Crowd at Hofstra

Anderson Cooper draws a crowd at Hofstra
By Arielle Brechisci | Special to Newsday
11:23 PM EDT, March 19, 2009

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper broadcasts from Hofstra University. (Photo by James Carbone / March 19, 2009)

Several hundred students gathered outside Hofstra Hall late Thursday night to get a peek at Anderson Cooper, who broadcast his show, " Anderson Cooper 360," live from the Hempstead campus.

The broadcast from Hofstra University is his fourth stop in a weeklong cross-country tour to see how Americans are being affected by the economic crisis.

"We're very excited. We love him. We've been waiting for this," said Haleigh Zueger, 19, a public relations major from Aleutian Islands, Alaska, who was watching the show with her roommate, Taylor Weiss, 19, a political science major from New Milford, Conn.

Zueger, who was not among the five students chosen to go on air with the silver-haired anchor, posed her question on a homemade poster board:

Tuition and fees: $28,746

Books & supplies: $1,500

Room & Board: $12,250

A college education . . . priceless?

Five students were chosen to go on the air with the anchor. Each student was allowed to ask a question of Cooper's guests, Donna Rosato, senior writer for Money magazine and Frans Johansson, author of "The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures"

Stephanie Caruso, 21, North Attleboro, Mass., a film major, said her student loans have almost reached $100,000. "I want to go abroad and do a documentary but I can't just get up and leave my debt," Caruso said before her on-air appearance.

Caruso's question was how can she pursue her career while managing her debt?