Slashed 60 percent
The bell tolls for workstudy funds
he budget-cutting
axe fell
I The
.
I Quickly and without warning
Hast week when Richard
■Thompson the College finan-
Bial aid officer, announced that
■he student work/study pro-
Bram had to be slashed 60 per
Bent in order to survive the re
taining fiscalyear.
I The, reasoning behind the
Immense cut is due to a change
B federal regulations. When a
Bate’s colleges have an excess
■mount of money for their
Bork/study programs, the old
Bw required them to give the
Bnnecessary amount to the
Bederal -government which
Bould then be distributed to the
■allege in that state that ran
Biort of cash. According to the
Bew law, colleges having , an
■bundance of money may use
Bie funds for next years’
Budget. Clackamas Communi-
B College was one of many
■alleges which ran dry of
Bioney. When Thompson ask-
Bd the federal gQvernment for
■80,000 to help the 154
Blackamas students on - the
Brogram, the feds had no
^oney to give!
“This is the first time in my
eight years here that we’re not
getting any money,” Thomp
son said, “not less money, but
no money, period.”
What caused the money well
to go dry was a miscalculation
in the students’ usage of funds.
“What is done each July
is an estimation of how much
money it will cost to run. the
work study funds for that
school year,” Thompson said.
“These estimates are based on
the . amounts used in the past
10 years by students.” Not only
used money considered, but
how much of the original allot
ment wasn’t used, how many
students drop out of thè pro
gram by the end of that school
year, and how many hours per
week a student works'also are
worked into the estimate. Last
ly included in the prediction is
the minimum wage that the
college must pay its
employees.
Unfortunately for the pro
gram, nearly everything went
awry before February.¿‘Tn July,
I had to make predictions as to
how many students would re-
|The recycling conference is
Bned at exchanging informa-
tior for the purpose of review
ing renewing and possibly im-
Boving the recycling process,
■well as helping schools and
other groups to establish their
own programs. A small dona
tion is requested of those atten- '
ding to help the ELC continue
^programs.
■The ELC currently collects
and recycles thé paper
Kerated on the College cam-
pus. Each Tuesday, the little
Ken scooter makes the
Binds to pick up the 50 gallon
fiber barrels located near areas
B high paper use in various
Bidings. So far this fiscal year,
ASK NOT FROM WHOM THE FUNDS ARE CUT-Due to the government shortfalls,
student monetary needs, and just about everything but yesterday’s weather,
workstudy funds were axed 60 percent.
Staff photo by Duffy Coffman
tain to the program for' winter
and spring terms,’’Thompson
said. Then, Westworld hit.
“Student retention was up
22-25 percent over last
winter,” he said, “which means
that up to 25 percent more
students are staying with the
11,580 pounds of paper have program than usudE” That was
been recycled.
just the beginning of the
How this compares with the drought.
overall amount of paper waste
“Students are using a larger
on campus is not known, but portion of.their allotments,” he
very little is lost after it reaches
said, noting a 30 percent in
the ELC. Figures indicate that crease in payroll over the past
of some 144 million tons of three months. “A student en
post-consumer "
waste titled to 20 hours per week
generated nationally, only usually worked 14-16 hours,”
about 7 percent (9 million tons) Thompson said, “now they’re
gets recycled. Europeans working between 18-20 hours
manage to do better, recycling per week.”/The lakes arid
nearly half of their paper reservoirs Were starting to run
wastes. In his book, “Going to dry.
Waste,” James Marshall
calculates that if, Americans
could do as well, they could
save over 500' million trees
each year. That many trees By Tom Jeffries
would make up a forest the size Of The Print
“We’re disappointed, of
of the New England and Mid
course, but we won’t stop,”
dle Atlantic states.
The ELC is sponsoring the said Joe Cornett, director of
Recycling Conference to im the campus “Totally Outside
prove that situation. The pro Productions” video company,
gram will begin with an over about their loss in the Eighth
view of the problem and a look Annual Young Peoples Film
at some of theoplions. Next, and Video Festival. They had
participants will have the op entered a 10-minute version of
portunity of examining a func their children’s program, “The
tioning program. Then presen Mr. Science Show.”
“We weren’t too surprised.
tations and discussion will focus
on broadening the collection We didn’t expect to win,” he
operation. and the process of explained. “We weren’t polish
marketing the materials. Final ed enough. We had some poor
ly, consideration will be given camera shots, questionable
to where the recycling process editing, and some segments
is headed and how to get it that came out too long.. We lost
people.”
there.
ELC to host forum
pn waste recycling
■Representatives from DEQ,
■ETRO Solid Waste. Division,
Krtland Recycling Team and
■her local, state and national
Bencies will be at the En-
Bonmental Learning Center
Pa /ilion on Tuesday from 1-5
Bm. to discuss problems and
Blutions in recycling.
■Charles Puckett of the ELC
Bid, “The work here has been
Bowballing. I thought it’d be
Bndy to get the people who
have some expertise and ex-
Brience in handling waste
Biterials together and see if we
car’t resolve, some of the pro-
Bms that have arisen in this
■nmunity.” j
f
“Work study became more
important to the students as the
economic problems grew,” he
said. “The economy was so
poor that people went to
school rather than work.”
Another problem was cited as
not many jobs were available
during the Christmas break, so
students had no other route to
take. It was either.college or the
Army. “Once, we made the
commitments to. the students,
we were stuck,” Thompson
said. Cactus were now appear
ing.
Then, the Apocalypse hit. In
November, a new law was
passed by Congress and signed
by Carter requring all colleges
to raise their minimum wages
to $3.35 per hour by Jan. 1.
The well is. empty as the
federally funded program is
short $58,000 on this campus
alone. Without the necessary
funds to survive the remaining
fiscal year, Thompson perceiv
ed no other alternative other
than cutting the funds 60 per
cent.
Where does this leave the
154 students on the program?
Marv Thornley, College Place
ment Director, explained that
students will be awarded 40
percent of their usual
allotments. An individual
receiving the maximum
amounl of $700 per term, will
receive, at the most, $280.
No monetary help will arrive
until next fall when intermittant
federal funds start drizzling in
again.
No Prize for ‘Mr. Science’
The show was entered in the
college category of the festival
and faced some pretty stiff
competition. Even though they
didn’t win, they did receive
some attention from local
newspapers. The “Lake
Oswego Review” and the
“Oregonian” both did special
features on the show.
“I’m not sure why,” con
tinued Cornett, “but people in
the media know that video is
going to be a place where ex
perienced people will be need
ed, especially with the growing
community access on cable
systems. Also, the college has
never had a show like this
before.”
“And even though we didn’t
win I learned a lot of important
things, like who does their
share of the work and who I
can count on. We also found
the limitations of our equip
ment. I suppose we might have
had a better chance if we
hadn’t used Mr. Science, but it
was an idea we were already
familiar with. Of course, if they
thought we were totally outside
this time, wait’ll they see what’s
next,” Cornett added.
“They didn’t understand that
the show was for children,”
stressed Mr. Science, the star
of the show, “but I’m not,wor
ried, we’ll win next year. If we
don’t, there won’t be a contest
next year, or even a Portland
Art Museum.”