Notes in the Margin: Cheaters, retirees and paying graduation speakers

Non-traditional students key to college completion goal Nontraditional students could also be one of the most important game-changers in the ongoing national discussion on college completion and the continuing dialogue at College Inc. about how to fix higher education. (The Washington Post)

Retiree expenses constrain colleges Harvard and other top universities are grappling with the same problem many states and cities are confronting: how to pay for health benefits they have promised to retirees. (The Boston Globe)

Study: Cheaters might be fooling themselves A growing body of research suggests that while cheaters are trying to beat the system, they're also engaging in a potentially destructive bit of self-deception, inflating their own estimates of how they'll do in the future — even if they can't cheat. (USA Today)

With $30,000 for Graduation Talk, Rutgers Joins Colleges Paying Speakers Rutgers University will pay Toni Morrison to give the commencement address in May, a practice that is common among schools — but is also kept quiet. (The New York Times)

America's Job Surplus and the College Completion Crisis How can it be that today, in the midst of the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression and millions of Americans seeking work, that 53 percent of employers -- and 67 percent of small business employers that create most new jobs -- find it difficult to find qualified workers? (The Huffington Post)

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