When I can't think of anything else to write about, I sometimes like to pick up a copy of US News & World Report's America's Best Colleges, and spend about 30 seconds flipping through to find one piece of really, really, really horrible advice.

And so here it is, from an article by Kim Clark:

The federally backed parent PLUS loan can cover the student's entire cost of college (less any other financial aid). But PLUS loans can cost as much as 8.5 percent a year plus a fee of 4 percent of the loan amount, for a total annual percentage rate of as much as 9.4 percent. Shoppers can find discounts, however. Those who borrow directly from the federal government and make automatic electronic payments are charged just 7.65 percent in interest. (After fees, the APR totals 8.55 percent.) And the eligibility criteria are comparatively forgiving, even for parents who are a little behind on their mortgages.

A former University of Nebraska employee who claimed she was fired for being a witch has agreed to settle her case for $40,000.

According to a letter from the unidentified woman's attorney reviewed by the Lincoln Journal Star, the plaintiff took a job in 2007 directing a youth program. But according to her complaint, an associate dean fired her after learning that she was a witch and that her religion was "Reclaiming Tradition of Witchcraft". She filed a complaint with the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission, which found reasonable cause to suggest that religious discrimination was a factor.

In a letter, the university said that the settlement was made "solely to compromise the claim ... without admitting the validity of plaintiff's contention or any allegations of wrongdoing by the defendants."

Inside Higher Ed reports that "More than two dozen seniors at Lincoln University, in Oxford, Pa., are in danger of not being able to graduate this spring -- not because they're under disciplinary probation or haven't fulfilled the requirements of their majors, but because they were obese as freshmen."

That's right: the historically Black College has a new requirement for graduation. Students must either have a BMI below 30 (a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese) or complete a one-semester "Fitness For Life" class.

Some 19% of 2006's freshman class had BMIs over 30, but most of those students either lost some weight or took the class. However there are still about 25 students left -- out of a class of 484 -- who have neither lost weight nor taken the class.

Michigan State University's College Employment Research Institute's latest graduate job outlook is pretty bleak.

This year's college graduates have a mind-boggling 40% fewer job prospects, and jobs for candidates with bachelor's degrees are expected to drop by 1% in 2010.

Eighty percent of employers won't be offering higher starting salaries, and 8% will lower starting pay by an average of 5%. Twelve percent will increase starting pay by an average of just 3%.

Signing bonuses and performance bonuses are also on the decline -- understandable given that there is so little competition to woo recent grads.

Adding to employment woes for recent college graduates is the 10.2% national unemployment rate -- which means that young people will have to compete with older candidates with years of experience and families to feed. As the rising number of unemployed workers cycle through the unemployment system, they'll become increasingly desperate for income, making the situation even worse for recent grads.

So what's a grad to do? One short-term solution may be to pour energy into finding freelance and temp opportunities. Independent contractors often lament the lack of benefits but for young single people, it's just not that important.

You can buy your own health insurance for a few hundred dollars a month. Indeed, young single people who work at full-time jobs with benefits are, in effect, subsidizing their co-workers who have large families and consequently large health insurance costs.

Another idea for recent grads: recognize that the job you work in the crappiest job market in a long, long time might not have a lot to do with your long-term career. If all you can get is an unpaid internship in the field of your choice and find yourself working six nights a week at WalMart to make ends meet, that won't kill you.

With endowments in the toilet, state aid on the decline, and families scrounging for cash to cover tuition increases, it's nice to know that one group of college constituents aren't suffering: top flight, 7-figure football coaches.

An extensive study conducted by USA Today found that at least 25 college football coaches are making more than $2 million this season -- up 100% from two years ago. The average pay for a head coach in the 120-school Football Bowl Subdivision is up 28% in two years and 46% in three years. The average coach in that elite conference earns $1.36 million.

A survey of bowl-division college presidents conducted by Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics found that 85% of respondents considered the pay packages football and basketball coaches are taking to be "excessive."

Instead of sitting on the couch watching college football, make yourself useful: go buy some college-town real estate!

According to a new report from Coldwell Banker, "Every fall, college football fans feel nostalgic for the tradition, lifestyle and spirit of their college towns as they cheer on their favorite teams. This year's Coldwell Banker® College Home Price Comparison Index (HPCI) reveals that these school-centric areas also sport very affordable homes, in addition to the culture and economic stability associated with higher education institutions – making them great areas to purchase real estate."

Even as endowments tanked, employees were laid off, and tuition bills were hiked in the face of decimated 401(k)s and home values, the presidents of the "top" (whatever that means) private college and universities in the United States still managed to take home 6.5% more cash in 2008 than they did in 2007.

Take a look at the list of the highest paid college presidents:

Shirley Ann Jackson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - $1,598,247
David J. Sargent, Suffolk University -- $1,496,593
Steadman Upham, University of Tulsa -- $1,428,275
Richard S. Meyers, Webster University -- $1,429,738

It's hard for me to imagine why anyone should get $1,598,247 for running Hartford, CT-based Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Given that school's student body of just 5,394 undergraduates, that works out to nearly $300 per student flowing directly into the pocket of the president. Perhaps that explains the 2009-2010 sticker price of $39,165 -- and the fact that 70% of students graduate with an average of $30,375 in debt -- nearly 50% higher than the national average among college graduates.

