Zoe Tillman

My application essay to Penn included the line "I live and breathe this Philadelphia freedom," from the Elton John song appropriately titled, "Philadelphia Freedom." This was something of a lie. As a native of Washington, D.C., I often passed the city on the Amtrak train to New York or Boston, and took class trips to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

There are few who doubt that a new South Street Bridge is needed, and fast. From the cracked pavement to the corroded metal, everything about this 85-year-old structure demands renovation. In certain areas, the metal has worn away so much that pedestrians are given an unintended look at the Schuylkill River below.

Engineering junior Peter Beltramo couldn't help but look up and stare as he walked down Walnut Street last week. He walks this way often and has observed Penn's newest off-campus housing option, The Radian, take shape from the start. But while Beltramo says he has enjoyed watching the construction, he doesn't like what he sees.

King's College in London charged international students studying English a tuition of $9,400 to study there in the fall. According to Penn estimates, students paid an additional $8,285 for room, board, travel and other costs. But a Penn student at King's paid $25,831 to be there, not $17,685.

In the latest stage of an ongoing investigation into the study abroad industry, several colleges, including Harvard, Columbia and Brown Universities, have been subpoenaed for information. After striking big last year with his investigations into the student loan industry, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo turned his sights on study abroad.

At small liberal arts schools vying for the attention of top students, announcements of sweeping financial aid reform at Harvard, Penn and other schools mean trouble. Like most colleges and universities, academically-renowned liberal arts schools do not have billion-dollar budgets.

Don't be put off by the seemingly French name - Le Castagne offers Old World Italian with a modern and almost distinctly Philadelphian taste. Located on an otherwise-quiet block at 19th and Chestnut streets - castagne means chestnut in Italian - the restaurant greets you with pleasant lighting and a friendly seating hostess.

Unlike more recent campaigns to reduce crime on campus, the Nuisance Alarm Reduction Team prefers to keep a low profile. Their goal: Stop falsely triggered alarms from disrupting the academic lives of students throughout campus. And with the recent increase in the sophistication and number of alarm systems across campus, University officials say NART's job is more necessary now than ever.

When 1996 Penn alumnus Peter Kuperman decided to throw financial support at Penn, he knew exactly how to gauge support for his philanthropic impulse. Facebook.com.

Nicknamed "Willing and Able" in his senior-class yearbook for the Penn School of Design, Julian Abele - pronounced "able" - was an overachiever. When he graduated from the School in 1902, Abele was president of the Penn Architectural Society, the recipient of numerous architectural awards and was poised to join one of Philadelphia's top architectural firms.