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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 6, 1986)
Editorial Federal aid change helpful and realistic The U.S. Senate and the Internal Revenue Service have recently acted on student aid related items. The Senate voted 93-1. Jesse Helms dissenting, to ap prove a five-year extension of federal student aid programs at a level higher than the Reagan administration wants. The IRS has begun diverting loan defaulters' tax refunds to help repay their debts. The government is finally approaching student aid in a hard-nosed yet practical manner. Students whose socioeconomic background does not permit them to use their own or family resources to pay for college should have the opportunity to obtain higher education. People who take advantage of government programs to attend college, and who make enough to repay their loans, should not be able to thumb their noses at the government and drive off in their Audis. According to the U.S. Department of Education, former students defaulted on $1.3 billion in loans in fiscal 1985 alone. Many of these are small loans made to people who did not complete their degrees and have low incomes, according to Department of Education officials. The newly-mandated IRS enforcement campaign is not directed at these people, but at those in higher income brackets who can afford to repay their loans. The new Senate legislation also requires garnishment of the wages of all federal employees who defaulted on student loans. This pro vision is not included in a House version of the appropria tions bill. Student aid programs are a form of borrowing from future generations to invest in the educational health of the nation. Such programs only make sense if future generations have similar opportunities. These opportunities are threatened by people who can repay their loans, but don't. Borrowing from the next generation becomes stealing from future students. The bill passed by the Senate provides up to $9.4 billion in aid for the first of the five years of the authorization. The bill raises the amount available to low income students, but will make it harder for some middle income families to receive aid. According to Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, after whom direct student grants are named, the buying power of "Pell” grants has decreased by about 20 percent in the past four years. Both the recently passed Senate bill and an earlier House appropriation recognize this by raising the ceding for grant size to students in need. Because the House bill includes a higher amount and higher ceilings, a House-Senate conference committee must meet to recommend compromise figures to both chambers. Students receiving aid will also have to show satisfac tory academic progress at the end of two years in order to continue receiving aid. Some middle class families may now need to use more of their own money to send students to college. The govern ment cannot provide everything to everyone, and people must make choices. If that means not buying that new car in order to send Jane to college for a year instead, so be it. Higher education is an opportunity for some citizens with appropriate academic backgrounds to prepare themselves for important roles in the future of the nation and the world. This opportunity should not be denied for reasons of wealth, nor because past beneficiaries refuse to pay their debts. r *1 fool SAFER knowing wo might bo klllod In a traffic accidont right hare at homo than by torroriata abroad...” Letters Mad as hell As many ODE readers are no doubt aware, there are some serious problems in the ASUO's management of the student group health insurance pro gram. Ever since the ASUO, then under the Pinckney ad ministration. gave the contract to l,one Star insurance of Dallas. Texas, we insured students have experienced a multiplicity of hard times with the insurer. Claims paid months late, in amounts often less than the con tracted BO percent payout, and without 1.5 percent monthly in terest when paid after fourteen days, are only the tip of the iceberg. Students should be deman ding a full investigation and audit of the situation. Many of us have been ripped off and don't even know it. The ASUO's insurance coordinator receives $B.50 hourly and her assistant gets $4.50 an hour, yet when students turn to them for help with these problems, we're told to "call the insurer's (BOO) number and tell them yourself " The media has been alerted and the Oregon Insurance Com mission and Attorney General will soon be notified. The time is now for concerned students to complain about their in surance problems to Mr. Bill Kittredge in the ASUO Office of 1 Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon Daily Emerald is published Monday through Friday except during exam week and vacations by the Oreaon Daily Emerald Publishing Co . at the University of Oregon. Eugene. Oregon. 97403 The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and is a member of the Associated Press The Emerald Is private property The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law General Staff Advertising Director Susan Thelen Production Manager Russell H Steele Assistant to the Publisher Jean Ownbey Advertising Sales David Wood Sales Manaoei John Boner, Jessica Cederberg. Michael Gray Laura Goldstein. Robin Joanmdes Carlos Lamadrid. Marcia Leonard Shawn Leuthold. Cathenne Lllja. Shawns Reed. Kathy Stein. Joan Wlldermuth, Laura Willoughby Production Kelly Alexandre. Lynne Casey. Shu-Shing Chen. Ellen Cross, Storm! Dykes. Manuel Flores. Shan non Gaither. Ross Martin. Mary May. Rob Miles. Angie Munir, Charla Parker. Ken Parrott, Jennifer Peterson. Geoft Ramville. Michele Ross. Alyson Simmons. Gregory Tipps Conor Managing Editor News Editor Editorial Page Editor Sports Editor Ptioto Editor Fnday Edition Editor Sidelines Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Community/Politics Student Government Student Activities University Affairs General Assignment Reporters Sean Axmaker, Tonnie DeYoung. Craig Harris. Sarah Kitchen. Thomsen Photographers Lynne Casey. Shu Shmg valtts. Steve Gibbons. Ross Martin. Naws and Editorial Display Advertising and Business Classified Advertising Production Circulation June onipuen Michelle Brence Joiayne Houtr Alan Contreras Robert Collias James Marks Sheila Landry Allan Lazo Julie Shippen Chris Norred Stan Nelson Kim Kaady Tom Hill Mike Rivers Dakin. Deborah Jeff Lutzky, 8 J. Chen. MariaCor i Wilhelm MB 5511 MB 3712 688 4343 68* 4381 MB 5511 Student Advocacy, phone: 686-3722. Let's get mad as hell and do something to help ourselves! Willy Bils Law U.O. Students for Equity in Insurance Editor's Note — According to ASUO officials, the contract with Lone Star was signed by the Julie Davis administration, and all complaints against Lone Star Insurance will be handled first by the ASUO insurance coordinator in the ASUO Ex ecutive office. Suite 4, EMU. 686-3724. If the complaint can not be resolved, the ASUO [*>gal Services attorney, not the student advocate, will handle further complaints against the insurance company. Big Sister Women on campus are lucky there are so many big, strong men who have paid their taxes and helped to pay for the new shuttle van. It's a small price to pay to protect our girlfriends. Women are also lucky they have big. strong student govern ment to take care of them. Many SafeRide coordinators are heterosexual, and some are even men! It is therefore lucky for everyone that we had a big. strong ASUO president who saw fit to provide a public ser vice that would establish once and for all that men are poten tial rapists. r Women aren’t becoming in dependent through SafeRide, they are merely shifting their dependence to Big Sister government, funded by yours truly. Now we are told that the anti men SafeRiders are right — because of one incident at UCLA, a much larger school than the UO, involving a walk ing escort service once in litiga tion which probably hasn’t been concluded, all men are therefore unfit to escort women. No. We could take this thing to court, and the men-lovers on campus (the bastards) would win. As Hiawatha pointed out, tax-funded public services can not discriminate on the basis of sex. Furthermore, the anti-male bile of the lesbian community would probably boil over, caus ing a pleasurable disturbance in court. The organizers of SafeRide are split — many, such as new ASUO Vice President Caitlin Cameron, decidedly not les bian. seriously want to see the project get off the ground and provide a real service. Others, such as former SafeRide coor dinator Mercea Mabrey, can’t leave the issue in peace, and feel the constant need to remind men that they are the source of the problem, and that is why men pay for SafeRide but can’t use it. Now you tell me, is that stupid? James R. Young Senior 1 Letters Policy The Emerald will attempt to print all letters containing fair comment on topics of interest to the University community. Letters to the editor must be limited to 250 words, typed, signed and the identifica tion of the writer must be verified when the letter is turned in. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style. Letters to the editor should be turned into the Emerald office, Suite 300, EMU.
