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" Preview: Obama's 2013 Budget February 13, 2012 - 3:00am By Libby A. Nelson WASHINGTON -- President Obama today will propose spending $8 billion on job training programs at community colleges over the next three years, part of a budget for the 2013 fiscal year that also would increase spending on Education Department programs and some scientific research. The president will outline the job-training proposal in more detail in a speech at Northern Virginia Community College this morning. But unlike past calls to spend more on community colleges, this plan is aimed squarely at an election-year message of "jobs, jobs, jobs" rather than the administration's goal of increasing the number of Americans with college degrees. The proposal, as outlined by Education Department officials Sunday evening, builds on job training programs already in existence -- especially the Trade Act Assistance Community College Career Training Program, which began making grants to community colleges in September. If approved by Congress, the president's proposal would provide $1.3 billion each per year to the Education and Labor Departments, on top of the trade act grants. While it's unclear whether the money would create new federal programs or build up existing ones, the funds would be spent at community colleges that train workers for jobs in high-demand fields, according to materials released by the Education Department. Programs that are especially successful at finding jobs for their graduates, or at placing those who traditionally have difficulty finding work, would be eligible for additional money. The grants would also be used to encourage partnerships between businesses, states, local governments and community colleges, and to create an online course to encourage entrepreneurs. The money would also support paid internships for low-income college students. But the plan would shut out for-profit colleges, which would not be eligible for the additional funds -- a move alm

"Invisible Transfer Students February 28, 2012 - 3:00am By Mitch Smith Enrollment managers have long spoken about the mobility of students, citing the high number of credits transferred in and out of their colleges and grumbling that federal graduation rate calculations fail to account for those transient degree-seekers. Data released today by the National Student Clearinghouse back those assertions, showing that a third of those who were first-time college students in 2006 had attended at least one other institution by summer 2011. The study followed 2.8 million full- and part-time students of all ages at every type of institution. Students were counted as transfers if they enrolled at a second institution before earning a degree. Thus, students who moved to a four-year institution after earning an associate degree were not counted, but university students who took a community college class over the summer were. High school students who enrolled in concurrent enrollment courses were not counted as transfers. The Clearinghouse researchers found that a quarter of those who transferred did so more than once and that the greatest number of moves, 37 percent, took place in a student's second year. It also found that 43 percent of transfers were to public two-year institutions, making them the most common transfer destination for students from every type of institution except other public two-year colleges. This study, unique in including part-time students and in following students who might transfer several times, joins a small but growing body of research on the mobility of students. The findings don't surprise Clifford Adelman, a senior associate with the Institute for Higher Education Policy whose research agenda includes national transfer patterns. Loyalties to a particular institution or location, which can discourage transferring, have long been eroding, Adelman said. He calls the phenomenon "geomobility" and said it has called attention to ineffi

"Beloit, Wis. - Born when Ross Perot was warning about a giant sucking sound and Bill Clinton was apologizing for pain in his marriage, members of this fall's entering college class of 2014 have emerged as a post-email generation for whom the digital world is routine and technology is just too slow. Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. The creation of Beloit's Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, and quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation. The Mindset List website at www.beloit.edu/mindset, the Mediasite webcast and its Facebook page receive more than 400,000 hits annually. The class of 2014 has never found Korean-made cars unusual on the Interstate and five hundred cable channels, of which they will watch a handful, have always been the norm. Since "digital" has always been in the cultural DNA, they've never written in cursive and with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch. Dirty Harry (who's that?) is to them a great Hollywood director. The America they have inherited is one of soaring American trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat. Nonetheless, they plan to enjoy college. The males among them are likely to be a minority. They will be armed with iPhones and BlackBerries, on which making a phone call will be only one of many, many functions they will perform. They will now be awash with a computerized technology that will not distinguish information and knowledge. So it will be up to their professors to help them. A generation accustomed to instant access will need to acquire the patience of sch

"Taking time off work when your kid gets the flu or chicken pox is usually a routine matter. But how do you explain your time-off needs if your teen - or spouse or partner -becomes too depressed to get out of bed, or your child becomes too anxious to go to school? Helping out a troubled loved one in such cases poses a dilemma, because the stigma placed on mental illness forces most people to keep it a secret. Yet a new survey shows people are taking off a surprisingly large amount of work time for this purpose. Some 41% of working adults took from four to nine days off work in the past year to deal with a mental-health issue of their own, or of a friend, family member or co-worker, says a recent survey of 669 working adults by Workplace Options."

Ah yes, Networking. Today, it has become a common exercise in the workplace and a vital part of the advancement of most careers. Networking can be accomplished anywhere these days, whether it be outside on a sidewalk, or at an obvious networking cocktail event. If it is done successfully, it can help you meet a future mentor, move you effectively toward an initial interview, or even allow you to make a lasting first impression with your first boss. However, successful networking can often times be harder than it sounds. Sometimes, it is hard to know all the right things to say or do and how to turn a 15-minute conversation into a potential life-lasting connection. With that in mind, I have developed a basic 5-step guide that gives the basics on how to untangle this mystery and turn any previously nerve wracking networking event into an exciting time of opportunity.

