Getting into Harvard not as Easy as P-R-E-P

(NEWSER) - The Ivy League has a reputation for excellence in all things, but the consignment of its sports programs—particularly the more visible ones like football and basketball—to college athletics’ second tier has alumni clamoring for change, the Wall Street Journal reports. Academic standards limit the pool of top student-athletes for the eight Ivy schools; the football teams can’t play in the postseason, nixing their title chances. More»

Giving to 'Affirmative Action for Rich' is 'moral crime,' writes Hamilton Nolan

(NEWSER) - Gawker's Hamilton Nolan is scrambling onto the anti-Ivy League bandwagon by slamming donations to the elitist institutions as "loathsome" and a "moral crime." The schools "are terrible choices for huge donations. Supporting education is a worthy cause; but there are many, many more effective ways to help the masses than giving millions to Ivy League schools. No matter what those schools' endowment officers tell you, they do not really 'need,' that money," stews Nolan. Furthermore, most donors are not seeking to improve education; "they give in order to make it easier for their own children to get into those schools," he adds. More»

These schools offer a good return on investment

(NEWSER) - Which colleges pay off? PayScale crunched the numbers to compute the best returns on investment—by comparing the cost of a degree against what its students earn upon graduation—and Huffington Post rounds up the best of the bunch:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: annual ROI: 12.6%; 30-year ROI: $1.69 million
2. California Institute of Technology: 12.6%; $1.64 million
3. Harvard: 12.5%; $1.63 million
4. Harvey Mudd College: 12.5%; $1.63 million
5. Dartmouth: 12.4%; $1.59 million