After two decades of sifting through thousands of resumes and hiring new people, Mark O'Toole, from HB Agency, created a slide show to explain why new college graduates were not offered jobs.

Those who did not get the job were sometimes just not the right fit. Other times, they were trumped by a more impressive candidate or victim to some other random event mostly out of their control.

Too many had the background to make the cut or at least garner a second interview. But disastrous interviewing skills brought you down.

If you're a recent graduate or about to graduate, hopefully these tips will help you land that dream job. You might also want to check out our list of what college majors have the highest unemployment rates.

By Christina Jedra, Globe Correspondent

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent

Local colleges and universities are hiking tuition costs by an average of 3 to 4 percent for next year, with some school officials calling the increases among the lowest in recent history.

Suffolk University has announced it will increase undergraduate tuition prices by 3 percent for next year, making it the smallest increase in 36 years.

The president of Suffolk University, James McCarthy, said in a statement that rates for the 2013 to 2014 school year will be $31,592, up $920 from this year.

"The undergraduate increase is built upon a base Suffolk University tuition that remains among the lowest of comparable New England institutions," McCarthy said in the statement.

At MIT, tuition and fees will cost $43,498, compared to $42,050 for this year, for a 3.4 percent increase. Officials called the hike among the lowest in recent decades.

And at Boston University, prices are expected to rise 3.7 next year to $43,970. In a statement, university officials called the new tuition price “one of the lowest rates of increase among BU’s peer universities.”

Among other local schools:

- Emerson College will raise its tuition by 4.5 percent, from $33,568 this year to $35,072 next year.

- Boston College plans to hike prices by 4 percent, from $43,140 to $44,870.

- Northeastern University’s rates will break the $40K mark -- from $39,320 last year to $40,780 next year.

But the University of Massachusetts system is pushing for a major increase in funding from the state -- an additional $39 million -- which could keep tuition rates at a standstill.

The Globe reported in late May that elected student trustees from the University of Massachusetts system are calling on Senate officials to approve a $478 million funding proposal from Governor Deval Patrick. If the proposal passes, UMass officials have said that the university system could freeze tuition and fees for next year.

Some schools are saying that the new rates will be offset by financial aid budgets that are at a “historic high.”

MIT officials said that the undergraduate financial aid budget has risen to a record $97.6 million.

“MIT has more than tripled its spending on financial aid since 2000 - a rate of growth that far exceeds tuition and fee increases during that same period - as part of the Institute’s ongoing efforts to shield students and families from the impact of price increases,” the university said in the statement.

And Northeastern University has announced that it will invest the largest amount of financial aid in the school’s 115-year history, providing a total of $204 million in grant aid for next year.

But other schools will be giving out financial aid to less students. For example at Boston University, approximately 53 percent of students will receive grant aid, which is down from 57 percent for this past year.

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent

As commencement season draws to a close, 1 out of every 2 local graduates are expected to immediately move out of Boston, according to a report by Northeastern University.

The report, which was released this spring by the World Class Cities Partnership out of Northeastern University, found that recent grads from Boston colleges and universities tend to move elsewhere for job opportunities.

Boston loses recent graduates to New York City, San Francisco, or Washington DC.

The researchers didn’t elaborate on how they conducted their study, or detail how many cities or students they polled. They did say looked at Linkedin accounts and gathered data from cities in 2011-2012.

The report says that students who live on-campus will be more likely to build professional connections in their home cities. The study found that UMass Boston students tend to be from Massachusetts and therefore stay in the area, whereas most Harvard graduates leave because the majority of them hail from other states and countries.

“Encouraging students to live on-campus, while most area universities limit on-campus housing to the school year, forces students to return to their home cities for summer work and internships,” the report says. “As a result, students build their professional networks in their home cities, rather than Massachusetts, and are more likely to leave the Boston area after graduation.”

The report says Northeastern stood out. Most students are not native, but more than 50 percent stayed in the Boston area seven years after graduation.

“A majority of co-op jobs are in the greater Boston area and many employers hire their co-op students after graduation,” the report says, touting Northeastern's co-op program. “The co-op model is a proven program that directly supports Greater Boston’s workforce value and strengthens our ability to attract businesses and jobs. In particular, this highlights the positive impact student integration into a community can have on increasing retention rates for a strong talent pool.”

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

We're more than half way through commencement season here in America's college town (UMass Boston, Harvard, MIT and Wellesley will hold theirs in late May and early June). But to get a sense of what's going on outside the bubble, we offer this speech from none other than Stephen Colbert, who delivered the valedictory at the University of Virginia over the weeknd.

“Your generation needs everything to be about you,” he said, according to the Washington Post, “and that’s very upsetting to us Baby Boomers, because self-absorption is sort of our thing.”

“Every generation must define itself,” he said. “If you must find your own path, and we have left you no easy path, then decide now to choose the hard path that leads to the life and the world that you want.”

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent

The two Emerson students who launched a massive fundraising initiative for the marathon bombing victims by selling "Boston Strong" t-shirts have raised more than $800,000 to date, according to Emerson College officials.

The college said in a statement that Nicholas Reynolds, a Visual and Media Arts major, and Chris Dobens, a marketing communication major, initially hoped to earn $2,000, but by the one-month anniversary of the bombings they had raised $837,000.

“It’s really unbelievable,” Dobens said in the statement. “I’ve never felt so good to be able to help people.”

Dobens, a Lowell native, said the two estimated that the average student would want to donate $20.

“For a student struggling with money, we figured the average amount they’d want to give is $20,” he said. “And we wanted them to have something to remember the fact that they helped out.”

In the statement Reynolds said they looked to "short and simple" catchphrases for inspiration, such as "Livestrong" and "Army Strong."

