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College Focus - Supplement

By The Associated Press

Medical schools eye expansions for first time in decades

Mar 15 13:46

By GREG BLUESTEIN

Associated Press Writer

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- The Medical College of Georgia campus is so packed with classrooms, labs, training sites and offices that almost every square inch of ground is covered with construction, except for a small plot of grass where dissected cadavers are buried.

So when the dean, Dr. D. Douglas Miller, considers the pressing need to expand, he looks wistfully at an aging complex of squat brick buildings a short walk away where the campus abruptly stops and a low-income housing project begins.

If the political stars align, the housing project could become the site of a new $207 million medical and dental facility that would enable the main campus of the state's sole public medical school to boost enrollment from 190 to 240 students.

That's just one leg of the school's first expansion in decades. The other two legs of the "trifecta," as Miller calls it, involve opening up a regional campus 90 miles away in Athens and two clinical sites in south Georgia to boost total enrollment from 745 to 1,200 by 2020.

The Georgia medical college is among dozens in the U.S. struggling to boost enrollment and undertake ambitious expansion plans for the first time since an earlier growth spurt came to an end more than three decades ago.

"We're in a new era," said medical college president Dr. Daniel Rahn. "The last major expansion of medical schools was in the mid-1970s and most of us have spent our careers during a time when there were relatively stable numbers."

Since the boom years, when enrollment doubled, policymakers have reined in the growth of medical programs, fearing that the rise of managed care could lead to an oversupply of physicians.

But in the late 1990s, new data showed that more doctors would be needed to care for the aging baby boomer population.

"For 20 years there was a sense that there was an excess of physicians," said Dr. Keith Joiner, dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine. "But everybody realizes now that conclusion is flawed."

The result is a new medical school boom. The American Association of Medical Colleges is now urging a 30 percent increase in enrollment by 2015.

Some 93 of the nation's 126 medical schools are now increasing or planning to increase enrollment over 2002 levels in what researchers call the "second wave of expansion."

But many schools face unexpected challenges. They are struggling to find more classroom space, secure clinical sites, recruit faculty from a dwindling pool and create a plan to pay for it all.

"This is, for a lot of schools, uncharted territory. It's something they haven't done for a while," said Sarah Bunton, a senior research associate with the AAMC. "They have to figure it out as they go along."

The current growth spurt has spurred a new trend: Satellite campuses, often in big cities or in college towns miles away from a medical school's center.

The University of Arizona College of Medicine last year opened a four-year campus in Phoenix that will one day house 150 students per class -- more than are at the school's original campus in Tucson. But without the federal funding that fueled the last medical school growth spurt, the school must find other ways to pay for expansion.

One possibility: Public-private partnerships with businesses, perhaps sharing revenue with retail stores, condos and other commercial buildings that could be built on the outskirts of the campus in booming downtown Phoenix.

"It's a very new model. Scary to some, intriguing for sure," said Joiner. "We're still feeling our way along that path."

Other schools have managed growth by expanding on a single campus.

The Wayne State University School of Medicine, the nation's largest single-campus medical school, swelled its class size to 300 two years ago in response to fears of a shortage.

"Nobody wants to be in a situation where I think we're headed for -- where we'll have a significant shortage of physicians," said executive vice dean Dr. Robert Frank, 61. "Hell, I'm going to be an old man by then -- and I won't have a doctor."

Wayne State officials quickly learned that a good communication system to contact each of the students was a necessity.

The Detroit school requires its students to buy PDAs so they can easily be contacted. It comes in handy when students on clinical rotations must be alerted to medical situations they haven't yet seen, such as a rare condition or a new treatment.

"Most medical schools haven't thought about this for a long time," said Frank. "This has not been on the table for medical schools for years."

The Georgia medical college's expansion is a blend of strategies.

Facing reluctant state lawmakers and a lack of space, planners decided they couldn't afford to simply expand the main campus in Augusta, an east Georgia city of 190,000.

So they embarked on a broader effort to create a statewide school. The Augusta campus would increase enrollment from 745 to 900, while a new, four-year regional campus in Athens -- the northeast Georgia home of the University of Georgia -- would hold 240 students.

Clinical sites in Albany and Savannah, meanwhile, would have an enrollment of 30 third- and fourth- year medical students each.

"It's one of the few states that has a real statewide plan for medical school expansion," said Paul Umbach, whose firm helped chart out the expansion with a report released last year. "And I can tell you, a lot of states are watching this."

