Study: As college costs rise, grants for students erode
By Robin Estrin
The Associated Press
BOSTON — The cost of college
continues to rise as available fed
eral grant money erodes, putting
higher education out of reach for
many low-income American fami
lies, a study released Tuesday
showed.
Student grants are covering a
significantly diminishing propor
tion of college pricetags. Pell
grants — the major federal fund
ing source for low-income stu
dents — provide about half of
what they did 20 years ago, ac
cording to the study.
In the 1976-77 school year, the
average Pell grant covered 19 per
cent of the cost of attending a pri
vate, four-year institution, and 39
percent of the price of a public
four-year school. In 1996-97 — the
most recent year available for the
study — the average grant covered
9 percent for private schools, and
22 percent for public.
Even more striking, the maxi
mum Pell grant — given to the
neediest students — fell from cov
Cigarette smoking
on the rise at colleges
By Lauran Neergaard
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Cigarette
smoking is on the rise among col
lege students, jumping 28 percent
in four years and causing health
advocates to warn the nation may
face more tobacco-caused disease.
“The rise in this group is really
an alarming sign,” said Henry
Wechsler of Harvard University,
whose study appears in Wednes
day’s Journal of the American
Medical Association.
Wechsler’s findings aren’t a
surprise — smoking already had
risen among teenagers by 32 per
cent in the 1990s. So once those
teens hit college, the rates among
college students were sure to rise,
too.
But the findings show that
health officials must target college
students to try to get them to quit,
said Dr. Donald Sharp of the Cen
ters for Disease Control and Pre
vention.
Until now, college students
largely have been ignored by anti
tobacco programs. Historically,
they were far less likely to smoke
than less educated Americans,
plus most smokers begin before
they reach age 18. So health work
ers had focused more on persuad
ing children never to try cigarettes
and helping older smokers quit,
Sharp said.
“Because of the highly addic
tive nature of nicotine, very few of
those kids who became regular
smokers in middle school and
high school quit” by college, he
said. "They will suffer a much
higher rate of smoking-related ill
ness and death as a result unless
effective cessation can be provid
ed to that group.”
Cigarette smoking is the leading
preventable cause of disease and
death. The government says it
kills more than 400,000 Ameri
cans a year. Smoking causes a
host of health problems, from
lung cancer and heart disease to
impotence.
Some 3,000 teen-agers begin
smoking every day. The question
is what was happening to people
a little older — the 18- to 24-year
olds now in college.
Wechsler compared surveys of
over 14,000 students at 116 col
leges in 1993 and again in 1997.
Some 28.5 percent of college stu
dents smoked last year, up from
22.3 percent in 1993, he reported.
The vast majority started smok
ing in high school — only 11 per
cent of college students had their
first cigarette after age 18. But 28
percent moved from occasionally
trying cigarettes in high school to
becoming regular smokers in col
lege, a finding the CDC called
worrisome.
Half of college smokers report
ed they had tried to quit in the
previous year, and 18 percent had
made five or more attempts at
kicking the addiction.
The findings stress the need for
colleges to offer more smoke-free
dormitories, because students
might go without that cigarette if
they can’t smoke it conveniently,
Wechsler said. He is about to
study how smoke-free U.S. col
leges are.
Churches that endorse
gay marriage excluded
By Lori Johnston
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Saying
they didn’t want same-sex mar
riages performed in their church
es, Southern Baptists in Georgia
voted Tuesday to exclude congre
gations that “endorse” homosex
uality.
The Rev. J. Gerald Harris, new
president of the denomination’s
state convention, said Southern
Baptists welcome gay individuals
but can’t allow churches to advo
cate their behavior.
“The unanimous verdict of
scripture is that practicing homo
sexuality is a sin,” said Harris,
from Eastside Baptist Church in
Marietta. “Love ... must not com
promise the church’s allegiance to
scripture.”
Delegates voted to warn
churches they should not know
ingly take any action to affirm, ap
prove or endorse homosexual be
havior if they want to remain in
the convention, the denomina
tion’s second largest in the nation
behind Texas.
