Pri­vate Col­leges Worry About A Dip in Enroll­ment
Admis­sions offi­cers nation­wide point to sev­eral pos­si­ble rea­sons for the drop in appli­ca­tions. Some stu­dents have pared their col­lege lists this year. Many more are look­ing at less-expensive state uni­ver­si­ties. Many insti­tu­tions accepted more stu­dents under bind­ing early-decision pro­grams, and each such accep­tance drains off an aver­age of 8 to 10 regular-decision appli­ca­tions. And some experts sus­pect that stu­dents are delay­ing their col­lege plans.

The Best Col­leges for Mak­ing Money
In a new twist on tra­di­tional col­lege rank­ings, Smart­Money took a crack at quan­ti­fy­ing the long-term value of a col­lege edu­ca­tion. Our goal was to spot­light the rela­tion­ship between tuition costs and grad­u­ates’ earn­ing power. Work­ing with con­sul­tant PayScale.com, which recently pub­lished a ground­break­ing sur­vey on alumni salaries, we first looked at what grad­u­ates from 50 of the most expen­sive four-year col­leges earn in their early and mid­ca­reers. Then we fac­tored in their up-front tuition and fees. The result? A unique “pay­back” ratio for each school.

Canada: Pass­port to Higher Edu­ca­tion, Lower Cost
Col­leges in east­ern Canada report mount­ing inter­est this fall among high school seniors from the North­east, with a recently stronger US dol­lar mak­ing already low tuition costs even more of a bar­gain for Americans.

On A Tight Bud­get? Try Apply­ing to Har­vard
Those fancy-pants Ivy League col­leges have got­ten to be so expen­sive that only the wealth­i­est fam­i­lies can pos­si­bly afford them, espe­cially dur­ing bleak eco­nomic times like these. Right? Not necessarily.