This is wonderful news and so we thought we must share it with our readers. Benedictine University is helping people out of work study – tuition free. More specifically, they are offering to cover students’  tuition and fees after all eligible state and federal aid is applied. Yes, there are limitations. The “Illinois Back to Work” program is only limited to  Illinois residents and qualified applicants must be 25 or older. They must have been unemployed for at least 18 months and have not already earned a bachelor’s degree. This is not an offer for all but is still a welcome example. Thank you to all the wonderful people at Benedictine University.

“The people who are out of work right now were at one time employed. Their tax money helped build the education system throughout this country. It’s now time for higher education to give back,”  - William Carroll, President, Benedictine University

Please pass this along so more people will follow Benedictine’s example and those in need of support can become aware and get help if they qualify.  If you are aware of other programs like this, please let us know so that we can spread the word too.

WSJ.com today has an article titled “Do study sites make the Grade?”. It mentions a few services that provides homework & exam solutions, past papers, etc. to students.

Running these services may be (not sure!) completely within the law. However, is aiding those who do not abide by the honor codes, morally right/legal?

At GraduateTutor, our policy is very clear. We will not help students cheat by doing their homework or writing exams or papers. We will tutor students on the concepts they need in order to do their homework and do well in their exams. We believe that we would be robbing or stealing students’ learning experience if we were to help them cheat.

Students try to work around our guidelines in a variety of ways. Our tutors have express instructions to refuse students trying to cheat. See a recent email exchange with a student.

Dear (Name withheld),

This looks like an exam! We are not a homework solutions provider and do not do exams for students. What we do is teach students the concepts so that they can do their homework themselves. Our rates are $50/hour.

In other words, we will be happy to teach you what you need to solve this problem but cannot mail you this problem. If it takes only 30 minutes, it will cost you only $25, if it takes an hour $50 and so on.

Do let us know if this is what you are looking for.

Best,

GT team

It is more diffcult as a business owner when it means you have to contend with lower profits and revenues. Fine arguments will not change facts. Each individual/company has to clarify what values they wish to live with.

We hope to counter the loss of revenue from assisting students cheat by working with universities directly to provide their students tutoring services.

Emerson College’s website states that it

“is the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts context…..”

Thanks to the initiative on the part of a student in its undergraduate “Marketing and Social Media” class, GraduateTutor.com will be sharing its experiences and challenges in marketing and social media.  We welcome this opportunity and as educators salute the college and faculty for encouraging learning through application as well as through interaction with industry.

Feel free to add your thoughts to the discussions below or on Twitter @senith where we will be live during the class session.

Update:  Did not happen!  Maybe next week.  Will keep you posted.

Time.com reports on this story. Not breaking news – we have been hearing a lot about this and not great news either!

We hope the new administration has heard the concerns of students and understand the importance of college/graduate education for the future of American competitiveness.  However, before we sit back and expect the government and others to do something about it let us ask the question “What can we do about this?  Are there any creative ways to overcome this? How can I take responsibility here”

Part time jobs?  Entrepreneurship on the side? Opencourses (MIT / Yale)? If you have any creative ideas do email us.

State colleges and universities are feeling the pinch just like many states themselves!  And they are responding just like the states and other organizations are by doing what they can to survive.  Unfortunately this means a lot of cuts.  Not good news for graduate education.

“The trend line is states disinvesting in higher education.”

So said Jane Wellman, executive director of the Delta Project on Postsecondary Costs, Productivity and Accountability, an organization that studies spending by colleges and universities in this NYT article.

While the mission of public universities and community and state colleges is providing local education, we hope the top universities and boards whose mission is to provide top quality and cutting edge education will not cut back on the investment in graduate education.  While undergraduate education is key for local economies today and in the near future, graduate education and research will be critical for long term growth and success.

Thomas Bartlett has reported on how students are cheating with the assistance of online services in the latest issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Great work Thomas!

We at GraduateTutor.com are often approached to do papers and want to once again reaffirm our commitment to adhere to our ethical standards.  GraduateTutor.com adheres to generally accepted University honor codes and expects all students it serves to do so.

Students truly suffer the most from this dishonest practice as they have lost the opportunity to learn what the assignment / task had intended for them to learn!  Read more about what GraduateTutor.com will not do and why here.

What these services do is give the tutoring industry a bad name!  There must be services such as ours that abide by honor codes and established ethical policies.  We hope that these articles will in some way cover or mention the ethical companies too.

Graduatetutor.com assists b-school students with tutoring in a variety of subjects.  We are now thrilled to formally launch our business plan tutoring services.

There has been a spurt of new entrepreneurs and we want to do our bit to support them.   See this special report on entrepreneurship in The latest edition of The Economist.  According to this NYT article, more people are now forced to start a business.  It may be that people are tired of looking for work like the title of this article says or it may be that you have less to lose once you are laid off!  Whatever your reason for starting a business is, it always helps to plan well before you do so.
Starting your business is a risky venture.  Statistics show that only one in ten or more businesses succeed.  What can you do to increase your odds of success?

Answer:  Write a business plan before you start a business.

We believe putting down your ideas in a business plan before you start really helps in many ways.  See our business plan tutoring page to read more on how a business plan can help before you start a business and how GraduateTutor.com can assist you.
People get ideas all the time  but unfortunately ideas alone will not create a successful start up.  The idea needs to be implemented.  But even  implementation is not sufficient to create a successful business.  The idea must be implemented in a manner that it must produce more revenues /cash flow than it costs to bring the product or service to the market.

Writing a business plan before you start a business will help you evaluate if your business idea can produce more revenues /cash flow than it costs to bring the product or service to the market.  If the answer is a resounding yes, then it is a wise decision to move forward.  If not, pause and think of a new idea.
We believe that if more people had written business plans before they started their businesses, the statistic that  nine out of ten startups fail would have been so much better!  So take our advice and write a business plan before you start a business!

(full disclosure:  We offer business plan tutoring services! Please don’t feel obligated to work with us.  Just write a business plan before you start a business.)

More good news in a season of bad news!  This NYT article mentions that students can expect to get more aid instead of less aid this year.  This is based on a survey and is believable although it seems counter to what most would first expect in a time of shrinking budgets, donations and endowments.

We have also experienced that some colleges are also investing to retain their enrolled students by being more supportive.  Examples of support include providing them quality tutoring support.

We are always happy to help! If you know of colleges / MBA programs that are looking for high quality tutoring support, please do let us know.

The Association of MBAs’ survey on the state of 2,000 MBA holders’ careers in June 2008, provides strong evidence that even in these uncertain times, getting an MBA is one of the best things you can do to ensure that you and your skills are in demand.

As an organization catering to MBA candidates, we see many students who go to great lengths to get their MBAs.  We aways tell them that it will be worth it in the end. When these tough times end, and tough times always do,  companies will be looking for smart, efficient people and will be willing to pay them accordingly.

An MBA is an investment that gives great returns.  This is borne out by the above mentioned survey which reports that MBA graduates received an average salary rise of 46 per cent immediately after graduation.