’re Missing When It Comes to Colleges and AI. Chat GPT and other AI tools have put the future of education on the front page yet again. But beyond large language models, what else can AI do in education? And should we worry about students cheating themselves out of an education—or will that education just fundamentally change? We pose these questions and more to computer science experts Charles Isbell, who has since moved from Georgia Tech to the University of Wisconsin, and Michael Littman of Brown University.

Future U. Live from NAIS. At the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) annual meeting last February, Debra Wilson, the incoming president of the NAIS, flipped the script and interviewed me and Michael about key takeaways from the pandemic for schools and higher education, how mental health plays into students’ transition to college, and how colleges can encourage more students to enter the teaching profession.

College in Prison. Some 1.5 million people are in state and federal prisons in the United States, but for more than two decades they haven’t been eligible for federal Pell Grants. That changed on July 1, offering an opportunity for incarcerated people and colleges alike. We talked with a scholar in prison education and a formerly incarcerated student who went on to earn his degree about providing meaningful rehabilitation through a college education.

For my U.S. readers, enjoy your Labor Day weekend, and until next time, Cheers — Jeff