RICHMOND, VA--(Marketwired - Dec 20, 2013) - College is becoming scarier, financially speaking: The cost of college has been growing more than twice as fast as inflation. Delinquency rates on student loans have jumped, a sign of struggle for some grads. But at the same time, the extra earnings that come with a college degree have been growing too. Should more students -- or fewer -- be signing on the dotted line for college? The cover story in the latest issue of Econ Focus looks at these and other questions about investing in higher education.

Also in this issue:

• Reaching for yield. When interest rates are low, as they have been for the past five years, some investors seek higher returns even if it means taking on more risk. Should the Fed be concerned that its low rates may be planting the seeds for the next crisis?

• Fighting open-air drug markets -- with second chances. The police of High Point, N.C., invited the city's drug dealers to a meeting and told them they could avoid arrest if they stopped. Now the program is a national model.

• Interview with economist John Cochrane of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business on ending "too big to fail," the threat to the Fed of fiscal imprudence, and barriers to affordable health care.

Econ Focus is the economics magazine of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. It covers economic issues affecting the Fifth Federal Reserve District (the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and most of West Virginia) and the nation.

For a free subscription to Econ Focus or for copies of the magazine, contact the Bank's Research Publications division at (800) 322-0565 or subscribe online. The articles are available online at http://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/index.cfm.