While hundreds of thousands of new graduates face a hobbling economy, they do so with extra burden of mounting debt. It's estimated that more than $1 trillion in student debt is shackled to new grads and current students.

According to this morning's New York Times, 94 percent of students who earn a bachelor's degree borrow to pay for higher education - up from 45 percent in 1993. For all borrowers, the average debt in 2011 was $23,300, with 10 pecent owing more than $54,000 and 3 percent more than $100,000, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

According to data compiled by the Institute for College Access and Success:

At Boise State, the average student loan debt of more than half of the school's graduates in 2010 was $23,594.

At the University of Idaho, the average student loan debt of more than than half of the school's graduates in 2010 was $24,396.

The latest ranking by U.S. News and World report put a north Idaho charter academy at the head of the Idaho class, with schools in Boise, Caldwell and Eagle high on the list.

Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy was ranked as the best high school in Idaho by the magazine, with Boise High School ranking second, Timberline High ranking third and Eagle High, Borah High and Thomas Jefferson Charter School coming in fourth, fifth and sixth.

U.S. News and World Report ranks schools based on student/teacher ratios, preparing students for college, and math and English proficiencies.

Ten more Treasure Valley schools were also recognized, but not ranked numerically:

-in Homedale: Homedale High School
-in Meridian: Meridian Medical Arts Charter School, Meridian Technical Charter School, Renaissance High School
-in Nampa: Idaho Arts Charter School, Liberty Charter School, Victory Charter School
-in Parma: Parma High School
-in Wilder: Wilder High School

The Princeton Review - one of the nation's most-popular test prep organizations - is being accused of taking millions of dollars to tutor poor children, but never actually tutoring them.

The United States and New York State are suing the Princeton Review in Federal Court for fraud. Prosecutors said that the company took millions of dollars of federal money to tutor underprivileged children, but instead of actually tutoring the kids, prosecutors said the company just pocketed the money.

Princeton Review took $35-$75 per student in its contract with the New York City Department of Education to tutor poor children after school. But according to the lawsuit, Princeton Review began billing the city for students who never actually showed up for class. In one instance, Princeton Review billed the city for tutoring 74 students on New Year's Day, when schools were dark.

The White House said today that more than 48,000 Idahoans are at risk of having the interest on their student loans double on Sunday, July 1, unless Congress intervenes. Nationwide, more than 7 million students could see the rates on their federal loans double. The White House estimated that the average college student's loan debt is $25,000, while tuition continues to rise.

Last week, the Idaho State Board of Education approved across-the-board increases for each of Idaho's four-year public colleges and universities—including a 5.7 percent jump at Boise State and a 6.1 percent increase at the University of Idaho—for the 2012-2013 academic year.

The cost to attend college—including tuition, books, room, board and transportation—has increased 50 percent in Idaho from 2003 to 2011.

The White House estimated today that there are 48,212 student loan borrowers in Idaho. According to a White House spokesman, an average Idaho borrower could save $969 over the life of a student loan if Congress is able to curb the interest rate increase. The estimated total savings across the state, according to the White House, would be more than $46 million.

The Boise Independent School District confirmed late Friday that an East Junior High student had been suspended following charges that he had created a so-called "hit list," with the names of approximately 70 students and 10 others, including some celebrities.

The boy has been suspended for five days after Boise Police determined that the student would not carry out his threats.

School officials notified parents or guardians of students, all attending East Junior High, that were on the hit list. Additionally, parents were notifed that the accused student had been suspended for five days.

The East Junior High School website's homepage cautions students about starting or spreading rumors:

"Before asking ANYONE a question or making any comments to others, please think to yourself:
Is it True?
Is it Kind?
Is it Necessary?
If you monitor yourself, others will follow. Please be a positive role model, rather than one who thinks it is cool to put others down. It is never ok to be mean."

One by one, the leaders of Idaho's state colleges and universities sat before the State Board of Education Wednesday, hat in hand. And, one by one, the college officials got what they wanted - increases in tuition and fees for the 2012-2013 school year.

The University of Idaho was granted a 6.1 percent increase, bringing annual tuition and fees for a full-time student who is a resident to $6,212. Nonresidents will have to pay $12,788.

Boise State tuition and fees were allowed to bump up 5.7 percent to $5,884 for a full-time student who is a resident. Nonresidents will have to pay $11,440.

