STEM -- the acronym for science, technology, engineering and math -- has sparked a nationwide debate about education, gender, immigration and the future of the U.S. economy. Here is what you need to know for your kids: STEM jobs are growing at 1.7 times the rate of non-STEM jobs, and the U.S. is simply not producing enough candidates to fill them. Only 16% of high school seniors are interested in pursuing STEM careers, according to the Department of Education.  More...

Are the top colleges turning our kids to zombies? You may not agree but do check this interesting article on our nation's top colleges: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118747/ivy-league-schools-are-overrated-send-your-kids-elsewhere. 

Many universities will collapse as students choose to go online for their education. This is the story reported by CNBC.

US News has published the following 10 hot college majors:

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/slideshows/10-hot-college-majors-then-and-now 

A team of researchers led by Michael T. French, professor of health economics at the University of Miami (UM), finds that high school grade point average (GPA) is a strong predictor of future earnings. For more details, read http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140519092835.htm 

Here is a list of the 2015 top 20 US national universities, just released today by US News:  More...

Homesweet Learning announces the opening of a new online class for school age kids, the Mobile Game Programming. This class introduces Students to the amazing world of computer programming using fun and easy-to-use multimedia mobile (iPhone and iPad) software. Students will not only create mobile games and animations, they’ll work on their problem-solving skills, designing projects and communicating ideas using stackable blocks of code. Previous programming experience is not required. If campers would like us to download their games to an iOS device, it must be officially supported and updated with the latest software version. For more details, visit this link: https://www.homesweetlearning.com/programs/mobile_game_programming.html.

The goal of the Exploration Design Challenge is for students to research and design ways to protect astronauts from space radiation. NASA and Lockheed Martin are developing the Orion spacecraft that will carry astronauts beyond low Earth orbit and on to an asteroid or Mars. Protecting astronauts from radiation on these distant travels is an important -- and very real -- problem that needs solving. NASA would like your help!

Theare different challegnges for different age groups.

The NASA Exploration Design Challenge for Grades 5-8 is as follows:  More...

Is going to college still a good investment? For most students, the answer is still yes.

According to a new paper by Federal Reserve Bank of New York economists Jaison Abel and Richard Deitz, the rate of return for a bachelor's degree has been hovering around 14% to 15% since 2000, "easily surpassing the threshold for a sound investment." 

Millions of borrowers will be eligible to lower their payments under president's plan.

Obama's plan will accelerate a measure passed by Congress that reduces the maximum required payment on student loans from 15 percent of discretionary income annually to 10 percent. He will put it into effect in 2012, instead of 2014. In addition, the White House also says the remaining debt would be forgiven after 20 years, instead of 25. It is estimated that about 1.6 million borrowers could be affected.

He will also allow borrowers who have a loan from the Federal Family Education Loan Program and a direct loan from the government to consolidate them into one. The consolidated loan would carry an interest rate of up to a half percentage point less than before. This could affect 5.8 million borrowers.