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Author: Anthony Adragna

Dartmouth to eliminate loans, aid packages

Following similar decisions by Harvard University and Yale University, Dartmouth University has decided to waive tuition for students whose families make under $75,000 annually.

As part of the plan, the University will eliminate loans and aid packages in favor of using grants for these students. Those in the same financial category may also receive scholarships for room and board and similar fees.

''Dartmouth's enhanced financial aid program will ensure that all our students are better able to take full advantage of the Dartmouth experience,'' President James Wright said in the statement.

The school spends over $61 million a year on financial aid, an increase from $24.5 million ten years ago. Dartmouth is in the midst of a $1.3 billion fundraising campaign with over $150 million earmarked for financial aid.
- Dartmouth Public Affairs


Rowling to headline Harvard graduation

Harvard University has named "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling commencement speaker for this year's graduating class.

Translated into 65 languages with more than 375 million copies sold, Rowling's books have been some of the most popular creations ever. The fantasy stories are set in the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Rowling, 42, has a fortune valued at $1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

"Perhaps no one in our time has done more than J.K. Rowling to inspire young people to experience the excitement and sheer joy of reading,'' said Drew Faust, the president of the university, in a statement. "Harvard isn't exactly Hogwarts, but I am sure that her visit with us next June will be a moment of magic for J.K. Rowling's many admirers across the university.''

Past Harvard speakers include Microsoft founder Bill Gates, former President Bill Clinton. former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Albert Gore, Jr. when he was vice president. John F. Kennedy, then a U.S. Senator, spoke at the 1956 graduation.

Last summer, Harvard Square was transformed into Hogwarts Square to usher in the seventh and final installment of Rowling's Potter books, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
- www.foxnews.com


Swedish University to study cow burping

The Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala has elected to use a grant to study a phenomenon that has never been studied before: bovine burping.

The university has been awarded over $560,000 to study the cows. They will be fed a more varied diet in hopes of producing fewer harmful gases. The study aims to determine a more environmentally beneficial diet for cows.

Project leader Jan Bertilsson told reporters that cows release over 95 percent of the methane gas they do from their mouths. Twenty cows will take part in the study and will have the methane they release continually measured through a special collar.

Funding for the project comes from Formas, the Swedish Research Council for Environment.
- www.foxnews.com