David Lazarus of the Los Angeles Times answers caller questions on personal finance, along with CBS MoneyWatch.com editor-at-large Jill Schlesinger.

The beginning of the new semester means that many students receiving financial aid can look forward to large "refund" checks from their grants or loans.

More college students are living large with gourmet cafeterias and state-of-the-art gyms — but that's not what's driving up college costs.

More upper-middle-class families are borrowing for college so their children can attend high-tuition prestige schools.

The Wall Street Journal finds that upper-middle-income households with annual incomes between $94,000 and $200,000 are finding it more expensive to pay for college.

Senator Tom Harkin is out today with a scathing report on for-profit colleges. The report says taxpayers spend billions of dollars a year on those schools. But students often leave deep in debt.

How much do all those campus luxuries push up tuition and fees?

But these still won't compete with the brick-and-mortar institutions.

A new survey reveals that families are increasingly eliminating certain colleges based on cost, and students are taking on more of the burden themselves as parents' share declines.

There's been talk of a nurse shortage for years, but why are many nursing grads still struggling to find a job?