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San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss wears multiple hats during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss wears multiple hats during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss speaks during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss speaks during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss answers reporters questions during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Randy Moss strolled to the podium on Super Bowl media day ? his 49ers hat tilted slightly to the left, his sleeves rolled up high to reveal a cross tattooed on one arm, a large "R'' tattooed on the other.
He carried himself very much like the star he once was.
"I don't know how many questions I'm gonna give you," he barked to reporters, before breaking into a smile. "So go ahead."
Then, for the next hour or so, he was the center of attention ? a role he seemed perfectly suited for, even though he kept saying over and over that he just wants to be treated like anyone else.
Moss proclaimed himself "the greatest receiver ever to play this game." He urged all the coaches out there to listen to their players every now and then.
"I'm me," Moss declared. "I just do it my way. That's just how I feel. I don't try to be better than the next man, or break any laws or any rules. Nothing like that. But what do I believe in? I believe in myself. That's just the way I've always done it.
"I know," he quickly added, "there's some people out there who like me, and I know there's a lot of people out there who don't. For what reason, I don't know and don't really care."
Moss was once the NFL's most dominant receiver, but those days are long past. He's 35 now, clearly on the downside of a career that actually seemed over a year ago. After bouncing around to three different teams in 2010, he didn't play at all last season. But, he wasn't ready to walk away from the sport just yet ? and San Francisco gave him a chance to come back for another shot at the ring.
There was one big caveat: Moss would no longer be the center of the offense.
The 49ers had plenty of others ? from receiver Michael Crabtree to tight end Vernon Davis to running back Frank Gore. Now that Colin Kaepernick has taken over at quarterback, it's easy to forget that No. 84 is even on the field. Sure, Moss is savoring the 49ers' run to the Super Bowl, where they'll face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, but he's still struggling to get his arms around the idea of being an afterthought on the field.
"I've always considered myself a playmaker," he said. "Blocking? Yeah, I understand that's part of the game. Me going out to be decoy? Yeah, I know that's part of the game. But for me not to be out here making plays is something I just don't understand."
Then, he remembered why he's here.
"If that's going to win me a ring," Moss said, "yeah, I accept that."
He came oh-so-close during the 2007 season, teaming with Tom Brady to lead New England to an unbeaten regular season and two more wins in the playoffs. Then, in the game that really mattered, the high-powered Patriots were shut down in the Super Bowl by the New York Giants, who rallied for a stunning 17-14 upset after David Tyree ? not Moss ? made a catch that left everyone in awe.
It's a game Moss has never bothered to watch on video. It's a game that sticks with him to this day ? and probably will forever, even if the 49ers win on Sunday.
"There's just something about '07, being undefeated going into a Super Bowl and losing it like that," he said. "I'll never forget that moment because it's not fun when you're sweating and you have confetti dropping down and sticking to your face and knowing that you're not on the winning side of the confetti."
Surely, someone asked, winning this time would ease the pain from five seasons ago.
Not so, Moss replied.
"If I win this one, that means I could have had two," he said. "That's something I'll never forget."
Moss' last big season came with the Patriots in 2009, when he had 83 receptions for 1,264 yards and 13 touchdowns. The following year was a mess, largely of his own making.
His days in New England were numbered before the season opener when Moss complained about not getting a contract extension and said he didn't feel wanted. After week four, he was traded back to Minnesota, his original team, but that didn't last, either. Moss griped about then-coach Brad Childress and was waived, finishing out the dismal, miserable campaign in Tennessee.
Not surprisingly, no one jumped at the chance to offer Moss a job in 2011.
It looked as though retirement had arrived, whether he wanted it or not.
Moss used the off year to reconnect with his children, to get in some fishing, to watch some games on Sundays. But he also shed some tears, pained at the idea of ending his career before he was ready to go. He made sure to stay in shape, just in case someone wanted to give him another chance.
