College Prices up and up!

By KIMBERLY HEFLING AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Time to stock up on the ramen noodles. The average cost of attending college crept up again this year, the College Board said Thursday. The average sticker price, with room and board included, for undergraduate students attending a four-year college or university in their home state was $18,943. Out-of-state students at those schools paid, on average, $32,762. At two-year public schools, in-state students paid an average $11,052. The cost to attend a private, four-year nonprofit college: $42,419, on average, including housing and meal plan. For-profit schools cost about $15,230, but housing figures weren't available. Books and transportation costs can add more than $2,000 to the cost of attending college, and that rises even more for commuters. The highest rate of increase of 3.7 percent was among private, nonprofit colleges. And even though the increases across higher education outpaced inflation, the rates of increase were lower than those students saw five, 10 or 30 years ago, the College Board said. When adjusted for inflation, students are paying more than triple what students paid 30 years ago to attend a public, four-year institution and about 2.5 times more to attend a private nonprofit or two-year public one. "The price increases are actually quite moderate this year, but still, what people are paying, and this is before financial aid, is the accumulation of many years of price increases," said Sandy Baum, a co-author of the nonprofit College Board's annual college pricing report. "So, if the price goes up just a little bit this year, people aren't really going to breathe a sigh of relief because the price is already high from their perspective." Baum said during tough economic times, college costs tend to go up because public institutions receive less in state dollars and private ones see a decrease in endowments and in giving. Other contributing factors are wide ranging from the increasing costs of technology to health insurance for university employees. Only the wealthiest of Americans are seeing their incomes rise, so most students feel the tuition upticks more, Baum said. The number of full--time undergraduate students increased by 16 percent in the three years leading up to fall 2010 to 13.7 million, but then declined to 13 million in fall 2013. The number of students taking out student loans and the amount taken out, on average, by students has been declining, the College Board said. It said about 60 percent of students who earned a bachelor's degree in 2012-2013 from public or private, nonprofit schools from which they began their studies graduated with debt, borrowing an average of $27,300. The breakdown in pricing: -Sticker prices, on average, for in-state tuition and fees at public four-year schools increased to $9,139 this school year - a 2.9 percent increase over the 2013-2014 school year. The average out-of-state price tag was $22,958, an increase of 3.3 percent increase. Room and board was $9,804. -Public two-year schools had a $3,347 published price on average for tuition and fees- an increase of 3.3 percent. Room and board was $7,705. -Tuition and fees at private, nonprofit schools rose 3.7 percent to an average of $31,231. Room and board was $11,188. -For-profit schools saw a 1.3 percent increase in tuition and fees. Published prices don't necessarily reflect what students actually pay because they don't include grant dollars provided by institutions or government aid such as Pell Grants, the GI Bill and tax credits. This school year, full-time students received an average of about $6,110 in aid at public four-year schools, $5,090 at public two-year ones, and $18,870 at private colleges. The average in-state prices at four-year schools ranged from $4,646 in Wyoming to $14,712 in New Hampshire. For out-of-state students, the most affordable tuition of $9,910 was in South Dakota. On the other end, the most expensive was $34,331 in Vermont. _____ Online: College Board: http://www.collegeboard.org _____ Follow Kimberly Hefling on Twitter: http://twitter.com/khefling Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Just a thought on how great it would be to have helicopter parents and Church

http://www.wbay.com/story/27371230/2014/11/12/target-2-helicopter-parents-on-the-rise-in-youth-sports We've heard the stories and seen the video multiple times all over the country of parents getting into brawls with other parents, and even coaches, at their kids' sports events Just last month near Seattle at a junior league football game for nine and ten year olds, parents from opposite sides-- start arguing-- and then start of full on brawl. The stands emptied and the melee ensued. All the while a child was lying on the field with a broken arm. Target 2 dug into a new study done at St. Norbert College that shows parents behavior is hurting high school sports. We found it's leading more and more coaches to step away from the game It's an electric atmosphere only high school sports can create for student athletes around Wisconsin. But sometimes proud and passionate moms and dads cross the line. "Being in broadcasting all the years I was in broadcasting, and at several sporting events I witnessed a lot of things, I saw parents go after coaches, I remember being at one high school game where I saw a parent be ejected by a game official," said St. Norbert College Director of Media Relations Mike Counter. "I actually had some friends who actually just quit coaching because it was too much pressure and too much stress." To assist with his master's thesis on parental involvement in high school athletics, Counter turned to the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College. Researchers say not only did the issue of helicopter parents become apparent, but it's a problem in all sports in schools big and small. "Small school districts with not large school systems, they're experiencing the same thing as those larger schools districts are with many more students and that was a bit of a surprise, we really though going in that might be more of a problem in some of the larger school districts," said St. Norbert College Strategic Research Institute Executive Director Dave Wegge. "How many times do we hear about the little league dad that runs out on the field and pounds this 17 year old umpire, or the soccer mom that misbehaves." said St. Norbert College Dean of Business and Economics Kevin Quinn. "It's nice to have some systematic study about things that we all know." Considered a leading expert on sports and society, Quinn says helicopter parenting has become a fact of life and goes beyond sports. "What we see here in sports is just a mirror reflection of what's happening everywhere else and it looks to me that coaches and AD's don't like it any more or less than anybody else who deals with children and their parents." said Quinn. "It's Dance Moms, it's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and all this pageant stuff, I mean this is the same thing that's happening here." Counter says his research points to a couple of main reasons why helicopter parents are a growing problem. The first is unrealistic expectations. "There's so much media attention with athletics and sports and there's social media with twitter and facebook, you hear about the big plays, you see videos of high school athletes, there's so much out there, I think parents get excited and their son or daughter may get some press clippings and get some attention and I think they start seeing, hey maybe there's potential there, but actually when you look at the statistics and the data, there are 7 million high school athletes that participate, only 2-percent of those get full ride scholarships, 2-percent," said Counter. The study also found social media is fueling the fire as it allows upset parents to immediately fire off text messages or emails and then hide behind them.

