Friday, June 27, 2014

Friday Night Clubbing With the Boston Globe

I've been out with them once or twice, yeah.

Checked out the club yesterday:

"EMS treat dozens at Avicii concert at TD Garden; 36 sent to hospital at techno show" Globe Staff   June 26, 2014

Dozens of concertgoers, many of them minors, were taken to hospitals from the TD Garden Wednesday night suffering mainly from drug and alcohol problems, authorities said.

Michael Bosse, deputy superintendent for Boston EMS, said at the scene that over 50 people were treated or evaluated at the scene, and 36 other patients were transported to hospitals from the Garden. There were no fatalities, and all of the patients’ symptoms were minor, an EMS worker said.

The medical problems happened during a packed and steamy electronic dance concert featuring the Grammy-nominated electronic dance music DJ Avicii.

The concert took on heightened urgency when medical emergency services declared a Phase 2 MCI, indicating about 30 people needed to be taken to hospitals. There were numerous ambulances and a Boston EMS emergency trailer, along with Boston police, at the scene.

Mike Santostefano, 19, of Millis, said he saw three young women being carried out on stretchers.

“You couldn’t breathe if you were on the floor,” he said. “It was the best and worst time ever.”

He said he saw “a lot of people who couldn’t handle themselves. People who don’t do drugs come here and do drugs.”

Wednesday’s concert marked the opening of the Swedish DJ’s tour in the eastern United States and Europe, scheduled to end in Spain in September. At a May Avicii concert in Toronto, 29 people were reportedly hospitalized with various degrees of health problems, according to the local media there.

As medical personnel loaded patients into ambulances in Boston, the concert, which was scheduled to end at 11 p.m., was still going on inside the Garden.

“We did tell them this has to end on time due to medical incidents,” said Boston police Superintendent in Chief William G. Gross, who was also at the scene.

Roisin Saratonion, 18, left the concert earlier than planned because “it was just too crazy in there.”

Saratonion, of Marblehead, said most concertgoers seemed like they were high school-aged.

“You get really hot in there and you just pass out. You couldn’t breathe,” she said. “It was claustrophobic. People get dehydrated.”

Whether the drug Molly was a contributing factor, as it has been in past medical events at concerts, in Wednesday’s illnesses was uncertain, according to Gross. Bosse added, “there may have been some illicit drug involved, but none have been identified.”

Boston EMS responded to the Garden at about 8:30 p.m. after calls for two people in need of medical assistance outside. Private ambulances transported the majority of the patients.

Police are investigating and are speaking with officials for TD Garden, Gross said. Officials at the Garden could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

According to Gross, large incidents involving drug and alcohol problems are common at techno concerts. “We’ve seen this type of behavior, alcohol, abuse of other drugs, before, “ Gross said.

He said the concertgoers mostly ranged in age from 16 to 25. Police plan to interview concertgoers at the hospitals.

Drug and alcohol overuse at EDM — electronic dance music — concerts have prompted increased scrutiny in recent years.

Employees at the House of Blues in Boston were called to explain three drug overdoses that occurred on Aug. 27, the opening tour night of another EDM DJ, Zedd. A 19-year-old woman died at that concert of a suspected overdose of Molly.

Two others at the concert were also treated for apparent overdoses and were hospitalized in serious condition.

In the glow of emergency lights outside the Garden Wednesday, groups of young people stood on the sidewalk after leaving the show early. Around 10:30 p.m., people said, Avicii was still playing, and it had not seemed different from a typical concert.

“I saw a few people who were passed out, and they took them out on ambulances, and that’s it,” said Matt McLaughlin, 18, of Norwell.

Most people, he said, seemed drunk, but he also saw some people taking what he believed were drugs.

Matt Mogavero, 18, of Peabody, said most people seemed like they had probably just drank before the show.

“I bet there were rock and roll concerts in the ‘70s that were more out of hand than this,” he said.

Pam Jones, 52, and Richard Uloth, 48, of Scituate, were eating in the North End while their 15-year-old daughter and a friend attended the concert.

They heard about an incident at the Garden and ran down. At first, Jones said, they could not reach their daughter on her cellphone.

The couple ran to security at the arena and tried their daughter one more time on her phone, Jones said. She answered and said she was fine.

“I’m going to give her a big hug,” Jones said.

