COLLEGES ENLIST IN MILITARY MAKEOVER

Colleges — community colleges in particular — play a vital role in preparing local economies, as well as individuals, for the imminent Base Realignment and Closure Plan, under which military facilities nationwide will be expanded, shuttered, or refigured. Tyrone Powers (above) directs the Homeland Security and Criminal Justice Institute at Anne Arundel Community College, which is expanding the program in concert with the imminent growth of nearby Fort Meade, in Maryland. (Photograph by Jay Premack)

Lawsuit Accuses U. of Phoenix of Protecting Its Default Rate at Students' Expense

Stanford Announces $100-Million Energy-Research Institute

Colleges Play Crucial Role in Military's Restructuring

More Colleges Lock In Energy Rates to Avoid Volatile Markets

• Controversy Over Biomass Plant at Florida State U. Heats Up

University Leaders Discuss Fund Raising in Troubled Times

Updates on Billion-Dollar Campaigns at 33 Universities

College Suspends Retirement Contributions to Deal With Downturn

Moody's Sees Stiff Challenges Ahead for Colleges

Colleges Protect Workers and Cut Elsewhere, Survey Finds

• Survey Results: How Colleges Are Responding to the Recession

CRUNCH TIME ON CAMPUSES: An annual report from Moody's Investors Service says colleges will face a range of difficult challenges in the next year and a half.

FEAR OF COMMITMENT: In a volatile market for energy, colleges have to decide whether, and when, to lock in their prices.

BAD OMEN? In a move seen as a harbinger amid worsening economic conditions, struggling Dana College has stopped making retirement-fund contributions for its employees.

GRIM HORIZON: President Bush's first treasury secretary told a meeting of private-college presidents that the current recession with be both deeper and longer than previous ones.

COLLEGE CHANGES HANDS: A private-equity group has bought Northcentral University, an all-online institution with an enrollment of about 7,500.

TRANSCONTINENTAL JUMP: Drexel University, in Philadelphia, has opened a center for graduate studies in Sacramento, Calif.