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by Alexis Mattera

Sure, the Golden Globe nominations are grabbing most of this morning’s headlines but in the world of college sports, “Mad Men” and “The Social Network” are riding the pine while what’s going on in the Big Ten takes the field.

Among the changes is a new logo. First off, the logo. It’s not a huge departure from the previous design by any means – it’s still blue and white and incorporates numbers as well as letters – and logo co-designer Michael Gericke tells ESPN, “The new Big Ten logo was developed to symbolize the conference’s future, as well as its rich heritage, strong tradition of competition, academic leadership, and passionate alumni. Its contemporary collegiate lettering includes an embedded numeral ‘10’ in the word ‘BIG,’ which allows fans to see ‘BIG’ and ‘10’ in a single word. Memorable and distinctive, the new logo evolved from the previous logo’s use of negative space and is built on the conference’s iconic name, without reference to the number of member institutions.” Fans aren’t buying it, though: It’s been less than one day since the logo was unveiled but the new design is already receiving some pushback a la Facebook and the Gap.

Next, the new divisions of Legends and Leaders – a change which makes sense in a way since the number of teams in the Big Ten exceeds the conference’s name – and 18 trophies. Now, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern are in the Legends division while Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin represent the Leaders division. As for the trophies, there are 18 new ones, many of which honor past players and coaches. “Our foundation is our history, and so we want to honor that history and tradition. Our goal, if we are to sustain this enterprise, is to continue to focus on the building of future leadership through education and competition,” said Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.

It’s my guess these changes won’t impact the players – who should be more concerned with maintaining the grades to keep their athletic scholarships – but sports writers, reporters and fans are certainly making their voices heard. What do you think of the Big Ten’s changes? Are they worth all the ruffled feathers?

by Alexis Mattera

You know the most popular college majors and the majors with the highest earning potential. You are even aware of some of the more unusual classes students can take while attending college...but can unique translate into useful in the real world?

As it turns out, some of the most out-there-sounding majors are producing satisfied graduates making real contributions to their fields of choice after graduation. What are these majors and where can interested students find them? Here’s an abridged guide:

• Packaging. University of Wisconsin-Stout packaging majors don’t think outside the box. They think about the box, specifically how to create “economically, aesthetically, environmentally and technically sound” packaging. And they’ve got it in the bag: A 2009 survey showed 95 percent of packaging graduates were employed by major companies like Frito-Lay and FedEx, no less!
• Viticulture and enology. Graduates from Cornell’s program could soon be giving Dionysus a run for his money. Though it only recently became an official major, coordinator Kari Richards said the majority of graduates are involved in the industry. "Some have continued enology-related studies in graduate school, others travel worldwide to gain experience in harvest and crush, [and a] few will or have returned to the home winery/vineyard," she said.
• Puppetry. UConn’s not just known for basketball but for being one of only two schools in the U.S. offering undergraduate degrees in puppetry arts...and the only one offering a graduate program in the field. It’s selective – enrollment is limited to 22 students – but graduates have gone on to work and perform in theatres, television shows and films. Guess being green isn’t so difficult after all!

The complete list of unusual college majors can be found here. Wondering if the school of your dreams offers them? Check out our college search!

by Agnes Jasinski

As Tiger Woods prepares to reenter the golf world at the Masters next week, it may be a good time for you student golfers to consider golf scholarships that could help you pay for college. The Bill Dickey Scholarship Association awards annual scholarships to high school seniors and previous winners based on academic achievement, entrance exam scores, financial need, references, evidence of community service, and golfing ability. This Scholarship of the Week targets minority applicants to expand access of the sports to minorities, but there are many scholarships for students golfers out there that place more weight on financial need. And if you're not a golfer but excel in another sport, don't be discouraged. There are athletic scholarships out there for nearly every sport you can think of, so do your research and look beyond your intended college for free funding for college.

Prize: Awards range from one-time grants of $1,000 to four-years worth as much as $3,500 annually.

Eligibility: The primary criteria are: academic achievements, personal recommendations, a GPA of 2.5 or higher, participation in golf, school and community service activities, financial need, employment, and extracurricular activities. Applicants may be high school seniors entering college in the fall or undergraduates who have already received the scholarship as high school seniors.

