Going on beyond Brookdale? Here's some advice

Grab a billiards cue and a peice of billiards chalk and head down to the Student Lounge for a game of pool.

On May 17, about 1,700 students will graduate with associate degrees or certificates from the College. This will not only set another record for the 42-year-old institution, it'll continue to keep Brookdale way ahead of the State's other 18 community colleges in the number of people who graduate with associate degrees each year.

A little context: Brookdale is third in enrollment but first in the number of graduates.

If you've ever visited any of Brookdale's campuses or centers, you'll see a big red decal that proclaims, "NJ's Number One Associate Degree College." With a record number of students graduating again this year, they won't be scraping off the "Number One" decals anytime soon.

Some people have said that "number one" is meaningful because it's a sign that students reached their ultimate goal: graduation. Others say that graduation isn't all that important at community colleges--that transferring to a senior institution is. Still others think "Number One" shouldn't be based on graduates but on some sort of ranking system, like having a magazine like U.S. News & World Report come in as an "independent" judge and decide whether Brookdale is really "Number One." (The magazine, however, ranks only four-year colleges and universities, not community colleges.)

We'd like to hear what you think about "Number One"--and whether this view is coming from you as a current or former student, employee, community member, or even if you're someone from Montana who stumbled onto this site and wants to weigh in on blogs.

For more than a year, a group of Brookdale employees worked together to develop a plan for improving the way we serve students in areas ranging from academic advisement to counseling to everything in between. You can see a copy of the report by checking out a link on the homepage under "News and Events." Or simply click here. Your comments about the report are welcome here or directly to the Commission at cosdcomments@brookdalecc.edu

Summer camps are the alternative for education and learning during the vacation time.

A guidance counselor from one of our local high schools called up and said, "All of us in the guidance department think your Web site sucks." So I said, "I'm sick as hell of people saying our Web site sucks and all I get from them back is garbage like, 'The blue doesn't work with the red.'"

So then the guidance counselor said, "No, we like the way it looks. It's just that we can't find anything."

So then I said, "I'm so sick of people calling up to complain, 'I can't find anything on the Web site' when everything anybody would ever want to know about Brookdale is all right there."

"It may be there," the guidance counselor sniffed, "but it's buried so deep into the site that it might take us a half hour to find something that we're looking for to help students who may be interested in coming to Brookdale."

"Oh yeah, Ms. Smarty Pants Guidance Counselor," I snapped back. "Like what?"

To my stunned surprise, she said exactly what: "You don't have any link from the homepage that leads directly to information about all of your degree programs, that's what."

Gulp. She was right. Homina, homina, homina.

Once we fixed that problem, I apologized profusely for being such an arrogant twit. "Oh please, Ms. Guidance Counselor, would you be so good as to point out other ways you and your colleagues would like to see the site improved?"

She shared other ideas about what information needed to be more easily accessible from the homepage. And now we ask you about any ideas you may have for connecting people more directly to much-needed Web site information.

Some tips for students who don't know about the student IDs or testing center.

One of our students came up with what I think is a great idea. Here's what she wrote:

Being a Brookdale Student, attending for two years now leaves me with a concern about the books. In 2007, the amount i spent for my text books was half the amount of what i paid this year, 2008. I have found a solution to this issue. By giving the students an option to buy the textbooks or having them loaned for the semester would help many students out with the cost of school. By loaning the books, the students will have to sign a consent form stating the student is responsible for any damage done to the textbooks at the end of each semester. If there is any damage done, the student will have to pay the full amount of the textbook. Many students pay for college on their own. If Brookdale had an option for students about textbooks, I feel it would be very beneficial for everyone!

Thank you for your time,
A.F.

That's this student's opinion. What do you think?