Regarding the budget cuts to the colleges and universities, perhaps its time they tap into their endowments. Pitt has an endowment on the order of $1,600,000,000 (yes, $1.6 billion) and Penn State's is in the same neighborhood (both paltry compared to Harvard's $26B). As a Pitt and CMU alumni, when I receive their annual phone solictation, I ask for an accounting of the endowment's expenditures before I contribute ... I'm still waiting for a response.