Parents invited to financial aid meeting

Parents of seniors who plan to continue their education are encouraged to attend a meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the Dartmouth High School auditorium.

The session will be presented by Bruce Palmer, UMass Dartmouth director of financial aid, and is sponsored by the Dartmouth High School Parent Support Association and the Dartmouth High School Guidance Department.

Mr. Palmer will discuss the financial aid form and the major sources of financial aid including federal aid programs, Massachusetts state scholarships and Pell grants.

Even though the focus of the meeting will be for seniors who will enter college next fall, any parent may attend in order to understand the financial aid process for future planning.

Barbara Helfrich, director of the Dartmouth High Guidance Department, will briefly review the availability of local scholarships.

This workshop will be taped by DCTV for future viewing.

Check out the new UMD TV ad

Another All-American Corsair! Congrats Seana!

For the first time since the 2006 season, a member of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's field hockey team has earned All-American honors.

Junior goalkeeper Seana Golden (Somerset, MA/Bishop Stang HS) has been named a third team Longstreth National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-American. Sixteen players were honored on the third team, and 49 players received honors overall.

Golden ranked posted a 1.20 goals-against average and an .855 save percentage in 22 starts last season, and led the Little East Conference with seven shutouts. She earned first team All-Conference and first team All-New England West Region honors, and is the first Corsair to earn All-America honors since senior midfielder Robin Dziedzic (Palmer, MA/Palmer HS) was named third team All-America by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association two years ago.

"I'm thrilled for Seana, this is such an honor," said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Nicole Castonguay. "The players who have been honored are from the top 20 teams, and Seana is right in there with all of them. (Assistant Coach) Temple (Mitchell) will be ecstatic, being her goalie coach. She's been working with Seana, and hard work pays off. Seana works hard in the off-season, and I expect great things from her next season."

UMass Dartmouth finished with a 16-6 record and advanced to the semi-finals of the Little East Conference post-season tournament.

Visit Corsair Athletics

UMD students heading for Germany

This winter break UMass Dartmouth is sending 15 students abroad on international education programs. The majority of them are going to Germany.

UMass Dartmouth has a long standing exchange agreement with the State of Hessen, Germany and its universities. As part of that exchange, UMD students are invited to take part in intersession programs offered by the German universities and taught in English. Students can take a number of different modules, touching upon a number of different subject areas and offered at various times during the summer months, as well as during Winter break.

Students will take part in a 3-week program with two subject tracks to choose from, one being sustainable engineering and the other being German culture. Both groups will take a German language class offered at all levels of proficiency, including no experience with the language. The current Director of International and Exchange Study programs, Heather Makrez, is excited by this great opportunity she is able to present to her students. "With the current economic situation, it is encouraging to know there are still some programs out there that will provide students with the opportunity to achieve that valuable global perspective," Makrez stated.

Visit our study abroad page.

Get a jump on 2009

Earn college credit in three weeks during the UMD Intersession. Classes begin January 5 and end January 23.

Morning, afternoon and evening classes, Monday-Friday.

Face-to-face, online and blended courses.

Undergraduate and graduate classes available.

Courses viewable online at www.umassd.edu/pce/brochure.

For more information, contact us at 508.999.9202 or continuinged@umassd.edu

Future graduate student ALERT!

Attention future UMD grad students!

Business (MBA), Public Policy, Education, Psychology (includes Behavioral Analysis), Fine Arts and Art Education are among dozens of graduate programs now enrolling for the spring semester. You can also get started on your fall, 2009 enrollment process.

If you have been accepted within the past five semesters, and would like your application to be reactivated, please contact Steve Briggs at sbriggs@umassd.edu or 508.999.8606.

Be sure to visit our graduate admissions site for more details.

UMass Dartmouth. World Class. Within Reach.

Choosing a college or graduate school from more than 6,000 choices around the country is one of the most important ...and difficult... decisions you are going to be making in the months ahead. You want to make sure that you pick an educational community that is right for you -- academically AND financially.

This blog is designed to help you and your parents make an informed decision about your future by connecting you to to our world class faculty, staff and students here at UMass Dartmouth. At less than $9,000 per year in undergrad tuition and fees, and located on 700 green acres of the beautiful SouthCoast of Massachusetts -- within an hour of Boston, Providence, and Cape Cod --we are within reach.

We encourage you to check out the links in the right hand column under "Learn more" and ask us questions by posting a comment. We will be sure to respond. Or, if you're ready to apply right now, click here.

Best of luck with your search.

Jean F. MacCormack, Chancellor
UMass Dartmouth

Enrollment at public universities, colleges rises

Boston Globe, October 15, 2008

Enrollment at the state's public universities and colleges climbed more than 4 percent this fall as a slumping economy sent thousands of students searching for lower tuition costs, education officials said.

The number of students attending the public system's 28 undergraduate institutions rose by about 7,000 from last fall to an all-time high of 176,314, the state Department of Higher Education said yesterday. The enrollment increase was the highest in at least a decade, the officials said.

Many schools also attributed sharp enrollment rises in online classes to high gas prices, and said a tighter job market has spurred people to return to school to improve their job prospects.

Average cost at Mass. private colleges tops in US

Boston Globe, October 30, 2008

The average cost of an education at a four-year private college was more expensive in Massachusetts than anywhere else in the country, according to a report released yesterday.

The cost of tuition and fees for the 2008-09 academic year averaged $32,592 in the Bay State, edging out Connecticut, where the cost was $31,914, and far outstripping the national average of $25,143, according to the College Board's annual "Trends in College Pricing" report.

The figures used by the College Board for its comparison did not include financial aid or tax benefits. Full-time students at private four-year institutions receive an average of $10,200 in grants and tax breaks, according to the report. The figures also do not factor in room and board.