Come join us for the Packer vs Eagles game at 3:25 on November 16th. Please bring $2.00 for pizza and $1.00 for soda from the machine! We will provide the snacks! Friends welcome to come! NYG kids will sell candy in the neighborhood at 3:00 p.m. to promote Thrivent caring communities.

Taste of Sem

January 18-20, 2014

 Taste of the Sem is an opportunity for high school men to spend a weekend at the Seminary to study theology, pray, worship, meet and talk with Seminary students and professors. Participants will spend time with one Seminary student at his field education congregation on Sunday morning and attend classes with him on Monday morning.

The event is designed to provide a sense of Seminary life for those who think God might be directing them toward the pastoral ministry. The main goals of Taste of the Sem are to help participants gain a better understanding of what we confess when we say, ”Faith alone, Scripture alone, Grace alone,” discover the significant historical impact of the Lutheran reformation on the church and world; and study the Scriptures with Seminary professors to find out why we believe in justification by grace through faith. Throughout the weekend, visitors can also participate in sports tournaments for volleyball, basketball, foosball, and ping-pong.

Here is the link: http://www.csl.edu/admissions/visit-us/visitation-events/taste-of-the-sem/

Contact Pastor Seabaugh for more information at tseabaugh@gslchurch.net

The Importance of Media Julianna Shults

Maybe you noticed, and maybe you didn't, that I took a small hiatus from blogging the last few months. Last fall I went back to school to work on a Master's degree, and combined with my already busy schedule at church, the intense workload became too overwhelming for me. I stopped reading the blogs, websites, magazines and news articles that keep me up to date on popular culture. Before I knew it, I felt completely out of touch. My youth were mentioning songs, events and stories I didn't know, to both their surprise and mine. As passionate as I am about the intersection of youth ministry, pop culture and media, there just did not seem to be the time in the day to proactively find the open doors for faith conversations or to consider in advance the best way to articulate godly perspectives of the world around them. I was responding to their prompting, but it felt delayed and incomplete. I considered that maybe it was time to take a more permanent break from writing about pop culture and youth ministry. Then in one of my last weeks of teaching contemporary issues in eighth grade Religion class, we were discussing the impact of music and media on our thoughts, hearts and values. I asked the class, "What is the purpose of movies, YouTube and TV?" One student quickly responded, "Mindless entertainment." The rest of the class nodded in approval. Internally, I did a facepalm. Had I taught them nothing? "So, music and media are just things to be used for fun? You don't think they have any messages or something they are trying to sell you?" I responded in the kind of tone that tells them they might need to rethink the answer. Their responses were quick in coming and they didn't change their minds. No, they were convinced that media and music was simple fun, mind-numbing amusement, something for their enjoyment and nothing more. No message, no value and nothing that could influence them. I took a different approach. "So what's your favorite band?" I asked. Silence. No one was willing to admit they listened to the likes of Nicki Minaj or Drake. One student offered up what seemed like a safe answer, Johnny Cash, with Michael Buble and Journey coming in shortly after. I waited a beat more and heard, "Smashing Pumpkins". "And you want me to believe that Smashing Pumpkins doesn't have a message in their music? You think their music is mindless, thoughtless entertainment? Because I think they would fervently disagree." Suddenly, they were singing a different tune. We spent time looking over lyrics from recent Top 40 hits and watched clips from YouTube and TV. For each piece we worked together to compare their messages to God's Word. What was true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable for us to think about as God commands in Philippians 4? Did the words we listened to over and over encourage us to follow God's law or did it belittle what God wants for us to strive for with the help of the Spirit? Did it encourage us to give and receive grace and forgiveness so freely given to us through Jesus' death on the cross? Slowly, they began to see the messages where once their minds had been numb, and to perceive the words of our culture that had slowly crowded out the Word, the cross and the Gospel. As I left the classroom, I was filled with a new enthusiasm for helping my teens navigate the complicated world around them in a God-pleasing way. In a world where everything is commercialized, designed for entertainment and split into 30-second sound bites, there can be no escaping the messages or the sly sales pitches of media. I may lose touch with what's new in our culture, but I can cling to the fact that God does not lose touch with me. God does not change and He does not go silent. He does not leave us on our own to navigate the complicated world with its competing messages, but rather He gives us Himself and His Word to help us navigate. Popular culture is something to be ignored only at our own peril, and we can only be grateful God continues to send His message of forgiveness and hope through Jesus. After a couple of months away from this blog, I am reminded anew of just how important it is to help our teens see the media-driven culture around them through the lenses of faith and the cross. If we don't, the messages and the values they pick up through exposure will take root and leave us with a much more difficult battle to fight. I hope that you, too, are encouraged as Christ works through us, strengthening and encouraging us, to help teens live and grow in faith fed by Scripture and not by Top 40 hits or reality TV. I hope that we can work together to be prepared, not waiting for them to come to us with questions, but with all the tools we need to walk alongside them with the Gospel through our world today.

