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Bad Education

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The Worst College in America: University of Bridgeport (CT)

In the mid-'90s, this tragic university was about to go belly up when it was rescued by an unseemly savior—Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. Though the Moonies have been accused of fraud, high-pressure recruitment tactics, and wrenching troubled kids from their parents, the cult's $100 million "endowment" secured the Moonies' leader, Neil Salonen, his position as the university's president. While there are no reports of students being forced to hock roses on the street, that's only because the town's other residents would probably steal them. With the exception of a few bail-bond purveyors, downtown Bridgeport (where the school is situated on a vast stretch of crumbling asphalt) has been all but abandoned by local businesses. The mayor of this boarded-up drug-dealer's paradise, John Fabrizi, has admitted to abusing cocaine while in office. His predecessor is serving a nine-year sentence for racketeering, bribery, extortion, mail fraud, and tax evasion. Happily, he's scheduled to emerge just in time to address U.B.'s 2010 graduating class.

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Illustrious Alumni: Mob lawyer and TV talking head Joseph Tacopina; Sudanese basketball legend Manute Bol (right); soap opera actor and Hard Copy correspondent Jerry Penacoli.

Patron Saint: Fred DeLuca, founder of Subway.

Notable Course: Oriental Massage II. (Or, the Art of the Advanced Happy Ending.)

Raw Data: Since the average combined SAT score of incoming freshman is only 875, it's no surprise that only 35 percent of them actually wind up earning a degree, and only 21 percent do so in four years.

School Pride: One anonymous first-year student posted this critique on Students Review: "Scared for my life. UB run by Moonies. GHETTO TYPE ATMOSPHERE."

Fun Fact: At orientation, all incoming students are given a "personal alarm locator" that will send swarms of campus policemen racing to their rescue whenever they press a panic button.

Tuition: $22,860 plus room and board.




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