Ultimately, though, the supply of new doctors depends upon residencies, the postgraduate programs where physicians earn their certifications in primary care or a specialty. Some educators, including Frank, are pushing to expand federal caps on the number of residencies that Medicare and Medicaid provide for each hospital.

Auditors say Georgia must add at least 100 more residency positions to its 2,000 slots to keep pace with the expansion.

State officials hope those new doctors will stay and practice in Georgia. But even a school like MCG, where 95 percent of the students are from Georgia, cannot be certain that the doctors they train will actually set down roots in the Peach State.

Take Paul Haun, 29, who was accepted to MCG last year on his third attempt. He's still excited about his career choice, but he admits to having some rough days when he questions his decision.

"It's still good. Now my dream job is to compile movie soundtracks," he says with a chuckle. "During renal physiology, I wonder what I'm doing here. But I still love it."

Still, the Georgia native is not sure where he'll end up when he graduates.

"My goal is to stay in Georgia," said Haun. "But there's so many things that can change between now and eight years from now."

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On the Net:

Medical College of Georgia: http://www.mcg.edu/

Association of American Medical Colleges: http://www.aamc.org

Midwest scrambles to attract post-college professionals

Mar 12 08:24

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB

Associated Press Writer

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Like many Midwest 20-somethings, Chris Diebel left for Los Angeles after graduating college here. Unlike many of them, he came back.

Convincing educated former residents like Diebel to return has become a priority for nervous Midwesterners worried about a brain drain of educated young professionals.

Iowa's Democratic governor, Chet Culver, is taking an especially vocal approach to the problem because concerns are so high about a looming state work force shortfall.

Economists predict that within five years, Iowa -- a state of 3 million people -- will have 150,000 more jobs than workers. If the trend isn't slowed or reversed, the gap could widen even further and companies unable to find workers might leave the state or drop plans to set up shop here.

"We must reverse this trend and our economic future depends on it," Culver said.

In hopes of retaining college-educated residents and attracting out-of-staters, several Midwest states have turned to the place where many young people feel most comfortable: the Web.

Nebraska has created a social and career networking Web site and young alumni clubs for college graduates. And, in part to entice graduates to stay, the state created tax incentives for companies that create at least 75 jobs paying significantly higher-than-average wages.

South Dakota, meanwhile, has created a public-private group called Workforce 2025 to better market the state to college graduates and link them with job opportunities. The state also created Dakota Roots, a Web-based job search program designed to entice former residents to consider job opportunities in the state.

Neighboring North Dakota has started programs to help private companies offer internships, and the state assigns employees to promote careers in North Dakota to high school students.

And Kansas has enacted programs geared toward luring former residents back to the state, including Hire Kansas Talent, a collaborative effort of career services offices within the state's four-year public universities.

The problem in Iowa is especially vexing: The state ranks last in the country in the retention of college graduates, with fewer than half opting to stay in the state. Wisconsin, in comparison, retains 80 percent of its college graduates.

"We're seeing dramatic losses in people with bachelor's degrees or higher," said Kyle Carlson, chairman of the Generation Iowa Commission, a panel of 20-somethings formed to deal with the problem. "We're losing the highest educated at one of the fastest rates."

After holding meetings across the state, the Generation Iowa Commission offered a host of recommendations to the Legislature, including tax credits to help Iowans pay off student loans, merit-based scholarships to attract and retain top students, and programs to train people in occupations facing the greatest shortages.

The report also calls for increased support for quality of life amenities, but the commission chairman said money and jobs were clearly the top priority for young Iowans.

"If you already have a job here and maybe a family, it's more about quality of life and amenity issues," Carlson said. "If you talk to students, it's based unanimously on job and salary."

The commission also recently launched a Web site -- an online jobs and networking site -- that Carlson said would provide more information to young professionals in Iowa.

All the effort is focused on people like Diebel, who was drawn back to Des Moines from California by a combination of economic and less tangible factors.

"I came back because I really liked the idea of being in a city where you could get involved in just about anything you wanted to and make a difference," said the 27-year-old marketing director for a hospitality management company.

Still, he knows many people who moved to Minneapolis or Chicago, cities that have a Midwestern feel but offer a faster pace than anywhere in often-sleepy Iowa. Some return to Iowa when they get a little older, but Diebel said the state should keep people from leaving in the first place.

"You hear that this is a great place to raise kids and a family. They also need to make it a great place for young people to have fun," Diebel said.

Culver expressed confidence that the Legislature would act on the Generation Iowa Commission's recommendations, but lawmakers acknowledged there were limits to what the state can do, especially during an economic slowdown.

