» Joanne Lui

Between ever-increasing tuition fees, new textbooks for the spring semester, rent and record-high gas prices, paying for prescription drugs can seem impossible for a sick college student with a part-time job.

It’s that time of year again: traffic at River Park is gridlocked as thousands of shoppers scramble to get the latest cell phones and “Guitar Hero III,” accumulating hundreds in credit card debt in the process.

There is a structure-damaging earthquake scheduled to happen on Fresno State’s campus early next year.

Students and their technology are a common sight on campus.

THEY’RE AT IT AGAIN.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at my desk in The Collegian’s office when I noticed a CNN story on the TV behind me about a photograph showing presidential hopeful Barack Obama with his hands at his sides as those around him held their hands over their hearts.

Student choreographers Kensington Stettler and Anthony De La Paz tested lighting cues and directed dancers with the ease of professionals as they rehearsed their respective pieces for the theatre arts department’s show, “Emerging Choreographers 2007.”

The IV machine hooked up to 6-year-old Kailou Lopez beeped insistently, signaling that it was running low on battery, but Kailou didn’t notice since he was busy decorating his water rocket with a marker.

There is a drawer in the Fresno State bowling alley for abandoned items. Sunglasses. Cell phones. A mess of laptop power cords. A small metal square shaped like a tiki head.

The bowling alley is one of many popular places on campus where students hang out. Sometimes their stuff continues to hang out long after the students themselves are gone.

The years directly following college are often the time when a graduate settles down, gets a job and buys that first new car or house. But some are discovering after being denied for a loan, that debts racked up by a stranger have ruined their credit.