"Welcome to the GED COMPASS. The GED Testing Initiative is a public/private partnership that aims to improve the New York City GED testing system, including testing infrastructure, test-taker readiness, and public awareness and support. Through the Literacy Assistance Center, new tools are being developed including a GED Compass web portal to ensure that GED test takers know where to enroll in GED prep programs, prepare for the exam and secure a GED test seat. This website was developed for people interested in learning about how to get a GED in New York City. There are many ways to achieve this goal and this website will help you find the path that is right for you. In New York City finding a place to take the GED was difficult. Finding information about what you need to do to prepare for the test was hard to find. The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) partnered with the New York Community Trust to take a close look at the existing system and see how it could be improved. The result was a comprehensive report written by literacy expert, Jacqueline Cook, called Our Chance for Change: A Four Year Initiative for GED Testing in New York. You can see the full report here. "

Typically, the length of a job hunt is a factor of what you do and the demand for it, says Tony Beshara, a Dallas-based job-search consultant and author of "The Job-Search Solution" (2006). Economic conditions may play a role, too. For instance, the current turmoil in banking and financial services means that someone in that industry probably will take longer to find a new job than a candidate in another field, says Nella Barkley, president and co-founder of Crystal-Barkley Corp., a career-coaching company in New York.

For a solid hour, Rick Rush repeatedly inserts a small piece of metal - the parking gear of a future pickup truck - into a slot, adds a spring and lowers hydraulic machines to bolt parts together and ensure they're properly placed. With 87 seconds to complete the tasks before each transmission casing glides by on a conveyor, the wiry 61-year-old toils with a purposeful hunch at a steady, brisk pace.

Think a bachelor's or master's degree is the only way to advance your career? Think again. There are many associate's degree careers that pay high salaries. In fact, going after the highest paying jobs with a 2-year degree is a great way to handle debt after college graduation and reduce job-search anxieties after college. Whether you're looking for a fresh start in a new, more lucrative field or enrolling in college for the first time, a 2-year associate's degree from a community college is one of the quickest routes to bringing home more bacon each week. This is especially good news for those high school graduates who are wondering what to do after high school and before college. "

Non-users of LinkedIn may wonder, why bother? Posting a profile, keeping it updated, building and maintaining your network of connections, and responding to messages takes time.

Writing a resume is really a cakewalk. It is a no-nonsense transcription of your entire life's academic and professional acumen. Therefore, a strict set of do's and don'ts are very much applicable to this solitary sheet of paper. An improper resume can weaken your chances of getting a job. Today, most resumes are posted online. A poorly formatted and phrased resume will not even rank among the best resumes that get shortlisted. You may miss out good opportunities because of a poor or weak resume.

"A few years ago I was - like some of you reading this - overextended, overworked, and deeply unhappy about it. I was a young psychology professor desperately seeking tenure, with two toddlers at home and a husband whose work kept him away for days at a time. I exercised once a week on a good week, rarely saw my friends or extended family, and couldn't remember the last time I'd read a book that wasn't about statistics. It was just too much. Something had to give. And it did. I left my job, not knowing exactly what I was going to do next. It was the toughest decision I've ever made, but it was also one of the best."

"What is the best way to give notice at a job you haven't even started? I am an M.B.A. student who was offered a marketing position in December. I accepted the job, telling the company that I would start in September since I was still in school. Now I have a much better job opportunity in high tech, which I would much rather take. I would have a much bigger impact and turn in a better performance at this second job. How can I tell the first employers that I now want to decline their offer?"

"Have you ever received a call from a reporter looking for a career development professional? Such calls could be triggered by a number of different events. If you advertise your services or events such as career or job fairs, reporters may follow up. If the economy is in a downturn, with major employers eliminating jobs and millions of people re-thinking their career futures, reporters may come to you as an expert source of comment and analysis. If the economy is expanding and people are exploring new work options, reporters may seek observations about the resulting trends. If your organization issues a press release, you should be prepared to field any inquiries that result."

"Kent Niederhofer can't find enough mechanical engineers to work for him - in southeastern Michigan. You know, where Detroit is, with its 13.3% unemployment rate. Niederhofer is president of the American branch of Ricardo, an engineering consultancy that designs the power trains of some of the coolest stuff around: Bugatti sports cars, huge wind turbines and unmanned aerial vehicles. "We are doing rocket science every day," says Niederhofer. "It's just not on rockets." So Ricardo got a little desperate, renting a billboard to place a help-wanted ad that featured a picture of a sexy-looking sports car, the tagline "Why you became an engineer" and a Web address for job seekers. He calls it engineer porn."

For most entrepreneurs, sales calls aren't a laughing matter. But maybe they should be. Making humor a part of your pitch can work wonders, says Burt Teplitzky, a stand-up comedian, author and corporate trainer in Los Angeles. Jokes can help establish a rapport with customers, release tension and increase your "likability factor"-all of which can make it a lot easier to close a deal.

: While the résumé as you know it from 10 years ago is still alive and kicking, there have been a number of modifications to it. No longer do job candidates simply present a Word document of their qualifications. Today, they need to craft a package both online and off to present to a prospective employer. This needs to include both a résumé and an online profile as well as an easy way for a prospective employer or recruiter to move back and forth between the two.