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• Tuitions and fees for four-year public colleges grew by 72 percent above inflation over the past decade, averaging $8,244 last year, according to the College Board, which represents more than 6,000 schools. Student loan debt in the U.S. has hit $914 billion, with the average borrower owing more than $24,000, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says.
• Democrats are sure to reach for the college vote at the party's national convention in Charlotte, N.C., a week after Obama spoke to students in university towns in Virginia, Colorado and Iowa. Romney was counting on his youngest son, Craig, and the 42-year-old Ryan to court young supporters, campaign officials said.
• In 2008, voters age 18 to 24 sided with Obama over GOP candidate John McCain, 66 percent to 32 percent. A Gallup poll taken in July and August found that same age group preferring Obama over Romney by a strong, but narrower, 56 percent to 36 percent, a margin Republicans would love to erode further.
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• CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Starting Saturday, someone walking through Charlotte's central business district could run afoul of the law by carrying water bottles, hair spray, socks or magic markers under sweeping security rules enacted ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
• It would take a particularly strict reading of the rules for someone to be arrested simply for possessing one of those items, but the possibility exists -- which worries protesters and free speech advocates. They fear authorities could trample on people's constitutional rights in the name of protecting public safety.
• The changes to city ordinances adopted earlier this year for "extraordinary events" ban a long list of actions and items that would otherwise be legal from a more than 100-square-block zone. The area includes spots as much as a mile from the sports venues where the Democratic Party events are to be held.
• The new rules have already been used for events before the convention and will remain on the books after it's over.
• The special rules that went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday could also bar anyone other than government employees from carrying handbags and backpacks or possessing soda cans, drink coolers, scarves, bike helmets, baby strollers or pets not specifically permitted as service animals.
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