In the early years, the loan program let ambitious teens take on a small debt that could pay off with a lifetime of higher earnings. Now, the $1 trillion in outstanding student debt has become a drag on the economic recovery, a flashpoint in the presidential election and a threat to the egalitarian ideals of U.S. higher education. more

“Cybersecurity,” “medical research” and “laboratory technician” are all terms commonly floated these days when lawmakers, educators and civic leaders talk about how to address the state’s mismatched workforce. more

PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Rhode Island a $4 million grant to develop a comprehensive data system on students from prekindergarten through elementary and secondary education, higher education and the workforce. more

NEWPORT – Salve Regina University will offer free courses to 25 Rhode Island residents who enroll as first-time applicants in an undergraduate continuing education program at the school’s new Center for Adult Education in Warwick. more

PROVIDENCE – A five-year, $8.5 million National Institutes of Health grant will continue support for the Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) through The Miriam Hospital, its primary contracting institution. more

EAST GREENWICH – The New England Institute of Technology announced last month that it has received a one-year grant for nearly $120,000 for faculty development, from the Davis Educational Foundation. more

DARTMOUTH – University of Massachusetts Dartmouth faculty members are among those within the school whose creative-economy projects will benefit from $259,300 in grants from the President’s Creative Economy Initiative Fund announced last month. more

Cari P. Orsi LEED AP-project engineer for Pare Corp., was recently named 2012 Young Engineer of the Year by the Rhode Island Society of Professional Engineers for her achievements in education, employment and professional and public-service activities. Since joining Pare in 2004, Orsi has received her master’s degree in engineering and construction-project management, become a LEED-accredited professional and served as a board member and the first female president of the Providence Engineering Society. more

When Bob Beagle, recently retired vice president for university advancement at the University of Rhode Island, came to the school in the early 1990s, the national banking crisis had left the state in fiscal disarray. more

Boy Scouts get ready to canoe at Three Point Waterfront at Camp Yawgoog. The Hopkinton camp welcomed Boy Scouts for the 97th consecutive season on July 1. The 1,800-acre reservation serves more than 6,400 Scouts during the summer from as far as Germany. Yawgoog is the country’s third-oldest Boy Scout camp and is operated by the Narragansett Council, Boy Scouts of America. This year, the camp will be open for eight weeks, until Aug. 26. more