Food Pantry Helps Students in Need at Metro Atlanta University

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As the holidays draw closer, while many college students are spending late nights preparing for final exams and finishing projects, some students are just worried about finding the money to pay for food. At one college in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, students struggling between paychecks have access to a donated food pantry where they can stock up on two-weeks of food. The Feed the Future program, run by the Psychiatric and Social Services Department of Kennesaw State University and the KSU Staff Senate, feeds up to 30 hungry students each month during the fall and spring semesters, according to the program’s director, Tao Bartleson Mosley, a professor and social worker at the campus health clinic. “Demand varies by month,” she said. “Summer is slow.

Students Hopeful New College Loan Program Will Take the Pressure Off

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Beginning in January, students who borrow to pay for college will keep more of their paycheck when it comes time to pay the loans back. Last Wednesday, President Barack Obama announced a plan that would cap monthly payments on federal student loans to 10 percent of the borrower’s discretionary income. The change comes after a petition on the White House website asking for student loan forgiveness received 32,000 signatures. Although the focus of the plan is not on debt relief, the new proposal would forgive student loan debt after 20 years of payments. The program is a modification of an earlier proposal approved by Congress that would have taken effect in 2014 and capped monthly payments at 15 percent of a student’s income.

Higher Education and Freshmen Facts [infographic]

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Who are today's college freshmen and what do they need to know? Those are two great questions those at Bachelor Degree Online's recent infographic seek to answer. Since 1971 priorities have changed for those entering college. No longer is family at the forefront of their mind. Today, it's all about financial well-being.

Suicide: A Preventable Epidemic in Young Adults

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Teenagers and college students live in tumultuous times. Physical changes, high school graduation, going off to college, moving away from the parents — all of these things can cause personality and mood changes in young adults. So how does one know the difference between “normal” bouts of depression, sadness and erratic behavior, and what could potentially be a red flag for suicidal tendencies? Every 15 minutes (about the amount of time that it takes to down a cup of coffee) one person will commit suicide, according to The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Many of these deaths could have been prevented by intervention from those close to the victims, but often the warning signs were ignored because the subject is awkward, according to Mary Ann Camann, PhD, an associate professor at the WellStar School of Nursing at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta.

On College Campuses, Hookahs Are Being Smoked Out

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If you are concerned about your health, step away from the hookah.  The belief that the ornate water pipes are far safer than cigarettes may be going up in smoke.  Researchers found that the water in the hookah only filters 5 percent of the nicotine contained in the smoke. Hookahs are gaining in popularity on college campuses across the country and the American Lung Association is making anti-hookah legislation a top priority. “Teens and young adults are initiating tobacco use through these hookahs with the mistaken perception that the products are somehow safer or less harmful than cigarettes,” Paul G. Billings, a vice president of the American Lung Association, told the New York Times. “Clearly that’s not the case.”

The danger lies in how hookahs are smoked.  Hookah sessions usually last about an hour as hoses attached to the pipe are passed around.  In a typical session a smoker could inhale the equivalent of 100 cigarettes while also exposing themselves to tuberculosis and herpes through the communal hoses. Cities are beginning to take notice, passing ordinances to limit the amount of new hookah bars opening and college campuses are rewriting anti-smoking rules to outlaw hookahs.

Helping At Risk Kids Strive for A Diploma

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The Department of Education is offering the Predominantly Black Institutions Competitive Grant Program. This grant will carry out programs in science, math, technology, engineering, health education, globalization and teacher preparation with the aim of  improving the educational outcome of African-American males. The priorities for this grant are to help high school kids who are at risk to complete college or strive for higher education. This grant will also help to collect, analyze and use high-quality and timely data to follow up on kids who go through the program.

Guns in Schools: New Push to Allow Concealed Weapons on Campus

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Georgia is one of nine states with proposals to allow guns on college campuses. Some states are even considering lifting their gun bans at K-12 public schools. HB 55 would allow gun owners to carry their weapons at colleges in Georgia. It is currently before the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee. A spate of lawsuits filed by gun-rights groups have opened the door to new debate about campus guns in Utah and Colorado, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Kansas and Arizona, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Many Young Americans Lack Basic Job Skills Says New Study

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America’s high schools and colleges aren’t preparing students for adulthood, says a new study by the Pathways to Prosperity Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The national education strategy has been too focused on academics and not real-world skills, according to the study, “Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century."  Many employers are finding today’s young job seekers lack the necessary skills to be successful in the workplace.  The report recommends shifting to a two-track approach with an emphasis on job skills along with college preparation. Georgia's General Assembly is apparently recognizing this need.