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Lakeland Community College will lease a 40,000-square-foot building from a private developer who will build it across the street from the college’s entrance in Kirtland.

Elyria-based Lorain County Community College is building a new center in North Ridgeville, about eight miles from its main campus, to provide classes for students in eastern Lorain County and western Cuyahoga County.

Cuyahoga Community College’s Brunswick University Center opens Monday and will offer Tri-C’s first on-site bachelor’s and master degree programs.

“We always had students asking about more options,” said Jessica Novak, spokeswoman for Lakeland. “We looked at building a building on the campus but it would take three to five years and we wanted to get this out quicker.”

Lakeland trustees agreed Thursday to pay $881,000 per year in a 15-year lease with Premier Development Partners in Cleveland. The agreement includes three, five-year options to renew and an option to purchase the building, which will be on the northwest corner of Ohio 306 and Kirtland Road.

The building, with at least 20 classrooms, will open in August. It will allow the college to offer more core classes and provide temporary classroom space so existing classrooms can be renovated.

Partnerships are being arranged with several universities to provide bachelor’s and master’s degree programs on site, Novak said. Currently Cleveland State University offers several degree programs at Lakeland.

Cleveland State has also agreed to provide programs at Tri-C’s new building in Brunswick, along with Tiffin University, Tri-C spokesman Dan Minnich said.

Cleveland State, which offers bachelor and masters degree programs at Lorain County Community College, had not considered providing courses to Tri-C in the past because the community college was close to CSU.

Tri-C has offered its courses at Brunswick High School for three years and increasing enrollment led it to move to a new 30,000-square-foot building, Minnich said.

The college is also talking to Kent State University about a partnership, he said.

Lorain County Community College has a University Center at its Elyria campus. It’s partnerships with eight universities allow students to select from nearly 40 different bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

The college’s new building in North Ridgeville, expected to open in 2012 at the intersection of Interstate 480 and Lorain Road, will reduce the commute for area students and help ease the enrollment crunch at the main campus.

A guide compiled by the Russell Group, which comprises 20 top universities including Oxford and Cambridge, to be released today, will advise students which A-level courses are favoured by admissions tutors.

Last summer David Willetts, the universities minister, clauimed he had been ‘pushing for greater transparency from universities for some time’

It has long been assumed that certain courses were regarded more highly by universities than others, but the new book marks the first time institutions have publicly acknowledged the fact.

According to the guide, “softer” options include media studies, art and design, photography and business studies while traditional and mostly scientific subjects are seen as more academically rigorous.

Pupils not studying at least two of the “hard” subjects – maths, English, geography, history, the pure sciences and classical or modern foreign languages – will find that “many degrees at competitive universities will not be open” to them, it says.

The book suggests pupils taking less traditional subjects may be “trying to avoid a challenge”, adding that if pupils study more than one “soft” subject, “some caution may be needed.”

The advice, produced with the help of the Institute of Career Guidance, comes after ministers put increasing pressure on universities to provide more guidance on the decision-making process by which students are admitted.

Last summer David Willetts, the universities minister, claimed he had been “pushing for greater transparency from universities for some time”, so that poor guidance could not be held responsible for pupils missing our on places.

The handbook marks a “welcome step towards levelling the playing field” for applicants, he said.

Superior guidance on university applications at private schools is likely to have played a part in private pupils – 7 per cent of all pupils in England – taking up a quarter of places at the 25 most competitive universities.

Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, said picking the right GCSEs and A-levels played a “crucial” role in determining a teenager’s “life chances”.

She said students could put themselves at a disadvantage by choosing combinations of A-levels which “will not equip them with the appropriate skills and knowledge for their university course or which may not demonstrate effectively their aptitude for a particular subject.”

Maths or science subjects are listed as either a requirement or “useful” for most of the 61 degree courses listed in the handbook, The Guardian reported.

It also emphasises that in many other countries, particularly in Asia, maths, the native language, a science subject and a foreign language are compulsory for pupils until the age of 17, suggesting that foreign pupils could be in a better position if fighting for places with British pupils.

General studies and critical thinking should be no more than extra subjects in addition to at least three other A-levels, the book says.

Andy Gardner, a career adviser and representative of the Institute of Career Guidance, said state school pupils has faced a “torrent of misleading information until now”.

The guide recommends studying science and maths A-levels for courses in archaeology, anthropology and geography, while law A-levels are not necessarily a prerequisite for law degrees, with history just as useful.

Some universities do not require history A-levels for history degrees, with English an appropriate alternative.

So, we’re one month in to the new year, and we decided it was time to talk about some of the latest and greatest goings-on here at WiseChoice. In the past few months, we’ve made several changes and additions to the site that we want to share with you.

