By Elizabeth Renter | NerdWallet

High school graduates — and their parents — have a lot on their minds this spring, not the least of which is paying for college. Amid financial aid delays stretching months beyond what’s typical, some students are feeling pressured to make college decisions without even knowing how much they’ll be required to pay.

Still, one thing is clear: Students funding their college career with student loans could be paying for years to come. And if a student depends on loans to cover every year of their undergraduate career, they could end up owing about $37,000 when they graduate.

Tuition and fees continue to decrease

If there is good news for new college students, it’s that growth in the cost of higher education has slowed and even decreased modestly in recent years. The money spent on tuition and fees at public, four-year institutions goes further now than 10 years ago and has fallen 9.8% in just the past three years, according to data from The College Board.

However, this drop doesn’t mean higher education is affordable. On average, full-time undergraduates took out about $6,990 in student loans in the 2020-21 school year, the last year for which that data is available from the National Center for Education Statistics. Based on that figure, and a modest assumed growth rate, a NerdWallet analysis estimates a student depending wholly on loans could amass about $36,700 in student loan debt in a five-year bachelor’s degree pursuit.

Student (and parent) tip: This debt is not inevitable. Some students will have savings to draw from, and others will qualify for grants and scholarships. Determining how much to borrow each year involves estimating all of these contributions and figuring out what’s left to cover.

Often, you may qualify for more loans than you need, but you don’t have to accept the total amount available. Be conservative when accepting student loans. If you don’t accept the total award amount and discover you underestimated your need, reach out to your financial aid office. The balance that you didn’t previously accept remains available throughout the semester.

Projected student loans could surpass the federal cap

There are cumulative and annual caps on federal student loans for dependent students. These college students can’t take out more than $31,000 in federal student loans throughout their undergraduate career. So, if they borrow their way through school, they could hit these caps and be forced to find other financing options.

Private student loans and parent PLUS loans are two alternative loan options. About 10% of parents of undergraduate students took out Parent PLUS loans in 2020, according to the most recent data available from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. A slightly smaller share, 7%, of dependent undergraduate students used private student loans in 2020. Both of these loan types are more prevalent among middle-earning families, as lower-income families typically qualify for grants and depend less on loans overall.

Student (and parent) tip: Prioritize federal student loans after you’ve exhausted aid that doesn’t have to be repaid, and think carefully before opting for other loan types. Private student loans typically require a credit check and do not offer all of the borrower-friendly repayment options of federal student loans. Parent PLUS loans are federal loans, but they don’t have the flexibility of other federal student loans. Parents are cautioned against borrowing unless they’re on track to reach their own financial goals. About 1 in 5 parent PLUS borrowers (21%) regret taking on that debt, according to a 2021 NerdWallet survey.

Despite FAFSA hiccups, it remains a top priority

This year’s high school graduates, facing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the first time, aren’t getting a fair introduction to the process. Financial aid award letters are going out far later than is typical because the Education Department’s FAFSA redesign and subsequent errors and fixes have stretched months longer than anyone could have expected. The annual FAFSA process is key to families’ college funding plans. Through the FAFSA, the government and colleges determine what types of financial aid a student is entitled to, including federal loans, grants and some scholarships. Ultimately, the hope is after this year’s rocky rollout, the new FAFSA will provide the streamlined experience students were promised, an improvement from the previously cumbersome and long application process.

Student (and parent) tip: Don’t let frustration over this year’s financial aid chaos discourage you from going through the motions next year and beyond. Your eligibility for grants and scholarships — money that doesn’t have to be repaid — is determined through the FAFSA’s questions about family finances. And the form must be completed every year. The application’s new format is said to be far more streamlined than in years past, so plan to carve out a little time to fill it out each fall. Your financial aid office should remind you each year when the application opens, typically Oct.1.

 

The article 2024 High School Grads Could Face Nearly $37K in College Debt originally appeared on NerdWallet.

By Nikki Ekstein, Bloomberg News

Last year, when World’s 50 Best issued its first global ranking of hotels, only two properties in the U.S. made the cut: the Equinox and Aman New York hotels, both in Manhattan.

