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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1981)
Emerald Vol 83, No 20 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Thursday, October 1, 1981 Paul Olum Enrollment declines Olum: 3% cut won’t hurt By ANN PORTAL Of*M EmaraM As of Tuesday, University enroll ment dipped 2 9 percent — which is better than the 3 8 percent decrease recorded Friday, but still about 400 students less than last year at this time The decrease probably won’t af fect University funding, Pres Paul Olum said Wednesday at his monthly press conference This doesn't impinge in any way on the entitlement we get,” Olum said He pointed out that the State Board of Higher Education collects the University's tuition, and that the University always has collected more tuition than estimated by the state An 11 or 12-percent enrollment decrease would be necessary to significantly reduce University funding, which is based on full time enrollment, Olum said Olum said he was "a little sur prised at the decline, but could not identify a specific cause A breakdown of freshman through senior enrollment may help pin point where the slide occurred, he said "We knew that this was a year in which we couldn't guess very well ” However, even with fewer students, many course enrollments are very tight, Olum said Business, computer science and journalism courses are especially crowded, although there has been no major reduction in course offerings, he said Turning to problems at other Northwest colleges and universi ties, Olum said the University of Washington's declaration of finan cial exigency worries him, par ticularly because he believes Wa shington typically has been better off financially than the University has been The speed with which they went into financial exigency shocked me" Reflecting on Portland State University’s recent declaration of financial exigency and accompan ying program cutbacks, Olum said that in spite of program trimming at tbe University this year, he still feels there are no entire programs that can be cut on academic grounds. The University has dropped pro grams in previous years, and now has the number of departments and schools a liberal arts university should have, Olum said. “We don’t have any good offer ings to sacrifice, frankly ” Pres Blumel's decision to deal with budget cuts by eliminating programs is his own resolution of a leaner budget. Olum said, adding “there is some difference in our attitude ” Shifting to problems closer to home. Olum berated the Emerald for its Monday editorial on the University's Environmental Law Clinic. He said the editorial implied that a decision on the controversial Pacific Northwest Resource Continued on Page 3A Financial aid stops taking new GSLs By ANN PORTAL Of lh* EmaraM Today is D-day for Guaran teed Student Loan applications for the 1981 -82 academic year The D is for delay As of today, the old GSL rules no longer ap ply and the financial aid office will stop accepting GSL ap plications according to Ed Vig nol, financial aid director No GSL applications will be accepted until the Department of Education sends more com plete instructions for dealing with new regulations, Vignoul says Although the financial aid of fice received notice Tuesday of new regulations — in a letter dated Sept 9 — specific procedures were not included, he says Effective today, GSL ap plicants whose families earn $30,000 or more have to com plete a financial need test The interest rate stays at nine per cent, but the minimum annual repayment amount has been in creased to $600 Financial aid already has processed a tremendous number of GSLs this year, Vig noul says Seven thousand students have applied already this year compared to 5,400 students who applied for GSLs lasf year Many of the loan applications came during the last weeks of summer, meaning that a lot of students still are without their money because of a two-month processing period What did they expect?" Vig noul says We told them they should allow six to eight weeks for processing " A backlog exists at banks and at the state scholarship com mission. he says but deferred tuition and emergency loans — which have been increased from a maximum of $150 to $250 — are available for students who cannot yet pay tuition In spite of student complaints and problems with financial aid money this term. Vignoul says he is unwilling to accept the blame for delays caused by a lack of initiative on students' part The financial aid staff worked overtime to mail revised finan cial aid packets to students by August. Vignoul says, estimat ing that his office caused only a tiny fraction of the hold-ups students are encountering "We really did have our act together," he says "If we screw up, I will always admit to that and I will rectify it " A large number of people swore they turned in the blue Student Eligibility Report required to receive Basic Educational Opportunity Grants only to go home and find the three copies mailed to them during the summer sitting in the bottom of a drawer, Vignoul says "I don't want anyone to wait (for financial aid) if we make a Continued on Page 3A Photo by Bob Baker Sugary doughnuts and caloric cakes are all that have greeted bagel seekers since Monday Emu refuses to humble itself to 20 percent bagel increase Oi Vey1 Bagels have been missing from the EMU since Monday Humble Bagel Company — the bakery that supplyied the EMU with the popular snack — hiked its price 20 percent, causing the campus food service to scramble for humbler prices, says Jim Coyington, EMU food service director But bagels should be back on the shelves today, Covington says Covington says he has located a Portland bakery that will supply the cafeteria with “quality" bagels at a more reasonable price The bagels should be available Thursday morning for 30 cents, he says