“Boston Strong really emerged as a simple, effective way of what we wanted to say without being too specific,” said Reynolds, who is from Gorham, Maine. “We wanted something everyone could rally behind.”

Reynolds also said in the statement that this endeavor has prompted him to reevaluate his career plans, while Dobens said the experience has reaffirmed his decision to study marketing.

“Now I really want to go into marketing for nonprofit organizations,” Dobens said. “I’ve never been this happy in my life. I’m helping people who really need it and meeting people who want to help. That’s what I want to do for the rest of my life—help people.”

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent

Local colleges and universities have begun broadcasting live webcasts of commencement services over the past few years, enabling parents, friends, and alumni to watch ceremonies that they otherwise would not have been able to attend.

Greg Gatlin, a spokesman for Suffolk University, said in a phone interview that the live webcast caters particularly to family and friends of the graduates, as well as alumni and Suffolk employees.

“We know there is an extended community of people who want to watch the commencement,” he said. “With students who have extended family members who were unable to attend, or Suffolk alumni, employees, and others who really enjoy the great moment that is the Suffolk University commencement.”

Carole McFall, a spokeswoman for Emerson College, said the university has broadcast the graduation online since 2003, and is often popular among alumni. This year, people from 34 states in the US and across 24 countries viewed the live webcast, she said.

According to Ellen de Graffenreid, a spokeswoman for Brandeis University, the school has been streaming commencement online since 2006, as a “cost-effective way” for family and friends to watch the ceremony.

And at Boston University, spokesman Colin Riley wrote in an e-mailed statement that the school has had a live webcast of its commencement ceremony since 1999.

Kim Thurler, a spokeswoman for Tufts University, wrote in an e-mailed statement that the school has provided a webcast of the commencement for the past ten years, “in addition to serving members of our community who may be off campus or otherwise unable to attend the ceremony itself, live streaming provides a bit of a weather hedge.”

“Our all-university ceremony is held outdoors,” she wrote. “The venue on our academic green is normally beautiful but if the weather is unseasonably hot or cold, or rainy, someone who would otherwise enjoy the ceremony outdoors may choose to watch the ceremony indoors.”

At Babson, the college has been live streaming commencement as well as other important events for the past several years.

“For commencement it makes sense for out-of-country families who cannot make it in person,” spokeswoman Barbara Spies Blair wrote in an e-mail, adding, “From an audience perspective, more and more users are tablet owners with easy access no matter where they are.”

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

By Katherine Landergan, Town Correspondent

Police officials from BU, Boston, and Brookline are teaming up this week to give away hundreds of free helmets to cyclists riding in the Commonwealth Avenue area, to prevent accidents and spread awareness about biking safety.

Boston University Sgt. Larry Cuzzi said Monday afternoon that police officers had handed out nearly 75 helmets that morning. He estimated that they would donate hundreds by Wednesday evening, when the giveaway ends.

“A very small number of people declined on taking the helmet,” Cuzzi said Monday afternoon in a phone interview.

Cuzzi said cited several reasons for the initiative. In December, a BU student was killed while biking to class on Commonwealth Avenue. Cuzzi also said that there has been a significant spike in cycle riding with the creation of bike lanes and the popularity of Hubway bike share.

The officers held two sessions Monday, and will donate helmets again on Wednesday, from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Cuzzi said. In addition to handing out helmets, which are purchased by BU, the officers also issue citations to cyclists who violate traffic laws.

“The city is growing fast when it comes to cycling,” he said. “We are trying to stay ahead of the curb and keep people safe.”

Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.

Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.

By Adriana Herdan

When I think of college I feel they misspelled the name of this experience and that it was originally meant to be called Collage. For the average student, college is a compilation of experiences, emotions and relationships that will define both your future as well as help shape who you are as a person.

I am from Caracas, Venezuela but I decided to come to school in Boston because I wanted to learn how to write in English. Mission accomplished, I guess. But I never expected the huge cultural shock that going to a school like Emerson College would represent for me.

Coming from a conservative Latin-American background, I wasn’t necessarily prepared for how liberal and open-minded the people at an American school are. But after four years I’ve come to realize that if I’d have gone to a school with people more like the old me, I would have never seized the opportunity to pursue my passions the way I did at Emerson.

The thing about going to such a trade-specific school is that you’re constantly surrounded by the most talented people you will ever meet. Not only that, but their drive and passion is comparable to none. Emersonians take their college experience way beyond the classroom by getting involved in extra-curricular activities that allow them to express their talents and creativity in every possible way.

This is something I didn’t come to understand until my senior year, when I realized that my resume was way superior to the resumes of students from other schools, because of the amount of extra-curricular opportunities the school provided me with, and how much encouragement I received from both my professors and classmates.

Since Emerson is such a small school, you end up taking classes with the same people throughout your entire college career. And as cliché as it sounds, you do develop a family feeling towards them. At Emerson, you are not trained to believe that your classmates are you competition but your partners-in-success.

It would be too easy to say that everything about college is wonderful and that these years are all fun and happiness, but that is far from the truth. College is a really existential period in our lives, and the amount of bad things that happen to you are probably equal to the amount of good things. I mean, how many of us found ourselves in a situation that seemed like the end of the world, only to later realize that it really wasn’t such a big deal?

These realizations however, only come to you when you look at you college experience in retrospect. Looking back, everything that happens to you in college is like a little piece of a collage. But you only get to assemble this collage once you are through with your four years, and put together all of the pieces you have been handed. You then realize that every piece of the collage has a spot where it fits perfectly to form the picture you are left with.

Adriana Herdan is a graduating senior at Emerson College. Her major is journalism and after graduation she plans to move to New York to pursue a career in fashion journalism.