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    Rebecca Harrington

    Rebecca Harrington

    Author

  • The Most Connected Colleges

    Technology has exploded in higher education, as new computers, smartphones, and tablets are released that can provide faculty and students better opportunities to teach content and learn new material. While technology can potentially improve connections between students and educators, there may still be challenges on the school's end with providing Internet access and support for all.

  • The World's Best Universities

    U.S. schools continued to fare well in the World's Best Universities rankings. In what may be a sign of the growth of science and technology in international education, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrestled the top spot in the new U.S. News World's Best Universities rankings away from University of Cambridge, which was No. 1 for the past two years. MIT, which tied for sixth place among National Universities in the recent U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, had ranked No. 3 in the previous World's Best rankings.

  • How to Apply to College For Free

    After submitting several college applications that cost between $35 and $50 each, prospective student Alexandra Sossi was pleasantly surprised to learn that at Washington and Jefferson College, a small school in Pennsylvania, she could apply for free. "It kind of takes a load off, since you have all the other costs coming up--the AP and SAT tests, and then looming college loans," says Sossi, who's now a senior at Washington and Jefferson. College applications can get pricey, but many universities offer a free way to apply.

  • The 9 Hottest Majors

    Full-time workers with a bachelor's degree earn, on average, 84 percent more over their lifetime than those with only a high school diploma, according to a May 2011 report by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University. What you study impacts the economic value your degree will hold after graduation, which is why some parents urge their students to study business instead of poetry. In fact, 42 percent of parents say they prodded their student to pick a collegiate path based on earning potential, and 16 percent of parents say they will have their child change majors to earn more money, according to Fidelity Investments, which surveyed nearly 2,400 families for its August 2012 report.

  • US News And World Report's Newest Best Colleges List

    The 2013 edition of the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings is out, with stability at the very top of both the National Universities and National Liberal Arts Colleges lists. Harvard University and Princeton University remained tied for the top spot in this year's list of Best National Universities, which are typically large institutions that focus on research and grant bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. Williams College still reigns as the lone No. 1 among National Liberal Arts Colleges, schools that emphasize undergraduate education and grant at least half their degrees in liberal arts majors such as philosophy, English, and history.

  • Ex-College Coach Indicted On Child Sex Charges

    A former college soccer coach was indicted after allegations surfaced that he sexually assaulted a minor during his time working at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina. Wager was indicted by the Rowan County grand jury Monday on nine charges relating to sexual abuse, the AP reports. The paper's report continues to add that while officials at the school say they cannot recall any allegations of Wager committing sexual crimes, one official, Robert Knott, Catawba's former provost, recalls the swim club asking to keep Wager away from their swim practices.

  • Student Cheats Entrance Exam With 35-Foot Cheat Sheet

    The printed crib sheet included 25,000 possible answers to questions on the exam's topics, which included history, Russian and Kazakh. Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. "I also want to know why the heck didn't he just study instead of making the most amazing cheat sheet ever," wrote a Gizmodo blogger.

  • ASU Student Missing In Thailand, Assumed Dead

    Search teams in Patong, Thailand are looking for the body of an Arizona State University student presumed to be dead after going missing during a late-night swim yesterday, azcentral.com reports. With plans to work in Phuket for this week, Shane and his fellow students were staying at a three-star hotel near Patong Beach. "The U.S. Embassy notified Joshua Shane's parents Tuesday that their son is presumed drowned," said Julie Newberg, an ASU spokesman told azcentral.com.

  • University of Virginia President To Step Down After Two Years

    Dr. Teresa Sullivan, 60, will step down as the president of The University of Virginia on August 15, the university announced this past Sunday. Sullivan will have served at the institution for two years--the shortest presidential career in U-Va's history. In a statement prepared for release at a news conference on campus, University Rector Helen Dragas explained that the board and Sullivan "mutually agreed" the president would leave her position at U-Va.

  • Students Might Be Forced To Repay Pell Grants

    Students at Florida State College in Jacksonville, Fla. may be forced to repay Pell Grants after the institution erroneously doled out at $2.8 million in financial aid, college administrators announced Tuesday during a news conference. The reports came after a federal review last week that found the school gave at least 700 Pell Grants they shouldn’t have in 2010-11. The U.S. Department of Education has called upon the college to identify even more students who were ineligible for Pell Grants in 2011-12.

