Los Angeles Times

• Economy, tuitions prompting students to transfer to closer to home
  A few months ago, Rebecca Gottlieb faced a difficult choice: continue on at her $50,000-a-year private school in Massachusetts, or leave her new friends and life and enroll at a cheaper school near home in Washington.
  Gottlieb, 19, decided to transfer, dumping Tufts University for Western Washington University and joining the growing numbers of college students realizing that attending their dream school was no longer financially sustainable.
  When she starts classes in the fall at Western's campus overlooking Bellingham Bay, Gottlieb will be paying about $15,000 a year and be in the company of plenty of other transfers.
  
  The public college had an unusually large number of transfer applications this year, said Admissions Director Karen Copetas. The school saw a 28.5 percent increase in the number of students who wanted to move from another four-year school.
  

The Bellingham Herald

• Life along the 49th Parallel
  Seattle author Jim Lynch is the guest author at the next Chuckanut Radio Hour, on June 30 at The Leopold's Crystal Ballroom, 1224 Cornwall Ave. Also onstage will be the Gadjo Gypsies and Western Washington University poet Oliver de la Paz. Recording starts at 7 p.m. sharp; doors open at 6:30 p.m.
  

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• WWU gets golf transfer from Wazzu
  Xavier Dailly, a graduate of Burlington-Edison High School, is transferring from Washington State University and will play men's golf at Western Washington University this fall. Making that announcement was Viking coach Steve Card.
  

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• Robinson returns to the Vikings
  Krystal Robinson, who was an assistant women's basketball coach at Western Washington University last season, has decided to return to the court for the Vikings in 2009-10 and use her last year of eligibility.
  The 6-foot-1 forward from Kent, who ranks second among school career leaders in blocked shots with 190, ended what was going to be her senior season in 2007-08 when she suffered a torn ACL in her left knee in an exhibition game against Pacific Lutheran. The previous week, Robinson had been named all-tourney at Disney's Division II West Coast Tip-Off Classic.

The Everett Herald

• Gregoire appoints fisheries commissioners
  Governor Gregoire filled three vacant spots on the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission late last week, bringing the nine-member citizen oversight body up to full strength.
  DR. BRAD SMITH is a Bellingham resident and dean of the Huxley College of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University. He served as the first director of the Office of Environmental Education for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, served on the Interenational Scholars Program for the U.S. Information Agency, was a Fulbright Scholar to Great Britain, and a research fellow for Environment Canada and the Canadian Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Wenatchee World

• In one stroke
  So much of finding happiness at college comes from finding an activity or a social group outside of classes, that serves as a way to relax from the pressures of schoolwork.
  For some, it may be at a job. Some pledge fraternities or sororities.
  Alix Crilly and Madeleine Eckmann found homes on the Western Washington University women's crew team. They found friends, a new favorite sport and a national championship along the way.