TresSugar

Hold It! That's What One Teacher Is Telling Students

Rebecca M Gruber — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:40:49 PST

How long can your child hold it? If she's in Stephanie Warner's class at a Brooklyn elementary school, let's hope she can hold it for a while!

The fifth-grade teacher has enacted a new policy to keep kids sitting at their desks and out of the bathroom. At the start of each week, the teacher hands out three bathroom passes to each student in the class. The kids then have three windows throughout the day during which they can use the vouchers to visit the restroom. If the tots still have their passes at the end of the week, they can trade them in for small prizes like pencils and erasers. According to one of the students, the teacher started the new program "because some kids just go for fun. They just want to skip class."

Though New York public schools do not have a bathroom limit policy, parents are up in arms complaining that their children's health - bladder infections and more - is at stake. The school's principal has put an end to the program following the uproar, but I want to know - do you agree with the teacher's reasoning behind instituting the policy?

Does Your Tot's School Have a Scream Room?

Natasha Dantzig — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:42:05 PST

Scary! Everyone's heard of a time-out corner, quiet time, or even a trip to the principal's office if tots get out of line at school, but how about a "scream room"? With images eerily reminiscent of some creepy kiddie version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, schools are implementing so-called "scream rooms," where kids in need of letting off some steam are sent to scream their lil heads off.

These rooms are technically called time-out rooms, which sound innocuous enough, but some parents claim that these areas are far more traumatizing. Described by one parent as, "scream closets, where kids bang their heads off of concrete walls." Yikes. Sounds more like a subpar mental health facility or solitary confinement chamber than a safe place for young kids to attempt to settle themselves down. Understandably, parents aren't happy about this, and are protesting the use of these rooms as appropriate ways to handle kids' behavioral issues.

What do you think? Would you be in favor of a place for your tot to go scream it out at school?

5 Steps to Rocking Your Grad School Interview

Emily Co — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:00:05 PST

Many of my friends are applying to business schools right now and a couple are interviewing. I've picked up a number of useful tips from friends and people with graduate degrees, so read on to find out how you can prep for your interview.

Know Your Reason For Going. Why do you want to go to school? You need to figure out your reason for going because it'll help in your interview and essay-writing process. Go into your interview with a clear objective and be sure to have examples to back it up with. You need to be convinced before you can start convincing the admissions officer why you really want to be accepted.
Showcase Your Diversity. There are going to be a lot of people with similar backgrounds so try to dig deep to find that extra something that will make you stand out. Is there a cause you're passionate about? A side project that might surprise (in a pleasant way) interviewers? Think long and hard and it'll make your case even stronger if you can display some leadership abilities.
Practice Makes Perfect. You should practice with a couple of people before interviewing. Alternatively, you can learn a lot from the interviews you do with the other schools you're applying for.

For more tips, read on.

How Often Do You Email Your Kids' Teachers?

Rebecca M Gruber — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:32:12 PST

Ask a child what he did in school today and more likely than not, he'll say "nothing." As parents, we crave information about our kids, but they aren't always very forthcoming with details. To get answers, many mamas turn to their tykes' teachers, often cornering them during inconvenient times like drop-off or pick-up. To make the system easier, many teachers have set up classroom email accounts where moms and dads can write in their questions or concerns, but in the information age, that system may be backfiring.

An elementary school in Seattle recently sent a note to parents asking them "to limit e-mails to 'important issues' keeping them to 'one paragraph' and just 'one email per week, maximum.'" Parents are outraged. Administrators say they are only trying to make things more manageable for overwhelmed teachers. What do you think?

College Sells Groupon For Cheaper Tuition

Emily Co — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:26:04 PDT

Students at the National Louis University can give their wallets a little break. The Chicago-based school is offering a Groupon for an introductory teaching course for graduate students, and buyers can save up to 57 percent off the tuition of one course. There are only four days left till the deal closes, and up to 15 coupons available - two of which have already been bought. The course normally totals up to $2,232, but people who purchase the daily deal can buy it for just $950.

If you're interested in the details, the class starts this Fall, and students will meet once a week on Monday nights for three hours. There are only 25 spots available for that class, and students will receive three credits that they can use toward the 36 credits needed to graduate from the program.

Now, if only other graduate schools started selling their courses on Groupon . . .