Deadline: April 26, 2010

Required Material: Applicants will be asked to fill out applications that include a response to the following essay question: "Here at the Bill Dickey Scholarship Association, we live by the motto 'Building Hope...One Stroke at a Time.' With that in mind, articulate your career goals and how they demonstrate personal growth." Applicants will also be asked to include personal references from a high school principal, guidance counselor or other academic professional who will vouch for their academic achievements.

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

by Agnes Jasinski

Now that baseball season’s in full swing, it may be the perfect time for you baseball players out there to consider how to supplement your financial aid packages. Baseball scholarships are more common that many other sports scholarships, and the American Legion is one of the biggest providers of awards in the sport. If you’re on an American Legion team, make sure you’re aware of this week’s Scholarship of the Week—the American Legion Baseball Scholarship.

Although applicants must be nominated for this award by their team managers or coaches, it doesn’t hurt to know what you’re eligible for if you think you excel in not only the sport, but in the other qualities lauded by the Legion: leadership, service, discipline, and impressive academics. If you think you’d be a good candidate, consider talking to your team leaders to make sure they’re aware of the awards available and that you’re interested in getting your name out there for scholarship contention. If you’re not on an American Legion team but are decent on the diamond, know that there are numerous awards out there targeting baseball players.

Prize:

Eligibility:

Deadline:

Required Material:

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

by Agnes Jasinski

Following a good deal of criticism and complaints from its student population  and across the state, faculty at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania voted Friday to make the school's mandatory "Fitness for Life" course optional instead. The school came under fire and received a large amount of unwanted media attention over the last few weeks for their requirement that any student who entered the school in 2006 or later and had a Body Mass Index of 30 or greater would be enrolled in a fitness course to lose weight before graduation.

The course didn't receive much attention until this fall because it was the first time administrators had to warn seniors that they were in danger of not graduating if they did not meet the school's fitness requirement. Eighty students were sent emails that they were required to either complete the one-credit course or show they had lost enough weight to make a dent in their BMI before being allowed to graduate. Critics since questioned whether the special graduation requirement was legal and unfairly singled out a population of students.

In an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education today, the school's administrators say the requirement will remain in place through the spring semester, and defended the school's initial decision to require a fitness requirement of obese students. Ashley E. Gabb, assistant director of communications at Lincoln University, said in the article that it wasn't the school's intention to have an "adverse effect on students," and that the school remained committed to finding ways to make the student population healthier.

Many schools have programs set up that encourage healthy diets and promoting healthy lifestyles. A number of Massachusetts schools, for example, have been making changes in their dining halls to "sneak" healthy foods past college students. Others also require fitness and physical education requirements. Rollins College, for example, requires three physical education courses of its incoming students, including two terms of elective lifetime recreational activities. (The school offers classes in a wide variety of physical activities, including ballroom dancing, sailing, and weight training.)

A swim requirement is also still popular at many colleges, including Hamilton College, the Washington and Lee University. At many of those schools, students who fail the college's swim test - 10 minutes of continuous swimming, for example, or proof that you can tread water - are required to take a swim class prior to graduation. Most of these schools require some sort of physical education class as part of the general education requirements, so the swim class may count toward that requirement in many cases.

How about your school? What kinds of things is your college doing to make the student population healthier? Do you have  PE requirement? Is this even appropriate to do? Let us know what you think.

by Alexis Mattera

Imagine working hard throughout high school, getting accepted to the college or university of your choice and receiving a scholarship covering all or part of your tuition. Now imagine being asked to give back even a tiny percentage of that award.

Wait...WHAT?! Exactly...but that's what happened at Arizona State University when former baseball coach Pat Murphy requested a number of his players relinquish all or part of their athletic scholarships for the 2006-2007 academic year so that the coaching staff could enroll several transfer students they had been recruiting through a program Murphy called Devil-to-Devil. His actions may not have been discovered unless a parent of a player complained about the process to ASU’s athletics director and after an investigation, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) agreed that this practice was problematic and violated rules. The punishment: ASU has been banned from the college playoffs this coming season and must vacate numerous wins, including the team’s 2007 Pacific-10 Conference title and trip to the College World Series; the school also received three years' probation, scholarship reductions and recruiting limitations. Though ASU has taken responsibility for not monitoring the baseball program more closely, it intends to appeal the NCAA’s decision.

As for Murphy – who echoes the name of his program with several other questionable practices – he’s not coaching anywhere at the moment but will not go unpunished. He was forced to resign last year and the NCAA bestowed a one-year show-cause penalty upon him so that any institution interested in hiring him in the next 12 months must not only defend why it is hiring him but also how it will monitor his behavior to prevent further violations.

