From the October issue: For many students, college is about streaking the quad and doing keg stands. For Jeff Blau, it was about doing deals.
When the Long Island native was a sophomore at the University of Michigan, the school shut down its printing office to save money. So Blau set up a business producing course packs himself. Then he convinced his professors to let him hire their teaching assistants to take notes in their classes — and sold those notes to his classmates at a profit. As an undergrad, he was also involved in real estate, teaming up with a local contractor to buy single-family homes in Ann Arbor and subdivide them into student apartments. [more]