The University of Pennsylvania and other big schools had already announced some project delays. But Bryn Mawr trustee Cynthia Archer, a Sunoco Inc. vice president, urged school officials to do the reverse and speed up their renovation timetable - to take advantage of falling prices.

"We had maybe five years of significant infrastructure projects," worth $8 million, on the to-do list, chief financial officer John Griffith recalls.

With a Moody's "Aa3" (investment-quality) rating, low debt, and no variable-rate debt, Bryn Mawr was able to borrow that money at rock-bottom 0.75 percent interest on new bonds. "Investors' flight to quality caused the cost of borrowing for a place like Bryn Mawr to drop toward zero," Griffith told me.

To stretch those dollars and test the market, Bryn Mawr bid the jobs on both a two-year and a five-year basis. "The results were about $1 million in savings" for the two-year plan, Griffith said.

"These contractors have cut their margins to the bone to keep their people employed," said Glenn Smith, director of facilities. "It's a matter of a hungry marketplace. There's not that much work out there."

The college hired Palmer Masonry Co., of Philadelphia, among others, to fix stonework at its Pembroke East and West dorms. E. Allen Reeves Inc., of Abington, was hired to replace plumbing tombed in the concrete walls of the Louis I. Kahn-designed Erdman dorm. And Delran Builders Co. Inc. came aboard to fix roof slates and point granite chimneys at 124-year-old Taylor Hall, with its clock tower.

Builds character?

Vanguard Group Inc., which cultivates a frugal reputation, has been growing faster than any other fund group as advisers push customers into its index mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, according to Morningstar Inc. data.

In fact, Malvern-based Vanguard sees itself as a long-term beneficiary of last year's market collapse, as investors feel compelled to set more aside.

"Americans need to save 14 percent to 15 percent of their income for retirement," preferably in 401(k) individual retirement accounts, chief executive officer Bill McNabb told customers in a note marking his first year on the job. "It's not easy to hear that you may have to work longer, save more, or reduce spending, but it is the truth."

McNabb reports his 22-year-old college-graduate son cannot find a job. Dad looks on the bright side, figuring the lad and his peers will grow up to be as savings-conscious as McNabb's own Depression-era parents.

Clunk me back?

"It's turned out to be a wonderful program. But now we're selling ourselves out of business," said David Kelleher, owner of David Chrysler and Jeep at Philadelphia's Airport Auto Mall and David Dodge in Glen Mills.

In the first two weeks of August, Kelleher said he laid out $145,000 for 38 clunker sales at his suburban shop, and an additional $79,000 for 20 more at his Philadelphia location. "As of right now, I have zero reimbursement."

That is tied-up cash Kelleher said he needed to buy more cars to sell. Kevin Mazzucola, executive director of the Automobile Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia, told my colleague Maria Panaritis that nearly 20 dealers had phoned him over the last month with concerns about reimbursement.

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) said enough dealers complained that, last weekend, he asked President Obama and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is running the program, to speed cash back to dealers. Sestak aide Jonathon Dworkin said the government had "begun dedicating more staff, and hiring more contractors" to get the loan-processing time reduced to five days.

Kelleher said he had also pressed Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) to try to get more billions into the program. He got a quick reply, though no commitment.