Frantic troubleshooting by an overworked staff versus someone else fixing problems smoothly. A sliver of server space per person versus a five-gigabyte chunk. Half a million dollars versus free. That's what colleges are faced with as they decide whether to continue running their own e-mail services or outsource them to a professional service like…

College admissions essay coaches have been hanging out shingles since the early 1990s. The business has grown sharply over the past decade thanks to the ease of editing via the Internet and students' desire to gain any possible edge as many colleges have become more selective. The companies, with names like Cambridge Essay Service, EssayEdge,…

In the world of international education, few subjects are as controversial as the use of paid recruiting agents. Paying the agents, particularly on commission, is often viewed as unseemly, if not downright unethical. But a new organization, the American International Recruitment Council, hopes to change that attitude. The council wants to develop…