Boise State also outlined how it was dramatically changing its academic standards to "control costs," including:
-Decreasing credits to graduate from 128 down to 120, effective fall 2012. The university is expected to reduce the number of seats in courses as a result.
-Restructuring class schedules into 75-minute blocks instead of a mix of 50- and 75-minute blocks, effective fall 2012. The university will increase the number of two-day-a-week courses, enabling more students to attend only two days a week.
-Implementing an online course-evaluation system, expected to save funds on copying and distributing paper evaluations.

Earlier today, Boise President Dr. Bob Kustra blogged about his dialogue with the state board yesterday regarding the future focus of the university:

"The frustrations I heard expressed by the State Board yesterday are hardly new to me," wrote Kustra. " People outside of higher education simply do not understand why it is the last sector of the economy standing that is impervious to systemic change and improvement. Times like these require new thinking about how we teach and how our students can learn. It is time to roll up our sleeves and get it done. If we fail, it will not be a pretty picture when Governors and state legislatures step in with harsher solutions than the ones I firmly believe we in higher education are capable of producing."

When the Idaho State Board of Education convenes later today in Moscow, it will once again consider increasing tuition and fees at the Gem State's public colleges and universities.

Full-time resident fee increases being recommended by college presidents for the 2012-2013 academic year are:
Boise State - $5,884, a 5.7 percent increase
University of Idaho - $6,212, a 6.1 percent increase
Idaho State University - $6,070, a 4.7 percent increase
Lewis-Clark State College - $5,562, a 4 percent increase
Eastern Idaho Technical College - $2,022, a 4.7 percent increase

According to the State Board, the average cost to attend Idaho's four-year institutions has grown from $11,787 in 2003 to $17,623 in 2011, or 50 percent, while the idaho per capita income has increased from $26,035 to $31,962, or 23 percent.

Here are the 2003-2011 increases in the cost to attend college:
Tuition and Fees - 76 percent
Books and supplies - 18 percent
Room and board - 46 percent
Personal and transportation - 41 percent
Total cost to attend - 50 percent

Thousands of Idaho children are woefully behind when they start kindergarten each year, according to a new report, primarily because of the state's lack of funding for pre-K programs. The survey by the National Institute of Early Education Research said Idaho's lack of a state-run program for pre-kindergarten puts Idaho's youth at an educational disadvantage compared to their peers in other states. The report's chapter on Idaho is brief but stark. The words "NO PROGRAM" fill almost the the entire page.

Idaho is one of only 11 states without a state-funded preschool program. Additionally, Idaho children have no requirement to attend a preschool or even kindergarten. The state currently funds half-day kindergarten programs and gives local school districts the option to fund full-day programs. Districts are required to offer preschool programs for children with special needs.

The College Board has unveiled new security procedures that should make it harder to cheat on SAT or ACT college entrance exams.

Beginning this fall, students will be required to upload a photograph when they register for the exams. If they don't have access to a scanner, they must mail a photo to the testing agency. The photo will then be printed on an admission "ticket" into a testing site. The photo will also accompany the scores when they are reported to high schools and colleges.

College Board officials said that test centers will also check student IDs more frequently - when students first report to the test site, whenever they re-enter the room after breaks, when answer sheets are collected and during random spot checks.

High-profile cheating scandals in Long Island, N.Y., last fall drew attention to the weak security measures around the SATs. In the scandal, 20 students were arrested for either impersonating a student and taking the test for them or paying someone to take it for them. Some of the stand-ins earned as much as $3,500 for their test-taking efforts.

There are people with good memories; even fewer with great memories. And then there is 28-year-old Nelson Dellis of Miami, Fla. For the second straight year, he has won the USA Memory Championship, a competition, now in its 15th year, to promote the capabilities of the human brain.

Dellis says he has no special or photograhic memory and claims he misplaces his keys or forgets whether he's showered. But he broke a world record this weekend by memorizing 330 random numbers in five minutes. The previous record was 248 numbers.

Among the other challenges: competitors had to recall 99 names and faces, a 50-line unpublished poem and 200 random words.

Dellis, a University of Miami physics graduate with a 3.9 GPA, said his good grades were more of a product of hard work than natural brilliance. He says he likes to utilize his notoriety to call attention to Alzheimer's disease, which claimed his grandmother as a victim.