The Rev. J. Robert White, the
Georgia convention’s executive
director, will oversee investiga
tion of churches. If there is a com
plaint, White will meet with the
pastor and the convention will
ask the church to come into com
pliance or leave the denomina
tion.
Several of more than 2,400
church representatives in Colum
bus this week for the meeting
spoke against the measure.
“To speak on this very issue is
perilous,” said Bill Self of John’s
Creek Baptist Church in Alpharet
ta. “I want to ask one simple ques
tion. This year, the homosexuals.
Who's next, churches that receive
African-Americans? Churches that
allow women in the ministry?”
Also Tuesday, the group reject
ed a provision to exclude church
es that engage in "divisive” and
“disruptive” charismatic wor
ship, such as speaking in tongues.
ering 35 percent of private college
costs in 1976-77 to 13 percent in
1996-97; for public schools, it
dropped from covering 72 percent
of the price to 34 percent, the
study said.
If low-income students don’t at
tend community college, they can't
afford to go to college at all, said
Thomas Parker, senior vice presi
dent of The Education Resources
Institute, a Boston-based nonprofit
guarantor of privately issued stu
dent loans, and one of the two
groups that released the report.
“What we like to think is we
have a system where people have
both access and choice, but what
we’re rapidly developing is a sys
tem where people have access but
not choice,” he said.
The average Pell grant award
declined by 23 percent — adjust
ing for inflation — over two
decades, but college prices rose by
49 percent, and family incomes
crept up by just 10 percent over
the same period.
In 1996-97, the maximum Pell
grant available was $2,470 for
qualifying students. In 1997-98, it
went up to $2,700 and is at $3,000
for the current year.
“Even with those increases, the
bottom line is the net price still in
creases for most families, particu
larly for the lowest-income stu
dents,” said Jamie Merisotis,
president of The Institute for High
er Education Policy in Washing
ton, D.C., and co-author of the re
port.
About 3.6 million of the na
tion’s 14 million college students
receive Pell grants.
I Love Lab Time
Sign up for U of O Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding.
PEOL 271 Alpine Skiing I - Course Registration #24535
PEOL 272 Alpine Skiing II - Course Registration #24536
PEOL 273 Alpine Skiing III - Course Registration #24537
PEOL 280 Snowboarding I - Course Registration #24538
PEOL 281 Snowboarding II - Course Registration #24539
PEOL 282 Snowboarding III - Course Registration #24540
PEOL 399 Sp St Telemark Skiing - Course Registration #25841
Luxury busses take you to Hoodoo Ski Area for 8 consecutive
Thursdays starting in January. All classes are taught by certified
PSIA instructors. Class times are an hour and a half and you'll
have the rest of the day to ski or snowboard. The package in
cludes transportation, lessons and lifts.
Fee: $339
**' First Meeting: A required class session will be held in 133 Gilbert
Hall, Thursday, January 7 from 3:30 to 4:50 pm.
Contact: Michael Strong at Physical Activities and Recreational
Services. Phone: 346-3399.
Ride The U of O
this Winter
Presented by Peer Health Education
GREAT AMERICAN SMOKEOUT
American Cancer Society
5K FUN RUN
Thursday, November 19th, 4:00 p.m.
Winners are those who
predict their time most
accurately without using
their watches!
It s Free!
Alton Baker Park. Begin at BBQ Pits
Call 346-4456 to sign up
Prizes include: V
a two month free membership at
24-hour Fitness, Track Town Pizza,
Copeland’s sports, and more!!
RUN FOR
YOUR
LIFE
Long Sleeve T-shirt Available for $8.00
U N I V fc K S i I Y
HEALTH CENTER
We're a matter of degrees ^
Open daily lam to 6 p m except ftmdayi (9 am I and Sunday* (10 a m I.
Appununeou and aflei boun 146 2770 • Web daitaing uuregim cdu/-uuata