"I love this game of football so much," Moss said. "I don't like everything that comes with it, but going out on the field between the white lines and playing football is something I've always done. I've been doing it since I was 6 years old. For me to be able to just walk away from the game, knowing that I wasn't ready, mentally or physically, it really hurt me, man. It really depressed me."
Then came a call from the 49ers, who had come up just short of the Super Bowl during his season away. They felt Moss was one of those players who might help them get over the hump ? not so much for what he could do on the field, but the impact he might have on the youngsters in the locker room.
Moss started only two games, finishing with 28 catches, 434 yards and three TDs. But he had the desired impact on Crabtree and Kaepernick, passing on his many experiences to those who will carry the franchise into the future.
"One thing that impressed me the most about Randy is the way that he works with all the other guys, and not even just the receivers," 49ers fullback Bruce Miller said. "He's so knowledgeable about the game of football that he coaches other positions and has all kinds of tips and reminders for everyone."
As the Superdome clock ticked down to zero, indicating the 49ers' hour-long media session was over, Moss continued to chat away at the podium.
Finally, Davis came over to pull him away.
It was almost as if Moss wanted to cling to the spotlight as long as possible.
"It's been fun," he said. "But I've got to go."
___
Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963
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New Delhi:? In a warning to finance companies, India?s apex consumer court has ruled it illegal to take away(repossess)? a financed vehicle without serving a notice to the owner who has allegedly defaulted on loan repayment.
It was also illegal not to serve notice to the loan taker at the time of the vehicle?s subsequent sale, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission said in its recent ruling while hearing a complaint against Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services? (MMFS).
Reuters
The company?which was accused of wrongfully dispossessing Naresh Singh, a resident of Indore in Madhya Pradesh, of a commercial vehicle despite his having repaid his vehicle loan?was asked to pay compensation of Rs 42,000. In its strongly worded order, the commission also told the finance company to pay Singh Rs 15,000 as the amount spent on obtaining permit and registration and Rs.1,000 as cost of the litigation.
Dismissing the finance company?s appeal against a state consumer commission?s judgment in favour of Singh, it said: ?We find that both the district consumer forum as well as the state commission have given concurrent finding of fact that the vehicle in question was repossessed by the petitioner without serving notice of outstanding amount on the respondent (Singh) and it was also sold without giving any notice to the respondent.?
?The counsel for the petitioner has failed to show any material irregularity or illegality in the impugned order which may call for interference by this commission in revisional jurisdiction. Therefore, the revision petition fails,? said the apex consumer court?s Presiding member Ajit Bharihoke and Member Suresh Chandra.
Singh had said in his petition that MMFS gave him a loan of Rs.3.5 lakh for purchasing a Mahindra Tourist vehicle on a hire-purchase basis. The loan amount was to be paid in 34 instalments. It was agreed that the first instalment would be of Rs.24,500 and the remaining instalments would be of Rs.12,250 each.
The commercial vehicle operator said he paid all the instalments against the loan between June 1, 2004, and Sep 2, 2005. Despite that, the finance company repossessed the vehicle Oct 23, 2005, without giving notice on the ground that Rs.4.29 lakh was outstanding against the loan.
He alleged that soon after the illegal repossession of his vehicle, it was sold without any notice to him for a sum of Rs 2.5 lakh. Singh filed a complaint claiming a sum of Rs.82,000 as compensation and for other charges.
The finance company admitted that it financed Rs 3.50 lakh for purchasing a vehicle by Singh but denied that he paid the instalments regularly.
Denying deficiency in service on its part, MMFS claimed that Rs 85,650 was outstanding against Singh Oct 23, 2005, and, therefore, the vehicle was possessed in a lawful manner and sold.
The district forum ruled in Singh?s favour and concluded that the possession of the vehicle was taken by the finance company without informing him about any amount outstanding against him and, thereafter, the vehicle was unlawfully sold without notice.
The national commission also slammed MMFS for delay of 71 days in filing the revision petition.
?The petitioner has failed to disclose sufficient cause for delay in filing of revision petition. Therefore, we are not inclined to condone the delay on this count alone and revision petition fails,? said Bharihoke.
