The process of getting into college is changing. More schools are now offering admission to students who never applied.

"We're hearing students say like, 'Is this real?' You know, they get so much marketing and brochures from so many sources. And when I say, actually, 'No on the EAB match platform, the messages you get are real admission offers, they're bona fide admission offers.' And yeah, it's often disbelief followed by elation," said Joe Morrison, who serves as the managing director of Concourse at EAB.

The platform offers reverse admissions. Students get into the system through their school counselor.

The students stay anonymous to the university, which makes an offer based on criteria including grades and interests.

It's up to the students to accept the offer.

A growing number of other organizations are also doing what's known as direct admissions where students also get offers from schools. However, they have to go through an application process still.

The people behind these alternative admission models say it's about making the process more student-centric.

"For a lot of students, they get offers from colleges that they hadn't considered, or sometimes even heard of," Morrison said. "They realized, in many cases, that they're eligible for more in scholarships than they thought. So really, it's enabling a path to college that a lot of students didn't think they were able to access, and probably wouldn't have even applied for."

EAB's platform is free for counselors and students. Universities pay a fee when they get a match with a student.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A revised curriculum for a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies downplays some components that drew criticism from conservatives including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had threatened to ban the class in his state.

In the official framework made public on Wednesday, topics such as Black Lives Matter, slavery reparations and queer theory are no longer subjects to be taught. They are included only on a list of topics that states and school systems could suggest to students for end-of-the-year projects.

The rejection of the course by DeSantis, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2024, stirred new political debate over how schools teach about race. Florida officials last month issued a chart that said it promoted the idea that modern American society oppresses Black people, was inappropriate, and uses articles by critics of capitalism.

A spokesperson for DeSantis on Wednesday said the state education department is reviewing the revised curriculum for compliance with Florida law.

The course is currently being tested at 60 schools around the U.S., and the official framework is intended to guide the expansion of the course to hundreds of additional high schools in the next academic year. The College Board, which oversees AP courses, said developers consulted with professors from more than 200 colleges, including several historically Black institutions.

The College Board has been taking input also from teachers running the pilot classes as the draft curriculum has gone through several revisions over the last year.

Critics accused the organization of bending to political pressure.

“To wake up on the first day of Black History Month to news of white men in positions of privilege horse trading essential and inextricably linked parts of Black History, which is American history, is infuriating,” said David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. “The lives, contributions, and stories of Black trans, queer, and non-binary/non-conforming people matter and should not be diminished or erased.”

The course has been popular among students in schools where it has been introduced. At Baton Rouge Magnet High School in Louisiana, so many students were interested that Emmitt Glynn is teaching it to two classes, instead of just the one he was originally planning.

Earlier this week, his students read selections of “The Wretched of the Earth” by Frantz Fanon, which deals with the violence inherent in colonial societies. In a lively discussion, students connected the text to what they had learned about the conflict between colonizers and Native Americans, to the war in Ukraine and to police violence in Memphis, Tennessee.

“We’ve been covering the gamut from the shores of Africa to where we are now in the 1930s, and we will continue on through history,” Glynn said. He said he was proud to see the connections his students were making between the past and now.

For Malina Ouyang, 17, taking the class helped fill gaps in what she has been taught. “Taking this class," she said, "I realized how much is not said in other classes.”

Matthew Evans, 16, said the class has educated him on a multitude of perspectives on Black history. He said the political controversy is just “a distraction.”

“Any time you want to try to silence something, you will only make someone want to learn about it even more,” he said.

The College Board offers AP courses across the academic spectrum, including math, science, social studies, foreign languages and fine arts. The courses are optional. Taught at a college level, students who score high enough on the final exam usually earn course credit at their university.

In a written statement Wednesday, College Board CEO David Coleman said the course is “an unflinching encounter with the facts and evidence of African American history and culture.”

“No one is excluded from this course: the Black artists and inventors whose achievements have come to light; the Black women and men, including gay Americans, who played pivotal roles in the Civil Rights movements; and people of faith from all backgrounds who contributed to the antislavery and Civil Rights causes. Everyone is seen,” he said.

In Malcolm Reed's classroom at St. Amant High School in Louisiana, where he teaches the AP class, he tries to be mindful of how the material and discussions can affect students.