"It's not likely that we will be able to address every facet of that recommendation this session," said Rep. Andrew Wenthe, a Democrat who helped draft the bill creating the commission.

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On the Net:

Generation Iowa Commission:

http://www.iowalifechanging.com/generation

Student visa applicants with high incomes still have hard time

Mar 12 20:42

By BRADY McCOMBS

Arizona Daily Star

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Patricia Azuara's trip to the U.S. Consulate in Nogales on Oct. 1, 2004, should be fairly painless, considering she has spent the previous six years dealing with issues related to her student and worker visas.

The University of Arizona doctoral candidate, 34, knows about all the fees, bank statements and immigration forms she needs. Since arriving in 1998, she has mastered English, adapted to life in the United States and navigated her way through two previous visas.

Her appointment at the consulate is to finalize the transition from the H1B worker visa she has been using to work in public education to an F1 student visa that will allow her to begin a Ph.D. program in the department of language, reading and culture in the UA's College of Education.

She has the letter she needs from the university, a completed immigration form and a bank statement from her father proving she can pay for tuition and expenses not covered by her scholarships.

At her interview, though, a consular officer tells her she has failed to pay a $100 fee required by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement program to track students. The program was established after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"I was like, nobody told me I had to pay that fee," says Azuara, of Mexico City.

Since the U.S. State Department requires the fee be paid through the Internet, Azuara drives around Nogales to find an Internet cafe so she can pay the fee and complete her paperwork.

The consular officer approves her petition, but the mistake reminds her the visa process is never simple, quick or cheap.

"Even if you have all the documents required and you follow all the steps, they can reject your visa application, just like that with no explanation," she says.

Applicants for student visas must be excellent students with a command of English and enough money -- $32,000 at the UA -- to prove they, or their families, can pay out-of-state tuition and living expenses for at least one year.

Still, that's no guarantee of approval. In fiscal year 2007, the U.S. State Department rejected nearly a third of the 432,000 student visa applications submitted worldwide.

Azuara is one of 2,300 international students at the UA. Nationwide, she is one of 14,922 from Mexico and 978,906 in the United States, according to figures from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that also include students on two other types of less-common visas.

Becoming an international student isn't possible for many families around the world.

"It's a huge investment for a family to send their children here," says Joanne Lagasse-Long, director of the international student programs and services at the UA.

If a family can afford to send a child to study in the United States, it usually means they are doing well socially and economically in their home country and are unlikely to consider entering illegally, she says.

Once here, students are kept under a close watch by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Web-based Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which monitors students and their dependents throughout their approved stay in the U.S. education system.

If students don't have a full course load or are working in an unauthorized job, universities are required to report them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Educated in private, bilingual schools in Mexico City, Azuara and her family entered the United States yearly with tourist visas for shopping trips to San Antonio and visits to San Diego or Disneyland.

She had earned a bachelor's degree in special education from a private university in Mexico City and was working as a third-grade teacher in a private school when a former professor urged her to apply for a scholarship to pursue a master's degree at the UA.

Even if applicants can get the money together and they are able to gain admission to the university, the final decision rests with the immigration officer.

"What happens at this appointment can vary greatly," Lagasse-Long says.

Azuara still remembers her interview in 1998 at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City:

"You wait in line forever. It's like a prison, actually, because they put you like in lines, rows, and then they ask you, like, 'Stand up all this row, sit in the next one.' And you cannot take food and you are there for like the whole day. Finally, you get to somebody that will interview you.

"It wasn't hard for me because they just saw my papers and saw that I have enough money to come here and they gave me the visa, but you see the people interviewing to the next of you and it's kind of scary. They really look at the way you are dressed, the color of your skin."

Once at school, students must maintain full-time student status and show progress toward completion of the program to retain their visas, Lagasse-Long says. They can work part time at on-campus or at approved off-campus jobs.

Azuara teaches a class at the UA and works as the coordinator for a program that hosts foreign students who come for a month to learn about U.S. history and culture. She earns about $900 a month after taxes, which she says makes it difficult to pay living expenses.

She hopes to earn her Ph.D. in May 2009 and take advantage of a one-year extension granted to students to work in their fields of study. Once her studies and practical training are complete, she'll have to find a company to sponsor her for an H1B visa or return to Mexico, because a student visa offers no path to legal residency.

Despite being here for nearly a decade, Azuara says it remains crystal-clear that her status is temporary.

"You never feel completely here. You are always like a guest," she says. "It is very unfortunate because I go home and I don't feel home, either."