For starters, we launched the WiseChoice for Professionals Educator Resource Center, where teachers, guidance counselors, independent educational consultants and other professionals can go to access a variety of free resources on a number of different topics.  Download helpful college planning and financial aid handouts, review programs featured in the Scholarship Spotlight and check out the highlighted College of the Day and Career Corner listings.  Also, when educators create an account using WiseChoice for Professionals (it’s free!), we provide access codes they can distribute to their students. Students using access codes at WiseChoice can then share their accounts with their counselors/advisors. This gives educators an opportunity to monitor and guide students through the entire college planning process when using the WiseChoice system. You can check out this new and innovative resource for educators at www.wisechoice.com/pro.

Also, we have updated the way we present college lists and college match recommendations to members of WiseChoice. Our product development team has been working to improve the college search features, and our website now  allows members greater flexibility in saving and sorting their school lists and college matches. Students can now create, edit, and save personalized lists of schools. When viewing college lists, members have a variety of filter options to sort and view the schools they are evaluating. Members are still able to compare colleges side-by-side, view their college match scores, see their odds of admission and sort schools by a variety of filters.

As a side note, the WiseChoice company holiday party was a resounding success. We gathered our team together at Mitchell’s Fish Market in Jacksonville, Florida for a wonderful evening of great conversation and excellent food. Here’s a picture of the crew at Mitchell’s, celebrating 2010 accomplishments and looking forward to new and fantastic things at WiseChoice in 2011.

Charities, parents and religious groups are among those vying to run their own independent state schools free of local council interference.

At least 35 could open as soon as this September after being allowed to progress to an advanced planning stage.

This includes one school that specialises in transcendental meditation.

The disclosure came as it was revealed that local councils will be ordered to prioritise academies and free schools when planning to open a new primary or secondary in their area.

A growing population, particularly in major cities, means that more schools are needed to meet demand.

Speaking before an international conference on the free schools programme tomorrow, Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, said it was likely that most of these would be independent of local council control.

“We are getting a big population boom, particularly in London and parts of east Lancashire and west Yorkshire; we do need new schools, particularly at primary level,” he said.

“My view is we should encourage innovation and choice by ensuring that as many of these schools as possible are academies or free schools.”

Both academies and free schools are semi-independent state schools which receive funding direct from Government.

They are given almost complete freedom to alter the curriculum, staff pay, the length of the school day and the academic year.

Free schools are newly-opened schools run by third party organisations and parents’ groups. Academies are normally existing primaries and secondaries converted into independent state schools.

But they have been strongly attacked by teaching unions who claim they are unaccountable.

According to new figures, some 249 applications to open free schools have now been submitted to the Government.

Thirty-five groups have been allowed to progress to the next stage of developing a business plan.

This includes a private school in Lancashire that is bidding to axe its parental fees to accept state funding.

Teachers and students at the Maharishi School in Lancashire take part in two meditation sessions each day.

Derek Cassells, the head teacher, told the Times Educational Supplement the school wanted to make the move to respond to demand from parents who would like their child to attend but cannot afford the fees.

“It’s clearly an exciting innovation, to allow schools such as ours to become part of the national framework,” he said.

Mr Gove said that interest in creating free schools had come from a “wide range” of groups.

The comments came as the Catholic Church said today it would back any of its schools that wanted to opt out of local authority control.

The Catholic Education Service had written to 2,000 schools last year urging “great caution” over academy status.

But the Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, CES chairman, said it was now the Church’s view that “we should make conversion to academies a ready possibility for Catholic schools”.

The College Fair is the time when the college shows off to the possible students. They give stories of success from people who graduated in their school. This is to make the college more inviting to future college students. In a college fair, a student representative usually takes the questions of the interested students. But, as a potential student of the college, what should be your questions to the student representative to make an impact.

Here are a few questions that you should ask to the student representative.

1. What are the virtues that the student body adheres to? This is for you to learn what the personality of the student body is. Knowing the personality of the student body helps you assess the total personality of the school. Even though not everyone is really represented by the student body it would still represent the majority.
2. What makes this school different from the others? Every school has its own story to tell. Here you will know how unique the school is. You may learn here about a new curriculum that is more student focused.
3. How many students transfer after their first year of studying here? This is for you to know the satisfaction rating of the students. If the curriculum that the college implements actually works. A high rate of transfer could mean that the students did not get what they expected to get from the school.
4. What sets your school above the rest? Youre going to want to know why you should join, and what makes them unique.
5. Who are some famous people that graduated from here? This is a fun one to ask, and shows you what kind of education these people were given, in order to get where they are today.

Many questions can still be asked from the student representative that would reflect the school’s status or excellence. You, as a potential student should be critical in choosing the perfect college for you. At the end of the day it is still not the school who will spell your success but you. Still, it would be a great help if you are comfortable with the school you choose.

