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The country's Millennials, the 50 million or so teens and 20-somethings who are entering adulthood around the start of the new millennium, are on track to become the most educated group of individuals the country has ever seen. But they're also entering adulthood to face the largest number of unemployed and out of work people in more than 30 years.

A study released today by the Pew Research Center included new data that surveyed 2,020 adults, including 830 Millennials, to determine how future generations will look and to nail down the "Millennial Identity." The study also drew on more than two decades of Pew Research Center surveys, and was supplemented by an analysis of Census Bureau data and other relevant studies. Among the findings, a record 39.6 of Millennials were enrolled in college as of 2008.

Although the recession has greatly affected their chances of landing jobs post-graduation (22 percent of businesses report they will hire fewer college graduates than in previous years), the group remains confident and upbeat about both their chances on the job market and the economy. About nine-in-10 either say that they currently have enough money or that they will eventually meet their long-term financial goals, despite the 37 percent of Millennials who reported they were unemployed, the largest number among this age group in more than three decades.

Among other findings: 

 
• About one-in-six aged 22 and older admitted to returning to a parent's home because of the recession.
 
• Nearly six-in-10 said that work ethic was one of the big differences between young and old workers; about three-fourths said that older people had the more impressive work ethic.
 
• Nearly one-in-four have a piercing in some place other than an earlobe, and nearly four-in-10 have a tattoo. (Of those who are tattooed, half have two to five and 18 percent have six or more.)
 
• More than eight-in-10 say they sleep with a cell phone near the bed, and nearly two-thirds admitted to texting while driving.
 
• Three-quarters have created a profile on a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter, and one-in-five have posted a video of themselves online.
 
• Two-thirds agreed that "you can't be too careful" when dealing with people, but place more trust in the federal government than previous generations.
 
• One-in-four are not affiliated with any particular religion, but responded that they pray about as often as previous generations.
 

Since around the middle of the twentieth century, when more and more women began to seek careers, American culture, particularly in the workplace, has had to evolve and expand to accommodate this change. While it once was assumed that practically every employee with children had a spouse and that they (wife) handled all the "family stuff" during the workday and when said employee (husband) was on the road, now allowances for maternity leave, time-off to attend PTA meetings, school plays, etc. had to be made. It seems somewhat ironic that they’ve mostly, if not exclusively, been made with respect to womens' schedules. Apparently it is still assumed, though they are now every bit the career person their spouse is, that women are the ones who must handle all of the aforementioned "family stuff". At least, this appears to be the case on college campuses, according to a recent study.

There are many problems with the apparently common practice of making more allowances for women as parents than are made for men and I only have the time and space to get into a few of them, unfortunately. While this policy was clearly intended as a way to allow women to have the requisite career flexibility to have both children and profession, is this not still sexist? Does it not make an extremely broad generalization about all male/female relationships and the responsibilities and gender-based assignments that were common a century ago? I am sure it gets even more complicated in the case of female/female partnerships and male/male partnerships where children are involved.

Apparently, one of the problems with changing this all-too-common policy is that men generally tend to find it much more difficult to admit to being unhappy with their work/home balance. It seems that, traditionally, it is not nearly as acceptable for men to complain about spending too much time at work and not enough caring for and spending time with their family. There is the older male faculty to consider, for starters. Those who might come from a different generation and whose mother more likely was a homemaker and whose father worked six days a week. Those who would not really understand the plight of their younger male counterpart, and this could discourage a younger man to complain or communicate any sort of displeasure with this policy until he has tenure. Often, men in the employ of a college or university might even try to put off having children until they have achieved this level of career stability, making it easier for them to balance their career schedule and their family schedule with greater confidence and control. Those still trying to get tenure are much less likely to ask for time off for any reason, for fear of doing anything at all that might jeopardize their chances at this desirable, almost necessary, status at a university. It should be noted, too, that this can be much more difficult for a woman to do and is just one more way in which this policy is detrimental to both men and women.

I think it’s time we, as a society, respect and recognize both parents in any given family as responsible for the raising of their children and afford them equal benefits and opportunities not just for employment but of employment. Without either gender having to admit displeasure with the terms of their employment or work/home balance when surveyed, each person should be afforded the option to occasionally tailor their schedule based upon their responsibilities as parents without worrying it might cost them their career.

Whether it's about a little cross-promotion or getting students' hands on the latest technologies out there, Seton Hill University will join a handful of other colleges across the country in offering students the iPad, Apple's newest tablet computer.

The school will begin distributing the iPad to its 2,100 students this fall; every full-time student is eligible to receive one. (Often, similar offerings are limited to incoming freshmen.) According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the effort is part of the school's Griffin Technology Advantage program, which will expand hybrid and fully online course offerings at the college. The program does come at a cost. Students will see an additional $500 fee tacked on to their tuition and fee bills to cover a wireless campus. The school will absorb the costs of the iPads themselves.

