The state's college students don't know enough about managing money and debt and get themselves in trouble, state Treasurer Janet Cowell learned on a debt tour of college campuses.

Cowell visited four campuses, Wake Tech, Alamance Community College, Fayetteville State University and High Point University and met with 53 students. She found that students were using credit cards for every day purchases and getting into trouble with debt.

"This experience, along with national research, has demonstrated the need for programs that can assist and educate students on debt and its consequences," Cowell said. 

In a report, Cowell made six recommendations for new programs that could help students make better choices. Her report included resources that could help the state pay for the changes.

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Teams from Wake Forest University and Fayetteville State University will debate the priorities of Pres.-elect Barack Obama in Washington next month.

The universities are among six colleges that will take part in the first Inauguration Debate Series sponsored by the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The daylong event on Jan. 19 will be held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The Wake Forest team will square off against Michigan State University in a debate about energy and climate change. The Fayetteville State team will face Voorhees College on the topic of foreign policy.

FAYETTEVILLE—The spotlight wasn't just on Barack Obama today.

It also shone briefly on Nero B. Coleman. The longtime local Democratic activist got a call from his wife a while before the speech began.

"She called and said, 'Are you loading chairs? Because I think I see you on TV," he said.

Coleman would be easy to spot. His head is shaved, he has a partial beard and wears distinctive pink sunglasses and a Bluetooth earpiece. Not to mention the dozen silver chains around his neck.

Coleman, 55, is a disabled veteran of the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg. He's been involved in local politics since he was student body president at Fayetteville State University in 1983.

He said he didn't decide to back Obama until a month ago.

"He won in a lot of areas that I thought he didn't have a chance in," he said.

The search begins Friday for the next chancellor of UNC-Greensboro.

UNC President Erskine Bowles will charge a search committee with the task of identifying candidates to succeed Chancellor Pat Sullivan, who announced in December that she would retire on July 31, Jane Stancill reports.

Sullivan, who has led UNCG since 1995, is the senior chancellor in the UNC system. She was the first female chancellor at UNCG and has overseen a surge of growth at the Greensboro university, which now has 17,000 students.

This year, Bowles will add at least three new chancellors to his leadership team at the 17-campus UNC system. Searches are now under way for leaders at Fayetteville State University and UNC-Chapel Hill.