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OREGON
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SPOT THE TEACHER
IN THIS PICTURE.
It’s just as difficult to spot Army National Guard members in their
civilian jobs as it is here in the field. That’s because Guard men and
women arc citizen-soldiers, woven into the fabric of the communities
they serve.
Most Guard members serve just one weekend a month and two weeks
a year while pursuing full-time careers. They serve for many reasons:
money for college, tuition assistance, skills training, an extra paycheck
and other military benefits. For some, it’s a way to give back to their
country and community.
And even though they’re sometimes hard to
see, they’ll be there for you when you need them.
If you or someone you know would like to learn
more, call today:
I -800-GO-GUARD
www. I -800-GO-GUARD.com
Oregon
020687
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Pell: Grants pivotal to affording college
Continued from page 1A
determine need, thus increasing a
student’s or family’s calculated
household income
and decreasing a
student’s calculated
need. If a student’s
calculated need is
not great enough, he
or she will be ineligi
ble for the grant. In
addition, the
amount a student re
ceives is also based
on calculated need,
so some students
may receive less
next year if their
need decreases.
However, Bush’s
plan would keep the
maximum Pell Grant
at $4,050 for the
third year in a row.
The changes will
save the Education
Department $270
million and will help
remedy the $3.7 bil
lion budget shortfall
the Pell Grant Pro
gram is currently experiencing.
Bush also requested $458 million
more than was allocated last year
for the program.
This comes as Bush plans to request
an additional $87 billion for the
Iraq War.
Bickford said there’s no need to
panic because the
students that need
the aid the most
won’t be affected.
“The neediest stu
dents won’t be af
fected because they
don’t pay state tax
es,” she said.
Bickford said, how
ever, that those that
barely qualify may
lose their Pell Grant.
“Students that are
on that edge may fall
off,” she said.
She added that the
importance of losing
the grant should
not be minimized,
because $400 can
mean a lot to a
needy student.
“Grants are so im
portant in keeping
debt low,” she said.
“When students lose
grant money, they
have to make up for it in some
way.” Students that find themselves
in this situation may have to take
out loans, work more hours or find
an additional job, she said.
“These are things that go against
persistence to graduation,” she said.
But Bickford encouraged students
who lose their Pell Grants not to
drop out and to seek out other
forms of aid, such as scholarships.
“Moving students through school
puts them in a good position for
their career,” she said. “It’s an
investment.”
Senior Eric Mullendore, who re
ceives a Pell Grant for around
$2,000, said the changes won’t af
fect him because he will graduate
before they take effect. He added,
however, that if his Pell Grant were
decreased, he would likely have to
take out more loans.
“I would have to pay more back,”
he said. “I wouldn’t be able to
be picky about a job (after I
graduate). ”
He added that his Pell Grant was
pivotal in making college affordable.
“I wouldn’t have been able to
come here if it weren’t for the Pell
Grant,” he said.
Bickford said the good news is
that the number of students receiv
ing Pell Grants has consistently in
creased in past years, meaning
that financial constraints are not
preventing students from attending
the University.
moriahbalingit@ dailyemerald, com
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
Free Application for Federal Student
Aid: Deadline Jan. 30
Fill out the FAFSA online at
www.fafsa.ed.gov or pick up an
application at the Office of Student Fi
nancial Aid in Oregon Hall. Filling out
the application online requires a De
partment of Education PIN, which can
be obtained atwww.pin.ed.gov.
The Oregon Student Assistance Com
mission Scholarships:
Deadlines Feb. 15 and March 1
OSAC manages and administers more
than 260 private scholarship funds for
Oregon residents. Visit
www.osac.state.or.us. Students can
also search for scholarships at
these sites:
financialaid.uoregon.edu
www.fastweb.com
www.scholarships.com
www.brokescholar.com
Source: Office of Student Financial Aid
Economy: Last month 8 million unemployed
Continued from page 1A
economist at Standard & Poor’s. “The
numbers today would suggest more of
it than we thought.”
On Wall Street, stocks edged higher
Friday as another drop in oil prices
overshadowed the weaker-than-ex
pected report. The Dow Jones industri
al average closed up seven points, and
the Nasdaq gained four points.
About 150,000 new jobs must be
added each month to keep up with
population growth. Since August 2003,
when employers resumed hiring after
a long slump, job creation has aver
aged 152,000 jobs per month. Econo
mists still expect hiring to pick up early
next year to send the unemployment
rate lower. The rate has held steady,
within 0.1 percentage point, since July.
New hiring in the service sector fu
eled November’s overall jobs increase,
led by health care, restaurants and ho
tels, Retailers lost jobs, their payrolls
falling by a seasonally adjusted 16,200
last month.
“With the expansion showing
strength and the holiday season upon
us, I would have expected the retail
sector to do more hiring,” said Bill Ch
eney, chief economist at John Hancock
Financial Services. “Like last year,
however, retailers appear to be trying
to do far more with far less workers. ”
Retailers’ declining payrolls preced
ed a disappointing start to the holiday
shopping season. Merchants from
across the sector reported sluggish No
vember sales as the hopeful surge in
Thanksgiving weekend business did
not happen.
Consumer spending accounts for
two-thirds uf economic activity in the
United States and is being watched
closely, especially during this time of
the year.
Worries about jobs and the econo
my helped push consumer confidence
down in November for a fourth con
secutive month. Faced with higher gas
prices and grocery bills, some con
sumers are cutting back on clothing
and other non-necessities. Though oil
prices have fallen, and economists
think the spike has depressed new hir
ing, they aren’t terribly alarmed.
“The recent job picture indicates
that the holiday shopping season will
be a decent, not a spectacular one,”
said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist
at Wells Fargo.
Manufacturing continued to shed
jobs for a third consecutive month,
with payrolls shrinking by 5,000. The
nation’s factories, in a long slump, are
struggling in the face of rising competi
tion from lower-wage countries such
as China.
In a broader look at the labor mar
ket, more than 2 million jobs have
been created in the past year. Econo
mists cautioned that the November re
port offers just a snapshot.
“I think we have to reserve judg
ment about what this report means for
the economy as a whole,” Cheney
said. “It’s weak enough to raise con
cerns, but not weak enough to prove
anything bad.”
President Bush was criticized often
during his re-election campaign for be
ing the first president since the Great
Depression to lose jobs on his watch.
Now he has a second term to work
with and is only 313,000 jobs short of
closing that deficit.
In November, the number of peo
ple holding more than one job rose
by 346,000 to 7.6 million. About 8
million people were categorized
as unemployed.
Economists still expect the Federal
Reserve to raise a key interest rate by
one-quarter percentage point to 2.25
percent at its Dec. 14 meeting, the final
session of the year.
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485-716
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