Here’s Why It’s Time to Give Up the Idea That Everyone Must Go to College

I know a high school senior who’s so worried about whether she’ll be accepted at the college of her choice she can’t sleep.

The parent of another senior tells me he stands at the mailbox for an hour every day waiting for a hoped-for acceptance letter to arrive.

Parents are also uptight. I’ve heard of some who have stopped socializing with other parents of children competing for admission to the same university.

Emerson College: We Have No Legal Duty To Protect Students From Rape

In a response this week to a lawsuit from a rape survivor, Emerson College claimed it had no legal obligation to prevent the student from being sexually assaulted and argued the suit should be dismissed.

Jillian Doherty sued the Boston school in federal court last month. She had previously helped file a federal complaint against the school, prompting the current U.S. Department of Education investigation of the college. Doherty's suit contends Emerson's handling of her rape case exacerbated her depression and post-traumatic stress, and also negatively affected her grades, ultimately leading her to leave the school.

Colleges Win, Student Borrowers Lose In Obama Administration Absolution

The U.S. Department of Education is turning its back on at least 1,000 borrowers in favor of shielding their former colleges from potentially crippling sanctions that would have resulted from high rates of default on federal student loans.

The move, announced late Tuesday and further detailed on Wednesday, concerns an Obama administration decision not to punish as many as 20 schools for loan defaults caused by questionable servicing practices overseen by the Education Department.

40 Years of College Football's Sexual-Assault Problem

Update: ESPN is reporting that Jameis Winston will not be charged in connection to an alleged sexual assault last December.

In November, TMZ reported that a former Florida State University student had accused the school's quarterback, Jameis Winston, of rape nearly a year ago. The accuser's lawyer says that after she came forward the Tallahassee police tried to dissuade her from pressing charges, warning her that the city is "a big football town" that might not treat her warmly if she leveled these allegations. Indeed, since her charges became public, some Seminoles fans have floated conspiracy theories that a rival school or Heisman Trophy contender may have put the accuser up to it. Prosecutors, for their part, will hold a press conference on Thursday afternoon to announce whether they'll go forward with the case.

How Colleges Are Selling Out the Poor to Court the Rich

Neat fact: If the federal government were to take all of the money it pours into various forms of financial aid each year, it could go ahead and make tuition free, or close to it, for every student at every public college in the country.

Will it ever happen? Ha. Not unless Bernie Sanders somehow leads a Latin American-style coup down Pennsylvania Avenue. But one of the reasons I argued for the idea a couple of months back was that it would allow us to finally stop burning money subsidizing obscenely expensive tuition at dubiously worthwhile private institutions. At the time, I singled out the for-profit college industry, which has been rightfully savaged for devouring federal aid dollars while charging poor students backbreaking prices.