Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Measuring Up

A new national study says Florida deserves a failing grade for college affordability, despite its relatively low tuition rates.

"Measuring Up 2004," a report produced by the nonpartisan National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, says net college costs for low- and middle-income students in Florida represent nearly 40 percent of their annual family income.

That's true even after accounting for Bright Futures scholarships, the center said, and may explain why only 32 percent of Florida's ninth-graders go on to college within four years.

On the plus side, 52 percent of first-time Florida college students earn a bachelor's degree within six years of admission. That's higher than in many other states.

Despite years of financial problems and the recent firing of its president, Florida A&M University remains one of the nation's best colleges for African-Americans, according to Black Enterprise magazine.

FAMU, Florida's only historically black public school, was ranked sixth by the magazine, which looked at 482 U.S. colleges and universities. FAMU finished ahead of Stanford, Columbia, Harvard and Duke universities.

The magazine named Morehouse College in Atlanta its top school for African-Americans, followed by Spelman College, also in Atlanta.

The University of Phoenix, a for-profit company that has dominated its higher education niche by targeting older students, is aiming for a new market: 18- to 21-year-olds.

Phoenix recently lowered its minimum age from 23 to 21 and could soon start accepting teenagers. The goal is to maintain the astounding growth rates that have made the company a Wall Street darling.

Most younger students likely would not mix with their older classmates, who generally have college credits, spokeswoman Terri Bishop told the Associated Press. That steers them toward different courses.

Phoenix, which enrolls 213,000 students nationwide, has campuses in Clearwater and Temple Terrace.

About 20 percent of American college students consider themselves "highly religious." Another 20 percent report low levels of religious engagement.

When it comes to social issues, the differences between the two groups is profound.

Consider casual sex.

According to UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, which recently surveyed 3,700 students across the United States, only 7 percent of "highly religious" students agree that "if two people really like each other, it's all right for them to have sex even if they've known each other for only a very short time."

About 80 percent of the least religious students said casual sex was okay.

Some other differences:

Agree with keeping abortion legal (24 percent among highly religious vs. 79 percent among the least religious).

Agree that marijuana should be legalized (17 percent vs. 64 percent).

Agree that homosexuality should be outlawed (38 percent vs. 17 percent).

The percentage of U.S. college freshman surveyed last year who identified themselves as "conservative" or "far right." About 24 percent of the students called themselves "liberal."