Schools Ease Tuition Costs; Satirical Video Likens Student Loan Anxieties to STD Symptoms

Answering the President’s Call. Six schools heeded President Obama’s State of the Union call to make tuition more affordable for all families regardless of income by cutting tuition costs for students. According to Yahoo! Finance, Cabrini College, Lincoln College, Duquesne University, Peace College, Seton Hall, and University of Charleston have lowered costs for the 2012-2013 academic year to encourage applications from students who may not qualify for financial aid but are still struggling to afford college expenses. [The Huffington Post]

Protect Yourself. A new video from College Humor makes light of the student debt crisis by comparing the drawbacks of borrowing to contracting a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD). The compilation of students’ borrowing horror stories and how their lives have been negatively affected by loans compares their frustrations to the “student loan STD.”  The symptoms of the fabricated disease include a lessened chance of “regular dating and having a bed frame.” Watch the full video here. [The Huffington Post]

Community College Fund. President Obama proposed an $8 billion Community College to Career Fund, aimed to train two million students for jobs in high-demand industries such as health care, transportation, and advanced manufacturing. The new fund would help finance paid internship for college-credit programs, providing access to valuable skill-building work opportunities for lower-income community college students. The fund, if approved by Congress, would allow community colleges to revamp their programs to fit industry standards. To ensure job-training programs are useful to students, and are in tune to a sensitive job market, the fund will also help employers in regional and national industry sectors identify key issues and workforce needs. [The New York Times]

Legal Fight Over the ‘Fighting Sioux.’ A court battle over the University of North Dakota’s usage of an Native American-inspired school nickname, the Fighting Sioux, has reached the state Supreme Court. The North Dakota State Board of Education hopes the high court will declare unconstitutional a law requiring the school to use the Fighting Sioux nickname. In order to avoid repercussions from the NCAA for the Native American nickname, which some find offensive, the school must drop it in favor of a new one. Many of those involved with the school, however, have fought the decision leading to the creation of Fighting Sioux nickname law. The court’s ruling will determine whether the university changes its nickname. [Grand Forks Herald]

Kellan Schmidt is a journalism intern with Campus Progress.

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