Student Debt Grows Dramatically http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574388682129316614.html?mod=rss_com_mostcommentart Myth-Busting: The Value of College http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/myth-busting-the-value-of-college/?hp LI Colleges gearing up for swine flu http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/li-colleges-gearing-up-for-swine-flu-1.1428581 Stover at Yale http://www.ctrl.org/stover/ College http://www.archive.org/details/college New Virtual-U http://www.virtual-u.org/ With swine flu lurking around in some scholastic precincts, the rising cost of a college education, and the usual pressures of life on the quads, what's a student to do? It is the start of a new academic year for students at the University of Maine at Presque Isle in the far northeastern corner of the United States all the way west to students at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. This time of year is always rather exciting, as students return to the many college towns around the country and their presence definitely enlivens the surroundings. Some colleges have been concerned about potential swine flue outbreaks, and the concerns run particularly strong within the athletic community on campuses. A number of professors (including Martha Nussbaum and Stanley Fish) have been offering words of wisdom in the pages of the New York Times to entering students, while other faculty members remain more sanguine about the state of affairs throughout the higher education system. In addition, as the new school year begins, there have been several prominent editorials discussing the pros and cons of having more and more people attend four-year institutions. The first link leads to a recent New York Times piece that features various scholarly types offering thoughtful advice to college students. The second link will take interested parties to a news article from last Friday's Wall Street Journal about the increasing debt load of American college students. The third link whisks users away to an excellent post from the "Economix" weblog over at the New York Times. The post by David Leonhardt offers timely commentary on the proposition "Is a college education worth the debt?" and other related matters. Moving along, the fourth link leads to a piece from Newsday that talks about how various college athletic programs on Long Island are addressing any potential swine flu outbreaks. The fifth link leads to an online version of the classic college "All-American" tome, "Stover at Yale". Originally published serially in 1911, F. Scott Fitzgerald once called the work "the textbook of his generation". The sixth link leads to the beloved film "College", starring the great silent-film star Buster Keaton. If you ever wanted to run your own college or university, the last link will be a true delight. The simulation game is called "Virtual-U" and it allows the curious to experience the highs and lows of creating and maintaining their own higher education institution, complete with athletic teams and the thrills of facilities management.