CNN recently released a ranking of the most expensive colleges and universities (based on data from the Chronicle of Higher Education) and Georgetown is a very high achiever: according to their data, we’re the second most expensive school in the country this year.

With a total cost of $52,161 for the 2009-10 school year, the only school that Georgetown is cheaper than is Sarah Lawrence College, which clocked in with a total cost of $55,788.  According to CNN, Georgetown’s total cost increased by 2.9 percent from the 2008-09 school year.

Perhaps the most tragic thing about this ranking is that we can no longer point at GW for being so outrageously expensive—they’re a whole two spots and $386 below us this year.

The Chronicle of Higher Education just released its annual list of the top U.S. producers of Fulbright students, and for the second year in a row, Georgetown made the cut!

With 10 current students and four recent alumni winning Fulbright scholarships, Georgetown won a spot on the list of U.S. research universities with the most Fulbright students.  The number of Georgetown-affiliated students winning Fulbrights is a little lower than it was in 2008, when 15 current students and 3 alumni were awarded scholarships.

Things look pretty good, though, when you consider Georgetown’s Fulbright acceptance rate.  With 36 students applying and 10 being granted scholarships, Georgetown’s acceptance rate is 27.8 percent, the 17th highest of the 39 research universities listed.

In love with the “John DeGioia” Twitter account? You’re not alone—the Chronicle of Higher Education is, too!

They just published a story on university presidents with twitter impressionists, based almost entirely on JackDeGioia, the brainchild of Georgetown Heckler Editor (and recent Vox guest poster!) Jack Stuef.

The Twitter account identified as belonging to Georgetown University’s president, John J. DeGioia, features frank admissions about the mundane details of running a modern academic institution. Last week, for instance, the microblogger wrote that his face was tired from all the “fake-smiling” during graduation events. The PR office can’t possibly approve, right?

Right. And neither does Mr. DeGioia. The Twitter account, which points to the president’s real home page, is produced by a prankster.

Usually we’d be psyched about the press, but the article reports something sinister, too:

Georgetown leaders have likewise asked Twitter to remove the fake account for Mr. DeGioia. “We think it violates their terms of service,” said Andy Pino, Georgetown’s director of media relations. “We think the author has not made it explicitly clear that he is not Mr. DeGioia.

Oh, c’mon Georgetown! Where will we get all our insights into DeGioia’s gustatory preferences if you take it down? Where will we get up-to-date information about new working groups? Clearly, this is only a violation of Twitter’s terms of service if they prohibit awesomeness.

A PCC student explains how to make eye babies

I know it’s a bummer when your Thursday night hookup comes to a crashing halt because Mullah Jack doesn’t want condoms sold on campus, but religion could still make your college life a lot worse. How much worse? For that, the Chronicle of Higher Ed journeyed to Pensacola Christian College, a school so conservative it says Bob Jones University is too liberal.

The school’s in the news because one of its alums is involved in the Justice Department hiring scandal. Someone who enforces our laws was subject to some pretty bizarre ones herself, including:

• No talking between men and women outside chaperoned areas
• No inter-sex handshaking
• No movies
• No “optical intercourse” (staring hard at someone). This is, delightfully, called “making eyes babies”.

Students who break those rules are subjected to bizarre punishments, which including not talking to anyone of the opposite sex or not leaving campus for two weeks. The craziest, being shadowed, forces you to live in your RA’s room for a couple days, follow them everywhere, and talk only to them.

Whenever I hear about repressive schools like this, I imagine myself as a sort of Kevin Bacon in Footloose, smuggling in copies of Halo and Harry Potter and teaching the students (and yes, eventually the teachers) how to kick free of their squarish restraints. It’s not worth the effort, though, because the place isn’t even accredited.

Flickr photo from lady_lbrty used under a Creative Commons license . Via Tbogg.