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Is Your College Worth the Price?

Is your college worth what you're paying to go there? Parents and students are increasingly unhappy with the lack of detailed information that would allow them to accurately assess the value of a degree from any given college or univesity. But there's a move afoot to change that.

When you're in the market for a new car, you read reviews of various makes, visit dealers and go for a few test-drives. You want to know about things like gas mileage, repair costs and resale value. That kind of careful consumerism is exactly what Education Secretary Margaret Spellings would like to bring to the process of picking a college. "We need to make higher education more accountable," says Spellings, "by opening up the ivory towers and putting information at the fingertips of students and families."

Making data more accessible is a major recommendation of a new report from a commission Spellings created to study the future of higher education. With the annual bill at $40,000 for elite private universities, college is a huge investment and a source of enormous future debt. But it's almost impossible for students to compare schools in different states to see which ones are really worth those big bucks. Families generally rely on what they hear from relatives, friends and guidance counselors. Rankings, like U.S. News & World Report's influential survey, say something about how hard it is to get into a school, but little about what happens to students afterward. And the news is often not good: Although nearly two thirds of high-school graduates enroll in college, more than 40 percent drop out. Even those who graduate frequently lack the skills necessary to succeed at work.

Spellings and others would like a national database that discloses things like graduation rates, how well students are educated and how much they earn afterward.

The project is in the works, but the article concludes that it will be years before colleges cough up the real data that people need to make an informed decision.

Posted on October 4, 2006
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Bat Cave Students Face Possible Criminal Charges

Officials are mulling mulling over whether or not to file charges against students at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville who tried to create a real, live Bat Cave in their dorm room.

A joker who made a bat cave out of a dorm room, and three other students believed to have stolen the dozen or so nocturnal critters used in the caper, could be in for criminal charges, officials said Thursday. At least five University of Arkansas at Fayetteville students had been in close contact with the bats, but state epidemiologist Dr. Frank Wilson said the exposure wasn't significant enough to require rabies shots. Health officials urged anyone else who was near the bats to be evaluated.

Three students gathered the brown bats during a caving expedition at Devil's Den State Park in northwest Arkansas, said university police Lt. Gary Crain. "The bats were pretty docile; they were sleeping. It was pretty easy to pick them like apples," Crain said. After they brought the bats to campus, a fourth student "thought it would be funny to release them in someone's room," he said. After the flying mammals were set loose in the dorm room April 5, animal control officers captured them and released them back into the wild.

Crain said that far from seeking to cover their tracks, the students posted pictures of the bats on the Internet site facebook.com. "That made it a little easier for us," he said. Prosecutors are considering charges, which could include theft for taking the bats and harassment _ "at the very minimum" _ for releasing the creatures, Crain said. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission also could pursue wildlife-related charges, he said. Three of the students are 19 and one is 20, Crain said. With no charges filed Thursday, he declined to identify them. Fayetteville animal control officials said the bats appeared to be healthy, and rangers at Devil's Den State Park said they have seen no instances of sick bats.

We're guessing that the student who "thought it would be funny to release them in someone's room" will get 20 years with possibility of parole after 12 years. Too lenient? Ok, life without possibility of parole. That sounds fair.

Posted on April 28, 2006
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Mary-Kate Takes a Break From College

Mary-Kate Olsen is taking a break from college.

Mary-Kate Olsen, who shared the role of Michelle Tanner with her twin sister, Ashley, on the '80s comedy Full House, has left college - at least for now - early in her sophomore year. "Mary-Kate Olsen has not dropped out, she has simply taken an approved leave of absence to devote more of her time and energy to her business," Olsen's publicist, Michael Pagnotta, told The Associated Press. The 19-year-old's decision was reported Friday by People magazine on its Web site.

Olsen wants "to focus on her increasing responsibilities as co-president of Dualstar Entertainment Group and to pursue personal interests," the magazine quoted Pagnotta as saying. Ashley, also co-president of Dualstar, remains at NYU. Mary-Kate Olsen spent six weeks at a treatment centre for an eating disorder in summer 2004.

Mary-Kate's rep denies that the star is dropping out of school because of her eating disorder. Mary-Kate is worth approximately $150 million. But she is the saddest-looking multi-millioniaire we've ever seen. Can't someone cheer this girl up?

Posted on October 14, 2005
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