NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) – Kathy Frederick always
assumed she would retire from her hospital administration job
when she was around 60.

But as that date neared, she realized she wasn’t ready. She
was healthy, enjoyed the work and liked the paycheck. So she
decided to stick around. Now 65, Frederick works two days a week
on special projects for Scripps Health’s human resources
department in San Diego.

NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Crystal Morello’s family
pleaded for months with their lender for a cheaper mortgage on
their family home in Belleville, Michigan. But time ran out last
summer, and they left before they were evicted.

“The bank was reassuring us that it was helping us out,”
says Morello, 26. “While we were getting a loan modification in
one department, we were getting foreclosed in another.”

By Jilian Mincer and Stephanie Simon

(Reuters) – Even before President Barack Obama announced plans last month to push colleges to improve affordability, a number of schools beat him to the punch by lowering tuition and helping students graduate in fewer semesters.

These schools — typically small private colleges like University of Charleston, Cabrini College and Midland University that lack the cachet of top-tier colleges and compete with less expensive state schools — are bucking the widespread trend of increasing costs. In the last year, a few have cut tuition by as much as 20 percent. Others promise that students will earn their degree in four years or the college will pick up the cost of additional coursework.

NEW YORK, Jan 25 (Reuters) – With worries about the
debt crisis in Europe and high unemployment in the United States
drawing the public’s attention, the sliding value of corporate
pension funds has largely gone unnoticed.

The problem came into stark relief on Wednesday, when Boeing
Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) joined a raft of U.S. companies that have announced
hefty cash injections into underfunded pension plans, including
General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), DuPont (DD.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Alcoa Inc (AA.N: Quote, Profile, Research),
Honeywell International Inc (HON.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Raytheon Co (RTN.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

NEW YORK (Reuters) – With worries about the debt crisis in Europe and high unemployment in the United States drawing the public’s attention, the sliding value of corporate pension funds has largely gone unnoticed.

The problem came into stark relief on Wednesday, when Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) joined a raft of U.S. companies that have announced hefty cash injections into underfunded pension plans, including General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), DuPont (DD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Alcoa Inc (AA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Honeywell International Inc (HON.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Raytheon Co (RTN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than four years after the United States fell into recession, many Americans have resorted to raiding their savings to get them through the stop-start economic recovery.

In an ominous sign for America’s economic growth prospects, workers are paring back contributions to college funds and growing numbers are borrowing from their retirement accounts.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than four years after the United States fell into recession, many Americans have resorted to raiding their savings to get them through the stop-start economic recovery.

In an ominous sign for America’s economic growth prospects, workers are paring back contributions to college funds and growing numbers are borrowing from their retirement accounts.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than four years after the United States fell into recession, many Americans have resorted to raiding their savings to get them through the stop-start economic recovery.

In an ominous sign for America’s economic growth prospects, workers are paring back contributions to college funds and growing numbers are borrowing from their retirement accounts.

By Jessica Toonkel and Jilian Mincer

(Reuters) – Jim and Celeste Durkin thought when they began investing six years ago in Illinois state’s prepaid college savings plan that they were locking in a bargain price if their daughter Caroline, who is now 10, eventually attended the University of Illinois.

That might not be the case. The plan took some risky bets on private equity and hedge funds and is now 30 percent underfunded and temporarily closed to new investments.

CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – On a recent shift at a Chicago emergency department, Dr. William Sullivan treated a newly homeless patient who was threatening to kill himself.

“He had been homeless for about two weeks. He hadn’t showered or eaten a lot. He asked if we had a meal tray,” said Sullivan, a physician at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago and a past president of the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians.