With the Republican National Convention kicking off next week and the Democratic National Convention a week later, Northeastern has launched a free, nonpartisan website, called “U.S. Political Conventions & Campaigns,” designed to help educate voters and keep them informed throughout this year’s presidential race.

Northeastern University has launched a website and an online educational course centered around the upcoming presidential election and political conventions, according to the university.

Ready or not, students are coming back to Boston. The first flood will likely be the class of 2016 — those incoming freshmen with a panicked look in their eyes and a lanyard from their respective school slung around their neck, because they just don’t know how nerdy it looks yet. To help students navigate […]

The current rankings are in the 2013 edition of “The Best 377 Colleges,” which goes on sale Tuesday. There are 62 ranking lists, each based on surveys of 122,000 students during the last school year. Students answered 80 questions about academics, administration, campus life, the student body and themselves.

Since 1992, the Princeton Review has annually ranked “The Best 377 Colleges.” From the “Most Accessible Professors” and “LGBT-Friendly” schools all the way down to the schools with “Lots of Beer” and strained “Town-Gown Relations,” their rankings are designed to help students discover which school might be the best fit for them. So, pull out […]

While the vast majority of baby boomers choose to stay put, some are reversing the urban flight that drained Boston’s population in the last half of the 20th century. Many don’t need the big suburban home once the kids move out. They are tired of shoveling snow and driving to restaurants and shopping malls; some […]

My home state’s largest metropolitan area (1.7 million and counting) has long been saddled with a reputation as the Wonder Bread, vanilla-flavored center of North Carolina. To wit, last year someone launched a Facebook page called “Keep Charlotte Boring,” a play on the “Keep Austin Weird” slogan. And just as Austin has become more mainstream, […]

Many colleges in the Boston area and beyond are boosting financial aid this fall to help offset rising ­tuition costs, building on efforts that have accelerated since the recession amid sharp criticism of spiraling ­tuition and fees and crushing student debt.

BATON ROUGE, La.—Police found Silas Gibbs Jr. early in the morning of March 3, slumped against the seat belt in a red Mustang, with blood streaming from his ears and mouth. He had been shot, allegedly by one of his closest friends. Mr. Gibbs, 24 years old, is one of hundreds of young black men […]

Massachusetts’ unemployment rate ticked up slightly in July as the state’s economy continued to slow last month, adding just 1,600 jobs, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported Thursday. The state’s unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent, from 6 percent in June, the first increase since October 2009. The state jobless rate, […]

Complaining about the moderators of the presidential debates is a time-honored tradition of the election season. Usually, the complaints wait until the moderators have actually asked a question. Not this year. Monday’s announcement of this fall’s moderators — Jim Lehrer and Bob Schieffer will preside over two presidential debates; CNN’s Candy Crowley over a third, […]