“I give them the information and I've seen light bulbs go off. I ask them, ‘How does it affect you? How do you feel about learning this?’ ” he said. “It's also new for me, and I'm just taking it in stride. We're not just learning history, but we're making history.”

RALEIGH, N.C. — Every Thursday afternoon, come rain or shine, college students start lining up. Homemade baked goods are set out on tables and hugs are ready.

Meet the group known as the Free Moms.

"Here you'll find free mamas, papas, grandmas, and dogs,” said Nancy Nelson, who founded the group several years ago at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. "I just say, ‘Welcome back home. Do you feel a little home?’ And every kid goes, 'Yeah,' and I say, 'Good. I hope it's more every week!'"

All of her kids are grown, but Nelson felt a need to help students here feel less alone.

"We do feel like their mamas," she said.

What started with one mom now numbers more than 80 moms and dads, including Kate Theriot and her husband, Tom.

"Nancy started sharing what she was doing over here and to be honest, I was like, 'Not my wheelhouse. Not that, no. That's not what I do,'” Kate Theriot recalled, “but Tom always says I make best friends in the grocery store in line."

With that, they both began volunteering.

"I went to school here. I graduated in 1982,” Tom Theriot said, “and I remember how stressful it was to be here and it seems like stress has been built up so much more. "

So, along with 80 other parents, they all lend an ear, share a kind word or offer a hug. It quickly gained a fan following among the students.

"I just felt like it was a really awesome opportunity to get a piece of home and connect with people," said student Alaina Kelly.

Anna Thomasson accompanied Kelly out to the “Free Moms” gathering.

"I thought, 'Hey, that's so cool,' and you get a great homemade snack,” Thomasson said. “So, I love it! I think it's really great."

Student Sydnie Parks makes sure she stops by each week to say hello to Kate Theriot.

"I'm always like, 'Let me get to the Free Moms because it's not really about the deserts. I will take free food. I am a college student. But what the moms do is just really nice and just gives extra support that the students really need," Parks said.

A 2021 Healthy Minds study collected data from more than 370 college campuses around the country and found that 60% of students met the criteria of facing at least one mental health issue.

In addition, 12% of college students across the country reported contemplating suicide. At NC State, four students died by suicide last semester, driving home the mission for these free moms and dads.

"There's been a lot of suicides on campus, and there's a real need for people to be brought out of the shells and just be in a positive place," said Tom Theriot.

Kate Theriot says she sees how the students react to their presence.

"They're so moved because they just don't expect anyone to be thinking about them and to not only think about them but to do something about it,” she said. “And that's what we want to do; we want to do something that lets the students know they're not alone."

It's an isolation some students say can be easy to feel when you're away from home.

"I'm actually a transfer student here. I transferred from App [Appalachian State University], which is about three hours away from here,” said student Aniston Boswell, “and this would have helped me a lot up there because I didn't have my parents up there and just knowing that this is here helps a lot of students here."

Nancy Nelson said she would like to see Free Moms start popping up on college campuses nationwide.

"When anyone gets out of their comfort zone and gives unconditional love, it changes them again,” she said. “It changes the person. It changes the atmosphere and that's what this world needs.'"

It’s also what these students are getting.

Black Americans have long articulated a clear vision for the kind of social change that would improve their lives.

The Pew Research Center recently explored Black Americans’ views about how to overcome racial inequality. The 2022 report found Black Americans “have a clear vision for reducing racism but little hope it will happen.”

“Most African Americans know their history,” said Spelman College professor Cynthia Neil Spence. “We know that from the stories that our grandparents have told us, our great-grandparents have told us. And those stories have always, in fact, been centered around the disenfranchisement of us based on who we are and based on how we were born.”

That same Pew report stated nearly 70% of Black adults see racial discrimination today as the primary obstacle to success.

“We still have the highest maternal mortality rates. We still have the highest rates of poverty,” Spence said.

“The systems that we currently have in place are not developed in a way that would meet the needs of most Black business owners and entrepreneurs in this country," said Alex Camardelle, vice president of policy and research at the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative.

The Pew report stated that after George Floyd’s death in 2020, more than half of Black adults said the increased attention on racial equality would lead to meaningful change. In a survey one year later, nearly two-thirds said it hadn’t led to change.

“America is having to really just take an inventory of itself and look in the mirror and decide how are we going to be equitable and equal moving forward," said
Kyle Walcott, president of the Emerging 100 of Atlanta.