Many schools currently offer their students laptops and computers to supplement course curricula or level the playing field for those who come onto their campuses unable to afford new technology. At Seton Hill, incoming freshmen also receive 13-inch MacBooks, with the option to request an opt-in to the program for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. George Fox University is getting on the iPad bandwagon as well, offering incoming freshmen the choice between the tablet and a MacBook. That school has been offering students computers - as part of their tuition - for the last 20 years. Duke University offered incoming students iPods between 2004 and 2006; Oklahoma Christian University has been offering students Apple laptop computers and iPhones or an iPod Touch since 2008; Abilene Christian University has been offering students iPhones since 2008 as well.

Technology on college campuses is here to stay, despite a persistent technology gap - or the perception of a technology gap - on some college campuses. Social networking in particular has become more common in college coursework. Students in a journalism course at Depaul University, for example, have been using Twitter as a research tool and learning how to use the site to supplement their reporting techniques. At Harper College, a one-time course there showed students how to use Facebook and Twitter from a business perspective.

What kinds of technology tools are being used at your college? Does your school offer laptops, desktops, or other technologies as part of your college experience?

The country's top college sports programs haven't been faring as well as you'd think when it comes to bringing revenue in to their respective schools. With the close of March Madness upon us, USA Today decided to release a data analysis looking at the finances behind some of the most high-profile college athletic programs. And it seems that the schools are keeping their sports programs afloat by tapping into student fees and other general funds.

According to USA Today, more than half of the athletic departments at public schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A) were subsidized by at least 26 percent last year. Those figures are up from 20 percent in 2005, or an additional $198 million if you account for inflation. That means athletic programs are getting subsidized by student fees and whatever general funds schools have set up to cover budget shortfalls. The analysis also shows that spending on athletics has increased, despite more of a reliance on outside funding to cover the costs of sports funding in the past year compared to the previous four years.

Why the increase in athletic expenses? Inflation could be one culprit. Drops in ticket sales, declining endowments and state appropriations overall, and general overspending all contribute to rising costs. Many of the big programs also embarked on expensive capital campaigns over the last few years, and those costs are catching up to them. According to USA Today, the number of schools that have sports programs that pay for themselves - via ticket sales and general marketing revenue, for example - fell from 25 to 14 schools over the last year.

Another story published in USA Today as part of their look at sports programs' finances looks at rising coaches' salaries as another factor. Although sports program budgets have shrunk over the last year, coaches' salaries have not shrunk alongside those figures. The country's top coaches, who had been making upwards of $2 million annually just two years ago, now make around $4 million. (Mike Krzyzewski at Duke University and Rick Pitino at the University of Louisville both made more than $4 million this season.) Coaches' compensation has grown so much that it has become the number one expense for college sports programs, replacing athletic scholarships. Last year, Division I schools spent more than $1 billion on coaches' salaries.

As if you didn’t already have a number of reasons why you should go to college, a report being released today projects that the United States will face a shortage of college-educated workers by 2018.

The report comes from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, and describes a shift since the 1970s on the kind of training required to land jobs in sectors that will continue to see rapid growth as the economy improves. An article on the report in Inside Higher Ed today analyzes the specifics of the report:

• By 2018, the economy will face a shortage of 3 million workers with associate’s degrees or higher and a shortage of 4.7 million workers with postsecondary certificates. (By that time, there will be 22 million jobs for new workers with college degrees.)
• In 1973, 28 percent of jobs required post-secondary education, compared to 63 percent projected by 2018.
• In 1970, 26 percent of the middle class had some post-secondary education, compared to 61 percent today.
• In 1970, 44 percent of the upper class had some postsecondary education, compared to 81 percent today.

While the data certainly suggests going to college is a good game plan for those worried about their job prospects, it may also mean a shift for colleges to offer more programs in the fields that will see much of the projected growth. According to the report, those industries include health-care, government, private and public education, and the business and financial services. Jobs in the technology sector may taper off, as technological advancements make it more possible for companies to do the work required with fewer employees.

Inside Higher Ed suggests that the data could have an impact on high school students who do not have a clear vision of what they’d like their future careers to be. Some may opt for a more career-oriented program at a two-year college if there is a promise of employment on the horizon. Some schools already offer students incentive programs if they enter into certain majors. At Lansing Community College, students are guaranteed jobs after they complete a program at the school that focuses on training in high-demand fields.

Transfer students have long been afterthoughts at many schools but they are beginning to be viewed as quite the opposite. Just ask Bonita C. Jacobs, a woman aiming to increase transfer friendliness one college at a time.

Jacobs, the executive director of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students at the University of North Texas, recently spoke to the Chronicle about the integral pieces of the higher education puzzle transfer students have become. More schools are thinking harder about the needs of transfer students and the advantages of enrolling them - benefits discussed by Jacobs and others at the College Board’s annual conference. Jacobs and Alfred Herrera, the assistant vice provost at the University of California at Los Angeles, detailed how four-year colleges can better serve students coming from community colleges by making transfer students’ success an institutional priority as opposed to seeing such students as a way to “backfill” freshman classes to meet enrollment goals.