This situation is shady any way you slice it but I do feel for the ASU students and coaches who are being penalized for events they had no part in. The beauty of college scholarships is that they don’t have to be repaid, allowing students to graduate with little to no student loan or credit card debt. To be clear, what Murphy did was wrong but by limiting the amount of scholarship awards and financial aid ASU can disperse, he’s not the one being truly punished – it’s the deserving students that are being hurt the most.

by Emily

College admission practices are often points of contention, especially when tricky issues like race, gender, and socioeconomic class are concerned. Colleges worry about trying to promote diversity and give students a fair chance in their admission practices and other parties worry about practices potentially shortchanging students. Based on some of these concerns, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has decided to investigate allegations of gender bias in admission practices at selective colleges. The concern: in order to preserve male-to-female ratios on campus, colleges are being less selective in admitting male students than in admitting female students.

In recent decades, women have begun to thrive in higher education, making up a significantly larger share of undergraduate students, bachelor's degree recipients, and master's degree students than men. Postsecondary Education Opportunity data shows that currently there are 77 men in college for every 100 women, and 73 male bachelor's degree recipients for every 100 female graduates. While gender gaps still persist within specific fields, including traditionally male-dominated disciplines like engineering and computer science, overall women are coming to college in droves and doing well once they arrive.

This trend shows no sign of reversing and has some worried that men will become increasingly underrepresented in higher education, while simultaneously work opportunities contract in traditionally male-dominated fields that don't require degrees. Schools and other organizations are beginning to address these concerns. For example, a conference panel last month addressed some of the moves being undertaken to encourage more young men to attend college and persist to a degree.

The Commission on Civil Rights inquiry is intended to see if practices are going beyond encouraging young men to enroll and have actually moved into the territory of discriminating against women in admission by admitting a smaller percentage of female applicants and being more selective in admitting women than men. This practice, while possibly unethical at private colleges, would be illegal at state colleges. So far, there hasn't been sufficient evidence to support this theory, with the majority of admission officers recently saying they don't consider gender as an important criterion in college admission, leaving some wondering if the inquiry is entirely necessary. Information subpoenaed from colleges in the Washington, D.C. area should help the commission determine whether reality reflects reporting.

Adding in another level of controversy and drawing a great deal of criticism to the investigation is the strong focus on athletics in the text of the proposal for the investigation. The theory behind it seems to be that Title IX, the federal regulation designed to prevent sex discrimination--most visibly by mandating that men's and women's sports are equally represented in public schools--is preventing men from enrolling in college by limiting their opportunities for athletic involvement. Of all the directions the investigation could take, this certainly seems to be an unusual one, and on the surface it seems to present some problematic and likely inaccurate assumptions about gender. The investigation gets underway this month, so a clearer sense of direction may emerge as time goes on.

by Paulina Mis

Whether you’re serious about sports or just having a good time (or both), your interest may help you find scholarships. Inhuman ability is not even required—most of the time. A bit of talent and a lot of fun may be all it takes. So flex your fingers, and dust off that keyboard; you may be a scholarship essay away from landing a lucrative college scholarship.  For more information on the scholarships below, including contact details, conduct a free college scholarship search at Scholarships.com

Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year (SAMMY)

Now in its 10th year, the scholarship program responsible for producing Santa’s drink of choice is affording students an education. And the SAMMY award will probably give student athletes more than Santa ever did.  Each year, the National Milk Mustache’s “Got Milk?” campaign gives away $7,500 scholarships to 25 high school seniors. Winning athletes will also be commemorated with a spot in the SAMMY Hall of Fame at the Disney World Milk House and will have the chance to appear in a Milk Mustache USA Today ad.  Scholarship applications for the 2008 award will be accepted between November 5, 2007 and March 7, 2008. Interested students will be required to write an essay of no more than 250 words about “How Milk Has Helped In My Academics and/or Athletics”.

Women’s Western Golf Foundation Scholarship

Evans Scholars won't be the only ones receiving golf scholarships this year. So far, the Women’s Western Golf Foundation has awarded more than $3.1 million in college golf scholarships, and they’re ready to award more.  This scholarship is available to, of course, women who play golf. Thankfully, applicants don’t need to be pros to win; excellence in the sport is not even a criterion. Winners will be awarded $2,000 grants renewable for four years under the condition that they continue to demonstrate financial need and maintain a 3.0 GPA.  If you are a female, a high school senior and you play golf, you can get this application thing down to a tee.

