College students have a friend in the U.S. House of Representatives, who on Thursday passed legislation that will expand federal aid to college students and cut private banks out of college lending. Tamar Lewin, of The New York Times, reports:
By shifting to direct federal lending, the Obama administration said [the bill] would save more than $80 billion over 10 years, which would go into higher Pell grants for low-income students, new investments in community colleges, early-childhood programs and other education efforts.
In Japan, where some people aren’t lucky enough to have such good friends, the private sector is stepping in. Hagemashi Tai (I Want to Cheer You Up), is one of ten Japanese rent-a-friend companies, according to The Guardian. These companies send best men, relatives, friends, colleagues, boyfriends and girlfriends to folks who aren’t lucky enough to have friends of their own to call on.
And if you have a high school friend in Milburn, New Jersey, looking for a… erm… “special friend,” the seniors at Milburn High have made that search a little easier. In a decade-old hazing ritual, the seniors have published a slut list ranking freshman girls. Many parents and students say the list is humiliating, while some even complained that they weren’t on it. Either way, the school’s principal is searching for the perpitrators, promising suspensions.
Milburn High School - From The New York Times
Quick Hits:
- If you’re in need of a few bucks, and the banks are denying you, turn to a friend. “With banks tightening their lending standards and credit cards raising interest rates,” The Washington Post reports that an increasing number of people are relying on everyday citizens for loans.
- And if you’re still stewing over missing your shot at the Ivy Leagues, take solace this Post column from Jay Matthews. In the column, Matthews points out that while the last four presidents graduated from Columbia, Yale, Georgetown and Yale, the four before that attended more modest institutions: Eureka, the U.S. Naval Academy, Michigan and Whittier. He goes on to cite examples of many heroes who never enrolled in “elite” institutions.