IANS
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) ? Ten endangered Borneo pygmy elephants have been found dead in a Malaysian forest under mysterious circumstances, and wildlife officials said Tuesday that they probably were poisoned.
Carcasses of the baby-faced elephants were found near each other over the past three weeks at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve, said Laurentius Ambu, director of the wildlife department in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island.
In one case, officers rescued a 3-month-old calf that was trying to wake its dead mother.
Poisoning appeared to be the likely cause, but officials have not determined whether it was intentional, said Sabah environmental minister Masidi Manjun. Though some elephants have been killed for their tusks on Sabah in past years, there was no sign that these animals had been poached.
"This is a very sad day for conservation and Sabah. The death of these majestic and severely endangered Bornean elephants is a great loss to the state," Masidi said in a statement. "If indeed these poor elephants were maliciously poisoned, I would personally make sure that the culprits would be brought to justice and pay for their crime."
The WWF wildlife group estimates that fewer than 1,500 Borneo pygmy elephants exist. They live mainly in Sabah and grow to about eight feet tall, a foot or two shorter than mainland Asian elephants. Known for their babyish faces, large ears and long tails, pygmy elephants were found to be a distinct subspecies only in 2003, after DNA testing.
Their numbers have stabilized in recent years amid conservation efforts to protect their jungle habitats from being torn down for plantations and development projects.
The elephants found dead this month were believed to be from the same family group and ranged in age from 4 to 20 years, said Sen Nathan, the wildlife department's senior veterinarian. Seven were female and three were male, he said.
Post-mortems showed they suffered severe hemorrhages and ulcers in their gastrointestinal tracts. None had gunshot injuries.
"We highly suspect that it might be some form of acute poisoning from something that they had eaten, but we are still waiting for the laboratory results," Nathan said.
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The Tonia Grein Team - The Lake Real Estate Group, LLC is licensed in the state of Missouri and provides real estate services for Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Find a home, lot or land in Aurora Springs, Bagnell, Barnett, Brumley, Camdenton, Climax Springs, Eldon, Four Seasons, Gravois Mills, Greenview, Hurricane Deck, Iberia, Kaiser, Lake Ozark, Laurie, Linn Creek, Macks Creek, Montreal, Osage Beach, Porto Cima, Roach, Rocky Mount, Sunrise Beach, Tuscumbia, Ulman, Versailles, Villages, and Other Areas. Call Tonia Grein today for more information on Homes, Land and Condos for Sale.
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By Sanjeev Miglani, Reuters
NEW DELHI -- India's army chief accused Pakistan on Monday of detailed planning of an attack along Kashmir's de factor border last week in which two soldiers were killed and said India reserved the right to retaliate.
The comments, which came as public anger mounts over the decapitation of one of the slain soldiers, appear certain to further inflame tensions between the nuclear-armed enemies.
Last week's fighting was the worst outbreak of violence in Kashmir, the Himalayan region both nations claim, since the two sides agreed a cease-fire nine years ago. Indian and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.
Army Chief General Bikram Singh was speaking just hours before local commanders were to meet at the border to identify ways of reducing tensions and avoiding further clashes.
"The attack on January 8 was premeditated, a pre-planned activity. Such an operation requires planning, detailed reconnaissance," Singh told a news conference in New Delhi.
He said India reserved the right to retaliate against provocative acts on the border at a time and place of its choosing.
"I expect all my commanders at the Line of Control to be both aggressive and offensive in the face of provocation and fire," he said.
Protesters in India express outrage at Pakistan as India's army pays tribute to the two soldiers killed on the military control line of Kashmir. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Both armies have lost two soldiers each in fighting along parts of 460-mile cease-fire line this month. One of the Indians was decapitated, New Delhi said, inflaming tempers in the country and prompting his family to start a hunger strike demanding that the severed head be brought back.
Pakistan has termed the Indian allegations as propaganda and blamed it for violations on the cease-fire line.