E-mail has allowed fast and efficient communication for all.  While this proves to be beneficial, many are unaware of proper e-mail etiquette.  Like anything else in the professional world, the way you e-mail is a reflection of yourself.

1. Sending before you mean to. Most people compose their e-mail in this order: Recipient’s e-mail address, subject, and then the body of the e-mail. Try reversing this order. Only enter the recipient’s e-mail address when you’re 100 percent sure you are ready to have it sent out. This avoids sending  to the wrong person or an unfinished e-mail going out.

2. Forgetting the attachment. If you’re sending an e-mail with an attachment, have that be the first thing done. It can be embarrassing to send an e-mail without it and then have to follow up with another e-mail. Also, double check if your sender definitely wants any extra files or documents in an attachment or has any special requests on how they want it sent to them. For example: copy of a resume. Some may ask to have it included within the text. This shows you can follow directions.

3. Expecting an instant response. Don’t send an e-mail and show up at the recipient’s desk 30 seconds later asking if they’ve received it. They did, and they’ll answer at their convenience. That’s the point of e-mail.

4. Forwarding useless e-mails. This includes: chain letters, jokes, long stories,  or YouTube links of someone after getting their wisdom tooth pulled out.  It’s not necessary to use your work or professional e-mail for those matters and it’s pretty likely the recipients you send out to won’t find too entertaining either. If you feel that someone just HAS to see it,correspond through a personal e-mail address instead.

5. Not reviewing all new messages before replying. If you’ve been away from your desk for a period of time or away on vacation, make sure you read all the e-mails that have you have been included in to catch up.  By responding without getting all the information, it can cause confusion, errors, and frustration from everyone else involved.

6. Omitting recipients when you “reply all.” Unless there’s an important reason to not include a particular person, don’t arbitrarily leave people off the response if they were included on the original message.

7. Including your e-mail signature again and again. If you have been corresponding with someone on a normal basis, there’s no need for it. Signatures are appropriate for formal e-mails or someone you’re not too familiar with. If it has been programed into your e-mail settings, just delete it after the first e-mail if you’ve been writing back and forth. It allows for a cleaner looking e-mail when the clutter is cut out.

8. Composing the note too quickly. Write your e-mails as if you’re being graded on them. Use proper grammar and make sure spelling is correct. When it shows that you’ve taken the time and consideration towards the e-mail, it shows you take pride in your work.

9. Violating your company’s e-mail policy. Companies have aggressive spam filters in place that monitor “blue” language. This can range from vulgar language to simple terms like “job search”. This can trip the system.

10. Failing to include basic greetings. Use greetings and pleasantries. “Hello”, “please”, and “thanks”, go a long way.

11. E-mailing when you’re angry. Avoid this at all costs. If something or someone has upset you at work (or anywhere in that matter), keep in mind, you’re probably not in the right state of mind. Give yourself some time to cool off and then compose yourself in a professional manner when addressing the issue in hand.

12. Underestimating the importance of the subject line. Your subject line is your headline.  Make it interesting. When mailboxes get cluttered and it’s difficult to differentiate what’s important and what really isn’t. If you’re a repeat offender of  dull e-mail subjects, most likely your e-mails aren’t being taken as seriously as you’d like. Write something that will catch reasonable attention(don’t want to come off as looking desperate with “PLEASE READ THIS!!!!!”),you’ll get the responses and feedback you’re looking for in a timely manner.

13. Using incorrect subject lines. If you’re starting a new conversation, change the subject line.

14. Sending the wrong attachment. Make sure if you’re re-writing a new e-mail with an attachment or send multiples, double check that it’s the correct one. You may be sending copies of the same one or, worse case scenario, an attachment you may not want anyone to see.

15. Not putting an e-mail in context.If you’re waiting for a response from a person you spoke to hours ago, remind them why you’re writing. People read so many e-mails a day, it’s easy to forget what subject you were talking about with a particular person.

16. Using BCC too often. Try not to use BCC (Blind Carbon Copy)frequently. If something is meant to be a secret, most likely it won’t stay one. You take the risk that this may be forwarded to someone who wasn’t meant to see it or the sender them self. Like e-mail forwarding, this too can ruin your professional credibility.

17. Relying too much on e-mail. If the subject is urgent, time sensitive, or needs immediate attention, don’t expect an e-mail to come to the rescue. With a situation like that, use a faster way of communication like a phone call or talking in person.

18. Hitting “reply all” unintentionally. If you’ve written something meant for one person to see, make sure that it’s  the only pair of eyes to see. Hitting this button can be embarrassing and even negatively effect your professional relationships.