Lots of colleges and universities have announced tuition hikes for the upcoming school year, just as inflation is taking a bite out of many families' budgets.

Still, NPR's Elissa Nadworny explains that the real cost of college for most students has actually been falling for the past few years, after decades of growth.

But college is still very expensive, and it can feel out of reach for some students. Two Washington, D.C. high school students explain how they're trying to make the math work.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

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College Acceptance: Check. Paying For It: A Big Question Mark.

The hosts of NPR's All Things Considered help you make sense of a major news story and what it means for you, in 15 minutes. New episodes six days a week, Sunday through Friday.

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One of Richard Nixon's most famous quotes...right up there with "I am not a crook"... had to do with presidential immunity.

"When the president does it" he said "that means that it is not illegal." That idea – that you can't prosecute someone for actions taken as president - the Supreme Court has never actually ruled on it.

On Thursday, the Justices will take a crack, with the federal election interference case against former president Donald Trump hanging in the balance.

We preview how things might go.

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Trump is arguing for immunity in his criminal case. Will the Supreme Court agree?

Americans often rank the economy as a number one voting issue. As part of NPR's "We the Voters" series we check back in with four Americans we've been following since the pandemic.

They share how they're faring in a the current economy, and how that might influence the positions they take in the 2024 presidential election.

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How voters from different economic sectors see the 2024 election

The broad outlines of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case have been known for months. 

Hush money payments to a former porn star made in 2016, when Trump was a presidential candidate. Bragg alleges Trump was involved in a scheme to cover up those payments, one that amounted to criminal fraud.

Now we're getting a more detailed outline of their arguments – and Trump's defense.  

We break down the legal case at the center of the political universe.

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Breaking down the legal case at the center of the political universe

For the last 60 years a transportation revolution has largely passed America by. 

Bullet trains were invented in Japan in the early 1960s. Since then, countries all over the world have adopted the technology and constructed sprawling networks of high speed rail lines. 

Despite spending billions of dollars in federal funding, he U.S. lags far behind. But a recent visit from Japan's Prime minister has revived interest in bullet train projects around the country. 

One of those projects is in Texas – a proposed high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas.

NPR's Andrew Limbong speaks with Dallas Morning News mobility and transportation reporter Amber Gaudet about what it will take to get Texas' high-speed rail project completed, and what it could mean for high-speed rail in America.

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The push to deliver high-speed rail to Texas

Civil War, the new A24 film from British director Alex Garland, imagines a scenario that might not seem so far-fetched to some; a contemporary civil war breaking out in the United States.

And while the film has taken heat for little mention of politics, the question of an actual civil war has everything to do with it. 

Amy Cooter is a director of research at the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Her work has led her to the question that Garland's movie has put in the minds of both moviegoers and political pundits: Could a second civil war really happen here? 

Cooter joins host Andrew Limbong to discuss the actual threat of current political movements in the U.S., outside of the movie theaters.  

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College Acceptance: Check. Paying For It: A Big Question Mark.

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