Steve Watkins, 28, of the North End, said his friend got tickets to the show but he left early because the crowd was pretty young.

“It’s too bad that people can’t just come to a concert like this and enjoy the music for what it is,” Watkins said.

Leaving the Garden, many seemed unaware of or unfazed by the large number of people who became ill. One group of men emerged from the building clapping rhythmically and chanting, “Let’s go Bruins.”

Woooooooooo!

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Great music, huh?

"TD Garden illnesses tied to Molly use; Police cite signs of overdoses" by Evan Allen | Globe Staff   June 26, 2014

Boston Police said Thursday that a dangerously pure form of the drug ecstasy, known as Molly, appeared to be a factor in the mass illnesses the night before at TD Garden, where more than 80 young people attending an electronic dance music concert became sick, with nearly half treated at local hospitals.

Oh, golly, Molly is back and preying on children!

“The word I’m getting from our drug people, they believe that it was a lot of voluntary ingestion of Molly,” said Boston Police spokesman Sergeant Michael McCarthy.

He said that while he did not know what was in their systems, some of the young people were showing signs of Molly overdose, which include racing pulse, chest pains, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting. Alcohol also was a factor in some of the illnesses, police said.

TD Garden was cited Thursday for having intoxicated minors at the concert by the Swedish DJ Avicii. Mayor Martin J. Walsh called the incidents “disturbing and concerning.’’

Before the concert began, said McCarthy, police had drug units in the area, and arrested five people for selling drugs, including Molly, to concert-goers.

“We’re aware that this type of event can draw a crowd where drugs and alcohol seem to be prevalent,” said McCarthy.

A police report attached to the citation describes “numerous young patrons... in an intoxicated state to the point of being incoherent.” More than 50 people, most between the ages of 16 and 25, were treated on scene, and 36 others were taken to area hospitals with minor symptoms.

Walsh vowed to meet with Garden officials to review the events that led up to what officials termed a “Level Two Mass Casualty Incident.”

“We will be meeting with the TD Garden and public safety officials to review the series of events last night and examine any protocol in place for dealing with similar incidents in the future. I take this very seriously, and I know that all of the parties involved do also,” said Walsh in a statement.

Last August, 19-year-old Brittany Flannigan of Derry, N.H., died of an apparent Molly overdose at an electronic dance music, or EDM, concert at the House of Blues in Boston, one in a string of several overdoses that sparked panic about the rising popularity of Molly as the drug of choice at techno or electro music events.

Related: Boston Globe Likes to Boogie

In the wake of Flannigan’s death, according to city officials, House of Blues briefly closed its doors, was cited by police, and created an EDM concert security plan that included providing a cool room, water, first aid and drug safety education materials.

The police report attached to the Garden citation says the event manager at the Garden told police that management would review their electronic dance music event entry procedures. A Garden spokeswoman said the Garden had implemented precautions specifically for the Avicii show that included restricted alcohol sales, additional security and cooling off areas for guests.

“We take this incident very seriously and our thoughts are with the affected guests and their families,” said spokeswoman Tricia McCorkle in a statement. “We continued our proactive policy to identify impaired guests, bring them to first aid for medical evaluation and transport when necessary. By following our policy, half of the affected guests were identified prior to entering the arena and were immediately treated.”

Concertgoers described a crowded, hot venue with smoke machines, lasers, and strobes, an event attended largely by people in their teens and early 20s. The evening had “great vibes,” but some revelers partied too hard.

“There were kids being attended to by a cop or a paramedic against the walls of the TD Garden. It was like, strung along the whole way as you’re walking in, one kid here, one kid there,” said 23-year-old Michael Marra of Boston, who said he attended the show with friends. “It was pretty nuts, to the point where when you got to where you were supposed to go, it felt like an accomplishment.”

Marra said he hadn’t seen any drug use or underage drinking, but that it seemed like many people had begun drinking or taking drugs before arriving at the Garden — an observation backed up by the police report, which said “many of the patrons had consumed intoxicants off-site and became ill inside.”

The majority of medical issues were reported between about 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., said Ron Quaranto, Chief Operating Officer of Cataldo Ambulance Service, Inc., which contracts with the Garden. Quaranto said the majority of people seemed to have consumed alcohol, and that he did not see any symptoms of Molly overdose. He said heat and dehydration likely also played a part. McCorkle said water was available for free in various locations around the Garden, and that bottled water cost $4.25.

