College Students

The head of California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health said Monday he will personally oversee a "rigorous and effective" criminal investigation into the Dec. 29 chemistry lab fire that killed a UCLA staff research assistant. Cal/OSHA Chief Len Welsh's pledge came after a civil probe last month resulted in one regulatory and three "serious" violations, and fines totaling $31,875. The family of the research assistant, Sheri Sangji, had criticized the review as inadequate.

Annie Le, whose body was found on the day she planned to wed, was mourned Monday by family members and friends from her hometown in the scenic Sierra Nevada foothills as smart and vibrant, kind and funny. The Yale University graduate student of Vietnamese heritage grew up in a remote, hilly area off a twisting, one-lane gravel road with an aunt and uncle she regarded as parents. Her brother remembered her on Facebook as someone who "left this world doing what she loved." "She may be small, but she be fierce," Chris Le wrote of his 24-year-old sister, who was pursuing a degree in pharmacology.

If you have a child in college -- or one planning to go in the next year -- it's time to go through the onerous process of filing out financial aid applications. The good news is that there is aid available. So if the stock market wrecked your college finance plans, you can apply for a rescue, even for a child who is already in school. The bad news is that the application is a pain. Going too fast or carelessly can cost you.

The number of applicants for both freshman and transfer admission to the University of California for fall 2009 has hit record highs, even as UC prepares to reduce freshman enrollment, officials announced Friday. Applications for freshman admission to at least one UC campus for the fall totaled 98,002, up 2.9% from last year. The number of California residents seeking entrance as freshmen rose 1.6% to 80,730, while out-of-state and international applicants increased 10% to 17,272.

A much-debated plan by the University of California to expand its freshman applicant pool and reduce the tests required for admission won final approval Thursday from the Board of Regents. The new rules, among other changes, mean that applicants will no longer be required to submit scores from two SAT subject exams but as before, must take the main SAT or ACT test, as well as 15 UC-approved college prep courses in high school and keep a minimum 3.0 grade-point average.

A troubled, gun-wielding 23-year-old student at Virginia Tech goes on a campus rampage, killing 32 people and eventually himself. An MIT student commits suicide by ingesting cyanide, and another dies in a fire after a drug overdose. Such highly publicized incidents underscore the sense of personal angst on today's college campuses. But contrary to popular belief, the stress on today's young people has nothing to do with meeting the demands of higher education.

After talking to journalism students at Stony Brook University recently, John Houseman of New York's WPIX-TV left behind 18 new video cameras. Houseman, assistant news director at WPIX, had enlisted students at the Long Island campus as contributors to his news operation with an investment of $119 per camera. He wants the budding journalists -- as well as students at Fordham, Rutgers and New York universities -- to send in material if they see something they believe to be a story.

Empire Building Services owner Suzanne DeRossett still refers to the thick report put together three years ago by a team of student consultants from Cal State Fullerton for her janitorial firm. She paid $1,250 for the semester-long consulting project, which helped her set up a new accounting system, streamline inventory management and create an employee handbook and new performance rewards. The review came at the right time for her Santa Ana company, which was just passing the 50-employee mark.

Six local students were among the first-place winners of the 30th annual College Television Awards, handed out Saturday night by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. Julie Sagalowsky and Josh C. Feldman of UCLA won in the comedy category for "Lucy: A Period Piece," about a teenager aching for puberty, while Daniel M. Harrich of the American Film Institute in L.A. captured top drama honors for "Acholiland," about a United Nations worker in Uganda.