Islamabad accused Indian soldiers of entering its territory and killing a soldier on Jan 6. India said Pakistani soldiers intruded about 600 yards into its territory two days later and killed two Indian soldiers on patrol, the attack Singh was referring to.
'Gruesome act'
Pakistan said one of its soldiers was killed in further fighting on Thursday.
Singh said the beheading was a "gruesome act". He said a strong protest had been lodged with Pakistani authorities through diplomatic channels.
Additional reporting by Satarupa Bhattacharjya.
Related stories:
Nuclear-armed rivals trade barbs over 'barbaric' cross-border attacks
From alcohol to kites: An A to Z guide to the 'Islamic Republic of Banistan'
Pakistan's Generation Y battles to shape country's future
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.I see Ziff Davis and Cnet parking unused domains at Sedo and Domain Sponsor and I start thinking if domain name parking is dead or not. Sure earnings have dropped in the past few years but there is still a usage and a market for it.
I was doing some domain name research and I came across the domain WindowsPro.com. I saw Sedo?s parking nameservers (sedoparking.com) at whois and the strange thing was that I saw Ziff Davis, Inc as the owner of the domain.
I made a reverse whois search DomainTools.com and discovered that the domain has been parked at Sedo since the December of 2011. The domain changed registrars sometime between September and November 2011 moving from COM LAUDE to Moniker.
In late 1998 Ziff-Davis Inc., a major publisher of computing magazines, stopped publishing 3 magazines: Internet Business, Equip and Windows Pro.
I also found out that Equip.com is parked at Domain Sponsor. The domain name Equip.com is owned by Cnet. Cnet acquired Ziff Davis in 2000 for approximately 1.6 billion dollars.
CBS Interactive that later acquired Cnet now owns many domain names that were originally created by CNET Networks, including download.com, downloads.com, upload.com, news.com, search.com, TV.com, mp3.com, chat.com, computers.com, help.com, shopper.com, radio.com, and com.com.
The 2 domains WindowsPro.com and Equip.com could be used for redirecting to some other websites of the 2 companies but aren?t. Instead they chose parking. WindowsPro.com and Equip.com are not marked for sale.
I was not able to find what was the domain name used for the Internet Business magazine.
About the Author:
Konstantinos Zournas lives in Athens, Greece. He studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in the UK. He has been a domainer, among other things, for the past 10 years. He does consulting, website development and programming. He is mainly writing about domain names but other things may come up. You can find him at Google+
Konstantinos Zournas ? who has written 266 posts on Online Domain.
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Easy setup. Improves the more you use it. Very good dialogues for training software. Handles dictation, voice commands, and the recording of audio files.
Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac is, as the name might suggest, a choice tool for dictation. While it does offer voice control too, that's not its primary selling point, and on the Mac the built-in tools work just fine.
Dictation programs, which let you control your computer and type using only your voice, aren't for everyone. But those who use them for productivity, or to write dialogue more naturally, or for accessibility reasons, will likely turn to Nuance Communication's Dragon brand of software, the leader in this category. In sampling speech-recognition and voice-command software, I've had overwhelmingly positive experiences with Dragon products, and the same can be said for Dragon Dictate for Mac 3.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 Premium for Windows (4.5 stars) impressed me like none other, enough to be named an Editors' Choice. I've also been extremely pleased with the smartphone apps Dragon Go! for search and other Web functions, as well Dragon Dictation for iPhone for transcribing when I am not in the mood to deal with Siri. Having set high expectations for Dragon Dictate for Mac 3, I can't say after testing that it hits quite the same marks as the Windows' version of the product, although it is still very good at what it does and is worthy of our Editors' Choice. Version 3 shows improvement in speed and flexibility , but it's still a very different product from the Windows version, Dragon NaturallySpeaking. The two are as different as their names. Dragon for Mac is a little more rigid than the highly flexible and intuitive NaturallySpeaking Premium, even though their price tags are the same. I was also surprised to find the Mac app's interface looks radically different than that of its Windows counterpart.