The city’s Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing said the Garden has been cited for violations in the past, but not more than other such establishments. Further information about previous citations was not immediately available.

Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said at around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, the fire department was called to the Garden after reports came in of people jumping into the water from the nearby North Washington Street bridge. The fire department returned to the area when the concert ended to deter anyone from jumping; no one was found in the water at any point during the night, said MacDonald.

A spokeswoman for Boston EMS said no one was available to comment.

The police report describes Avicii as an artist whose concerts “have had a history, nationwide, of incidents requiring medical treatment for intoxicated young patrons.”

A spokeswoman for Live Nation, which promoted the show, disputed that characterization in a statement.

“There is no track record of any issues with widespread intoxication and we have never had to cancel any performance due to reckless behavior involving drugs or alcohol,” said spokeswoman Jacqueline Peterson. “Anything reported to the contrary is simply false.”

At an Avicii concert in May in Toronto, 29 people were taken to the hospital for illnesses related to drugs and alcohol, the Toronto Star reported.

This month, at a three-night music festival attended by 400,000 in Las Vegas at which Avicii was one of many performers, two concertgoers died, 25 were taken to the hospitals, and nearly 800 were treated for minor medical issues, according to the Associated Press.

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At least no one died. 

Just want to get back home and to bed:

"Some schools remain hostile to victims, official testifies" by Kimberly Hefling | Associated Press   June 27, 2014

WASHINGTON — Some colleges and universities are still failing students by inadequately responding to campus sexual assault, a senior Education Department official testified Thursday.

‘‘For those schools, my office and this administration have made it clear that the time for delay is over,’’ Catherine Lhamon, the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, told the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Lhamon said that since the beginning of President Obama’s term in 2009, her office has investigated more than 100 such cases. Through them, she said, the office is aware that some schools are doing things such as retaliating against students for filing complaints and allowing perpetrators to remain in school.

However, Lhamon said, many colleges and universities are ‘‘stepping up to the challenge of addressing the problem of sexual assault.’’

At the hearing, Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said officials should be mindful of the federal limits in these cases because federal oversight should be ‘‘helpful and not burdensome.’’

‘‘Whatever we do here, I think we need to make sure that we don’t suggest to anybody that we in Washington should be primarily responsible for making the campuses safe,’’ said Alexander, who was education secretary under President George H.W. Bush.

That's a very interesting person to take the lead in questioning given his past connections and his office, and why did Penn State just leap to mind?

Alexander also questioned Lhamon about the source of the authority for her office to issue guidance to colleges and universities about how to handle such cases. She said she was given such authority by way of her appointment.

The Education Department has sought to use its available regulatory powers to push colleges and universities to better handle sexual assault cases.

It announced a proposed rule last week that would expand campus crime reporting requirements by requiring colleges and universities to compile statistics on stalking, dating violence, and domestic violence. It also would spell out that both the victim and the accused perpetrator have the right to an adviser of their choice at campus disciplinary proceedings in these cases.

Earlier this year, a White House task force on sexual assault recommended actions that colleges and universities should take, including ensuring the availability of confidential victims’ advocates and conducting surveys to better gauge the frequency of sexual assault on their campuses. The department also took the unprecedented step of releasing the names of 55 schools facing federal investigation under Title IX for the way they handle sexual abuse allegations.

Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, which represents college presidents, said in a letter to the committee chairmen that colleges and universities are ‘‘undertaking significant efforts to enhance their educational programs to prevent sexual assaults and to ensure a prompt, supportive and equitable response when they do occur.’’

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It always amazes me how the worst perverts are the ones lecturing the rest of us about morality.

Related: 

U.S. Military Making Their Move
Kopin a Feel at Brown
The Wild Campuses of Western Massachusetts
Tufts Submits to Title IX
The Bolger in Obama's Pants

The kids are resisting:

"College students fight sexual assault accusations" by Matt Rocheleau | Globe Correspondent   June 27, 2014

Following a rise in reports of sexual assaults at colleges, a growing number of alleged assailants — including some at area schools — are pushing back, saying they have been falsely accused amid the heightened awareness sweeping the nation’s campuses.