Now Michelin has arrived stateside, in its second-ever presentation of “keys” — a new system from the eponymous tire maker that’s doling out one, two or three key emblems, like its restaurant stars but to the world’s worthiest hotels.

Out of more than 1,000 luxury hotels across the country, 11 were awarded three keys. The winners were all in California and New York, from Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur to Single Thread Inn in Healdsburg and the Whitby Hotel in Midtown. Aman New York, echoing its position on World’s 50 Best, was also included; Equinox, meanwhile, received no keys at all.

Importantly, keys were only distributed to hotels in seven primary markets across the U.S. where the Michelin Guide also reviews restaurants: New York City, California, Chicago, Florida, Colorado, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Michelin says next year’s ceremony will expand to include more of the U.S.

One key denotes a “special” stay, two make it “exceptional” and three reflect hotels that are “extraordinary.”

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Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guide, has described the criteria for these awards in highly subjective terms. Earlier this month he told Bloomberg that these most exceptional properties will be judged based off “the experience” alone. Rather than requiring them to adhere to certain definitions — like having a spa, pool or minimum staff-to-guest ratios — the hotel experience “has to be memorable and singular in a way that will give people a feel for local character,” he explained. At the awards ceremony, he built upon that sentiment. “We’re not a checklist of amenities,” he said.

This is still an improvement over other ranking systems, which rely on already-published articles by outside media or complimentary stays to produce their results; by contrast, Michelin has committed to independently paying for its hotel reviewers to stay at each property. In an interview after the ceremony, Poullennec went further, adding that multiple inspectors stay at each hotel, sometimes multiple times, before assigning keys.

“We have boots on the grounds, inspectors working the field in every country, leaving no stone unturned and also looking for discoveries, new openings, in order to be fully up to date in their recommendation,” Poullennec said in remarks during the key presentation.

The intimate U.S. ceremony, held at New York City’s Museum of Art and Design, is the second such presentation by Michelin this month, with the first-ever awards being handed out to French hotels on April 8, in Paris. At that event, 24 hotels were awarded three keys, including five of Paris’ 12 “palace” hotels. And more such ceremonies are coming: Awards will be announced in Spain next week and in Italy on May 7, before heading to Japan in July.

To some U.S. hoteliers, Michelin’s recognition holds outsize importance. In background conversations leading up to the event, owners of several new independent hotels in major cities held hope that earning multiple keys could help them compete with better-established luxury brands such as Aman, Rosewood or Ritz-Carlton. That may be the case for the boutique London-based Firmdale Hotels, whose two New York hotels, the Whitby and the Crosy Street Hotel, both earned three keys.

Others in more remote locations expected that any honor could help them lure talent—places like Twin Farms in Barnard, Vermont, or Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee, for example. Unfortunately the prospect will have to wait.

It’s not that Michelin is the only designation that consumers can use to parse quality hotels. Walk into many of the key-awarded hotels, and you might see a Forbes’ five-star plaque — that honor was given to some 80 luxury hotels in the U.S. in 2023, and American travel magazines dole out similar recognitions each year. But Michelin’s reputation spans much of the globe, in a way that the others do not.

“Our users say that when they are looking for places to stay, they will spend on average 10 hours on 10 different platforms to do so,” Poullennec said at the ceremony. “They’re at a loss. There is a demand for real recommendations and independent ones, that you can trust and go beyond brand labels, and that apply from one country to another—a global reference.”

Still, there are many skeptics. Michelin’s entry into the hotel market comes at a time when the company is looking for new revenue streams and attracting criticism for expanding its Michelin Dining Guides in a way that prioritizes destinations with big marketing budgets, even when they don’t have the restaurant quality to back it up.

The Atlanta Michelin Guide, for instance was sponsored by the local tourism board in a deal worth $1 million, but no restaurant in the city earned more than a single star. Its inclusion as one of the first destination in the hotel keys presentation will come as a surprise to luxury hotel afficcionados; the city is not widely known as a hub for luxury hotels, and only three hotels in the city were included, each with one key.

