Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, and his family met students and Hanover residents at two events hosted by Greek organizations on Tuesday. Perry's son, Griffin Perry, visited Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity on Tuesday afternoon to promote his father's campaign and speak with students. During a brief speech, the governor's son said his father believes that entrepreneurs are the solution to creating jobs, and will "actually do something about this economy." The event, attended by approximately 70 students and community members, was co-hosted by Alpha Xi Delta sorority. Beta Alpha Omega fraternity hosted Rick Perry in a post-debate event on Tuesday event. In a short speech, Perry said strengthening the economy would be his first priority as president and that he would use the country's natural resources to lessen the country's dependence on foreign oil. The audience erupted in applause after Perry promised to generate new jobs in the energy sector, and again after he took a jab at President Barack Obama. Perry wound his way through the crowd of about 100 individuals following his speech, as he shook hands, autographed campaign signs, introduced himself to students and established points of commonality by sharing personal college anecdotes. Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and SAE cosponsored the event.
Nineteen U.S. colleges now charge more than $55,000 in tuition, room and board, according to a recent survey by Campus Grotto, a national college news website. When the site first published its rankings of the most expensive colleges in 2007, only one school George Washington University cost more than $50,000, but this year's list features 111 universities above that benchmark. Although the "sticker price" of many colleges has gone up, the actual cost of a college education has gone down for a large percentage of families, as many colleges now meet a large percent of students' demonstrated financial need, Campus Grotto reported. Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College and New York University topped Campus Grotto's list of most expensive colleges. A large number of the most expensive schools are liberal arts colleges in New York and New England, according to Campus Grotto. This trend suggests that expensive real estate, small class sizes and low teacher to student ratios likely contribute to high college prices, Campus Grotto reported.