NCAA Scholarships

Are you looking for baseball scholarships? Basketball scholarships? College sport scholarships in general? The NCAA is the place to search. Of course, to receive a lucrative scholarship from the National Collegiate Athletic Association you have to be good. The NCAA and its cosponsors award over 126,000 scholarships worth more than $1 billion each year to exceptional athletes. Interested student athletes should contact their colleges of choice for more information.

The Lou and Carole Prato Sports Reporting Scholarship

So maybe your baseball swings would be better categorized as swats. So what? If you can rattle off sports stats like a champ, you may still have a shot at winning sports scholarships. Each year, the Lou and Carole Prato Sports Reporting Scholarship program awards a $1,000 grant to an undergraduate (sophomore or older) pursuing a career in TV or radio sports reporting.  If you have good writing skills, a breathtaking voice and killer teeth (the last two are not required but won’t hurt) you may be one step closer to winning a scholarship.

by Agnes Jasinski

As the city of Chicago begins to adjust to the news that the 2016 Olympic Games will go to Rio de Janeiro, it could be a good time for you athletes to begin evaluating your options for sports scholarships at your intended college next fall. Just remember this: you don't need to be an Olympics-caliber athlete to win athletic scholarships, or even Youth Olympic Games-caliber for that matter. (The first ever Youth Olympic Games will be held in Singapore in 2010 for athletes ages 14-18 competing in 26 summer sports.)

Traditional sports scholarships are very competitive and usually come directly from the college you hope to play for. While those awards will usually be the most generous, unless you're playing at a high enough skill level to be recruited onto a team or have wowed your intended college's coaches with your abilities, it's going to be tough to land a full or even partial sports scholarship. Lucky for you, sports scholarships from outside organizations aren't always all about athletics.

Local leagues and organizations in sports ranging from the high-profile like baseball and golf to the more obscure like fencing and marksmanship offer many awards based on criteria that have nothing to do with that sport. If you enjoy bowling as a hobby, contact your local league. They could have an award for bowling enthusiasts who don't necessarily plan to bowl on the college level but may have stellar academics or an impressive community service record. If you do intend to play your sport in college but on the club or intramural level, your chances of landing a private scholarship could be even better, as sports scholarships will often ask for a commitment to the sport you're being awarded funding for playing or having an interest in, even if that commitment means you continue playing the sport for fun and not for competition.

Check out our examples of athletic scholarships, but don't rule out academic scholarships when applying for funding. If you're a good enough athlete to compete for awards based on athletic skill, you'll need a minimum GPA set by the NCAA to not only get some funding but to play on a college team. For additional information about sports scholarships and awards based on different criteria, try conducting a free college scholarship search to see all of the awards you could be eligible for.

by Agnes Jasinski

With college football season underway, it's a good time for high school athletes starting their senior years to be making their decisions on whether they'll be pursuing sports on the college level. Athletic scholarships go a long way toward making those decisions easier, and even in a struggling economy, sports programs continue to set aside funding to better their teams. Better yet, even those who aren't the top soccer, baseball or tennis player on the roster are eligible for scholarship opportunities offered by local groups outside of the NCAA awards looking to reward students who balance their schoolwork with athletics.

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune points to several tips for talented athletes in the market for scholarships, including making yourself known to coaches and schools early and often and making sure your grades are where they should be. Most athletic scholarships require a minimum GPA for eligibility, even if you're the star of your basketball team. And even if you do get that coveted sports scholarship, you'll be expected to maintain a decent GPA to be eligible for continued funding and a spot on the team. Student athletes should also keep an open mind about schools they're targeting. Big-name schools are much more competitive, and unless you're one of the top athletes in your field, they may offer much less play time even if you do make the team than smaller colleges outside of Division I. A college search is a good place to start to learn more about colleges offering your sports program.

It isn't easy to be recruited for a full ride at a top university. A strategy of more students recently has been specializing in one sport, or getting involved in sports outside of football, baseball and basketball that get less attention to stand out more in the competitive world of sports scholarships. New sports scholarships in fields like lacrosse, for example, are becoming more common, and with new scholarships, the competition is often much less fierce than with more popular, established award programs.

For those who excel in both sports and athletics, straight academic scholarships may prove to be a good option as well, especially if you're a good essay writer.