Wednesday Linkpile compiles, for your information and delight, links to noteworthy news articles pertaining to all things online and higher-educational.

• What goes up must come down. At the Moral Liberal blog a recent headline asks, "Will Higher Ed Be the Next Bubble to Burst?" "The cost of attending college has increased 439% since 1982, more than four times the rate of inflation.... Still, students and parents have thus far continued forking over ever-increasing amounts of cash, expecting their investment to pay off in the long-term."
• Funny Money. SmartMoney.com recently listed "5 Weird Ways to Pay for College." "Just how desperate are people getting about saving for college? Last month, an anonymous parent in the Boston area posted an ad on Craigslist offering to sell his body parts to pay for his kids' $200,000 in student loans. 'Use my body for anything legal, or medically experimental,' read the post, which has since been taken down. 'Simply pay off all of my children's loans and you can use me anyway you need.'"
• Dues-paying ... and then some. The Quad (the student newspaper of West Chester University) recently opined that "Student loans become a necessary burden." "The majority of students seem to agree on one thing: although the price of education rises and the total debt follows, the college experience and a university degree are worth it."
• The political Right man the ramparts on behalf of University of Phoenix et al. "Senators Hold Key To Stopping Obama Attack on For-Profit Schools." "According to sources, the 'gainful employment' proposal has been fueled by reports from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) as well as news media that have painted the career university system as predatory. However, many of these reports, including the one from the GAO, were revised after questions were raised about the accuracy of their initial drafts -- and many of these reports fail to provide information about similar tactics and return on investment data for four year schools."
• For more on the feds-versus-for-profits battle see: ""School Rules: Education Department Dispatch Clarifies Gainful Employment Regs for For-Profits." "As more details emerge concerning the Education Department’s plan, for-profit schools are digging in for what is shaping up to be a war of attrition. Whether this war ends in for-profit colleges' defeat, their victory, or a stalemate, time will tell."
• In the fog of the higher-ed war one bright spot stands out. "Commitment to Excellence: WGU An Online Education Game Changer." "WGU has obviously demonstrated to the rest of the industry that profits and principles need not stand at daggers-drawn. Any savvy for-profit college ought to seek ways to tweak its business model to resemble more closely that of WGU. Not only would such an industry-wide shift serve the interests of students, it would make federal legislators’ intervention completely unnecessary."