1.   Many states already have options that allow high school Juniors and seniors to take courses at public colleges and universities for credit.

2.   Among public college presidents, Bulger is between the average and the highest paid, but his new salary is by no means the highest among his peers.

3.   An aversion to anything spiritual is even more pronounced at public colleges and universities leery of doing anything to weaken the wall between church and state.

4.   And he sharply cut aid to public colleges, forcing them to cut teaching staffs.

5.   And not a single hate-speech restriction on a public college campus has been upheld by this Supreme Court.

6.   -- Tightening residency requirements for out-of-state undergraduates, and in the meantime barring their admission to public colleges.

7.   A forthcoming report from two university economists asserts that students from affluent families are attending public colleges and universities in ever larger numbers.

8.   A result, they say, has been higher tuition at public colleges, higher transit fares and higher property taxes.

9.   Advocates of the proposed process, which included many public college presidents, said critics were overplaying the potential threat and underplaying the need for change.

10.   But early in his six years as governor, he slashed funding for public colleges and for scholarships and he stood by as the colleges hiked tuition skyward.