It's been awhile since we asked U to join our Mob...

Here, again, is the widget. Thanks to our friends at Mozes for making this happen.

The Loonie, The Dollar, and What They Both Mean for U (if you're university-bound)

Big news from last week around something called "parity" -- which has nothing to do with going to college and EVERYTHING to do with going to college.

Fact: for the first time in 31 years, the Canadian Dollar and the US Dollar are equal. One of one buys one of the other.

Without getting into the vagaries of currency trading and all, here's a quick primer on why this impacts you, as well as some odds on who gets impacted the most.

Parents of Canadian High School Students:


Your dollar will now go further than it has in quite some time. The US$40,000-a-year tuition bill is going to be, well, C$40,000. Duh, I know, but think about just five years ago, when that US$40,000 tuition bill was $60,000.

Odds of an influx of students crossing the border due to the exchange rate: 1 to 1 on an increase of 10% per year over the next 2 years.

Parents of American High School Students:

Your dollar lacks the spending power it once did, but don't worry if your student wants to go to a competitive university North of the Border. Canadian Universities are still a bargain when compared with US Universities. Scholarships are out there.

Odds of a really negative impact on the "Canadian Ivies" -- U Toronto, UBC, Western Ontario, McGill -- 5 to 1.

Up-and-coming Universities in the USA:

Go get 'em! We've long been fans of the Canadian Secondary Education system. Numbers are in your favor.

Odds of the spillover to other schools -- say, the ones that aren't YET household names: 5 to 2.

Up-and-coming Universities in Canada:

This is all about storytelling for them...see the item above about the Canadian Ivies and the fact that a top-quality education is STILL a tremendous value when compared to a lot of schools in the USA.

BUT -- and this is something that Canada realized a long time ago...there's a big world out there and they need to recruit all sorts of places.

Like India, China, Australia...the list could go on.

Odds of increase in US students for schools like Brock University, Thompson Rivers University, UOIT, etc.: 7 to 1.

One week to go on the Brickfish contest

Hey! If you haven't entered the Brickfish contest -- you know the one, where there's 5G's up for grabs in a scholarship to study in Australia -- well...

You have one week.

Yes, seven days left to enter your digital art work -- ANYTHING digital folks, and that includes photography and animation and digital artwork and, well, 1's and 0's of all types.

BTW, if you haven't visited Brickfish yet at www.brickfish.com, you should check out the front of the site and see what else is there. Like a contest to create the ultimate online banner for the group Pearl Jam.

Are there other schools in Australia?

Question from the U Sphere Universe:

"Thanks for the info about JMC Academy - and I'd love to go to school in Australia. But I'm not into the media and art at all. What do you recommend?"

Well, one way to start is to decide if you want the 4-year/full-degree option, the post-graduate option, or the "study abroad" thing.

For the traditional route -- start with a resource like the Australian Embassy. Also take a look at the Group of Eight -- which is a group of leading universities in Oz.

If it's study abroad, like spending a semester or a year overseas, well, that's a different animal. Suggestions: well, you're probably already in school, so take a look at the options offered by your home college/university.

OR, check out a resource like Study Australia. They can help, too.

Go Green?

Since "green" is the new buzzword, it begs the question of whether the college- or university-bound student should be thinking green when choosing where to spend four years.

This space has been watching a couple developments north of the border (Canada, eh?), where they call it "university" as opposed to "college."

UNBC. University of Northern British Columbia. They maintain that they are "Canada's Green University."

But they have a little bit of a battle on their hands in the form of Thompson Rivers University -- which has becoming the "university of choice" in several areas, including "environmental sustainability" as part of its strategic plan. (You can see the rest of the neat stuff about TRU at the President's welcome page here.

Both have one advantage in the race toward environmental sustainability, oneness with nature and those sorts of things that "green" kids might like -- they are actually NEAR NATURE.

UNBC is in the outpost of Prince George, British Columbia. It's sorta close to Alaska.

TRU is in Kamloops, which is closer to Washington State in the US than any other state.

There are other schools, of course, who maintain "greenness" as part of their mission. But these two we found pretty interesting.

We're getting close to 100,000...

Wow. What a response from the U Sphere community to our contest with Brickfish and the JMC Academy in Australia.

We are inching closer and closer to 100,000. This is just from digital artists and those who want to study in Australia -- so those who are entering represent just a small slice of the U Sphere populace (SAT word). For instance, in the US alone, 2 million students will start college for the first time this fall.

So obviously we have just scratched the surface of those who want colleges to compete over them.

Anyway, you're probably wondering what's next. Ahoy, people, this is just the first of lots in store. It is only September after all.

And if you're NOT an art person, don't do photography, not an animator...well, there are schools out there as part of the U Sphere universe that are looking for you.

It's back - Northern Arizona University seeks to connect with students through...

...their parents' newspaper of choice. It's a unique ad campaign, and they ran it last year.

The Wall Street Journal is where the ads are running -- and they attempt to "position" the school as a number of things.

If you haven't seen it, ask Mom or Dad for the Saturday edition of the Wall Street Journal, then flip to page P5. You'll see a girl named Sunday Hannan from Bergenfield, NJ.

What does it mean? Colleges will do anything to find kids? NAU wants students from New Jersey? They want your parents to know about them?

All of the above.

79,999: is that all the better we can do?

Says the U Sphere guy, tongue in cheek.

Wow, people -- this reminds me of the olden days of watching the odometer on a '75 Nova turn over...

I'm talking, BTW, about our Brickfish contest -- the one that we're doing with the JMC Academy in Australia.

79,999 (as of 1:30 Central Time in the USA) is the total number of "engagements" -- entries + votes + views.

I can't comment on the individual entries -- that would be unfair, since I'm Dave from U Sphere -- but it is absolutely great to see such a variety of entries, and such passion for digital media, arts, design, photography -- everything creative.

We're halfway through the contest...so there's time to vote and enter and watch what happens!

Connections R Us

Got another note from the folks behind a site that we think you should know about -- especially if you're outside of the USA. OR if you're looking to connect with students outside of the USA.

Zeeya.

We like ANYTHING international -- esp those that think in terms of "University" as opposed to/instead of/in lieu of using the term "college" as the catch all.

(Yes, I know it says "Colleges Compete over You" on the front of the U Sphere site.)

But we do like what Zeeya is up to -- and it's always nice to get a semi-personal note, or a blog comment, from someone behind the scenes.