Notes in the Margins: Obama, private dorms and no-money-down student loans

Obama on (higher) education in State of the Union address Here’s the part of President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address that was about education, taken from a text prepared for delivery, (The Washington Post)

Renaissance Man For two and a half years, Jeremy Gleick, a sophomore majoring in bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, has devoted an hour a day to learning something new. His rule: It can’t be related to schoolwork, or merely reading a novel. Even if he’s sleeping at a friend’s house, he squeezes in his hour. (The New York Times)

A no-money-down college education? A student-led group at the University Of California-Riverside has proposed a solution to the crippling student debt load: make a UC education free and have students pay 5% of their income for 20 years. (USA Today)

Pressure Remains for Higher Education The financial conditions of many U.S. colleges and universities will likely not improve much this year, as states continue cutting funding for public schools, students become more price sensitive, and areas for other revenue remain stretched, a lead rating agency said. (Reuters via Career College Central)

Square Feet: Public College, Private Dorm To free scarce capital for classrooms and labs, some universities, including Montclair State in New Jersey, have decided to farm out the construction of residence halls. (The New York Times)

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