Column
Gimme
a little
credit...
By Cynthia Beckwith
■ Daily Maine Campus
U. ot Maine
Something strange happens to
students when they reach their
junior year All at once upperclass
men become fair game for every
bank, gas company and depart ment
store that exists (or subsists).
Soon your mailbox overflows with
credit card offers: sign on the dotted
line and you get the credit card, plus
a free tnp to anywhere in the conti
nental United States! Or return the
detachable portion and receive 10
free gallons of gas (void where pro
hibited).
Of course, they also send you a
wonderful letter that tells you how
this offer is good for only the next
two days and how you must estab
lish your credit NOW! before you
graduate. Heaven knows that you
don't want to graduate without own
ingat least lOor 15 pieces of plastic.
So, you take their offer because
you definitely want to establish that
credit before it’s too late and this is
the easiest way so far, despite what
Mom tnes to tell you. You sign on
the dotted line — without actually
reading the extremely fine print
that explains the 22 percent stuff
and how they have the right to your
first bom child or your new couch if
you get behind in your payments —
and send the detached card back to
the company. How simple!
In approximately four weeks, dur
ing which you realize just how many
things you absolutely can’t live
without and will have to put on your
new VISA when it arrives, you go to
the mailbox and there it is. It is so
beautiful, all shiny, cnsp and just
yearning for you to sign the back of
it. which you do within 25 seconds.
I don't need to describe what hap
pens next since it is normally quite
ugly, but it involves a great number
of moments of weakness, two weeks
of contentment, followed by a gross
feeling in the pit of your stomach
when the first bill arrives.
You vow that you will never do it
again. Then you go to the mailbox
and there is a great offer from Mobil.
But this is different, you think to
yourself. This I’ll only use in emer
gency situations when I’m running
out of gas and money and have no
choice. Once again you succumb.
See CREDIT, Page 18
I Low-income student starts support group
By Fran Davey
■ The Sop- a'
Smith College
For some students at Smith College,
daily concerns extend far beyond classes
and house meetings They must find free
food and clothing, and apply for rent sub
sidies “A lot of us are living on the edge,''
says one student
Low-income students who enroll at the
Northampton. Mass , school are “mak
ing a giant leap into darkness," says
Cora-Jean Robinson In order to help
them with the transition, Robinson has
Homeless student
struggles daily
By Kim Horner
• The Daily Texan
U of Texas, Austin
Eating Salvation Army meals and
selling blood for textbooks is not the
image of a typical college student.
However, this is the lifestyle of l" of
Texas senior Ronnie North
North says he is just one of many l of
Texas homeless students A great deal
more are hanging by a thread, lucky if
they have a room and bare-minimum liv
ing standards North says the pnman
problem for these students is food, and
the awkwardness of having the
Salvation Army as an address
A typical day for North includes wak
ing up at 5:30 a m in a Salvation Army
bed, eating as much as he can at break
fast to keep him going for as long as pus
sible. and lining up at 4 p m. after classes
to get a bed for the night
North earns $h0 to $90 each month
selling blood A student loan covers his
tuition
"Yesterday was a big day for me,” he
said. "I sold a pint of blood, got $10,
bought a textbook and ate a couple of
tacos.”
North said he could try to get food
stamps, but then he would have to live
outdoors because receiving Salvation
Army service renders him ineligible In
addition, he dislikes the red tape
involved. Food stamps are “too much of
a trauma," he says, “because the system
is deliberately designed to make it a big
hassle to get them”
Although getting a job seems like it
would solve some of his problems, North
says it is not that easy “You need a home
to get a job, but to get a home you need
a job."
Lack of a phone and transportation
also make it hard on homeless job-seek
ers North can't drive his car because he
can t afford the inspection sticker. Police
threaten to tow his car and bombard him
with tickets as it sits in the Salvation
Army lot.
The social work major keeps busy in
other ways As a member of the Street
People’s Advisory Council, he helps
advise the city government on homeless
issues An activist who knows the prob
lems firsthand, he participated in a
protest last year and ended up in jail.
North wasn’t always homeless. In
1982 he worked in the oil industry mak
ing about $26,000 each year “When the
oil industry crashed, 1 lost my job and my
dog and my cat." It didn’t take long for
his money to run out, putting him on the
street North’s daily struggle to stay in
school w ithout a real home to return to
will continue for at least one more year.
founded the Association of Low-Income
Students
AI.IS was formed last year at the wom
en's school to help low-income students
get the information and assistance they
need by making them aware of resources
available to them, Robinson says. The
group recently compiled a directory of
service providers
Finding agencies that provide help can
be easier than actually receiving the
help, Robinson says. “Social services are
all huge bureaucra- _
Robinson says, “There’s something sort
of tacky about saying you need help. But
a lot of people have to go on public assis
tance to go to school.”
Senior member Diane Rowe says.
“Coming into an upper middle class
school, 1 didn’t know how to act in some
cases. When 1 first got here, I didn’t know
what a debutante ball was, and every
body assumed you knew.”
In fact, many activities other students
take for granted present problems for
_ group members. “A
cies Everything
depends on how you
phrase a question
and what worker
you get"
Members also
support each other
“There’s something sort of tacky
about saying you need help. But a
lot of people have to go on public
assistance to go to school.”
— Cora-.Jean Robinson.
AL1S founder
mam activity ot
socializing is going
out to eat, which is
expensive," Rowe
says.
“Some low-income
people often dress in
and other low
income students by providing trans
portation and day care. Robinson says
sharing the responsibility of these day
to-day services helps to ease some of t he
worries of these women, many of whom
are also mothers and struggling home
owners
The women say the emotional support
is a key function of the group. One of
ALlS's goals is to identify and confront
hidden costs members face, such as
anger, frustration, guilt and stigma
r
jeans, so some peo
pie say they ‘dress comfortably,’ and don’;
acknowledge that not everybody can
choose their wardrobe."
Robinson says faculty and administra
tors can help alleviate these problems by
“becoming more aware of the issues in
these women's lives and making them
feel they have something to contribute."
Robinson organized A.L1S because no
one in the administration was able to
help her find the free food and clothing
she needed when she entered Smith.
1
JOHN FOUNTAIN WESTERN HERALD. WESTERN MICHIGAN U
Frosh used to the good life
By Jennifer Delves
■ ’he Auburn Plainsman
Auburn U.
Times they are a' changing.
The bare-walled dorm room that
housed students comfortably for
years at Auburn U. now boasts mauve
balloon curtains, matching mauve
comforters, and framed sorority pic
tures. An answering machine hooked
up to the pnncess phone, a stereo com
ponent system, and a 21-inch televi
sion complete with VCR have
replaced the clock radios and popcorn
poppers of yesterday.
Senior Cathy O'Brien says, "When
I was a freshman 1 had the basics —
a television and a cubicle refrigerator.
I thought 1 was a big deal with those
things."
Four years ago, freshmen were con
tent with their suitemate answering
the phone or with missing an occa
sional television show, O’Brien says.
Not so for today's freshmen.
“We couldn’t live without our
answering machine,” says Angie
Davis, owner of the mauve room.
Her roommate, Kristi Long, agrees,
“Maybe we could do without the VCR,
but it would be tough. Everyone on
our hall has an answering machine
and a fair amount have VCRs.” Other
freshmen tote microwave ovens on
move-in day, she says.
“It is amazing what freshmen have.
They are all spoiled brats,” O’Bnen
jokes. “I just can’t believe how things
have changed in the past four years.”
Doris Sexton, a head resident at
See DECORATING. Page 17