RelatedDuke Lacrosse Stripper Caught in Dragnet

The suspected assailants —who have been put on probation at the schools, suspended, or expelled — are appealing the disciplinary rulings and filing lawsuits asserting that college administrators unfairly rushed to judgment in their cases. They say the decisions have damaged their reputation, disrupted their education, and in some cases cost them thousands of dollars in lost tuition, legal expenses, and other costs.

Some accused students have also claimed campus officials violated Title IX, the very federal gender-discrimination law that many alleged victims have cited in federal complaints to argue that administrators did not take their allegations seriously or failed to mete out adequate punishment.

In one recent case at Brandeis University, a student found responsible by the school for sexually assaulting and harassing a classmate — his ex-boyfriend — has hired a lawyer and has appealed the ruling. He says he also plans to file a Title IX complaint against the school.

Gay hate?

Accused students at Brown University, the University of Michigan, Occidental College, Xavier University, Swarthmore College, and Delaware State University are also fighting back, according to media reports and advocates following the cases.

Colby Bruno, an attorney at the Victim Rights Law Center in Boston, pointed out that studies show false allegations of sexual assault are rare; much more often, the crime goes unreported.

“There’s always a swing of the pendulum,’’ Bruno said. “Right now, for the first time in history, victims are being recognized as victims and not liars and of course that’s going to come with a certain amount of backlash.”

Specialists say the rise in disputed cases highlights the dilemma college administrators face. They often attempt to handle assault allegations internally — via the college’s disciplinary system — but many schools find the cases remarkably difficult to investigate and solve, particularly because administrators might lack experience adjudicating such matters.

“We’re seeing more students coming forward to report that they were sexually assaulted, and with more reports we’re going to certainly see accused students who argue that the process by which they were found responsible wasn’t fair,” said Alison Kiss, executive director of the Clery Center for Security on Campus, a nonprofit that trains college officials about Title IX and related rules.

Rape cases — on or off college campuses — often involve unclear memories, frequently are between friends or romantic partners, and might not involve reliable witnesses or evidence, specialists say. No matter the school’s ruling, an appeal is likely. Further legal action, such as lawsuits and Title IX complaints, can also be taken against a school.

Accused students often expect to be held to the criminal standard of evidence, that it was “beyond a reasonable doubt” that they had committed a crime. However, the US Education Department actually advises colleges to use a lower standard of proof, a “preponderance of the evidence” in adjudicating the cases administratively.

Bruno, of the Victim Rights Law Center, which represents individuals who say they have been sexually assaulted, said that when accused students vocally challenge the allegations, it can cause victims to refrain from reporting crimes.

“Still, I don’t think victims have to be concerned that this is something that happens in every case, because it doesn’t,” Bruno said. “Anybody can file a lawsuit for any reason on any day, but that doesn’t mean that lawsuit will be successful.”

At Brown, a male student who was recently suspended for a year over accusations he raped a female student has come forward publicly to say he believed the sex was consensual and rebutted details of the case, including allegations that he attempted to strangle the alleged victim. He wrote the US Department of Education to dispute the accusations.

A student at Columbia University who was suspended over allegations of sexual assault filed a federal lawsuit against the school last month, saying administrators rushed to an unfair judgment and violated Title IX by allegedly discriminating against him because he is a male.

In the Brandeis case, administrators hired an outside attorney to act as a “special investigator.” In April, following a four-month investigation, the attorney found that the accused student was responsible for non-consensual sexual activity, sexual harassment, and privacy invasion, according to documents obtained by the Globe.

The university sanctioned the student last month with a disciplinary warning and ordered him to meet with a sexual assault specialist.

The accuser, who has not filed criminal charges, has called for administrators to issue a sharper punishment, ideally expulsion. He said he is considering filing a Title IX complaint against the school because, he said, administrators downplayed some of his concerns, were not sufficiently transparent about the process, and discriminated against him because he is a man and gay.

“There are parts of me that wish I didn’t go through this process because I feel like I’ve gone through a lot of re-victimization and re-traumatization,” the accuser said in an interview. “But I also feel like it’s something that needs to be talked about.’’

Send a letter to Obama; I'm sure he will look into it.

Meanwhile, the accused student has denied the allegations, which he called “ridiculous,” saying he and his ex-boyfriend had a typical romantic relationship.

They shared many intimate moments but never had non-consensual sex, he said. They even maintained amicable ties for a while after it ended, he said.

The Globe generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assaults.

