You've been with your firm five years and haven't been promoted in three. It's not the economy. It's not your industry. You've sadly concluded: It's you. Co-workers are skyrocketing. You're landlocked on the same perch.

Colleges are moving to eliminate -- or at least ease -- student debt as pressure builds in Washington for them to spend more from their endowments to help families afford the rising cost of school. This month, Williams College announced that it will eliminate loans from all financial-aid packages beginning next school year and replace them with grants. Amherst College recently announced a similar initiative. And Davidson College in Davidson, N.C., began this fall replacing loans with grants and student employment.

The front-running Democratic presidential candidates are pushing a simple idea they say will make college loans more affordable: cutting out the middlemen. And the middlemen -- primarily, commercial banks and lenders -- are none too pleased. This month, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton issued her plan to make college more affordable through a range of proposals, from creating a new tuition tax credit to simplifying the aid application process. Buried at the bottom of her plan is perhaps the most radical step: A pitch to eliminate the Federal Family Education Loan Program, which gives subsidies to commercial lenders such as Sallie Mae to distribute federal loans to students.

A new federal law increases college financial aid for families who qualify, offers grants to students who plan to teach and helps struggling graduates repay their student loans. Need-based aid. Pell Grants, awarded to students with financial need, climb to a maximum of $5,400 per year over the next five years (the current maximum is $4,310). The interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans (also need-based) drops to 3.4% over the next four years, half the current rate. The rate on unsubsidized Staffords remains at 6.8%.

The average total cost of a private four-year college rose to $32,307 for the current school year, but the rate of increase has slowed compared to public school prices, according to a report released Monday. Excluding room and board costs, average published tuition fees at a private four-year college in 2007-08 climbed 6.3 percent year over year to $23,712, according to the College Board, a non-profit association of more than 5,200 schools, colleges and universities.

Checklist as your teenager heads off to college: Don't forget to: a) pay the tuition; b) have the safe-sex talk; c) have the drinking-and-driving talk; and d) buy your student a house or condo. Pardon the whiplash on that last one, but the fact is, many parents who are financially able to do so are choosing to invest in real estate close to campus for their college-bound offspring. In many cases, it's preferable to shelling out dormitory fees or apartment rent. Statistician Walter Molony of the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, estimates there are about 3 million campus houses and condos in America today, properties that were purchased primarily for the owners' college-bound students. That represents about 8 percent of the nation's 37.4 million investment properties, but excludes 6.8 million vacation homes, which don't tend to be near college campuses.

Taking a road trip home for the holidays this year? Be sure to go easy on the gas pedal, particularly if your travels take you up or down the East Coast. According to stats from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the I-95 corridor between the southeast and New England includes five of the 10 U.S. states carrying the highest fines for speeding--Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and New Hampshire. All hit up speeders for a maximum of $500 or more for a first offense. Judges in Carolina and Georgia, not to mention 16 other states, have the discretion to add jail time.

Shuffling through security in airports is a bigger drag than going to the dentist. After all, you made it to the departures terminal within six or seven minutes of the scheduled take-off time, so why are all these people wearing rubber gloves hassling you? Weary travelers, I hate to break it to you, but you brought much of the misery on yourself. Your MacBook Pro is locked away at the bottom of your Longchamp roller duffel. The Swiss-made manicure set in your purse makes the metal detector go haywire. And your knee-high Sergio Rossi lace-up boots take a lifetime to remove.

Even if you can't afford a luxury car, a look at the ten most expensive options in the industry is halting and raises issues that affect all car buyers. Consider that for the price of some optional extras on this list, you could buy a new Honda or Volkswagen.

If you're in L.A., you see celebrities driving everywhere. While their cars aren't always clean, they're almost always new, with essential accessories like black DUB-rims or DirectTV satellite. Driving through Beverly Hills, you would think the Range Rover was the Volkswagen. The car leads the pack as the preferred armor of the Hollywood brigade, with comfortable leather seats and fluffy suspension that provide both sexy handling and tank-like intimidation. The car has even become a staple for celebrity moms like Courteney Cox and Halle Berry who like its stylish mix of safety and luxury.