College

Before sunrise Monday, Kevin and Shelley Taylor set out from their Millersville home to a new employment center for the Maryland Live! Casino, a slots parlor next to the Arundel Mills mall seeking workers for 1,500 jobs. Having tracked the progress of what will be the state's largest casino, the Taylors believe the facility could provide opportunity for their five-member family. Though Kevin Taylor has a job, he wants a better-paying one. And Shelley Taylor has been out of work for several months.

Ahmaad Simmons and Jamar Peete may not have known it at the time, but they had a lot in common. Both grew up in Baltimore and had dreamed of playing football at the college level. Both were natural athletes who were handed lacrosse sticks early in high school because of their God-given ability. A few years into their lacrosse careers, both had the idea of popularizing the sport among inner city youth. But the cross-town high school rivals, Simmons of Baltimore City College and Peete of Walbrook, never got along.

Kevin Plank can't help himself. The Under Armour CEO might know, in his heart of hearts, that his horse is a long shot against the world's finest 3-year-old thoroughbreds. His farm manager, Tom Mullikin, describes the dark bay colt as more "grinder" than star. But Plank's own rise, from blindly ambitious college kid to billionaire apparel mogul, is an underdog tale. So he can't help but play Joe Namath and talk big about his colt's chances in the 137th Preakness Stakes. "Tommy, did you guarantee on Tiger Walk?"

Why doesn't someone do a story on the rising costs of a college education? The starting salary in my first job has increased about six times - $675 a month to $4,200 a month - since 1969. Meanwhile, the price of gas has gone up 12 times ($.30 to $3.60). But the price of my alma mater, Loyola University, has gone up 60 times since then - $850 to around $50,000 a year today. I am pretty sure this increase is similar to other colleges around the country except at state-supported schools like the University of Maryland, which benefit from taxes that make up the difference.

The Columbia Association Teen Advisory Committee and Howard County Library will sponsor a college fair from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. April 13 at Centennial High School, 4300 Centennial Lane in Ellicott City. Representatives from more than 80 schools will be present. The event is free. For more information, call 410-715-5523.

In his op-ed ( "Cooling out poor, minority kids in community college," May 9), Fred Millar has insulted the success by every student of any color who has attended and graduated from a community college. Despite being an "educational sociologist," Mr. Millar also perpetuates the myth that grades should not matter for eligibility to either 2- or 4-year colleges. While discussing the quality of remedial courses for those in both institutions, Mr. Millar never mentions why remedial courses are necessary in the first place.

The op-ed piece by Janet Gilbert about a college her son visited 500 miles away drew my attention ("The college we visited was might nice … and mighty white," June 16). Her position of not being a racist by rejecting a school for being too white makes her a racist by definition. If she truly wants her son to be in a more diverse community, why is she living in Woodstock and working in Baltimore? I am sure many city high schools are less white than the Woodstock school. I know Douglass, Walbrook, or perhaps Dunbar high schools would give her son a great education with diversity.

Bright and motivated college-bound immigrants will do Maryland proud ("A flawed compromise," March 8). These young people came here as children, are fully assimilated into American culture and want to be contributing members. We are lucky to have them working for our future. The Central Americans come from countries torn apart by wars paid for by the United States. Paltry aid for rebuilding is nothing in comparison to what we spent to damage Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. These countries are still recovering from the murder and destruction we rained on them.

Your editorial "A flawed compromise" (March 8) argued that children of illegal immigrants should be allowed to pay the reduced in-state tuition at Maryland public colleges and universities. However, since these people should be deported to their native countries, why should the citizens of Maryland subsidize their educations? Do we wish to spend our money to enhance the value of people that we should be deporting, so that they can do better when they return to their native countries?

After putting off finishing her college degree for more than two decades, Elizabeth Smith this year needed just one more class — an algebra course — to earn her bachelor's degree in theater arts. The full-time worker and single mother of two didn't have time or money to spare, so she signed up for a course offered by Baltimore-based StraighterLine Inc. She finished the course in seven days over the summer, working on her laptop as her kids frolicked in a pool. And the course cost only $138 — a fraction of the price for a similar course at a four-year or community college.

