College Recruiting

His times are impressive, but Randall Carroll's timing is even better. He's hitting his stride, well, just in time for the CIF state track and field championships this weekend at Cerritos College. Carroll, a junior at Los Angeles Cathedral who has committed to play football at USC, lowered his state-leading time in the 100 meters last weekend at the Southern Section Masters meet, speeding down the track in a wind-legal 10.47 seconds.

Rueben Martinez is known for his many callings: Barber. Longtime bookstore owner. MacArthur award winner. Speaker at high schools, colleges and universities across the country. Holder of more honorary degrees than he can count. And now Martinez, 68, is a college professor. A presidential fellow, to be exact. Starting next month, Martinez will be responsible for Chapman University's efforts to recruit first-generation students, especially Latinos, into science and math programs.

UCLA said Wednesday that 50,694 students have applied for the fall freshman class, up 7.1% from last year. UCLA officials said the figure appeared to show that the campus, as it has for nearly a decade, had attracted more applications than any other university nationwide.

The excitement and hype that have grown up around college football recruiting nearly killed Tom Lemming the other day. Lemming is one of those recruiting experts whose every word the most-rabid fans devour at this time of year. He was driving through upstate New York to visit a high school prospect when a blizzard trapped him on a rural stretch of road. "I was there 12 hours," he said. "I didn't even have a hat or gloves. I'm thinking this is the end of me."

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed entreaties from the University of Phoenix to throw out a massive suit charging the nation's largest accredited private university with defrauding the government of millions of dollars in federal education loan funds.

A federal judge in Sacramento has rebuffed efforts by the nation's largest for-profit school chain to dismiss a massive fraud case, paving the way for a trial in which the University of Phoenix could be liable for millions of dollars in damages. U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell, in an order released Monday, rejected the university's contention that a $9.8-million settlement it made with the federal government should end the lawsuit.

Fight Heavily Armed Villains. Invent New Snacks. Save the Planet. Agriculture schools in California and throughout the nation are hoping fresh slogans will cultivate interest among high school graduates who don't know wheat from Wheaties. The same universities that a generation ago churned out legions of agriculture professionals today largely struggle to woo students.

As campus administrators worry about how to prevent violence like last spring's Virginia Tech shootings, students applying to college increasingly face queries about their past behavior: Were they ever severely disciplined in high school? Have they been convicted of a crime? Although such questions were added to a widely used college application form months before the massacre at Virginia Tech, admissions officers say that the murders made them more vigilant about students' personal troubles.

The number of high school seniors applying to the University of California rose 8.8% this year, a jump UC officials attributed to better academic preparation and a continuing increase in the college-age population. Overall, 82,841 seniors applied for fall admission, figures released Tuesday show. That included 70,494 applications from Californians, up 7.7% from last fall. International student applications were up 16.1%.

Declaring that the number of African Americans enrolled at California State University campuses is far too low, the system's chancellor and other top officials barnstormed South Los Angeles churches Sunday seeking more students. "I say to you, we have a crisis in education for our children," Herb Carter, a trustee of the California State University system, told the congregation at West Angeles Church of God in Christ. It is time to "try and change it," he said.