In core functionality, however, the two programs are similar. With both Dragon Dictate for Mac and NaturallySpeaking, you can control many applications and functions on your computer using just your voice, as well as dictate speech-to-text in word processing, note-taking, and email applications. You can also dictate to Dragon's own note pad app, which comes with the software, although I found Dragon responded much more quickly and with less lag when used in Mac's own TextEdit program. Speak it, and it shall be written.
Setup and Training
I installed Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac on an iMac running Apple OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion (more on the system requirements below). The installation took a minute or two, and the additional setup, which involves acclimating Dragon to your voice and accent, took less than ten minutes.
Setting up is by far my favorite part of the program, as the app does a fantastic job of explaining how the software works on the most general level while also walking you through some demos of operations. For example, as shown in the slideshow, the app might ask you to read the following text aloud: "Pause briefly before saying a command and Dragon will instantly recognize that the command is something you want it to do COMMA rather than something you are dictation PERIOD." While you're being told to say this or that and see the results on screen, the software is in turn learning more about how you speak, such as your accent and other characteristics of your voice.
One small difference that made setting up Dragon Dictate for Mac better than setting up NaturallySpeaking for PC is in the script you have to read to help Dragon learn to understand you. In the PC version, you can choose to read a political speech, a few paragraphs about computers by humorist Dave Barry, or a few other options. In the Mac app, you don't have a choice, but the dialogue provided is an overview of how speech-recognition software works, so you're effectively learning about the program while giving the software information, too. It's a minor difference, but you'll definitely have a better experience with any voice-control software if you learn how it works at the most basic level.
By Jill Duffy Analyst, Software Jill Duffy is an analyst in the software, Internet, and networking team, specializing in productivity software, iOS, and apps and gadgets for health and fitness. She writes the weekly Get Organized column, with tips on...
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TOKYO (WHDH) -- An unexpected snowstorm in Japan sent hundreds of people to the hospital.
Three inches of snow fell in Tokyo, but an estimated 16 inches coated the ground west of the city.
Most of the injuries came from car accidents as a result of the storm.
(Copyright (c) 2013 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Source: http://www1.whdh.com/rss/read/news/articles/world/12009588196727/
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So much for peace in Myanmar.
Though lightly reported in the West, air assaults appear to be intensifying along the remote Myanmar-China border -- a mountainous zone where ethnic guerrillas and state forces are locked in combat.
These are scenes government leaders claim they want to leave behind: mortars lobbed into a populated insurgency town (Laiza, a stronghold located right on the Chinese border) and helicopter gunships firing munitions into guerrilla camps.
As I've written previously, hard facts from this region -- populated by the largely Christianized Kachin ethnic group -- are hard to come by. But several air strike locations on this map, created by a Kachin news outlet, are backed up by independent sources.
Myanmar's leaders -- eager to spotlight their grand new reforms -- have finally admitted to using attack aircraft on guerrilla forces that have none of their own.
That doesn't mean the nature of these attacks are entirely clear. Example: while the Kachin fighters claim to have shot down a chopper, the government reports a helicopter's?"emergency landing due to engine failure" in which three crew members "sacrificed their lives for the country."
Meanwhile, President Thein Sein is lauding the "sacrifices in blood and sweat" made by Myanmar's military, according to Agence France-Presse. An op-ed in a Kachin news outlet warns that the government is "enouraging Balkanization" and that "there is no choice but to rebel."
Though failing to capture many headlines in America, this intensifying war at China's border could very well portend the course of a nation growing closer to the U.S. while continuing to suffer all-out ethnic conflict both in its mountains and on its coast.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/southeast-asia/myanmar-air-strikes-creep-closer-chinese-border
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In August, 2012, I summarized my?study?of?federal financial aid default rates for four-year institutions.?The following is a summary of the distribution of federal financial aid default rates for public, private nonprofit (NP) and private for-profit (FP) two-year institutions.
The data for the study was obtained from The National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Unless otherwise indicated I utilized the three-year default rate values from the database.