Brandeis officials declined to speak about the case, citing student privacy laws.

Campus spokeswoman Ellen de Graffenreid said administrators “are committed to investigating all reported incidents in an expedient, thorough, and fair manner and to protecting the rights of all parties involved in an investigation.”

New York-based attorney Andrew T. Miltenberg, who represents accused students who have filed lawsuits against Columbia, Vassar College, and Drew University, said he believes many administrators are “caving into pressure” from on- and off-campus advocates who have called for harsher punishments in such cases.

“Sexual assault, rape, non-consensual sexual activity is absolutely a considerable issue,” Miltenberg said. “However . . . there is a presumption of guilt put upon the accused, and there is a critically flawed process by which the investigations are handled and by which the hearing panel or disciplinary panel ultimately decides the issue on.”

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"US seeks better data from colleges on dating violence" by Kimberly Hefling | Associated Press   June 20, 2014

WASHINGTON — Ada Meloy, general counsel for the American Council on Education, which represents college presidents, said her organization will carefully examine the proposed changes to determine whether they would make campuses safer or add to the confusion colleges and universities face as they seek to comply with the law.

The announcement comes nearly two months after a White House task force reported that 1 in 5 female college students is a victim of sexual assault and recommended actions that colleges and universities should take to protect victims and inform the public about the magnitude of the problem. They included ensuring the availability of confidential victims' advocates and conducting surveys to better gauge the frequency of sexual assault on their campuses.

That same week, the Education Department took the unprecedented step of releasing the names of 55 schools facing federal investigation under Title IX for the way they handle sexual abuse allegations by their students.

Why didn't the web Globe tell you the whole story like my printed pos?

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Also see: 

Judge warns Cambridge rape defendant on delay
Man convicted in 2008 rapes of two college students

At least you kids will be able to sue:

"Bill extends time limit on sexual abuse lawsuits; Would let alleged child victims file until age 53" by Travis Andersen, Derek J. Anderson and Jennifer Smith | Globe staff | Globe Correspondents   June 20, 2014

The Massachusetts Legislature is on the verge of finalizing a bill that will give alleged child sexual abuse victims an additional 32 years to file civil lawsuits, a move one specialist said will open the door to thousands of new cases.

The bill would extend the statute of limitations for filing suits against alleged perpetrators and, in future cases, the people or institution supervising them. Under the legislation, the victims would be able to file suits up to age 53, instead of the current limit of age 21.

The Senate passed the measure Thursday, after it was approved by the House Wednesday.

Lawmakers expect to send a bill to Governor Deval Patrick’s desk soon, after a few more procedural votes, said Senator William N. Brownsberger, the Senate cochairman of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary.

“We’re very glad we were able to get this done,” said Brownsberger. “It is going to protect children in the future. It really is.”

Carmen L. Durso, a lawyer for sexual abuse victims and a vocal supporter of the bill, also hailed its passage. “It will open the doors of the courthouse to thousands, literally thousands of people who have otherwise been excluded from being able to file suits,” Durso said by phone. “This will give them the opportunity to name their perpetrators and do what almost all of them want to do, which is make sure their perpetrators can’t get to other victims.”

Rosanne Sliney, 50, of Burlington, whose suit against her uncle was dismissed on statute-of-limitations grounds, said the legislation gives her hope she may get justice.

“My lawyer can contact the judge, say that these are new laws, we need to move forward to trial,” she said. “It will definitely give me a chance at justice and a fair fight against someone who destroyed me in my life.”

The landmark bill contains some important distinctions. In cases involving past abuse, for example, the provision extending the statute of limitations from age 21 to 53 would allow alleged victims to sue only the perpetrators, but not the alleged abuser’s supervisors and the institution that they worked or volunteered for.

The institutions would, however, be subject to the new rule and could be sued in cases of abuse that occur after the law passes. Institutions potentially exposed to lawsuits include churches, schools, youth centers, and other organizations.

In cases of repressed memory, the bill would give adults seven years to file claims against alleged perpetrators and their supervisors once they realize they were abused as children, an increase from the current three-year threshold.

David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, called the bill a “very big step forward” but expressed disappointment with the provision that shields institutions from some retroactive claims.

Clohessy said his group is “saddened but not surprised that Catholic officials lobbied so hard to continue evading responsibility for child-molesting clerics.”