No More Federally Subsidized Loans For Grad Students

Emily Co — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:54:37 PDT

Bad news for 82 percent of Sugar readers who are considering grad school: there will be no more federally subsidized loans for graduate or professional students as a result of the latest debt deal.

Right now, grad students are allowed to take out a maximum of $20,500 in federal loans, and up to $8,500 can be subsidized. Subsidized loans, which are only for those who qualify for this extra financial help, basically means the government will be paying interest on it while you are enrolled in school, so you don't have to. This will all change for loans taken out after July 1, 2012.

The move is estimated to cost students $18.1 billion over the next 10 years and financial experts say it will add thousands of dollars in interest to an already costly graduate student loan. Those who would be harder hit would naturally be students who are in degrees that take longer to complete.

The good news is the federally subsidized loans for undergraduate students will be left untouched. What do you think about this?

Harvard Students One of the Top College Users of Sugar-Daddy Website

Emily Co — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:05:16 PDT

As costs for tuition soar, college students are scrambling for ways to pay off their student debt. In the latest exposé by Huffington Post, we're clued into this alarming new trend of higher education students turning to online sugar-daddy websites to pay for school. The "arrangements" many of the members agree to often include sex and some sort of money transaction. One such website, SeekingArrangement.com, shared some statistics about its student userbase with HuffPo, which revealed a good number of Harvard students on the site. Here is a list of the top 10 undergraduate universities attended by the "sugar babies":

New York University: 498 users
University of Toronto: 471 users
Pennsylvania State: 434 users
Ohio State University: 398 users
University of Wisconsin: 345 users
University of Oklahoma: 312 users
University of Georgia: 281 users
University of California at Los Angeles: 253 users
Harvard University: 231 users
University of Minnesota: 218 users

Other top colleges include UC Berkeley, ranked at 13 with 193 users, followed by University of Michigan with 189 members and University of Southern California with 183 sugar babies. Many students use their official school email addresses that end with an .edu in order to get the free account upgrade from SeekingArrangement.com. This helps the site compile its data on the student demographic.

I agree with TrèsSugar Assistant Editor Tara Sharp that these girls can definitely find a more responsible way to pay for school if they put in some time and effort, and that in this case, the ends don't justify the means. It's sad to see the amount of students on the site more than tripled compared with stats from 2007, which is partly thanks to its sneaky marketing tactics of buying ads that pop up when people search for terms like "tuition help" and "financial aid." I'm wondering, do think these sugar babies knew what they were getting into?

What's the Biggest Lesson You've Learned From Working?

SavvySugar — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:05:24 PDT

Now that Fall is creeping up on us, this got me thinking of all the students getting ready to pack up and start their new school year. I remember learning a lot at school, but to me, the bulk of the important lessons came post graduation. That's because I'm finally getting a taste of what "real life" is like, and am dealing with issues that can affect my finances instead of just my GPA. There's definitely more on the line when you're done with school.

I'm asking, what's the biggest lesson you've learned from working?

10 Ways to School Yourself Post Graduation

SavvySugar — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 03:05:55 PDT

Education and intellectual growth shouldn't stop when the final bell rings and you walk across the stage to accept your diploma. Continuing brain development, mastering your chosen field, and sharpening your reading comprehension should be lifelong projects. Not only will it keep your brain active and sharp, but you'll have a leg up on the competition. You should learn something new every day, after all. Here are some ways to sneak smart activities into your tight schedule.

Guess How Much a Hogwarts Education Costs?

Emily Co — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:00:39 PDT

I'm sure many Harry Potter fans secretly wish they would one day receive an acceptance letter from Hogwarts. After all, the wizarding school seems like a magical place, chock-full of out-of-this-world classes that will never leave you bored. Learning how to make luck potions, transporting yourself magically by apparating, and taking care of magical creatures sounds more like fun than work.

However, going to Hogwarts is not all fun and games - tuition can get pretty pricey for students. Unless you belong to one of the more wealthy wizarding families like the Malfoys, you might find it hard to pay for school if you don't receive a scholarship. A blog by Lehigh University's Economics Society, recently calculated the costs for a first-year Hogwarts student, which includes tuition and mandatory materials like robes and textbooks. Take this quick quiz to find out what the price tag of a Hogwarts education is for an incoming student.

Take the Quiz