Julianna Shults is a DCE currently serving in children and youth ministry at St. Paul Lutheran in Chicago. She has been a speaker at the 2007 National LCMS Youth Gathering, 2007 and 2011 National LEA Convocation as well as district Jr. and Sr. High gatherings. She drinks entirely too much coffee, only does her dishes when absolutelynecessary, knits, writes, and is unapologetically nerdy. You can find her on Facebook or Twitter @dutchnotgerman.

Youth poll results surface bright spots, concerns | LCMS News & Articles

Youth poll results surface bright spots, concerns | LCMS News & Articles

http://jwinters.com/post/59395539726/miley-cyrus-freshmen-and-the-college-experience

Miley Cyrus, Freshmen, and the “College Experience”

Anyone who was surprised watching Hannah Montana metamorphosize into a meth-addled low-rent strip club hoodrat at the MTV awards has forgotten the vicarious shame that people on every college campus on the planet experience when they see freshman act like they know what college is all about.  This year I joined the “2017 FSU Freshman” group on Facebook (because yes, I am just THAT sketchy and curious about what people think and do) and saw plenty of naive freshman put on their best faces.  

Just like Miley, girls and boys who had barely stepped out of prom couture hinted at how they were going to be out of control when they got to campus. References to “molly” showed up, as did questionable invitations from girls for guys to give them rides to places late at night, and let’s not forget one of my favorites from a FSU freshman girl, “I admit it, I like to drink, so boys hit me up.” 

There are three responses to this kind of behavior.  The first is predatory.  It’s the guy licking his chops and wondering just exactly how “out of control” things can get so that he can have even more control.  The second is fraternal, a “lol’ing” acceptance and resonance with the appeal of the behavior.  The last is concern and shame over a campus culture that we have created that makes freshman think that “the college experience” is about being out of control rather than about being fun and social.

Theologically, these three responses are often our three responses to seeing sin in other people.  When we see other people sinning, we can respond in a way that is predatory, we can act in a way that is fraternal, and we can act in a way that expresses simultaneous concern and shame.  

Unfortunately, there is a fourth response that many Christians default to, which is the response of so-called “righteous indignation”.  I don’t know about your social media feeds, but mine was filled with that last night.  It was the same thing I first experienced at a Christian conference early on in my campus ministry career when I told people that we did some great evangelistic work in bars - the person said, “Oh, I guess that’s great if you want THOSE people.”  Yeah, we do. We want the Miley Cyruses too.  Not because they are making awesome life decisions, but because Jesus made a life decision for them - the decision to end His so they could have theirs.

Since we’re sinners, the best that we can do when we’re confronted with a twerking almost naked Miley Cyrus or a vomiting freshman at 3am is understand that we share in their shame as sinners, and that we share in the responsibility for caring for them and speaking the Gospel to them.  

The Gospel is “the college experience” if only you don’t reject it.  It is the process of realizing that you need saving, and recognizing your savior. For many freshmen, this is going to involve running from one false savior to another, just as appears to be the case for Miley.  It’s a love that transcends our prodigal sinfulness and calls us “son”, and calls us “daughter”.  It is what we need on college campuses and on the VMA’s, and it is what we need everywhere else.