Jodi Kantor’s Post

Did you know that discounts are available at most colleges, even very selective ones, even for kids who don't qualify for financial aid? Because there are basically secret, my husband created a guide to the whole system, a course you can watch in 13 quick online lessons. He's been reporting on this for years and regularly gets thank you notes from people who say they've saved 10 or 15k a year by following his advice. Now we're hoping this course will make his guidance more widely accessible. Personally, I was also shocked to learn that only part of financial aid is "need based" aid and the rest consists of discounts that often go to affluent kids. Please share with other parents of teens— and thank you!

Worker productivity ratings are so fascinating, because can productivity even be accurately measured? If you have any experience with these metrics-- from hourly jobs to white collar ones-- the paper would love to hear from you.

Our story, nearly a year in the making, reveals how the only Amazon fulfillment center in New York City accomplished the impossible during the pandemic. But it also reveals serious problems that are troubling top company veterans and standing in the way of Jeff Bezos' promise to do better by employees.

For parents of teens: After many years of reporting, Ron Lieber's new book "The Price You Pay for College" came out this week. It's all about who pays what and why, how the system of discounting has evolved (or devolved) and what any of us ought to pay to send our own kids to college. The Times Book Review called it "masterly" and "humane." Please share this with anyone who may need this book-- we hope it helps as many people as possible. https://https://lnkd.in/gwwGg-A

I've spent the past month investigating how things are really being cleaned as Coronavirus rages. My main sources were the custodians themselves, who bravely spoke out about what they were seeing. The bad news is really bad. Dirty rags, rushed shifts, airplane bathrooms that aren't disinfected between flights, a cleaner at a fancy Miami office tower who resorted to bringing in her own bleach. Think about how many custodians work: Unseen. At night. Jobs go to the lowest bidder. Median wage is $13 an hour. In recent years, many workplaces have cut back on cleaning. (I hadn’t known this.) Now: Enter coronavirus. Airplane cleaners say many between-flight cleanings are still under 10 minutes. “Just pick up trash, check the seatbelts, cross them, make it look good, and if a tray table looks dirty, you wipe it,” said Barbara Gomez, who cleans American Airlines planes at LAX. Better news: some businesses are doing much more. Sanitizing like crazy. Raising custodian wages. (Noticed how cleaning has become a marketing tool?) But because there are few standards and regulations, it’s tough to know what’s really being cleaned or how frequently. Please do read what these janitors have to say, in the article below-- and if you have a story about cleaning, tell us in the comments.