Look, I don't doubt that these college presidents provide value to the schools they work at -- mainly in the form of fundraising. But at a time when so many of their students are struggling and debt loads are ballooning, it would be nice to see them take a break from pay increases. Sadly, that didn't happen.

On reason that large colleges -- especially public colleges -- generally offer a good deal is that administrative costs scale well: A school with 10 times as many students will generally have far lower per capita administrative costs.

Thursday, October 29, is a date many of you would have circled on your calendar... if you still circled things on paper calendars. It's the day SAT scores for the test taken October 12 are available online.

Over at Washington Monthly, Stephen Burd takes an extended look at one of the biggest -- and least reported on -- financial crises facing young people: unethical for-profit college foisting massive debt loads on their students. These debt loads often carry exorbitant interest rates and lack any consumer protections whatsoever.

The stories Burd tells are egregious: Slick, misleading advertising luring prospective suckers students into meetings with admissions officers -- glorified salespeople straight out of Glengarry Glen Ross. The admissions people then lie to students about the benefits of the program, and sign them up for high-interest student loans without explaining the terms.

In the months before Chris Smith graduated from Missouri State University in 2002, his classmates were doing the networking and other things that soon-to-be college graduates do in looking for a job.

Smith, however, didn't have the time. While others were out job hunting, Smith was out working at a job he didn't get paid for: He played football for the university.

Are you in your 40s and trying to decide how to reinvent your life, as well as rebuild your 401(K) in time for retirement after its been devastated by the recession? You're not alone.

Many women in their forties are now trying to restart careers, whether it's because of a job loss, it's returning to work after taking time off to have a family or it's deciding to put your career first after your husband built his.

I definitely fit into the last category. With my first marriage, we had to decide whose career would come first. My husband got the priority and I had to move with his career moves. My resume was filled with a lot of dead end jobs as I moved every three or four years.

I needed to jump-start a career at the age of 39 and decided to go back for my MBA. Finding work in my early 40s wasn't easy, but with the MBA I was able to restart a career. Now I've got 25 books on the market and my own business. Going back to school allowed me to find and fulfill my passion.

If you're looking to restart your career, you're probably wondering what you should do next? What jobs should you consider? WalletPop was given an exclusive look at an upcoming story in More Magazine on Oct. 27 about the best career moves for women over 40.

Think your kid's college bill is pricey? Think again. For the second year in a row, Sarah Lawrence College has the dubious distinction of being the nation's most expensive place to attend college -- a whopping $54,410 for the current 2009-10 school year, including tuition, plus room and board, according to data compiled by CampusGrotto.com.

Of course, for that price, students get the distinction of attending one of the finest colleges in the country. Most of the colleges in the 100 most expensive colleges ranking are private liberal-arts universities in the Northeast.

CampusGrotto notes that while the current school year saw one of the smallest increases in costs in decades, expenses still rose 4.3%. By contrast, the annual rate of inflation in the United States fell 1.3% in September. Many of the colleges on the list now cost around $50,000 a year to attend.

Georgetown University sophomore Charley Cooper is absolutely swamped.

Between homework, a part-time job, and an illness in the family, he just can't possibly find time to do the tasks that every single other college student in America does for himself. The 19-year old posted an ad on the school's student employment Web site, advertising for someone to help with "some of my everyday tasks."

He's looking for someone to help him three to seven hours per week at a rate of $10 to $12 per hour. From the listing:

The College Board released its annual report on tuition for the 2008-2009 school year and, no big surprise, it's getting worse.

According to the Associated Press, "Average tuition at four-year public colleges in the U.S. climbed 6.5 percent, or $429, to $7,020 this fall as schools apologetically passed on much of their own financial problems, according to an annual report from the College Board, released Tuesday. At private colleges, tuition rose 4.4 percent, or $1,096, to $26,273."

But just so that we have the frame of reference right, we need to be very clear on what exactly the College Board is -- because most people don't quite understand. According to AP, the College Board is a "not-for-profit, which promotes college access and owns the SAT tries to strike a balance. It tries to sound the alarm about rising prices without scaring students into thinking college is out of reach."

Here's a new one: Ithaca College accepted too many students for its new class of freshmen -- so to make room on campus, it paid some of them to go away for a year and come back in the next class.

Thirty-one students received as much as $10,000 each to delay college by one year.

A representative of Ithaca College commented on The New York Times blog that "the hope was to find students who could benefit from the extra year by working in service positions or earning more money to pay for their college experience."

What a wonderful idea. Here are a couple of problems with it:

• Students who are planning to receive need-based financial aid will see their eligibility decline precipitously if they take a year off and work anything resembling full-time.
• Ithaca College has been raising its tuition and fees precipitously in recent years. For the 2008-2009 school year, rates went up 5.99%. That means that students who put off college for an extra year will pay more for college every year than they would have had they enrolled immediately.
• Putting off college delays entry into the workforce by a year -- resulting in a year of lost wages.

When you combine those three factors, $10,000 is a pittance compared to the enormous financial costs that come with putting off college for a year.