Let?s begin by examining basic descriptive statistics associated with default rates for two-year colleges. Table 1 depicts the highest mean default rate among the private FP sector. In addition, default rates among public two-year institutions exceed private NP by 5.47 percentage points.
| Table 1 | |||
| Sector | Mean | Std. Dev. | Freq. |
| Public | 15.07 | 10.04 | 990 |
| Private | 9.66 | 11.29 | 157 |
| Private | 22.48 | 12.05 | 632 |
| Total | 17.22 | 11.67 | 1779 |
Figure 1 ? a density distribution of default rates among two-year institutions ? also conveys a similar generalization that the private FP sector exhibits higher default rates than the public or private NP two-year sectors. Public two-year colleges also appear to have greater default rates than the private NP sector.
Figure 1
However, much of the information in the default rate distributions is left untapped in Table 1 and Figure 1.? Relative distribution methods provide a more illuminating analysis of sector differences in default rates. ?The motivation for this research is to fill the void in the literature for analyzing the distributional differences among the sectors of higher education. Relative density analysis provides the statistical tool to accomplish this goal.
Relative Density Analysis
Figure 2
At the median default rate of the private FP distribution (reference group) the proportion of public two-year institutions (comparison group) with this level of default rate productivity is equal to .80. This means 80 percent of public two-year institutions enjoy lower median default rates than median private two-year FP institutions. This provides very strong evidence for superior default rate performance for public two-year institutions when compared to the private FP two-year sector.
Figure 3
At the default rate median of the public two-year distribution the proportion of private NP two-year institutions with this level of default rate productivity is equal to .78. This means 78 percent of private NP two-year institutions enjoy lower median default rates than median public two-year institutions.? At the 30th percentile of the public two-year distribution the proportion of private NP two-year institutions is equal to .72. This means 72 percent of private NP two-year institutions enjoy lower default rates than public four-year institutions at the 30h percentile as defined by the public two-year distribution.
Figure 4
At the 30th percentile of the default rate associated with private FP two-year institutions the proportion of private NP two-year institutions with this level of default rate productivity is equal to .79. This means 79 percent of private NP two-year institutions enjoy lower default rates at the 30th percentile of private FP institutions. At the median default rate of the private FP distribution the proportion of private NP two-year institutions with this level of default rate productivity is equal to .85. This means 85 percent of private NP two-year institutions enjoy lower median default rates than median private FP institutions.
A comprehensive literature review (Gross, et al. 2009) regarding the relationship between institutional characteristics and default rates summarizes the relationship as follows:
?Descriptive analysis suggests that students who attend less-than-two-year, proprietary, or community colleges have higher default rates than their peers at four-year or more selective institutions (Podgursky, Ehlert, Monroe, Watson, & Wittstruck, 2002; Woo, 2002a, 2002b), even when the time horizon for considering default is extended to eight years (Kesterman, 2005). Once borrowing behaviors, student background characteristics, and institutional resources are considered, however, these differences largely disappear (Emmert, 1978; Flint, 1997; Knapp & Seaks, 1992; Volkwein & Cabrera, 1998; Volkwein, Szelest, Cabrera, & Napierski-Prancl, 1998; Wilms, Moore, & Bolus, 1987). Students who attend proprietary or less-than-four-year institutions tend to borrow more, to come from lower-income families, and to belong to a racial or ethnic minority group?characteristics associated with increased likelihood of default (Gladieux & Perna, 2005; Goodwin, 1991). Moreover, greater institutional investment and instructional support is associated with decreased likelihood of default (Volkwein & Szelest, 1995). Generally, the wealthier the institution attended and the greater the student?s access to social and economic capital the less likely the student is to default.?
High student default rates do not serve the short or long term interests of students, institutions of higher education or the expectations of taxpayers. ?High default rates threaten access to needed student financial aid, assuring institutions of higher education remain engines of equal opportunity and upward mobility.
