The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University both recently announced expanded financial-aid programs for undergraduates, following in the footsteps of many of their peer institutions, including Penn. On March 7, MIT announced that it was eliminating tuition for all students whose families earn less than $75,000 per year.

A program still in its infancy, the Penn women's golf team has yet to win an Ivy League title. But coach Francis Vaughn says his players have their eyes set on doing exactly that this season. If the Quakers are going to show such a dramatic improvement from last fall - when they never finished higher than sixth - they will have to do it with a young and shorthanded roster.

Changing demographics in the near future may result in a decrease in the number of students applying to colleges nationwide. However, this may not necessarily translate into a decrease in Penn's application numbers or an increase in the University's acceptance rate.

For more years than any of us have been alive, politicians and political pundits have discounted student voters, arguing that young people just don't turn out at the polls. On the campaign trail and in office, government officials from the White House and Congress have ignored the issues most important to us, assuming that youth voter apathy would preclude them from political punishment.

First-year MBA student Sara Tenenbein hates carrying her purse. "I used to clip things into my bra," she said. And according to research conducted by her Wharton Business Plan Competition team called SCM Inc., a lot of women agree that having to carry something is annoying - especially when taking part in physical activities like dancing at a club.

The Ann Arbor News, a paper with a modest circulation of 50,000, published an ambitious, four-part series this week detailing the dirty administrative tricks that the University of Michigan used to keep its athletes eligible and functioning. A refreshing piece of reporting, the series has since endured the wrath of dozens of angry Wolverine lifers, excusing the inexcusable.

It's time for some truthiness at Penn. Pennsylvania's upcoming primary election is drawing more well-known figures to Philadelphia than just presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama - Stephen Colbert, the host of the Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report," will spend four days filming on campus next month.

On the first day of sales, over 1,115 tickets were purchased for the Spring Fling concert featuring Ludacris and Gym Class Heroes to be held April 11. At its peak, the line stretched from Steinberg-Deitrich Hall to the 38th Street bridge until rain forced the sellers to move inside to the Office of Student Life.

There are some 700 golf courses on the continent of Australia, all of which golftoday.com deems "prestigious" and "picturesque." Meg Bender didn't want to see even one of them. "I've been playing golf since I was five or six," the women's golf team senior said.

Plans are underway for major renovations to the music building near 34th and Walnut streets. The renovations will include the demolition of the building annex, which was built in the 1960s as an addition to the historic 19th century structure. In its place, the School of Arts and Sciences plans to construct a silver-level LEED-certified building.

With Cornell returning nearly every player from this year's undefeated squad, you would have to be crazy not to pick the Big Red to repeat as champions. Call me crazy, or call me partial, but Penn will win the Ivy League next season. The Quakers finished the season with six Ivy League losses; to contend for the title next year, that number will probably have to fall to no more than one.

In the shadow of Independence Hall, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) sought yesterday to free himself from lingering questions over the "complexities of race" in the United States and in his presidential campaign. Obama gave a speech, entitled "A More Perfect Union," at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center on identity politics and racial divisions in America - issues he said "must be addressed.

While some college kids jetted off to Florida or Cancun for spring break, one group of Penn students spent time gutting houses and discussing religion in New Orleans. Last week, 22 students and three facilitators travelled to the site of Hurricane Katrina to be a part of Penn's first-ever student-run interfaith service trip.

It has been a painful month for the men's tennis team - in more ways than one. Not only have the Quakers lost six consecutive matches, they have also suffered a litany of injuries to several top players. The Quakers (7-7), who are hoping to reverse their fortunes and get their season back on track, will travel to Annapolis, Md.

At the U.S. Amateur Championship this past summer, a very familiar face was there to support senior men's golf captain Dean Merrill. And if onlookers couldn't tell golfer from caddy, they couldn't be blamed. That's because Dean's younger brother Ross, a freshman and Penn golf teammate, was the one lugging his bags.

Two weeks ago, Chelsea Clinton came to Penn; when she walked out of the front doors of Houston Hall, hundreds of students and dozens of journalists stood to see her kick off her mom's Pennsylvania campaign. There was tangible energy in the air. Chelsea's event was not a campaign rally but the beginning of a conversation.

Deep within the intimate confines of Kings Court English Dining Hall, chef Deborah Day is busy cooking what may be your next lunch. From chicken pot pie to orzo with red peppers, Day, known as Deb to her friends, loves to cook. And nothing makes her happier than a satisfied student with a full stomach.