Today's young people are taking over 5.3 years to earn a 4-year degree. This low expectation is costing parents thousands of dollars. Part of the reason for this may now be traced to the gap between parents? beliefs about college readiness and actual reality.
In early 2006 Terrell Edmunds Limited Jersey , the Public Agenda Organization released a reality survey that suggested the following:
69% of parents believed that their high school graduating children had the skills needed to succeed in college
7% of parents believed that their children DID NOT have the skills
This data when compared with research from ACT indicates that the majority of parents need a reality check. Only 51% of the ACT test takers met the college readiness benchmarks in reading. The ACT data confirms what the Nation's Report Card revealed that national reading scores for 17 year olds have not changed in 33 years and are not even near what is demanded of today's knowledge workers.
And even if the young person graduates from college, over 50% of them will not be able to compare credit card offers, interpret a table about exercise or blood pressure or understand the arguments of newspaper editorials. (Source:American Institutes for Research)
The reasonable explanation for this gap may be that many parents believe what they experienced in college 20 or 30 years ago is what their children will be experiencing. Given that many of these parents attended public schools Jerome Bettis Limited Jersey , they believe that their high school education was satisfactory for college readiness and college success. With the addition of new curriculum including technology (computers), advance college placement courses and the influx of best practices research from local universities, why should parents believe that high school is not preparing their children for college success?
Only when the majority of parents change their beliefs about this college readiness myth and become more proactive in their children's education Zach Gentry Elite Jersey , we will begin to see dramatically improved performance both in high school and college. Until that time, universities will continue to smile as they take millions of dollars to the bank at the expense of students, parents and taxpayers.
Housing starts and completions in England are up. But it takes the tenacious and well-advised investor to help the country meet the strong demand for homes.
Toward the close of 2014 Benny Snell Jr. Elite Jersey , the official Government statistics on house building in the UK are mixed but promising. This offers some degree of hope for investors and builders in the housing sector.
According to the Department for Communities and Local Government, seasonally adjusted housing starts (138,640 homes) now are 93 per cent above the recession trough (March 2009). Completions of homes over 12 months (the year preceding September 2014) hit 116 Justin Layne Elite Jersey ,930, a hike of 8 per cent over the previous comparable time period (the year preceding September 2013).
As is well understood, the country needs to add at least 200 Diontae Johnson Elite Jersey ,000 homes per year to meet pent-up demand in the face of England鈥檚 growing population. So there is no lack of need for even greater residential building in the UK. Investors through such programmes as joint venture partnerships understand this very well and seek optimal scenarios for achieving asset growth in relatively short (two to five years) development timeframes.
How do land investors accomplish this? Note that the land investor is different from land speculators and others who may engage in land banking: the individuals involved in strategic land development typically work in a sequence of well-managed steps to bring land into productive use for homes and businesses:
Step 1: Identify appropriate land for purchase - Professionals in land investing comb through economic development statistics to find where job growth is greatest and where locating a workforce optimally serves both employers and employees. From there, negotiations with existing land owners (public and private) with appropriate acreage results in a transaction of land to the investment group.
Step 2: Achieve planning authority approval for use designation - In Step 1, there is a good sense of where local planning authorities (LPAs) may be amenable to a zoning change (often from agricultural to residential). In about half of the country Devin Bush Elite Jersey , local authorities have complied with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to establish local plans for development. In other places, the land fund investment managers make the case for how new development will benefit the area economically, physically and culturally.
Step 3: Build infrastructure - Once LPA approval is in place James Conner Elite Jersey , the investment group goes about the business of building roads and utilities, site preparation that is essential to orderly and sustainable development.
Step 4: Construct and sell completed properties - At this stage, many investor groups sell the land to homebuilders. This allows an earlier exit from the investment with reduced risks associated with construction and sales. Homebuilders have greater expertise in what the eventual homebuyer wants and can afford.
Investors typically understand the need to work with specialists (e.g. JuJu Smith-Schuster Elite Jersey , experts at real asset investing) who can combine capital with expertise to produce asset growth. Similarly, the investor should consult an independent financial advisor to identify broader strategies for including real estate within a family wealth-accumulation portfolio.
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