In response to the above?analysis a colleague asks, ?What do the private nonprofits do differently?? Attract a different student?? Or do a better job of managing/supporting their students/graduates?? At a minimum the answer is most likely a combination of the two factors embedded in the question: 1) attracting students whose characteristics are associated with lower default rates and 2) institutional investment and instructional support decreasing the likelihood of default.
The following is narrowly focused on one component of the private?nonprofit?two-year college default advantage, specifically the advantage of attracting students whose characteristics lower the nonprofit default rate. As such, it is an incomplete answer to a complex issue. However, if I had to select one student variable impacting the issue at hand it would be the private nonprofit advantage in attracting students with higher socio-economic status (SES). Student SES is highly correlated with graduation rates and, very importantly for this analysis, the majority of research suggests that completing a postsecondary program is the strongest single predictor of not defaulting regardless of institution type (Gross, et al. 2009).
Table 2 depicts socio-economic status by sector for independent students below $12,000. These students are at much higher risk of not completing a postsecondary program and therefore more likely to default on their loans. The largest separation in Table 2 is between public and private nonprofit two-year institutions on the one hand and private for-profit two-year instituions on the other.? Public two-year colleges attract a smaller proportion (5%) of at-risk students than nonprofit institutions. However, inspection of Table 3, depicting the percent of aid applicants over $60,000, demonstrates a much larger advantage of nonprofit colleges attracting students more likely to graduate, lowering private nonprofit default rates.
However, the above measures which summarize the private nonprofit advantage in attracting students who are less likely to default do not capture the full distributional advantages nonprofits enjoy. Relative distribution analysis provides an opportunity to shed some light on the sector distributional differences.
Figure 5 demonstrates that at the median of the private nonprofit distribution the proportion of public two-year institutions with equivalent dependent aid applicants over $60,000 is equal to .97. This means 97 percent of median public two-year institutions have fewer dependent aid applicants over $60,000 than median private nonprofit two-year institutions.
Figure 5
I suspect this student SES advantage accounts for a large proportion of the default rate advantage enjoyed by private nonprofit colleges.? However, relative distribution analyses are descriptive by nature, not explanatory, so caution is warranted.? Obviously there are many other variables involved in the superior default outcomes that private nonprofit two-year colleges enjoy. In addition I have often thought there are some best practices that the nonprofits employ that public two-year colleges could emulate. Unfortunately too often the communication lines with private nonprofit colleagues haven?t allowed a deeper and richer understanding of their culture and processes.
Gross, et al. (2009). What Matters in Student Loan Default: A Review of the Research Literature.?Journal of Student Financial Aid,?39(1).
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The 36-year-old Fort Worth attorney says he is close to settling on campaigning for Texas land commissioner next year. He doesn't expect to make up his mind until he knows what Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a fellow Republican, decides to do.
"We for sure are running, the question is the office," Bush told The Associated Press during the first interview about his political future since filing paperwork in November to seek elected office in Texas.
Bush's father is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, his grandfather is former President George H.W. Bush and his uncle is former President and Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Perry has been governor since George W. Bush left for the White House.
Land commissioner traditionally has been a stepping stone to higher office, but Bush said little about any plans to eventually become a national political force.
Instead, he spoke of how his experience as an asset manager would help him manage the Permanent Schools Fund, which pays for public education and is managed by the land commissioner. He also said his perspective as an Afghanistan war veteran would help him use the post to become a leader in veterans' affairs.
Bush said he would announce his final decision after the Texas Legislature adjourns in May but added that his choice will depend "where the governor's thinking is." Perry, who flamed out as a presidential candidate but remains popular in Texas, says he'll reveal this summer if he will seek another term.
Some have speculated that Bush could challenge Perry for governor - and even if he doesn't, what Perry decides will trigger political dominos falling.
Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson plans to run for lieutenant governor next year, creating a vacancy in his office. But Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, may himself run for governor in 2014, meaning his post could be open too.
Bush suggested he'd be willing to wait his turn politically rather than immediately seek top positions.
Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20130113_13_A4_CUTLIN887188&rss_lnk=16
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