And by “top,” I mean, “the ones I paid attention to.”

1. For a policy wonk such as myself, the biggie is the student loan scandal. The government finally noticed that maybe, just maybe, private lenders have a conflict of interest when hawking their wares to 18-year-olds who really don’t have a concept of “8% for the next 30 years.” New York leads the way.

2. It just got easier to pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd. Which is awesome, because I spent a summer living in Harvard Yard and it’s a little slice of heaven.

3. The Virginia Tech shootings. A major tragedy and another example of how hard it is to handle disturbed students in a setting that is supposed to simultaneously provide freedom and protection. But during the instant media circus, I couldn’t help noticing that 150 people were killed in Baghdad the next day and no one really paid attention.

4. The flip side of Virginia Tech: In 2006, a former George Washington University student sued the school, claiming he was expelled after seeking treatment for depression. What happens if universities, fearing everything from massacres to litigious parents of deceased students, start playing CYA by trying to get rid of at-risk students? In 2007, Virginia (ironically) became the first state to prohibit universities from dismissing students solely on the basis of seeking mental health treatment.

5. Columbia University invites Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak, and the school’s president introduces him as a “petty and cruel dictator.” My favorite part of the speech is when Ahmadinejad claims there are no homosexuals in Iran. He is immediately contradicted by one of them in the Washington Post.

What do you think the big stories of 2008 will be? Drop us a comment and prognosticate.