Pouillennec tells Bloomberg the overlap is because restaurant critics need places to sleep; that made it logistically feasible to prioritize these places. Although, as he told Bloomberg earlier in Paris, they’re not excluding the possibility of sponsored hotel guides in the future.

Also leading to skepticism about the awards is Michelin’s acquisition of Tablet Hotels, which took place in 2018 for an undisclosed sum; it’s a curated booking platform for luxury and boutique hotels that features some 6,000 hotels globally and around 950 properties in the US.

The technology gives Michelin a place where it can facilitate bookings for its recommended hotels, earn commissions from them, and also collect feedback from guests about their stays. As a result, some hoteliers have wondered whether Michelin has prioritized Tablet properties in its inspections; the company says reviews are completely independent and carried out by full-time employees, but adds that every hotel it recognizes is immediately bookable on its website.

“Nothing matters more than the independence of our recommendations,” Poullennec said.

In all, 124 hotels in the U.S. were recognized with keys. Here is the full list of winners divided by market:

Three Keys

California

The Beverly Hills Hotel, Dorchester Collection
Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur
SingleThread Inn, Healdsburg
Hotel Bel-Air, Dorchester Collection, Los Angeles
Auberge du Soleil, Auberge Resorts Collection, Rutherford
Meadowood Napa Valley, St. Helena
Canyon Ranch Woodside, Woodside

New York City

Crosby Street Hotel
The Whitby Hotel
Aman New York
Casa Cipriani New York

Two Keys

California

L’Ermitage Beverly Hills
The Maybourne Beverly Hills
The Peninsula Beverly Hills
Ventana Big Sur, an Alila Resort
Bernardus Lodge & Spa, Carmel Valley
The Stavrand, GuernevilleMontage Healdsburg
The Madrona, Healdsburg
Montage Laguna Beach
Rosewood Miramar Beach, Montecito
Milliken Creek Inn & Spa, Napa
Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero
The Battery, San Francisco
Cavallo Point Lodge, Sausalito
Pendry West Hollywood
Chateau Marmont, West Hollywood
North Block, Yountville
Bardessono, Yountville

Chicago

Pendry Chicago
The Langham
The Peninsula Chicago

Florida

Mayfair House Hotel & Garden, Miami
The Setai Miami Beach
Faena Hotel Miami Beach
Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club, Miami Beach

New York City

The Fifth Avenue Hotel
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel
The Mark Hotel
Hotel Barrière Fouquet’s New York
Nine Orchard
Pendry Manhattan West

Washington, D.C.

Rosewood Washington, D.C.
The Jefferson

One Key

Atlanta

Stonehurst Place Atlanta
The Candler Hotel Atlanta
Hotel Clermont

California

Four Seasons Resort Napa Valley, Calistoga
Harbor House Inn, Elk
Downtown LA Proper Hotel
Soho Warehouse DTLA, Los Angeles
The Aster, Los Angeles
The Paramour Estate, Los Angeles
The Prospect Hollywood, Los Angeles
Stanly Ranch, Auberge Resorts Collection, Napa
Pendry Newport Beach
Dive Palm Springs
Holiday House Palm Springs
La Serena Villas, Palm Springs
Sparrows Lodge, Palm Springs
Rancho Caymus Inn, Rutherford
1 Hotel San Francisco
Hotel Drisco, San Francisco
Hotel San Luis Obispo
San Luis Creek Lodge, San Luis Obispo
El Encanto, A Belmond Hotel, Santa Barbara
Casa Del Mar, Santa Monica
Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, Santa Monica
Santa Monica Proper Hotel
Shutters on the Beach, Santa Monica
The Georgian, Santa Monica
The Sea Ranch Lodge, Sea Ranch West
Chamberlain West Hollywood
Hotel 850 SVB, West Hollywood
Palihouse West Hollywood
Soho House Holloway, West Hollywood
Sunset Tower Hotel, West Hollywood
The Charlie, West Hollywood

Chicago

Chicago Athletic Association
Nobu Hotel Chicago
The Gwen, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Michigan Avenue Chicago
Viceroy Chicago
Waldorf Astoria Chicago