Kathryn Manion was "at a loss for words" Tuesday night — shortly after being honored for her way with them. At a private club in New York, Manion, 22, was named the 2012 winner of Washington College's Sophie Kerr Prize, which at more than $58,000 this year is considered the most lucrative undergraduate literary award in the country. The senior English major, a Clarksville native and graduate of Notre Dame Prep in Towson, said late Tuesday that her win was still sinking in, but that she was honored.

Former Ravens offensive lineman Jonathan Ogden is considered a strong candidate to be part of the 2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame class. But before that, Ogden learned that he'll be enshrined into another Hall of Fame. The former UCLA star was one of 14 players to be selected for the College Hall of Fame. He'll be inducted in September. Ogden was a four-year starter at left tackle for the Bruins. In his final season at UCLA, Ogden was awarded the Outland Trophy, given to college football's top lineman, and named a unanimous first-team All-American.  He was then drafted by the Ravens with the fourth overall pick in the 1996 draft.

They're facing high unemployment, depressed wages and loads of debt — and they're only in their 20s. Welcome to life after college. Though the labor market is recovering slowly, graduates this spring have only slightly better chances of landing jobs than grads did in the depths of the recession, experts say. Over the last year, unemployment has averaged 9.4 percent for college graduates under age 25. Meanwhile, researchers at the Washington-based Economic...

When Mark Chewning was a kid, he dreamed of being an artist. But at some point, the Baltimore resident's dream became all but dormant, giving way to about 27 years in the photograph-retouching business and a stint as supermarket deli clerk, as well as marriage, parenting, unemployment, divorce and self-doubt. Last week, Chewning, 54, was honored as the Student of the Year at Howard Community College. The single parent says his dream of becoming an artist will probably never come to fruition.

The Howard Community College track program competed at the NJCAA National D-III Track and Field Championships last weekend at Alfred State College in New York. The men placed fourth out of 20 teams entered; the women were 13th. This was the strongest showing of the programs in their history. Calder Walker led the team with two first-place finishes. Walker won the 200 meters in 22.07 and the 400 meters (48.07). He was one of two double winners for the meet and he earned All-American status for each event.

The 2012 college football season is still months away, but those who oversee its coverage at The Sporting News did their best this week to turn some of the attention away from the NFL's concussion controversy, the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs, the NBA's latest playoff injury and Josh Hamilton's home run derby at Camden Yards. Ranking the 125 coaches of Football Bowl Subdivision teams was a pretty ambitious undertaking , and I'm sure it will cause quite a bit of chatter in places like Tuscaloosa, Ala., where Nick Saban was ranked at the top as well as other college towns where the folks are still dissecting spring practice and recruiting classes.

Regina Friend will don her son's ceremonial cap Thursday morning and take footsteps that were supposed to be his. The mere idea of those steps gives her chills, but she will take them. Her only child worked 41/2 years to earn a diploma from Temple University, and she will collect it, proud as any other parent in the room. "He's not here to accept it," the Cockeysville resident said. "So as his mother, and I'm still his mother, I need to get it for him. " Last August, Roswell Friend — Dulaney High graduate, college athlete, selfless friend, soon-to-be Temple alum — went for a run over a Philadelphia bridge and never came back.

The Goucher men's lacrosse team has usually relied on Rory Averett to score goals and Connor Mishaw to prevent them. That formula again proved effective in Wednesday afternoon's NCAA Division III tournament first-round game at Washington College. The Gophers got four goals from Averett and 15 saves from Mishaw to outlast the Shoremen, 5-4, before an announced 850 at Roy Kirby Jr. Stadium. Goucher, ranked 10th in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, improved to 18-1, extended its winning streak to 15 and will meet No. 1 seed Salisbury (19-0)