Can a designer shirt really snag you a better job offer? If so, maybe you'd be better off putting that college savings into your child's wardrobe.

College tuition is already absurdly high even before you start adding on the extra fees. But with students graduating deeper in debt every year, it could be time to draw the line. Let's start with the mandatory fee at Rutgers for the fund that paid $32,000 to bring Snooki to campus.

The authors of the new book Not Quite Adults, Richard Settersten and Barbara E. Ray make what sounds like an crazy argument: Young people today are too afraid to borrow for college. And when you dig a little deeper into it, you realize that it actually is crazy.

In an effort to be hip, the College Board asked one-third of SAT-takers this year to write an essay on whether reality TV shows are beneficial or harmful. That was a bad choice on multiple levels, and an excellent metaphor for much of what's wrong with the whole college admissions race.

Former President Bill Clinton will be giving the New York University commencement address in May. But considering the university has the highest student debt load in the country, is this the right institution for Clinton to endorse?

The idea of need-blind admissions is noble: Offering qualified applicants admission to a university, regardless of their financial circumstances. But in too many cases, need-blind admissions mean young scholars are accepted to their dream schools under circumstances that would make attending financial suicide.

From online databases to essay-writing tips, college scholarship expert Mark Kantrowitz, founder of free scholarship-matching service Fastweb.com, has scads of advice for the many ways students can boost their odds of winning money to pay for college.

A new study confirms that students who are accepted into elite colleges but attend less-selective ones end up earning just as much money as students who attend elite colleges.

It's absolutely worth protesting that New York University graduates leave the school with an average of $33,487 in student loan debt. But T-shirts and moments of silence aren't going to change anything. If they were smart and savvy, those undergrads would vote with their feet.

University heads are lobbying President Obama to preserve funding for the Federal Perkins Loan Program, which provides loans to low-income students. Perhaps, however, if universities focused more on keeping tuition costs down -- rather than building luxury dorms -- students wouldn't need to rely on federally guaranteed loans to go to college.