I PERSEVERE. Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews takes higher education to task. The fourth of his five points is this.

The best known private universities don't appreciate that they add no more to their students' lives than the much cheaper but less regarded state school across town. Going to college is a great thing, but it is the chance to learn and plan for the rest of one's life that makes the experience special, not the name on the front gate. Ivy League graduates might have an advantage seeking their first jobs. Researchers Stacy Berg Dale and Alan Krueger, however, discovered that after 20 years, people with good character traits - persistence, charm, good humor - are doing just as well, whether they went to a school like Cornell or one like Cal State Chico.

I've been making this point for years. That a national columnist sees fit to make it encourages me.