For Wharton freshman Alex Hill, the trek to class every morning takes about an hour - by SEPTA. Hill, who lives in Oxford Circle in Northeast Philadelphia, is one of about 175 Penn freshmen who currently live at home in or around Philadelphia and commute to campus every day, according to director of business services Barbara Lea-Kruger.

Amira Fawcett is an Engineering junior from Houston, TX. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.

The University was awarded its highest credit rating ever by credit rating agency Standard and Poor's last month. S&P; upgraded Penn's credit rating from an AA to AA+, the second highest rating possible, in its annual evaluation. "It reflects favorably on our financial and institutional reputation," Vice President of Finance and Treasury Stephen Golding said.

They say that the best things in life are free. But you don't have to tell the Penn baseball team that. After sweeping Harvard yesterday in a road doubleheader that saw seven errors, three walks and three hit batsmen by the Crimson, it's a truism that the Quakers keenly appreciate.

When the Quakers emerged from the locker room last Thursday and trotted onto Franklin Field for another evening of spring football practice, they did so without their helmets and shoulder pads. The team usually dons those before it hits the turf, even in the spring.

Brown men's basketball coach Craig Robinson is westward bound. According to The Corvallis Gazette-Times, Robinson has accepted the head coaching job at Oregon State, where he will succeed Jay John. John was fired on Jan. 20 after leading the Beavers for five-and-a-half years.

It's been more than three months since this year's first presidential primary - but despite the long, still-contested race for the Democratic nomination, Penn students and political groups are still interested and motivated. Most pundits predicted a quick primary season, expecting the nominations for both parties to be wrapped up after 22 states voted on Super Tuesday.

Twelve Nursing students made Penn more vocal on the national scene at the 56th annual National Student Nurse's Association convention at Grapevine, Texas earlier this month. Nursing freshman G.J. Melendez-Torres became the first Penn student to be elected to the NSNA national board.

Daniel Schwartz is a College sophomore from Decatur, Ga. His e-mail address is schwartz@dailypennsylvanian.com.

How does coconut-braised chicken and a trio of Nutella-filled marshmallows sound for dinner at 1920 Commons? That was on the menu last Friday evening when 30 family members, curious Penn undergrads and law students trying to score points with their professors gathered to witness Penn Law professors duke it out in the third-annual Iron Chef competition.

Against Yale on Friday, the Penn women's tennis team found itself tied 2-2, winning two of the first three singles matches after dropping the all-important doubles point. The Quakers needed to take two of the remaining three matches in order to leave New Haven, Conn.

Rachel Manson and Melissa Lehman may have sore shoulders after yesterday's game against Harvard. Despite a lack of cohesion from the Penn defense, the two attackers carried the Quakers to a 14-10 victory. "Our defense was very undisciplined today," head coach Karin Brower said.

Penn coach Gwen Harris was cheering Shaunee Morgan right to the finish line in the 400-meter run. But with about 10 meters to go, Harris came to her senses. Harris's frantic "Come on!"s and "All right!"s gave way to a calmer "Relax, relax, relax." Relax, Shaunee Morgan.

It's a rough time of the semester - the calm before the storm for procrastinators like me. I still have about 70 pages of papers left before I can burn my Campus Copy bulk packs on Hill Field and perform a celebratory end-of-semester dance. But between now and the day Penn Police pistol-whip a confession out of me for disturbing the peace, I'll face daily existential crises.

Cornita McLeod, an Allied Barton guard who works at the front desk of Steinhardt Hall, watches not only the people who come into the building - but also the bags they leave behind. She says bags are constantly left unattended for hours at a time, a behavior that makes her think "students could be more responsible for their personal belongings.

The Quakers are getting used to playing in close games. They're almost getting too used to it. On Saturday afternoon at Dartmouth, the Red and Blue built up a six-goal lead in the first half, only to see the Big Green torch them for seven of the next eight goals, tying the game at eight and forcing overtime.

San Diego may have been a pleasant respite from the dreary weekend weather in Philadelphia, but men's heavyweight coach Fred Honebein hopes that his team is "pissed off" after its trip out West. The team struggled, finishing 10th overall in the San Diego Crew Classic.