The Catholic Church, in particular, has been rocked by a sexual abuse crisis that exploded in Boston in 2002 and has led to dioceses in Massachusetts and elsewhere paying hundreds of millions of dollars in civil claims, straining budgets and forcing school and parish closings.

Asked to comment on the legislation, a spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston released a statement from the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s four Catholic bishops, that said the group supports the legislation.

“We, the bishops of the four dioceses of Massachusetts, recognize the suffering of survivors who have experienced sexual abuse and remain committed to assuring the safety of children entrusted to our care,” the statement said.

“For well over a decade, we have been utilizing comprehensive pastoral outreach programs for survivors and their families, have been vigilant in reporting claims, have worked closely with law enforcement, and continue to be dedicated to resolving cases in a just and responsible manner.”

The Catholic Conference added that the church has taken a number of steps to address the crisis, including background screening for tens of thousands of employees and volunteers, as well as the immediate removal of any cleric or other person credibly accused of abuse.

Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney for sexual abuse victims who is best known for filing a number of lawsuits against the Catholic Church, could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

BishopAccountability.org, an advocacy group for victims, echoed the sentiments of other advocates who wanted a stronger bill, even while praising the version that was passed.

In a statement, the group said: “The bill is far from perfect. It keeps the courthouse doors slammed shut to most of the thousands of child sexual abuse victims now age 53 or older. And it will do almost nothing to expose and hold accountable those supervisors and employers who already have been negligent, careless, or deceptive in managing offenders.”

But Durso, the lawyer for abuse victims, said that a compromise was better than nothing.

“The perfect bill would be no statute of limitations at all,” he said. “And sometimes you can’t let the perfect get in the way of the good and the useful.”

Jetta Bernier, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children, a group that pushed for the changes, agreed with Durso’s assessment.

“We are fully aware that this is not the perfect bill, but we could not let the status quo continue,” she said.

Senate and House leaders released statements of support for the measure.

“The changes in this bill are essential for protecting the victims of sexual abuse and holding the perpetrators accountable for their actions,” Senate President Therese Murray said.

“I’m proud to join my colleagues in passing this bill that protects victims of sexual violence and better holds institutions accountable,” House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said.

Patrick’s office declined to comment.

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Also see:

Reading to infants should not be delayed
The season of reading bees

We wanna play video games!

UMass trustees vote to freeze tuition, fees
Student debt crisis crushes college dream

Don't worry; you gotta friend in high places, kids:

Instructor Obama Scamming Students

Student loan debt-relief plan isn’t for everybody

The scam continues despite the illusion and imagery!

"College costs top inflation, even with financial aid; A steady climb while family incomes stagnate" by Matt Rocheleau | Globe Correspondent   June 22, 2014

Despite widespread increases in financial aid, the out-of-pocket cost to attend most of the top private colleges in Massachusetts has risen sharply since the end of the recent recession, even as family incomes have stagnated, according to a Globe review....

“Low-income students are increasingly being priced out of a college education,” said Mark Kantrowitz, an expert on college financing. “Net price goes up, not as quickly as tuition, but it still goes up faster than inflation,” said Kantrowitz, senior vice president of the education information website Edvisors.com.

National concern about college affordability has increased in recent years, driven by persistent horror stories about student debt and angst about the tough job market for graduates. As net costs have risen, median family income in the United States remained essentially flat.

President Obama said earlier this month that the burden of paying for college has left America’s middle class feeling “trapped,” and he unveiled an expanded measure seeking to cap student loan repayments at 10 percent of their monthly income.

To be sure, most students at private colleges are expected to receive some aid this fall, significantly reducing their share of the bill and, in some cases, eliminating it altogether. And colleges’ net price can be influenced by factors beyond the institutions’ control, including shifts in the proportion of students who demonstrate need and ultimately receive aid, and changes in federal Pell Grant funding and state-funded scholarships.

Still, a school’s net price — a figure rarely advertised — can provide a window for families weighing how to foot the bill....

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Wow, slept through straight to Sunday I was so tired! 

Wait, that was last week's paper on the floor there. Tomorrow is Saturday. 

What happened to me last night? 

Good thing I turned in early. That means I will be up early with many fresh and exciting Slow Saturday Specials from the Boston Globe! 

Hope you enjoyed the night out courtesy of the Boston Globe!