Do I hear a C? A B? How about an A?

I've been spending a lot of time on craigslist lately, searching the "writing gigs" and "writing and editing" job listings.
It's actually gotten me a few jobs, but nothing long-term.
I've learned a lot, though.
For instance, college costs are higher than any of us would suspect. I know, I know, you think you've kept up with local tuition rates in your neck of the woods, if only because your newspaper and radio blat about them a lot.
But, I doubt you've factored in the costs buried deep in the underbelly of higher ed.
There are students out there -- I'm not even going to guess how many -- working their way to a diploma the new-fashioned way. (Old-fashioned is actually working, or buying the completed assignment in person -- from the trench-coat guy skulking on the quad.)
These days, the way to do it is to type up a craigslist ad -- good English not required -- and find someone to complete the assignment for you. If it weren't for the ethics of it (and the fact that I never liked writing college papers, either) I could make a bundle this time of year.
The going rate seems to be $20, or a per-page fee; both are higher than what many commercial employers' ads offer.
Unless it's porn site work. Then you're really in the money.
One co-ed's ad that just caught my eye comes to us from the Miami area, where a student needs a paper on: "ANTI-TUMOR ACTIVITY OF RESVERATOL BY INHIBITING COX 1 topic of your choice it's 11-13 pgs completed by the 25th."
Ok, so I don't even know what that means. (Believe it or not, it wasn't the word resveratol that confused me. It's a phytoalaxen, everybody knows that.)
What I don't get is how the paper can be "on" the all-caps title, but also on a topic of my own choice. Tumors would never be my own choice.
What I find most troubling, though, is the possibility that this student is in med school.
If this is how future doctors are getting "educated," we're going to be in a world of hurt, the kind that nobody's health care bill could help.
Right above that ad was another that time means nothing if karma's on your side. Or if you just think it is.
The ad was posted at 7:33 a.m. by someone who needed a report finished an hour later.
I have to wonder what students like those two were thinking. Why didn't they plan ahead? I'm not talking about study habits that involve time management. The boat has sailed on that one. I'm saying that if they'd thought about these papers earlier, maybe over the December holiday break, they could have done what another student did.
They could have advertised for someone to take the class for them, as a San Diego student did this week. Why waste time attending (or logging in to or whatever) when a little green will do the trick?
By the way, if anyone you know is thinking about taking the latter route, remind them to specify the grade they need. Might as well get their money's worth. San Diego Student wanted a B.
Maybe As cost too much?
I'll never know. The ad had been flagged and pulled before I went back to check.
Wonder why.