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Financial aid cuts cripple higher education
On March 1 students from an estimated 3,300
schools around the country will descend on
Washington, D C. to protest the Reagan
administration’s cuts to student financial aid
Those cuts have already affected the universities
and colleges with declining enrollments from
students who can no longer afford the increasing
costs of higher education.
Pres. Ronald Reagan has cut federal aid to
education 31 percent in the last two years — from
$6.2 billion in fiscal 1981 to $4.3 billion in fiscal
1982. The cuts, according to the American Coun
cil on Education, are to be regarded as more than
a mild threat to the future of higher education.
Reagan has proposed four changes in the
Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) program: All
students would have to pass a financial need test
— Loan repayment would be indexed to market
interest rates instead of the current 7 or 8 percent
— Origination fees would be doubled from 5 to 10
percent of the total loan — Graduate and profes
sional students would become ineligible
Reagan wants the changes to GSL's to
become effective on April 1 — in time for the 1982
school year
Making graduate and professional students
ineligible for GSL's has incensed higher educa
tion officials Almost half of all graduate and
professional students use loans to help finance
their education. The Reagan cuts to financial aid
could literally destroy some graduate schools. A
less than satisfactory alternative for graduates is
the Reagan proposed Auxiliary Loans to Assist
Students (ALAS) which has a higher interest rate
and shorter repayment period
Reagan also plans to nearly halve the Pell
Grant Program (formally BEOG) from $2.3 billion
to $1.4 billion. This would automatically eliminate
36 percent of the students presently relying on
grants Other programs being shot down are
Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants
and State Student Incentive Grants Those two
would be eliminated altogether by the 1983-84
school year. Reagan would end federal contribu
tions to the National Direct Student Loan Program
and slash 28 percent from the College Work-Study
Program.
Such extensive financial aid cuts would
devastate college enrollments nationally by at
least one-third. At the University the 4,500
students using financial aid at present would drop
to 2,250 by 1983-84. In some cases, like the NDSL
program, the 2,100 students now eligible would
drop to only 890
It seems incongruous for Reagan to be
eliminating financial aid programs while advanc
ing a domestic policy whose theme is making the
nation more technologically competitive in the
world marketplace How can the United States
achieve an economic recovery equivalent to that
of post-war Japan and Germany without a highly
competent pool of technologically educated
individuals?
T.H. Bell, Reagan's secretary of education,
defended the financial aid cuts in the budget
saying the federal government could no longer
afford “posh student aid.” Categorizing student
aid as "posh” is another instance of the callous
ness of Reagan and his minions
The concept of financial aid for students
arose after World War II, with returning GIs
receiving a college education on the Gl Bill.
During the 1960s and '70s the educational finan
cial aid programs instituted by the government
expanded to aid minorities and the middle-class
The Reagan administration, judging by the
wholesale cuts to financial aid. is determined to
reverse the egalitarian goals of government
sponsored educational financial aid
These financial aid cuts may have a untoward
effect on the fabric of American society A con
certed effort must be directed toward the Reagan
administration to change their thinking on finan
cial aid If you can t march on Washington March
1, then send a letter of protest
f.A V ij ' ■ —
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'|OU MEAN m JUST DUMP AU-W TOXIC WASTE STRAI6NT IN M
P4VER’ BUT, ISnTTUAT AWFLiUY
letters
Pleasurable
I would like to address this to
all those guys who have had the
pleasurable experience of
walking past a girl, and having
her wink at you or give you the
eye " Have you ever let yourself
understand why she may be
looking at you, or does sex in
stantly bombard your mind as
the only reason why she would
be interested in you?
Have you ever searched
deeper past your first reaction
and into the many other motives
which prompt one person to
send out inviting messages to
another? Your reaching past the
thought of sex. and offering her
your friendship may be exactly
what she wants
Next time a girl passes you
and communicates to you. look
deeper into what exactly you are
passing up tf you choose to
think sex is her only motive then
enjoy the flattery We all need to
be told we are attractive, to have
others show an interest in us
React the wrong way and you
may have just missed a chance
to score, make a new friend, or
gain a girlfriend who can love
you the way you need to be
loved
I would like to present to you a
fact which most guys refuse to
believe exists But before I do.
I'd like to deal with a myth which
girls have about guys They
have this sense that guys do not
have feelings, that you do not
need as she needs, that you do
not hurt as she hurts, that you
are not searching desperately
for a stable long-term relation
ship
Now. back to the fact I was
talking about: A guy is no differ
ent Remember to think past the
myths and your first reaction
One of anger and hate and find
those reactions of flattery and
enjoyment when a guy passes
you, and winks at you or “gives
you the eye " Be flattered
Realize that he may be interest
ed in you as a person
So guys, next time that guy
reaches out, look beyond and
reach back
Dave Gutierrez
Cerebration
It was a decision I had to
make Some are fun to make,
and some aren't This one
wasn't.” This statment reflects
very well on Jim Haney's cere
bration which is either this or
that, left or right It is this think
ing that led our basketball team
to where they are in the Pac-10
now Just look at Haney's sub
stitutions at any game, Bain or
Gatewood. Cofield or Walker
Rarely have I seen Bain and
Gatewood, or Cofield and
Walker when the pairs are both
playing well
On Saturday's game against
OSU it was not Cofield or
Walker, but Cofield or Perry
even when Cofield was shooting
poorly, one of six, and making
bad passes which showed in the
number of turnovers made Yet
Haney played Cofield and not
Walker This is made to illus
trate the poor decisions Haney
makes all too frequently and not
the single out any one player
Who with any feelings would sit
down and shut up Barry Walker
was only letting out his feelings
and one should not be pe
nalized for doing so One could
see more statements made by
his teammates on the subject in
the papers, but Haney chose to
single out Walker saying that
his statement was detrimental to
the team Walker s statment
was to anyone It was obviously
a case of taking the heat off
himself — for what he has or has
not done — by creating a con
troversy now over a player s
feelings
Victor L. Kim
senior, Architecture
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