“I’m really a bit tired of hearing what the problems are. We have a George Floyd bill that yet has not been approved. We have a John Lewis Voting Rights Act that has not been approved. We have individuals who are serving at the federal government and the state governmental level, who have demonstrated behaviors that suggest that they don’t really care," Spence adds.

According to the Pew report, just 13% of Black adults say equality for Black people in the U.S. is very likely.

“It’s difficult, you know, as a Black person to think about, ‘When is that change going to come?’” Walcott said. “Things don’t happen overnight, and so how long are we going to wait, you know, on the government, the structures, the leaders who are in charge? We need the people that are in charge of the changing, the regulatory frameworks and the policies to be on the front lines.”

“I’m born and raised in the South. So, I’m in a community that’s hard-wired to believe that things won’t change or that the pace is just going to outlive me," Camardelle said.

“It’s time now for us to sit around tables and to build out sustainable strategies for addressing inequalities in our society,” Spence added. “This is what works, and let’s do it. Let’s make a difference.”

A Drake University dining hall cashier is discovering just how much her student customers love her.

“Brian, how are you?” shouts Marietta Jackson to a student heading in for lunch.

When was the last time a lunch lady greeted you by name?

“Hi, Anthony. How are you?” as another favorite student enters the dining hall.

Jackson is no ordinary lunch lady. For 15 years, she's been a powerful light that brightens the Hubbell Dining Hall in Des Moines, Iowa, on the campus of Drake University. She makes everybody that passes her cashier station feel right at home.

“She is an amazing woman. She is always so kind. She takes care of us and always makes you feel special,” said Drake student Chris Davis.

Jackson says with a laugh, “They love me. I love them. I'm their mom away from home.”

“She knows everybody’s name. She lights up your day. Makes you feel welcome. You would never guess she is going through what she is going through,” said Okay Djamouz, a Drake basketball player.

What she is going through might wipe that smile away. But not Jackson.

“I have ovarian cancer, which has not been pleasant at all,” she said.

Jackson has been on and off the job and in the hospital, dealing with scary health issues. That's when Drake basketball player Maggie Bair opened a GoFundMe account for her. It's raised more than $18,000 for medical expenses.

“I feel surrounded with love,” said Jackson.

And that love is mutual.

“To have that level of warmth and comfort and joy come from this one little body is something that I feel everybody looks forward to. I know I look forward to it," said former Drake University staffer Keesha Ward.

Jackson says she is trying to work as much as she can through her diagnosis. She asked us to let her send a message.

“I feel their prayers, and I am truly blessed. Thank you so much. I don't even know how to say thank you. Thank you,” Jackson said with a giggle.

Jackson says the GoFundMe gift will help pay some medical expenses not covered by her insurance.

TOWSON, Md. — The fun and games set up on one college campus came with a twist: lessons on preventing gambling addiction.

“It's just a high-risk age group. It's a high-risk demographic,” said Emily Wiegand, assistant director of the Counseling Center at Towson University in Maryland. “We leaned on our addiction knowledge. We leaned on our prevention knowledge.”

March Madness brings a lot of attention to college basketball and betting on which teams will win. That’s become easier in many places, with more than 30 states now allowing sports betting, thanks in part to a 2018 Supreme Court ruling which overturned federal prohibitions on it.

This past fall, Maryland joined those states in making online sports gambling legal.

“We were anticipating that happening, and we were curious, ‘What impact will this have on our student population? Will this increase students’ interest in gambling? Will it increase dialog on campus about gambling?’” Wiegand said. “We wanted to get ahead of that.”

That’s where a new program called, “Tigers Play Responsibly” comes in. It was made possible by a $40,000 dollar grant from the National Council on Problem Gambling, which believes this program could become a model for other schools in how to prevent gambling addiction on campus.

“It kind of feels like, [for] a lot of people, it's become like an obsession, in a way,” said Towson University student Manelle Quao.

Quao, along with fellow student Nina Gault, are both helping provide outreach through the “Tigers Play Responsibly” program.

They say the legalization of online sports gambling makes it easier for college students to access it.

“There has definitely been an increase that I've seen in my friends and peers that have online gambling, specifically,” Gault said.

To try and prevent gambling addiction, the Towson University program recently held an event on campus, called “Get Set, Before You Bet.” Through fun and games, it offered tips on how to avoid too much online gambling, which can be easily done from a smartphone.

