None of this should be a surprise. Part of getting treated like an adult means making rational decisions. I'm frustrated by the high price of higher education, but until people start looking at the pricetag and saying "Jeez, no thanks!" then the demand will be there to drive 10% a year price increases. A lot of people have complained to me about their loans, but no one forced them to make that decision. They apparently thought that going to that expensive school was worth the cost. Instead of complaining about having to pay those debts, they should be thanking their stars that they were able to GO to college (many people don't) and have the opportunities that affords. If they spent 80K$ on an English degree, that implies they thought that they could pay it off with whatever job they could get with that degree. If they made a bad decision, why shouldn't they have to undergo the consequences? Sounds like college is teaching them a lesson even after they graduate.

I think they took it literally when NASA said they would "Go to bat" for the space program

This will obviously occur on Jan 19th, 2009 to round out the Bush administration.