Linkpile for Wednesday, November 20, 2011.

• The song remains the same. "Graduates struggle to repay student loans ," reports a November 25, 2011 Northern Ohio News-Herald article. "The unemployment rate of recent college graduates has increased to 9.1 percent, an all-time high for graduates ages 20 to 24, according to the nonprofit organization Project on Student Debt."
• A November 29, 2011 U.S. News and World Report article instructs higher-ed aspirants on how to "Take First Step to Apply for College Financial Aid." "The bottom line: one of the best ways to cut the cost of college is to complete all the necessary aid forms and to make sure they are accurate and on time."
• Digital distance learning is in demand in SoCal."Online Students Climb at UC San Diego Extension," reports a November 29, 2011 USSDNews.com article. "Overall UC San Diego Extension served a record 56,589 enrollees in 2010-11, which translates to 25,972 students in 4,327 courses. Additionally another 38,141 individuals were trained throughout the western United States by UC San Diego Extension certified instructors."
• Who'd a thunk? A Web of Complexity: The Rich, Full Lives of Online Learners." "Of course, the tremendous benefits of online higher education burn as some many lights under bushel baskets, should their virtues go unsung. Some image perception management is certainly in order. Popular notions of digital distance learning involve images of a lone loser at her computer typing in silence – or amidst the chaos of an unruly domestic scene – as she completes an assignment for an instructor whom she'll never meet. The online learner is believed to be socially isolated, in other words."
• Second life passages: "University turns virtual graduations into a reality," reports a November 29, 2011 article in the Edinburgh Evening News. "The distance learning students received their scrolls as avatars in the virtual world at the same time as the traditional McEwan Hall ceremonies, which are streamed live into the Second Life event."
• "Universities: Overload pay cheaper than hiring more faculty," reports a November 29, 2011 article in The Gazette. "Iowa’s three state universities paid professors a combined $3.4 million in bonuses for teaching beyond their required course loads in the year that ended June 30."
• The 99 percent groans under compound interest "Occupy movement takes on behemoth of student debt," reports a November 30, 2011 article in The Australian. "The campaign proposes that borrowers commit to a debtors' pledge, which obliges them to refuse payments on their student loans once one million people have signed on. Faculty members can participate via pledges of support. The idea is that strength in numbers (people) offsets weakness in numbers (dollars)."