“Maybe set a timer on your phone if you're gambling and give yourself a time limit and also a money limit,” Gault advised. “I think the accessibility of that brings a different challenge, but also like an opportunity to educate students in a different way.”

That includes making social media videos about gambling prevention, which are geared toward college students.

“We say, ‘When it's not fun anymore that you should stop,’” Quao said. “Also, have a friend there with you who can also help you stay at your limit."

The program also partnered with a company to create pop-up ads, which show up on gambling websites, whenever those are accessed within a certain radius of campus.

“An ad will pop up that we've created, that will provide information about problem gambling and access to resources,” Wiegand said, “and so hopefully our education gets that message out to them.”

It is all part of taking a chance to stop a problem, before it starts.

Darius Garland had 24 points and nine assists, Donovan Mitchell scored 20 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers never trailed in a 117-94 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.

Evan Mobley had 20 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots for the Cavaliers. They built a 21-point lead in the second quarter and didn't allow Washington to get closer than seven.

Cleveland (45-28) moved three games ahead of New York and 4 1/2 in front of Brooklyn in the battle for fourth place in the East and home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. The Cavaliers’ next two games are in Brooklyn.

The victory assured Cleveland of its winningest season since 2018, when it last made the playoffs and was swept in the NBA Finals by Golden State. Starting center Jarrett Allen missed his fourth straight game with a right eye contusion.

Bradley Beal scored 22 points and Kristaps Porzingis had 20 points and nine rebounds for the Wizards. Washington (32-38) lost for the sixth time in eight games and fell into a tie with Indiana and Chicago for the final East play-in tournament spot.

The Cavaliers only made 4 of 19 3-pointers with Mitchell and Garland combining to miss their first 10 attempts. Caris LeVert had 15 points off the bench and Ricky Rubio added eight points and five assists.

Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma had seven points after missing a game with a sore right knee. Corey Kispert scored 12 points and Monte Morris had 10 points, but Washington committed 17 turnovers that cost it 21 points.

Cleveland swept the three-game season series.

CAUTIOUS COACH

The Cavaliers are closing in on their first playoff berth without LeBron James on the roster since 1998, but coach J.B. Bickerstaff refuses to look too far ahead.

“We’ve got to go out and finish what we’ve started,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s our focus.”

Cleveland lost 10 of its final 13 games last season, including two in the play-in tournament, to finish 44-38 and extend its playoff drought to four years since James’ joined the Lakers.

TIP-INS

Wizards: F Xavier Cooks -- named MVP of Australia’s National Basketball League last month -- signed a multi-year contract before the game. The 6-foot-8, 183-pound Australian went undrafted in 2018 after graduating from Winthrop. “Xavier is coming off a championship run (with the Sydney Kings) and had another excellent season,” coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “He did enough to get noticed.” Cooks is making his NBA debut.

Cavaliers: F Danny Green has only logged 41 minutes over five games since being signed Feb. 15 after his release by Houston. The three-time NBA champion has made 5 of 9 3-pointers with Cleveland. “There are guys who need reps and I’ve been talking to Danny about that,” Bickerstaff said. “I need to get him more five-on-five time.” … F Dean Wade, who made nine starts, has not appeared in five of the last six games.

Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com

CINCINNATI — Some Ohio college students are getting together to help end the global water crisis by building water wells in Africa.

The idea came from Walsh University business student Joe Knopp. He spent a lot of time coming up with business plans but ultimately decided his business needed to center on making a difference in the world.

“My mom always told me eat to your green beans and drink your water before getting up from the dinner table because there are kids in Africa that don’t have that luxury,” Knopp said.

His mother was right. Knopp learned many children in Uganda had to walk miles just to find water that was not even sanitary. Knopp knew it was time to act, so he teamed up with his roommate Chip and Xavier University student Zachary Kane to find a solution.

“I ended up messaging him on LinkedIn,” Kane said. “Six months later, we’ve dug six wells, supported building a school and three other schools, an orphanage and a hospital.”

The guys created a company and a nonprofit called Ripple, where they sell metal water bottles and split the proceeds to build modern wells in Africa.

“From March until October, we sold bottles,” said Knopp. “Every thousand bottles builds a well and we built the first-ever modern solar-powered well for a remote village in Uganda.”

