NEW YORK -- Wall Street advanced in uneven trading Tuesday after a drop in oil prices and an unexpected gain in new home sales encouraged investors to put money back into the market.

With scores of lenders unable to come up with money to provide student loans, the Department of Education is preparing to exercise broad new powers in the coming weeks that could fundamentally recast how millions of students pay for college.

Parnassus Equity Income shows that you can make money and do good at the same time.

We withdrew money from my husband's 401(k) plan so that we could come up with a down payment for a home. Now we're getting hit with the taxes on that money. Are there any exclusions of taxes on that income when the money is used for the purchase of a primary residence?

Is that true when you withdraw your money at retirement that you pay less tax for a traditional IRA than a 401(k)?

WASHINGTON -- Strapped homeowners could refinance into government-backed mortgages and states would get money to deal with foreclosed property under Democrats' housing aid plan.

Should they buy a new, smaller car or hang on to the money? If they decide to buy, will they qualify for a loan? These are among the questions some local car dealers are finding customers wrestling with in today's shaky economy.

Susannah Moss's trendy one-bedroom Adams Morgan condo, in a converted warehouse, has become a potential money drain.

Staff writer Thomas Heath's "Value Added" column appears Tuesdays on the WashBiz blog. Most weeks, it profiles local entrepreneurs, discussing how they make money and what they do with it.

NEW YORK -- Companies that borrowed money during the boom times to finance takeovers, share buybacks and other adventures are discovering that what they thought was cheap debt is turning out to be very expensive.