The News

usatoday.com — U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft security pact that would govern the presence of American troops in Iraq after January, Bush administration officials say, but its final approval is far from certain. The draft calls for U.S. troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June next year and leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks them to stay. It also includes a compromise on the biggest bone of contention: legal immunity for American forces. The draft, reached after months of halting and often tense talks, contains elements that are expected to further aggravate an already difficult effort to get the Iraqi government and parliament on board, the officials said.

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time.com — Last week, nearly 1,000 colleges were told they couldn't access most of the $9.3 billion sitting in a short-term fund that had been offering slightly higher returns than U.S. treasuries. To prevent a run on the fund — 12 percent of which was invested in mortgage-backed securities — the fund's trustee resigned and froze withdrawals so it could liquidate the assets and distribute the proceeds in an orderly manner. The same thing happened to another 200 schools with $1 billion in an intermediate-term fund. Given that the schools will get about half of their money by the end of this year and the rest by 2011, there's a severe cash crunch for many small schools, some of which had up to half their liquid assets in the short-term fund.

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usatoday.com — A group of college financial aid experts is calling for a comprehensive overhaul of the federal student aid system, including simplifying the application process and helping low-income parents save for their children's education. In a newly released report, the group also recommends expanding and strengthening a federal student loan repayment plan that is based on the student's income after graduation, and encouraging colleges and states to ensure that students succeed once they enroll. The proposals were presented by a Rethinking Student Aid study group, made up of about a dozen higher education policy experts; it was created two years ago with support from several education-related foundations and the College Board, a nonprofit group.

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hosted.ap.org — Federal authority to protect student borrowers from getting squeezed by the current credit crunch would be extended a year under legislation passed by the House. The measure, approved 368-4, continues the secretary of education's power to purchase loans from lenders in the federal guaranteed loan program when lenders are unable to meet demand. The current authority expires in July. The bill, which now goes to the Senate, prolongs provisions of legislation enacted into law last May aimed at ensuring that problems in the credit markets don't prevent students from getting college loans. That act also increased limits on how much borrowers can receive in federally subsidized student loans, decreasing student reliance on more expensive private loans. It allows parents to defer loan payments until their children leave school.

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usatoday.com — Several colleges and universities in Texas, Ohio, Maryland and New York are freezing 2008-2009 tuitions at last year's levels in an effort to make college more affordable for the nation's middle class. In the 13-campus Texas Tech system, chancellor Kent Hance says the decision to keep in-state undergrad tuition at $4,310 stems in part from a five-year decline in students with annual family incomes of between $40,000 and $80,000. But in some systems where there are tuition freezes for in-state undergrads, other costs — like room and board charges, and out of state tuition — are still increasing.

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iht.com — With mortgage foreclosures throwing hundreds of families out of their homes each month, dismayed school officials say they are feeling the upheaval: record numbers of students turning up for classes this fall are homeless or poor enough to qualify for free meals. As 50 million children return to classes across the nation, crippling increases in the price of fuel and food, coupled with the economic downturn, have left schools from California to Florida to Maine cutting costs. Some are trimming bus service, others are restricting travel, and a few are shortening the school week. And as many districts are forced to cut back, the number of poor and homeless students is rising.

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