How are they planning to achieve this? At UCLA, for example, reps from various campus offices that serve transfer students meet regularly to discuss their strategies and progress; the university also has a dedicated resource center that caters to transfers. “These students add to the richness and diversity of our campuses,” Herrera said. “When we don’t look at the transfer experience, we’re really in trouble.” Jacobs added, “We often put transfer students in this package, and they don’t all fit neatly into that package. They’re a distinct population, but they’re very diverse. Some of them see their first semester as their first-year experience. Others are older, with children, and are totally different. So many times, campuses will look at transfers as an admissions issue. But it’s also a student-affairs issue.”

We know some of our readers are considering transferring from a community college to a four-year institution so what do you think of the work Jacobs, Herrera and others are doing to make your transition more seamless? And for students who have already transferred, is there anything you wish your school had offered you when you were the new kid on campus?

You read correctly, a Wharton graduate nabbed the highest annual base salary last year with a private equity firm in New York. The staggering $350,000 starting salary was more than three times the median base salary – $110,000 – of the MBA’s classmates. Yet, these high paying salaries are anything but unique: MBAs from some of the top business schools in the U.S. – Wharton, Stanford, U. Chicago, Columbia and Northwestern – reported that the highest base salary received by a 2010 graduate was $300,000 or more. These figures come from annual summaries of employment of the most recent graduating class. The Wharton MBA career report, which gets its data from student surveys, includes information on compensation, location of employment and the industries in which the graduates now work.

According to management professor Mathew Bidwell, it is both the characteristics of the individual and of the job itself that lead to large starting salaries. “These [private equity] firms tend to have reasonably few people managing very large sums of money,” said Bidwell, whose research focuses on employment. “As you get more senior, each person potentially has quite a substantial impact on the success or the failure of the fund.”

At Wharton, the $350,000 salary earned last year isn’t even a record. In 2009, the top-earning graduate landed a $420,000 base salary…wow. Now, I’m sure you’re thinking where do I sign up, but how important is a high paying salary to you? Are you thinking about changing career paths in order to rake in the dough?

A recent survey suggests more Americans believe that making higher education more affordable would be the most effective means of helping those who are struggling financially. The Public Agenda study, “Slip-Sliding Away: An Anxious Public Talks About Today’s Economy and the American Dream,” revealed reducing college costs was most important to the 1,004 Americans surveyed at 63 percent, beating out preserving social security (58 percent), cutting taxes (48 percent), reducing the deficit (40 percent), “providing financial help to people who owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth” (22 percent) and others as the best solution.

Why do Americans have so much faith in the higher education system? According to the study, “One reason for the faith in education may be the public’s perception of who’s struggling most in the current economy. Three-quarters of Americans say that people without college degrees are struggling a lot these days, compared to just half who say college graduates are struggling.” Of those respondents who identified themselves as “struggling a lot” financially, 77 percent said they were very worried about having trouble paying for their children’s college educations. In addition, nearly one-third of those who are employed (32 percent) said they were "very worried" about losing their job, while 45 percent said they were “very worried” about paying back debt.

With the economy slowly turning around, are you concerned about the cost of college? If you’re stressed about finding financial aid, you don’t have to be: Check out our free scholarship search and get matched with scholarships just for you today!

Acceptance letters should be rolling in for the majority of high school seniors and the pressure of deciding where to go is definitely on. A lot goes into deciding what school is the right fit for you, but if you’re interested in what schools have the highest graduation rates...then boy do we have the list for you. And sure, these institutions do have quite impressive graduations rates but keep in mind that high graduation rates don’t necessarily translate into a surefire path to success. It’s also important to note that the majority of schools that made the cut are prestigious and students accepted to the likes of Harvard aren’t likely to dropout.

The study, conducted by College Results Online, a website which uses data from the National Center for Education Statistics and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, ranked U.S. colleges in terms of 6-year graduation rates. Check out the top colleges and universities with the highest national graduation rates below and click here for the full list as well as profiles of each school.

• Thomas University
• College of the Holy Cross
• Harvard University
• Yale University
• Princeton University
• University of Notre Dame
• Williams College
• University of Pennsylvania
• Duke University
• Dartmouth College

High school seniors, are you down about not getting a fat envelope from any of the colleges you applied to? Worried that your college dream is quickly fading? Seriously starting to freak out?! Well, turn that frown upside down because there are hundreds of colleges that are still accepting applications.

According to a Space Availability Survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), as of May 4th, 293 schools are still accepting applications. The list is comprised of schools that either didn’t fill all open spots for next year’s freshman class or have application deadlines later than the May 1 norm. "A lot of times, people think if there's any schools left, they can't be good schools," says Todd Johnson, consultant at College Admissions Partners. "It's not going to be the top liberal arts colleges or the top national universities, but there are some good, solid schools on there."

Check out a few notables below, for the full list of colleges still accepting applications, click here.

• Arizona State University
• Boise State University
• Columbia College Chicago
• Colorado State University
• CUNY Hunter College
• Eckerd College
• Fairleigh Dickinson University
• Georgia Southern University
• Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
• John Brown University
• Missouri State University
• Pace University
• St. John's University
• Texas A&M University-Commerce
• William Paterson University