contingency loan approval
ay RICHARD SEVEN
Of the Emerald
The Oregon Student Lobby (OSL) won
preliminary approval of its proposed solu
tion to student loan defaults from a confer
ence on student financial aid in Washington
D.C., according to Dan Garner, OSL
spokesman.
OSL’s “income contingency plan," de
signed to cure the high rate of student loan
defaults by making repayment easier, was
recommended by the' national conference
to the U.S. Office of Education.
Under the contingency plan, students
would be able to repay their loans as a
percentage of their income over a deter
mined number of years, rather than paying
a flat rate.
Students would also pool their funds in a
cohort or a group such as a graduating
class. The only major qualification of a
cohort is that all its members enter the re
payment period at ihe same time.
The cohort would act as a credit union,
with its members obligated to share the
mutual cost of the group total until the debt
is paid.
The debt would also be terminated for the
individual when the maximum payback
period for the cohort has been reached or
when the individual pays the high ceiling or
"buys out.”
Garner says the plan would benefit
everyone involved. Besides easing the
economic crunch on an individual student,
explicit limits would be put on how much the
higher earner’s of the plan would have to
pay, and the lender would have greater as
surance of being paid back.
Garner says the conference’s recom
mendation will begin a long two-step pro
cess in Congress.
“The first step, Congress passing legisla
tion to let appropriations be made, should
be fairly simple,’’ says Garner. “The
tougher part will consist of having funding
from a particular section appropriated to the
Legislature."
Gamer says the optimum years to im
plement the plan would be between 1979
and 1981.
There are still questions regarding the
percentage of funding from state and fed
eral levels and how federal funds would be
used in setting up the program, according to
Gamer.
“Additional cost in the form of more cleri
cal and administrative help as well as keep
ing computer data might happen,” warns
Garner. “However,” he adds, “money
would be saved in the form of more loans
paid back.”
There have been approximately 509
bankruptcies declared on students loans in
the last 11 years in Oregon totaling
$339,582 in defaults. According to the Col
lege Press Sen/ice, the default rate has
reached 15.6 percent.
Caught cheating on
that last midterm?
Know your rights
You study and work hard and
you try to keep your nose clean.
You’re not expecting any trouble.
Well just in case — the Office of
Student Advocacy (OSA) now
provides students with a list of
their legal rights under the latest
edition of the Student Conduct
Code.
“Very few students expect to
get in trouble,” says Don Chal
mers from the OSA. “No one ever
assumes he or she will need to
know their rights, but they should
really take advantage of this ser
vice."
The lists come in purse and wal
let size to be a student’s constant
companion, and may be picked up
either in the OSA, 16D of the
EMU, or at the Information and
Grievance Center in the EMU.
Violations under the revised
code include cheating; plagiarism
unauthorized entry into University
buildings, theft, lewd or indecent
exposure and carrying out initia
tion rites that cause physical harm
or mental anguish, among others.
According to the booklet, if a
student is accused of a violation
against the conduct code, the stu
dent has the right to meet with the
coordinator of the conduct code to
read the
discuss the options for settling the
case.
Among the options are: confer
ence with the coordinator, an in
formal hearing by a referee or a
formal hearing by a hearings of
ficer. If the hearings officer rules
against the student, he or she may
appeal the decision to the Univer
sity Appeals Board and ultimately
to the Oregon Court of Appeals.
If the student is accused of
academic dishonesty, the faculty
member levying the charge may
request a conference with the stu
dent.
According to the booklet the
student is not required to discuss
the matter with the faculty
member.
If the student admits academic
dishonesty, he or she has the right
to appeal any sanction imposed
by the accusing faculty member.
When a student is accused of a
conduct code infraction, he or she
must be notified in writing of the
alleged conduct code violations
and his or her right to meet with
the coordinator.
You may never need the two
page booktet, but who knows ...
rt
HEART THROBS
WILL BE HERE
SOONER THAN
YOU EXPECT
(Tuesday. Feb. H)
GIL SCOTT-HERON
AND
BRIAN JACKSON
with The Midnight Band
And Special Guests,
THE- SCHWEBKE BROTHERS BAND
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12
lane county civic center, 13th & Madison
TICKETS: $5.50 ADVANCE $6.50 DAY OF SHOW
SHOW TIMES: 7:30 & 10:00
EMU Main Desk, Everybody's Records, Sun Shop, Chrystalship