  • Research Finds Alcohol Misuse Related To Sexuality Fluidity

    A recent study conducted by the University of Missouri found that college students who struggled to define their sexuality tended to abuse alcohol more heavily and experience more negative consequences than those students who could strictly define their sexual orientation. The study was conducted over four years and followed 2,000 students of various sexual groups, such as exclusively heterosexual, exclusively homosexual, mostly homosexual, bisexual and mostly heterosexual. The students reported on the frequency of their alcohol consumption, it's consequences and their motives to drink.

  • Should College Athletes Be Paid?

    Well, according to Steve Spurrier, head coach of University of South Carolina's football team, they should get a pretty nice piece of pocket change. Spurrier not only supports a $2000 yearly stipend the NCAA proposed providing for college athletes but also advocates for at least another $1500, ESPN reports. "We as coaches believe they're entitled to a little more than room, books, board and tuition," Spurrier said.

  • How Long Can This Car Go Without Gas?

    A group of engineering students at the University of Michigan are trying to prove that a car can get about 3,300 miles per gallon using a modified lawnmower engine. The group will enter a single-person fuel efficient vehicle in the 2012 SAE International Supermileage Challenge, which will take place in Marshall, Michigan on June 7 and 8. The team hopes to beat the current record of 3,169 miles per gallon at the competition.

  • Ex-Ambassador Weighs In On Obama's Poland Gaffe

    This week, President Barack Obama put himself in an awkward position with America's ally, Poland, when he erroneously referred to World War II-era Nazi concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Poland as "Polish." How should a world leader move ahead after he makes a blunder? "The reference to a 'death camp in Poland' as 'Polish death camp' is really nothing more than sloppy grammar, a misplaced effort to economize by saying in three words that which should take four," observes the University of Denver's Christopher Hill, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland.

  • 7 Post-Grad Movies For Your New Post-Grad Life

    The next obvious step is to get into the "real world" and start looking for a job and starting your first career. All of these are wonderful options and as long as your post-grad self is happy, that's all that matters! If you're hyperventilating while reading this because you're a post-grad who feels overwhelmed by possibility or the pressures to get to a "real job", never fear! I'm here to help take your mind off of things for a while and let you in on the lives of some fictional characters in the same place you are (but more miserable and dramatic).

  • How to Start Paying Off Your Student Loans

    Life was good in 1975 — tuition at Duke University, for instance, was $2,780 per year— but times have changed: the Soviet Union collapsed, Snooki’s pregnant, and college tuition is ridiculously expensive. You’re not expected to have your financial aid plan memorized, but even if you have the world’s most photographic memory, you should double check it before developing a payment plan. “The biggest mistake [students make] is not being aware of how much they have borrowed and not being prepared when the loans go into repayment,” says Kevin Paskvan, senior associate director of financial aid at Kenyon College.

  • Memories Of An Alumnus Burn On

    As the nation moved on, the 9/11 attacks may have faded from the foreground, but for Esteban Silva, fiery images are still burning in his mind. The towers were airtight, and Silva couldn't see nor smell the dust and smoke already clouding the unbelievably clear sky.

  • Will OSU Students Get Psyched To Vote?

    Super Tuesday
 I am in Ohio for a primary that the young people I've run into so far apparently don't care that much about. In the recent Arizona Primary, six percent of eligible voters under 30 turned out to vote and in Michigan it was hardly better at seven percent. On the plane ride here Monday night I met soon-to-be-dentist David Neumann, 23.

  • Super Tuesday: Early On, It's Slow Going At The Polls

    Polls opened here at 7 a.m. for Super Tuesday
 voting and if the initial trickle at the Harbor Point Technology Center -- the closest polling place to UMass Boston -- is any indication, turnout ain't looking good in the home state of GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney. Boston's NPR station, WBUR, reported this morning that only 300,000 voters are expected to show up today, 200,000 fewer than in the 2008 presidential primary, when both parties were engaged in vigorous races. In the spacious first floor student lounge here, flags of the world's countries hung over the room as 18-year-old Amanda Carey admitted she hadn't voted yet but she would do so for the first time ever after school in a bid to support fiery Congressman Ron Paul.

  • CSULB International Students Search For The American Dream

    Allen is a true American. Allen's real name is Ali Sener, an international student who, until recently, changed his name on his LinkedIn account in hopes of raising his chances of finding a job. Sener told the story of his friend Ahmad, who looked for a job for nine months.