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Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.azstarnet.com

Other Recent Readings of Interest

• Bill Gates asks Congress to increase visas for skilled workers

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PA tech school more than just fenders and hammers

Mar 12 19:45

By KAREN BLACKLEDGE

The (Sunbury) Daily Item

ESPY, Pa. (AP) -- There's more to the Columbia-Montour Area Vocational-Technical School than autoshop and woodworking.

There's a lot more.

With an ever-growing curriculum that now includes classes in computer technology, marketing and even health care, more students than ever are flocking to the school, located between Bloomsburg and Berwick.

There's even a waiting list of nearly 200 students to get in.

Why do so many students want to go there?

It's because a lot more jobs today require technical training, but no a college degree, said administrative director Cosmas Curry.

"Parents and students see the school as a place to get the best of both worlds an academic background and a career and a technical background to have the knowledge and skills to perform jobs or if they want to go to college," he said.

Danville School District students make up the second highest number of students attending the school, with a 20 percent jump in just the past four years. Danville has 120 students enrolled, up from about 100 in 2004.

The school has a great success rate with 75 percent of students finding jobs immediately after graduation. Students from the school's computer technology, draft and design programs are most likely to further their education, Curry said.

Programs where there is a high demand for employees include health occupations, automotive technicians, computer technology, electricians and carpentry and construction. "These are jobs where they can earn a living to sustain a family, and in most cases, the jobs can't be outsourced," Curry said.

Danville school board member Steve Schooley attributed a large part of the school's success to partnerships with local firms, including heating and ventilation contractors, welding shops, auto repair garages, electrical contractors and floral retailers.

"They (graduates) are high in demand. Another big plus is that many students graduate with various certifications which make the students more marketable after graduation," he said.

Students in health occupations graduate as certified nursing assistants. Auto technician graduates are certified by the National Auto Technicians Educational Foundation, and electrical program graduates are certified by the Association of Builders and Contractors.

As for computer technicians, they are needed in a variety of areas. Curry said those jobs pay anywhere from $25,000 to $60,000 a year, depending upon where the graduate goes.

With electrical program graduates, they can get jobs in industry or as power transmission installers. Or, "they can enter the workforce at power plants and help fill the void of a workforce that may be retiring soon," he said.

Vo-tech students go full-time in ninth through 12th grades. As freshmen, students are enrolled in an exploratory program where they go through four different programs throughout the year. The next year, they choose their major and focus on that through graduation.

The school's programs are automotive repair and refinishing, automotive technology, machining technology, welding technology, computer technology, drafting and design technology, electronics technology, printing technology, cosmetology, food preparation, health occupations, horticulture and floriculture, travel, lodging and marketing careers, building trades maintenance, carpentry and construction, electrical occupations and plumbing, heating and air conditioning.

The school also conducts educational programs for adults.

The Danville Area School District is paying $1.4 million as its share of the $6.6 million vo-tech budget for 2007-08.

Hawaii schools to offer grads "career-ready super diploma"

Mar 12 21:13

HONOLULU (AP) -- The Board of Education has approved a new diploma for public high school graduates who get through higher-level English and math classes.

The so-called "super diploma," or the College and Career Ready Diploma, replaces the board's "recognition diploma." Regular diplomas also will continue to be issued for students who take regular courses.

Beginning in 2009, students seeking to earn the new diploma will volunteer to take the more difficult classes, with the first super diplomas awarded in 2013.

Instead of earning three credits in math, the students would need four credits, passing Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 and an Algebra 2 end-of-course exam.

For English, students would still earn four credits, but they would need to complete a semester of expository writing. Students would still need three science credits, but two should be Chemistry, Biology or Physics.

The new diploma program has the support of the University of Hawaii and the business community.

The UH Board of Regents already has approved a plan to make students automatically eligible for the B Plus Scholarship if they graduate with the new diploma and have at least a 3.0 grade-point average. The scholarship is based on financial need.

The university also is considering providing guaranteed admission or waiving placement exams for any student who attains the new diploma, said Linda Johnsrud, university vice president for academic planning and policy.

The Hawaii Business Roundtable is looking at ways businesses could provide preferences to students who earn the tougher diploma, said Kathryn Matayoshi, the group's executive director.

The executive director of Small Business Hawaii, state Sen. Sam Slom, said he supports anything that gets students into tougher classes and achieving more. But he said he isn't sure a new diploma necessarily means someone is ready for the work force.

"Businesses try to look at the total person regardless of the type of diploma or degree someone has," he said.

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Information from: The Honolulu Advertiser,

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com

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