Since Knopp returned from Africa, he said support for the bottles and the mission have skyrocketed. Right now, five more wells are in the construction process. The team is heading back to build four more in April.

“Just to live where we do, to have the access to water and education that we do, the safety and security of living here. We are very blessed,” Kane said.

Despite the progress, the road hasn’t been easy. The COVID-19 pandemic has produced its share of setbacks, like shipping delays. Regardless, Knopp said, he believes his team — with the help of the public — can make a big difference.

“We’re all a bunch of 20-somethings,” Knopp said. “So if we live to 80, we’ve got another 60 years of giving people clean water. In just nine months, we’ve already given over 20,000 people clean water."

You can make a contribution to Ripple by purchasing a water bottle online.

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With every new college semester, students are faced with multiple syllabuses outlining the subjects in their classes.

But do students read them thoroughly? One Tennessee professor put it to the test.

Related video above: Freshman year tips to set you up for college success

Kenyon Wilson is the associate head of performing arts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and decided to put an Easter egg in the syllabus for his music seminar class this past semester.

The hint read: "Thus (free to the first who claims; locker one hundred forty-seven; combination fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five), students may be ineligible to make up classes and ..."

This would have led students to a locker that contained a $50 bill, free to the first student to claim it.

But at the end of the semester, when he went to check the locker, the bill was still there.

"It an academic trope that no one reads the syllabus," Wilson told CNN. "It's analogous to the terms and conditions when you're installing software, everyone clicks that they've read it when no one ever does."

The class was made up of 71 students. Wilson told CNN that his syllabus typically doesn't change much, but with COVID protocols there was some new information this time around.

"There's a standard boilerplate that doesn't change. The university has us put a lot of legal stuff towards the end," Wilson added. "But on the first day of class I told them there was stuff that had changed, and for them to make sure they read it."

When Wilson put the reward in the locker, he left a note inside that read "Congrats! Please leave your name and date so I know who found it." He was also sure to set the combination lock with a certain number in the noon position, to determine whether any students had tampered with the lock, but the combination was never even turned.

"I had great hopes, and I'd be just as happy having this conversation if one of my students found it on the first week," Wilson told CNN.

Wilson waited until final exams were done and the semester was over before checking the locker.

He revealed the unclaimed cash in a post on Facebook. He tells CNN that students have been "good sports" about it.

Haley Decker, a recent graduate from the university, took Wilson's seminar-style class for the past 3 and a half years and was one of the students who failed to find the hidden cash this past semester.

"I honestly thought it was hilarious," Decker told CNN. "This class typically is the same format every semester, so students know what to expect and don't take the time to read the syllabus like we should."

Decker said she texted a group of friends that were in the class with her and everyone thought it was a clever move by Wilson. "I think this was a really smart experiment for Dr. Wilson to test out," Decker said. "It definitely made the music students realize that despite repetitive information you should still read through your syllabus carefully."

The professor notes that it was all in good fun.

"I know my students read, and I don't expect them to religiously go through word-by-word but if they did, I wanted to reward them," Wilson told CNN.

"Everyone was guilty of having absolutely no idea it was in there," Decker said. "We all admitted we briefly skimmed that part of the syllabus because that policy is in every syllabus for every class you take."

Wilson's Facebook post not only sparked a reaction from students but gave other professors and teachers around the nation an idea. "Perhaps spring 2022 will be the most well-read syllabi ever," Wilson noted.

Now that Sunday's announcement of the UC Bearcats making the College Football Playoffs, the NCAA also announced matchups for this year's college football bowl season.

The Tri-States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana have plenty of action throughout the coming weeks, so here are the notable games:

Friday, Dec. 17:

The University of Toledo Rockets will battle Middle Tennessee at noon on ESPN.

Saturday, Dec. 18:

Western Kentucky will battle Appalachian State in the Boca Raton Bowl at 11 a.m. on ESPN.

Thursday, Dec. 23:

The Miami RedHawks will battle North Texas in the Frisco Football Classic at Toyota Stadium in Frisco. The time and stream is TBD.

Saturday, Dec. 25:

Ball State University will battle Georgia State in the Camellia Bowl at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Thursday, Dec. 28:

The University of Louisville will battle the United States Air Force Academy in the First Responder Bowl at 3:15 p.m. on ESPN.