The news about Obama winning the elections has quickly been replaced with a series of scary headlines:

"Unemployment Rate at 14-Year High After Big October Losses" --NYT

"Wolves at the door: Financial mess and gathering recession dominate Barack Obama's agenda" --Economist

"US Carmakers Said to Seek $50 Billion in US Loans" --Bloomberg

Some polling places ran out of ballots. Others had armed police officers present, a violation of state election rules. Some voters endured hours of waiting, in some places as long as eleven hours, and malfunctioning ballot machines, a few which stubbornly voted for the candidate that the voter did not choose. Pollsworkers ran out of ballots or people who weren't registered by a pollworker voted by sneaking into the voting booth through a side door.

September has been a busy time for young conservative leaders across American campuses. More onslaughts onto the freedoms of college students have been launched in hopes to turn more campuses in a pivotal election year more conservative. Several YP4 bloggers are documenting the damage:

Some would argue that a healthy tension between the student body and a university administration, embodied through an active student union, student government, and campus clubs, is necessary to keep intellectual and political debate rigorous. However, when professors start to pierce that veil of objectivity representing part of the college administration and leave their teaching role to further a political aim, students are done a disservice.

The conservative think tanks and institutions are busily configuring lesson plans, compilations of texts, and other educational materials to make it easier for professors with conservative leanings to pressure students into learning a certain version of events.

I love school. I love my current study abroad program. I love my classes (for the most part). I actually do not mind writing papers.

However, I do mind the cheating.

This includes, but is not limited to, your vanilla, run-of-the-mill copy/pasting, to using siblings papers to using powerpoints your boyfriend made for your presentation.

With so many students in college and the competition stiffer and fiercer than ever. Students have to do every little thing that can possibly make them stand out amongst the others. Thousands are competitng for precious scholarships, fellowships and opportunities to enhance their own well-being. Or some students just don't want to look incapable of handling the work.

The holiday season is here, and you are probably anticipating a much needed break from your academic course load.  I encourage you to not just watch your favorite TV shows or go shopping every single day; instead, start or continue your search for scholarships.

As BionicBoy mentioned, college costs continue to skyrocket, fast outpacing inflation, discouraging graduates from pursuing lower-paying careers in the education and nonprofit sectors, and dissuading many would-be college students from applying.

But there's some hope!

Watch the video and share your tips below

Strapped: Why America's 20 and 30 somethings can't get ahead.

Great book; I read it in about 3 days. And I'd recommend it to anyone, so for this blog post, it is my recommendation to you.

Read a free excerpt over at www.StrappedTheBook.com and then go buy it.