Colorado

Hotel Jerome, Auberge Resorts Collection, Aspen
The Little Nell, Aspen
Mollie Aspen
Clayton Hotel & Members Club, Denver
Four Seasons Denver
The Crawford Hotel, Denver
Sonnenalp Hotel, Vail
Four Seasons Vail

Florida

Mandarin Oriental Miami
Mr. C Miami – Coconut Grove
1 Hotel South Beach, Miami Beach
Esmé Miami Beach
Hotel Greystone – Adults Only, Miami Beach
The Betsy – South Beach, Miami Beach
Ette Hotel, Orlando
Lake Nona Wave Hotel, Orlando
The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes
Palihouse Hyde Park Village, Tampa
The Tampa Edition

New York City

1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn
Ace Hotel Brooklyn
Wythe Hotel, Brooklyn1 Hotel Central Park
Baccarat Hotel & Residences
Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park
Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad
The Beekman – A Thompson Hotel
The Bowery Hotel
The Greenwich Hotel
The Hotel Chelsea
The LowellThe Ludlow Hotel
The Mercer
The Peninsula New York
The Wall Street Hotel
Warren Street Hotel

Washington, D.C.

Eaton DC
Pendry Washington DC – The Wharf
Riggs Washington DC
The Dupont Circle Hotel
The Hay-Adams Hotel

©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By LEAH WILLINGHAM (Associated Press)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia and North Carolina’s refusal to cover certain health care for transgender people with government-sponsored insurance is discriminatory, a federal appeals court ruled Monday in a case likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-6 in the case involving coverage of gender-affirming care by North Carolina’s state employee health plan and the coverage of gender-affirming surgery by West Virginia Medicaid.

“The coverage exclusions facially discriminate on the basis of sex and gender identity, and are not substantially related to an important government interest,” Judge Roger Gregory, appointed by former U.S. President George W. Bush, wrote in the majority opinion.

The ruling follows a decision earlier this month by 4th Circuit judges that West Virginia’s transgender sports ban violates the rights of a teen athlete under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools.

Like with the transgender sports law ruling, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said his office planned to appeal Wednesday’s health care case decision.

“Decisions like this one, from a court dominated by Obama- and Biden-appointees, cannot stand: we’ll take this up to the Supreme Court and win,” Morrisey said in a statement.

After the ruling, West Virginia plaintiff Shauntae Anderson, a Black transgender woman and West Virginia Medicaid participant, called her state’s refusal to cover her care “deeply dehumanizing.”

“I am so relieved that this court ruling puts us one step closer to the day when Medicaid can no longer deny transgender West Virginians access to the essential healthcare that our doctors say is necessary for us,” Anderson said in a statement.

A spokesperson for North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell, whose department oversees the state’s health plan, said the agency was still reviewing the decision Monday but would have a response later. The plan covers than 750,000 teachers, state employees and teachers, retirees and dependents.

During oral arguments in September, at least two judges said it’s likely the case will eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court. Both states appealed separate lower court rulings that found the denial of gender-affirming care to be discriminatory and unconstitutional. Two panels of three Fourth Circuit judges heard arguments in both cases last year before deciding to intertwine the two cases and see them presented before the full court.

In June 2022, a North Carolina trial court demanded the state plan pay for “medically necessary services,” including hormone therapy and some surgeries, for transgender employees and their children. The judge had ruled in favor of the employees and their dependents, who said in a 2019 lawsuit that they were denied coverage for gender-affirming care under the plan.

The North Carolina state insurance plan provides medical coverage for more than 750,000 teachers, state employees, retirees, lawmakers and their dependents. While it provides counseling for gender dysphoria and other diagnosed mental health conditions, it does not cover treatment “in connection with sex changes or modifications and related care.”

In August 2022, a federal judge ruled West Virginia’s Medicaid program must provide coverage for gender-affirming care for transgender residents.

