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Allstate, Tom Joyner Foundation Unite to Fight a Trend: Runaway College Costs Forcing Students to Drop Out
Black PR Wire
August 15, 2011
Third annual Allstate Quotes for Education program seeks to double fundraising to $200,000 -
(BLACK PR WIRE) – NORTHBROOK, Ill., August 15, 2011 – As education costs continue to rise and Congress considers deeper cuts to federal aid and loans, many college students face perhaps the toughest choice of their young lives: fight on or drop out.
To increase the financial options available for students, Allstate has teamed up with The Tom Joyner Foundation to assist deserving students with scholarships through the third annual “Quotes for Education” (QFE) program. QFE continues Allstate’s history of investing in initiatives that strengthen Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This year, the goal is to provide $200,000 for support of the HBCUs and the QFE program.
Allstate will donate $10 to The Tom Joyner Foundation for every insurance quote (auto, renters, homeowners and more), up to $200,000, received through December 31, 2011.
Supporting Quotes for Education is as simple as Click, Call or Quote:
• Click - Go to www.allstate.com/quotesforeducation to find a participating Allstate agent near you or get a quote online
• Call - Allstate at 866-998-2188 to speak to an Allstate representative any time, day or night
• Quote - Receive any insurance quote from Allstate through December, 31, 2011
“Today's struggling economy and distressed job market make it more important than ever to secure a college education,” said Tom Joyner, Founder of The Tom Joyner Foundation. “Our mission is to help young people get a college education and ultimately compete in this highly-demanding global workforce.”
“In addition to supporting a trusted community partner like The Tom Joyner Foundation, we’re also pleased that this program engages families and communities as part of the solution,” said Kimberly Turner, marketing manager for Allstate. “By completing a quick, no-obligation auto, home, renters or life insurance quote, people can join with us in the effort to help keep the dream of a college education alive for hard-working students.”
For students from families of limited means, earning a college education is an uphill battle. Consider these facts:
• Since the early 1980s, college tuition and fees have increased at four times the rate of inflation – even faster than skyrocketing healthcare expenses. (“Measuring Up 2008”, National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2008)
• After exhausting all sources of grant aid, the typical low-income student must come up with more than $11,000 a year to attend a public or private nonprofit college. (Education Trust analysis of NPSA, 2008)
• The disparity between upper and lower-income students is profound: more than 90 percent of high school students from families making more than $100,000 enroll in college, compared to 78 percent of students from families making $50,001 to $100,000, and 52 percent of students from families making $20,000 and less. (NASFAA, “Measuring Up 2008”, National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2008)
Contact Information
Laura Strykowski
Allstate Insurance Company
847-402-5600
laura.strykowski@allstate.com
Neil Foote
The Tom Joyner Foundation
214-448-3765
Neil@neilfoote.com
About Allstate
The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer known for its “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate®” slogan. Now celebrating its 80th anniversary as an insurer, Allstate is reinventing protection and retirement to help nearly 16 million households insure what they have today and better prepare for tomorrow. Consumers access Allstate insurance products (auto, home, life and retirement) and services through Allstate agencies, independent agencies, and Allstate exclusive financial representatives in the U.S. and Canada, as well as via www.allstate.com and 1-800 Allstate®.
About The Tom Joyner Foundation
The Tom Joyner Foundation's primary mission is helping to keep students enrolled in Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs.)Since 1998, the foundation, chaired by nationally syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner, has raised more than $60 million to help keep students enrolled in black colleges, has assisted more than 14,000 students and worked with more than 100 HBCUs. Throughout the week, the Foundation announces scholarship winners on the nationally syndicated radio show hosted by its founder, Tom Joyner. Each week, separate financial awards are focused on students who are single parents and distinguished male students at each ‘School of the Month’. The organization’s largest annual fundraiser is its “Fantastic Voyage”™, which is a seven-day, six-night cruise that raises more than $1 million a year.
The content and opinions expressed within this press release are those of the author(s) and/or represented companies, and are not necessarily shared by Black PR Wire. The author(s) and/or represented companies are solely responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the content of this Press release. Black PR Wire reserves the right to reject a press release if, in the view of Black PR Wire, the content of the release is unsuitable for distribution.
Courseload: Any Textbook, Any Computer
Introducing Courseload
The cost of textbooks has risen twice as fast as other costs in higher education. Research indicates that more than one-third of all students go without one or more textbooks each year, driving students, parents, faculty, and school leaders to actively look for ways to cut textbooks costs. Courseload offers an electronic version of any textbook on any computer for one-third the price of a traditional printed textbook.
