When College Students Go Bad

When robbers and thieves get busted, typically they cite financial pressure as their reason for turning to crime. They needed to keep food on the table, or even nurse an expensive addiction. But two young convicts in Ohio have offered a new explanation for their criminal endeavors -- they had to keep up with the soaring price of tuition. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports:

Andrew Butler should be a junior at the University of Toledo, where the theater major would be starring in school plays, maybe one day headed to Hollywood or Broadway.

Christopher Avery should be a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati, an engineering major with a lucrative career ahead.

Instead, the men are going to prison for at least 20 years because they tried to raise tuition money with two armed holdups last summer....

"Why?" Judge Steve Martin asked the men, who had no criminal records. "You're in college, I don't understand."

Both men cited tuition.

Butler said tuition went up so his scholarships and financial aid were not enough.

"I was stressed out," he said. "I needed more money for college."

It almost sounds like a joke -- not least of all because the judge's name is Steve Martin -- but it's real. There you have it: Proof that American colleges today are breeding grounds for criminality! (rim shot)