An original lawsuit filed in 2020 also named state employee health plans. A settlement with The Health Plan of West Virginia Inc. in 2022 led to the removal of the exclusion on gender-affirming care in that company’s Public Employees Insurance Agency plans.

Peter Brosius is not going quietly.

Peter Brosius (Courtesy of Dan Norman)

While some bosses spend their final months on a job easing into retirement and smoothing their successor’s path, Brosius is directing up a storm during the last of his 27 seasons as artistic director of Minneapolis’ Children’s Theatre Company.

He’s helmed all of the company’s large-scale, technically demanding mainstage productions this season, overseeing “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Alice in Wonderland” and, now – for his farewell staging – a revival of one of his company’s highest-visibility achievements, “A Year With Frog and Toad.”

A musical adaptation of stories gleaned from Arnold Lobel’s series of children’s books, it premiered at CTC in 2002 before heading off to Broadway and three Tony nominations. It didn’t win any of those, but drew enough overdue attention to the company that it received the special Tony awarded to an American regional theater each year.

And it says something about the impeccably professional, well-oiled machine that Brosius has helped create at CTC that – even when one of the lead actors quit the show two days before opening – its production of “A Year With Frog and Toad” is nevertheless a slickly produced and tremendously enjoyable piece of theater. Boasting a delightful design scheme and five richly human portrayals of multiple anthropomorphized animals, it’s a sweet celebration of friendship with lovely lessons for even the youngest of audience members.

Jay Goede, left, as Frog, and Reed Sigmund, as Toad, in the Children’s Theatre Company’s production of “A Year with Frog and Toad.” Goede ended up quitting two days before opening. (Glen Stubbe / Children’s Theatre Company)

Now, perhaps you’re saying: Back up. One of the leads quit two days before opening? Yes, Jay Goede was slated to revive the role of the wise and patient Frog that he created in the original 2002 production. But differences with director Brosius evidently inspired him to take the very unprofessional (and probably career-damaging) step of walking out on his collaborators after preview performances had begun.

But kudos to understudy John-Michael Zuerlein, whose Frog exudes a kindness and patience ideal for the part. Acting as something of a straight man for Reed Sigmund’s more irascible and impulsive Toad, Zuerlein bears a warm, comforting air reminiscent of two classic characters from PBS kids programming, Mr. Rogers and Bob McGrath’s amiable music teacher on vintage “Sesame Street.”

Zuerlein brings the ideal calming element to this collection of vignettes about a devoted friendship between a compulsive worrier and his more even-keeled companion. As the title suggests, we follow the pair through a year around the pond, starting as they awaken from hibernation and progressing through adventures involving flower planting, swimming, cookie baking, kite flying, leaf raking, sledding and celebrating Christmas.

Jay Goede, from left, as Frog, Becca Claire Hart, Reed Sigmund as Toad, Ryan London Levin and Janely Rodriguez in the Children’s Theatre Company’s production of “A Year with Frog and Toad.” Frog is now being played by John-Michael Zuerlein.  (Glen Stubbe / Children’s Theatre Company)

While there’s plenty of physical comedy to get the young ones laughing, their adults will likely enjoy the wit in Willie Reale’s script and lyrics. His brother, Robert Reale, is the composer, and his best work is found in such heartfelt ballads as “Seeds” – in which Sigmund serenades his flower bed – and Zuerlein’s lovely take on “Alone,” which advocates for the advantages of taking a periodic pause to cultivate your gratitude.

Becca Claire Hart, Ryan London Levin and Janely Rodriguez all deserve praise for bringing such individuality to their collection of birds, snails and squirrels. And the show boasts a host of imaginative design ideas in the sets of Adrianne Lobel (the original author’s daughter), Martin Pakledinaz’s costumes and Daniel Pelzig’s choreography. They help bring Brosius’ CTC tenure to a heartwarming conclusion.

‘A Year With Frog and Toad’

When: Through June 16
Where: Children’s Theatre Company, 2400 Third Ave. S., Mpls.
Tickets: $87-$15, available at 612-874-0400 or childrenstheatre.org
Capsule: A sweet send-off for longtime CTC artistic director Peter Brosius.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

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