March 20, 2008 - MPR’s Kerri Miller interviews multiple education experts on the rise of tuition and how that is also affecting endowments. While college tuition continues to rise, a record 76 colleges and universities have achieved endowments of $1 billion or more. Some members of Congress are putting more scrutiny on those endowments, and asking whether schools should use their endowment money to moderate tuition increases.
April 9, 2008 - MPR’s Art Hughes meets with Spencer Anderson and discusses his business endeavor and how he and his family are paying for his current education at University of Minnesota. Hughes also interviews financial officers for their take on student loans and the economy.
April 17, 2008 - Plans for a light-rail line along University Avenue have made many St. Paul business owners both cautious and curious. Now they're learning that the proposal to link Minneapolis and St. Paul could eat up much more street parking than initially thought. Business owners on the eastern end of the avenue had a number of concerns when they gathered yesterday at an Asian grocery with Central Corridor planners.
May 1, 2008 - May 1st is the traditional decision deadline for high school seniors to make their college decisions. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes talked with students at North High School in Minneapolis about how they made their decisions for college.
May 5, 2008 - MPR’s Dan Olson presents the documentary “From 35th Street to Wall Street: Anatomy of a foreclosure,” which looks at subprime mortgage loans and the impact on individuals finding themselves a part of a foreclosure crisis.
June 27, 2008 - With the Republican National Convention only two months away, the city of St. Paul and local business leaders are scrambling to fill all of those empty downtown storefronts. The city has a downtown building vacancy rate of more than 20 percent, so they're trying to lure merchants from other parts of the city to set up temporary shops along the skyways and ground level storefronts, at least for the week of the convention. The move is partly intended to make the city's core look more alive when the national spotlight shines on St. Paul the first week of September.
July 16, 2008 - MPR's Annie Baxter presents an MPR Special Report titled "Minnesota Slowdown." Baxter looks to when Minnesota economic slowdown actually started, and it’s subesquent impacts to economy.
July 17, 2008 - Midday re-broadcasts a special documentary report on the economic slowdown in Minnesota by MPR reporter Annie Baxter. Following documentary, excerpts from a UBS Forum discussion with some commentary on “economic lookouts,” offering a firsthand perspective of the effects of the slowdown.
August 25, 2008 - MPR’s Elizabeth Baier interviews Augsburg College Student, Juventino Meza, a first generation college student.
September 2, 2008 - College is a job for student, but many also have other part-time or full-time jobs to help pay for tuition. With funding for students their colleges are scarce in difficult financial economies, these side jobs become even more important for keeping students in college.