Each year, Coldwell Banker ranks the affordability of towns that have major colleges.
Stanford University and the University of Akron are each frontrunners on different spectrums of the home price ranking, holding titles of the most expensive and most affordable college towns, respectively. An average home in Palo Alto, Calif., costs approximately $1.74 million while the same home in Akron, Ohio averages at $135,780 – a $1.6 million price difference.
Interesting, but not surprising. Schools like Boston College, University of Miami, and UCLA are located in expensive cities, while schools like the University of Akron are not. But how does State …

Congratulations to the 2008-09 Big Ten Rhodes Scholars

Mr. Abdulrahman M. El-Sayed (Michigan)
Ms. Anna Yermakova (Northwestern)
Ms. Ashley L. Nord (Minnesota)
Ms. Mallory A. Dwinal (Northwestern)

Highlights of their bios after the jump. Find out more information about Rhodes Scholars here. All information taken from Rhodes Trust press releases.

Sometimes the grey lady can be so cruel. In a recent article, based upon the Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual survey of college President compensation levels, the author neglected to mention that our own President Spanier recently announced a commitment to donate $700,000 to Penn State. The story was reported on Penn State Live and on Onward State.
The NYT article did mention that Amy Gutmann, the President of the University of Pennsylvania, donated $100,000 this fall. IvyGate reported Gutmann’s donation, as it should being a blog that focuses on the Ivies. But when our President totes outdid her, why’d we …

Tussey Mountain opened today, it’s earliest opening in 10 years, says the Centre Daily Times. I guess they haven’t heard about global warming yet. Or I just don’t understand it.
“Well we started making snow last weekend and that was the earliest we’ve made snow in 10 years,” said Aaron Weyman, director of sales for the ticket office at Tussey Mountain Ski Lodge. “And we got some from the sky,” Weyman said. “So, we made the decision to open.”
Tussey’s website says that it will be open next weeekend from 9:00 to 5:00. Other than Tussey, the nearest mountain is Ski Roundtop, …

Just in time for the Holiday season, Masik, a company based in Harrisburg has filled a gap in the Penn
State merchandise market. Haven’t you always wanted to smell like State College? I know I have. Only, I imagined it would smell something like hot pizza and stale beer. Masik has a different olfactoric vision.
Their Penn State cologne was, “inspired by the Iconic Blue and White, the Grace of Old Main and the Loyalty of the Nittany Lion. Classic, Elegant and Passionate.”
The description of the cologne, and perfume, is inside.

As campus becomes populated again, the tail tale of the Lion mascot who got a DUI will surely spread. It’s a safe bet that this story will be in the Collegian on Monday.
But is this the first time that we’ve had a flighty feline? A quick search of the archives says no. In the process, we also found out the true origin of the Lion.
In this front page story from April 12, 1979, a Collegian reporter named Bob Carville did some “gonzo” journalism to understand the path one must take to become the Lion. In the article, the reporter uses …

As the first of what we hope will be a recurring feature on Onward State, we’d like to present the first mention of Joe Paterno in the New York Times. The article was published on November 7, 1943, and the headline was
POLY ELEVEN BOWS TO BROOKLYN PREP
Loses 13-0 Game to Brooklyn Foe for First Defeat in Series Since 1936
Find out how Paterno played after the jump.

James D. Sheep (‘09), Nittany Lion extraordinaire, has been charged with Driving Under the Influence. The very unmascotlike charges are the result of an incident on Curtin Rd. last Saturday. Sheep’s future as the Nittany Lion is currently up in the air. The Collegian, who initially printed the article, were unable to contact the head cheerleading coach, the one responsible for deciding Sheep’s status. Also, Judicial Affairs has yet to weigh in on Sheep’s punishment. Unfortunately, with the Rose Bowl looming, Sheep might not be punching a ticket to Pasadena. More on this story as the details become clear.

My travels back to Philadelphia and then to New Jersey have made me realize a few things that I’m thankful for at good old State:

The water pressure in Simmons. Truly, it’s like a little slice of heaven. I went back into my bathroom at home and wished I could teleport to the dorm shower, even if I had to wear flip-flops.

Redifer’s Hot Steel & Noodles. I love Philly’s Yang Ming, but this gracious staff makes me a gluten-free stir-fry every day for dinner and I can’t wait to get back.

The sprawling campus. If you had asked me how I liked …

Penn State Live is reporting that the 1st Thirty series (can we even call it a series?) will be shown on the Big Ten network in early December. Wondering what 1st Thirty is?
“1st Thirty” is the true story of four strangers, living together by chance, who have their life videotaped. A student camera crew from Penn State’s College of Communications worked with an outside multimedia production company to record about 85 hours of real-time events of four women students, identified only by their first names.
If you can’t wait for the Big Ten debut at 5:00 pm on December 5, you …

The Onward State team would like to wish you and yours a happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the food and family. We might put a few things up today, but we’ll definitely be back tomorrow.

Well, Thanksgiving is upon us, and Penn State Athletics have much to be thankful for.
Football: Big Ten Champions! Headed to the Rose Bowl to play against the champion of the Pac-10 (Hopefully not against Oregon St. Wouldn’t that be boring?)
Women’s Volleyball: Big Ten Champions! Undefeated. Have not dropped a set. Own the longest win streak in the history of NCAA Women’s Volleyball at 56 matches. The NCAA Tournament starts December 8th.
Men’s Basketball: 5-0. Off to a good start. Next game is Friday against Rhode Island in Philadelphia.
Women’s Basketball: 4-1. Next game is Friday in Malibu against Texas A&M.
So eat your …

Did you know that President Spanier has a blog? He keeps it on the Chronicle of Higher Education website.
We’d like to post two lists from his blog that are quite interesting. He asked one of the on-campus convenience store managers to provide him with the the top ten best selling non-drink items and the top ten best selling drinks. What follows is quoted from his blog.
First (drum roll, please), the top 10 non-drink convenience items:
1. Dannon Light & Fit Strawberry Yogurt
2. Bagel Bites 3 Cheese
3. Stouffers Mac & Cheese meal
4. Bagel Bites Pepperoni
5. Dannon Light & Fit Raspberry Yogurt
6. Nutrigrain …

Wow! Sometimes our tips are just great. For instance, we just got a tip from Brittany on Twitter telling us about the Penn State Basketball Team’s edition of Pimp My Room. (And the girl who got her room pimped is in my seminar! score!) It gets a little cheesy at times, but it is enjoyable.

This fall, as we were planning the launch of Onward State, we did a thorough investigation of the other blogs in, well, the Penn State blogosphere. We thought that you might like to see what else is out there. We’re going to do half of the blogs today, and the other half hopefully tomorrow.
Penn State Live is the University’s Official News Source. Most of the articles on the site are press releaases, but they do some cool multimedia things like this video about Paternoville. It also uses Twitter!
There are three more blogs after the jump.