Extra Credit

Students will get to choose which SAT score to show colleges

Here's something that will be of interest to high school seniors starting in 2009-10.

The Los Angeles Times reports that students seeking to put the best shine on their college applications will be able to choose which of their SAT scores to share with admissions officers and which to hide.

The new policy will allow students to take the widely used college entrance exam multiple times without admissions officers seeing their less-than-stellar efforts, the newspaper reported.

From the article:

"Students were telling us the ability to have more control over their scores would make the test experience more comfortable and less stressful," said Laurence Bunin, senior vice president of the SAT. ". . . We can do that without in any way diminishing the value and integrity of the SAT."

The College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the test, made the change at a time when some universities are placing less emphasis on standardized testing in choosing prospective freshmen and as the rival ACT exam is gaining popularity. The new SAT scoring option, approved Thursday by the College Board's trustees, mimics the ACT's long-standing policy.

-Patrick M. Walker

Lawmaker wants repeal of tuition deregulation

Tuition at Texas public colleges rose 112 percent from 2003 to 2007, according to a report by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The news has prompted state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, to renew his calls to repeal tuition deregulation.

"We should repeal tuition deregulation, then lower tuition by at least $500," Coleman said in a telephone interview. "The way it worked before worked well."

Texas public universities have been able to set their own tuition rates since 2003. Coleman blames Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick for thwarting bills Coleman sponsored in 2005 and 2007 to undo deregulation. He promised to try again in the coming session.

Average tuition for a Texas undergraduate taking 15 semester credit hours jumped from $625 to $1,330 per semester from fall 2003 to fall 2007.

Coleman has a personal interest in tuition. One of his children is a high school junior, and Coleman has been studying debt levels for college graduates and their parents.

"One thing that we don't have is a merit-based scholarship that isn't need-based," Coleman said, adding that middle-class families are now facing six-figure debts to finance undergraduate degrees. "Those are levels of debt we associate with medical school or law school, not an undergraduate degree."

Read the rest of John Austin's report here.

-Patrick M. Walker

Your A.M. roundup

Longtime Fort Worth youth mentor Margaret Williams is retiring

Program would let students double their degrees

Carroll swim center to get chlorine treatment system

Mother of invention

-Patrick M. Walker

Is brisket as healthy as it is tasty? Grad student believes so

Mouthwatering news from the San Antonio Express-News as we head into cookout season:

Hold on to your toothpicks, barbecue lovers.

Brisket not only is juicy. It could be better for you than other cuts of beef.

“You've got to be careful about calling brisket a health food,” said Stephen Smith, a Texas A&M University professor of animal science. Nevertheless, “it's healthier than we thought — the healthiest cut on the carcass.”

Smith oversaw a graduate student's study that could turn what had been a questionable piece of meat — at least outside of Texas — into a value leader.

A still-unpublished study by a 23-year-old graduate student showed brisket had much higher concentrations of monounsaturated fatty acids than the eight other primary cuts of beef. Those acid chains include oleic acid, the same acid found in olive oil and canola oil.

Prior tests have shown that consumption of oleic acid at higher levels can produce health benefits, including increased production of HDL cholesterol, often known as good cholesterol.

“It was a complete surprise to us,” Smith said.

Read the full article here.

-Patrick M. Walker

Your A.M. roundup

Today on star-telegram.com:

Audit looming over Cleburne school board races

If it's May, it must be time to break out the finery (See an audio slide show here)

Madagascar's president to attend gruaduation at Abilene Christian University

Setback for immigrant college students in N. Carolina

-Patrick M. Walker

3 regional universities get new leaders

Rathburn named president of Texas A&M University-Texarkana

Dottavio named president of Tarleton State University

Jones named president at Texas A&M-Commerce

-Patrick M. Walker

Your A.M. roundup

Today on star-telegram.com:

Man's opposition to TCC's downtown campus is backed by cash

Time to use your head, students: It's test time

Bugs, butterflies for garden of learning

H-E-B 7th-graders offered summer course in Hindi or Mandarin

Perry: Montford could lead UT

Official against creationist program

Texas A&M student diagnosed with bacterial meningitis

-Patrick M. Walker

More debate on Texas Top 10 rule and UT

Lots of folks would like to undo the state law allowing the Top 10 percent ranked in a high school class automatic entry to UT-Austin. More debate in the capitol city today here.

- Kristin Sullivan

More police patrol college campuses

More universities are hiring more campus officers and they're arming them more than every before. Texas universities lead the pack, both in number of officers and numbers armed. Read more about it here.

-Martha Deller

College tips for students with learning challenges

Students with learning differences can learn about the college application process, higher education choices and job opportunities at a College and Career Transition Fair tonight. The 7 p.m. event is for area high school students with learning challenges, including dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADD and ADHD. Location: Carroll Senior High School, 1501 W. Southlake Boulevard, Southlake.

Jessamy Brown