Student Benefits
With Courseload, students see up to a 70% reduction in the cost of new textbooks. All course materials are accessible through their computer or electronic reading device - taking the bulk out of the backpack. Students say they learn more from an e-textbook read on Courseload. Cheaper, lighter, and better for learning. No wonder three quarters of students prefer Courseload to traditional textbooks.
Instructor Benefits
Courseload’s faculty dashboard enables new ways to teach and understand how students learn. Choose any textbook, workbook or publication you like; we can handle it. Want to incorporate multimedia materials into your courses? We can do that too. Digital course materials provide the ultimate flexibility for instruction.
School Benefits
Looking for a solution that provides a school-wide cost reduction, improves your ability to compete and supports green efforts? How about no institutional start-up costs, fast and easy implementation and improved learning outcomes? Look no further. Courseload provides all this and more. Let us help you find a better way to help students lower their costs and improve their learning.
CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY & TEGRITY: LECTURE CAPTURE A NEW WAY OF TEACHING
There is little question any more that lecture capture technology has become invaluable for students in large lecture courses at large universities. The technology enables students to view lectures again and again, replay complex topics, and generally improve study time across the board.
According to academic technologists at William Paterson University (WPU), lecture capture is equally successful in small-class settings at smaller institutions, too.
Over the last 8 years, WPU has used lecture capture from Tegrity to help students make better use of their class time-and their study time between classes. Because the school doesn't offer many big lecture courses, the technology has been tested in classes of usually no more than 35-50 students, and has worked wonders.
Changing landscape
Colloquially speaking (but in technological terms, of course), Tegrity and WPU go way back. The 11,000-student liberal arts college in Wayne, NJ, was an early adopter of the lecture capture technology, rolling out the first iteration in 2003. Since then, its use on campus has grown gradually but steadily.
According to Sandra Miller, director of instruction and research technology, it has spread mostly by word of mouth, from professor to professor.
"When educators are excited about something, they talk to each other," Miller says. "In the case of lecture capture, we didn't have to work hard to convince them this was something they should use-rave reviews spoke for themselves."
Case in point: The number of instructors using Tegrity has more than tripled since the first pilot program eight years ago, and looks to expand even more during the upcoming school year.
Students are excited about these developments too. In a fall 2009 survey following the pilot test of Tegrity Campus-Tegrity's most recent solution-75 percent of the students reported that they would like to use Tegrity to study for other classes. Students told surveyors the new technology helped them notice things they had missed in class, and was particularly useful in preparing for finals.
A subsequent study in 2010 echoed those results almost exactly.
Improvising innovations
While most WPU professors traditionally have used lecture capture to make course lectures accessible to students outside of class, a number of them also have begun tailoring the technology for their respective particular disciplines.
One professor used it to record a series of supplemental tutorials about Microsoft Excel; another recorded the step-by-step process of solving complex math equations so students could go back and review how these particular problems were solved.
Elsewhere on campus, a linguistics professor recorded himself speaking in Old and Middle English-then referred to the recordings to help improve his own teaching of the subject.
In another class, a professor assigned student teacher candidates the task of making Tegrity recordings, and then had the class critique them in a form of peer review.
"On this campus, when technology grows, it grows from faculty," said Miller, who noted the school boasts 380 faculty members in all. "To see our instructors embracing lecture capture in all of these different ways is an encouraging sign that even more change is coming."
Facts don't lie
While Miller was enthused by these anecdotes and excitement over various applications of lecture capture, she wanted data to back them up. In the fall of 2010, she spearheaded a student-user survey to gauge how students really felt about Tegrity technology.
The results overwhelmingly indicated that the ability to record and review course material and discussion has been a boon for achievement at William Paterson University.
Some of the most notable data:
Of the students surveyed, more than 81 percent said the technology had increased their depth of learning.
An astounding 73 percent of respondents said they would request that their professors record class lectures using Tegrity.
More than 90 percent said they would recommend using Tegrity to their classmates.
Also of note: Roughly 73 percent of respondents reported that they felt that their success in the course had been impacted positively when lecture capture was implemented.
"It's clear this is making a difference for students, as well as faculty," said Miller, who will continue to assess Tegrity's impact on campus.
Down the road
This data is only the beginning. According to Miller, WPU will continue to integrate Tegrity's lecture capture solution into course offerings, providing an edge for its students and an invaluable teaching tool for its instructors.
Overall, the institution expects to offer more Tegrity classes in the 2011-12 school year than ever before. In addition, a number of administrative offices are beginning to use it to distribute mini-tutorials for using the technology on campus such as online degree evaluations. "The possibilities are endless," Miller added.
Tegrity
2520 Mission College Blvd. Suite 101
Santa Clara, CA 95054
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