page 4
daily nebraskan.
thursday, January 29, 1978
dn.
ore could 'check' out of hank
y
of rnmnlaint have bettun to trickle into
the Daily Nebraskan office concerning the recent
change in the checking account service charges at
Gateway Bank. '
Customers will be required io pay a
maintenance fee for their checking privileges as
well as six cents a check. As their balance
increases, they will be credited for those charges
to the tune of 50 cents for each $100 of balance.
In essence, the charge favors the bank customer
who keeps a substantial balance in his or her
- checking account. .
Fine. But one Gateway Bank branch is located
in the Nebraska Union, where it provides
convenience of location for the students and
relieves the university's past miseries in the
studen t check-cashing arena.
The bank saves the university between $12,000
and $ 1 5,000 a year performing this function.
. Fine. Yet the bank also pays rent to the Union,
approximately $15,000 a year.
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Some observers have suggested that the Union
look for another bank to rent the space now
allotted Gateway Bank.
Fine. Except that there seems to be some
question about whether another bank could move
into the Union, because most Lincoln banks now
operate at the lull number of detached branches
they are legally allowed.
Gateway Bank said most of their customers
preferred that bank because of hours and
convenient location. Only three and one-half per
cent of those surveyed said free checking figured
in their decision. - ,
It should be obvious to Gateway Bank officials
that those responses do not reflect students' dis
interest in free checking accounts. Free checking
is (or, more correctly, has been until now) almost
a way of life in Lincoln. Virtually all banks have
it. " . - -
If they all have it, does it make a difference?
No.
Students are interested in free checking and
whatever other breaks they are given in the costs
of living in society while they are spending large
amounts of money to get through school. ,
Certainly a bank policy which favors those
with large bank balances is not in the student's
interest. Most students only have large balances in
their checking account twice a year-just before
tuition is due.
It should not come as a surprise then if Gate
way Bank continues to lose customers. Better
offers for students lie downtown, only a few steps
away.
Vince Boucher
con
pro
Hide, seek: Game of student aid
By Neil Klotz
(This is the third of a three-part series on how to get
' financial aid for the 1976-77 school year. Most of Die
deadlines fall in January and February.)
So you think the gold fields have been picked clean,
eh, sonny? There still are sortie suggets hiding in the
crevices. For instance, we have not mentioned the two
largest federal sources of student aid dollars.
More Free Money. Last year the Veterans Administra
tion (VA) gave out twice as many bucks as the Office of
Education, most of it under the GI Bill. There are bills
in Congress to get rid of the GI Bill, but this shouldn't
affect current veterans' benefits. Even if you are not a
veteran, you may qualify for aid under the War Orphan's
"Educational Assistance Act. You must be the child of
someone who died as a result of military service in a war
in this centruy. For both programs, contact the local
VA office.
Another possible source of student aid is thj Social
Security Administration. If you are 18 to 22, unmarried
and a full-time undergraduate or vocational student with
a retired, disabled or dead parent, you probably qualify
for monthly Social Security benefits. Contact your local
SS office. Your school may qualify even if it is unaccredit
ed and cannot participate in any dther federal student
aid program.
Aside from its own aid programs, the Office of
Education also encourages states to issue grants under the
State Student Incentive Grant (SSIG) program. The
federal government puts half the money-this year a total
of $44 million-and the states match it. Some state
grants are competitive; some are awarded io aiuuenis in
certain fields. Usually you cannot take them with you
(into another state). Contact your state department of
education. ' -
. Private scholarships may seem like aid pie-in-the-sky,
but private money to higher education students actually
has increased more than public funds.
In general, do you belong to a special interest group?
There probably is special money earmarked at no interest
for scholarships. If your local chapter doesn't know of
any programs, write the national office.
Nose around. Even on campus, there may be a special
scholarship fund that the aid office is keeping hushed up
in order to siphon the bread to the "right" kind of
student.
Several firms have run virtually identical "Unclaimed
Scholarships" ads in the college papers, and a number of
papers have been burned when the firms went out of
business and did not pay for the ad.
, One firm that has been around for at least a couple of
years is Scholarship Search (7 W. 51st St., New York
City, N.Y. 10019). For $40, the firm will send you a list
of at least five and up to 25 scholarships for which you
are eligible.
If you have a free day, but not $40, try doing your
own data processing by using several very good books that
are in most public libraries. Financial Aid for Higher
Education (published by W.C. Brown and Co.), Current
Financial Aids for Undergraduate Students (College
Opportunities, Inc.), Scholarships, Fellowships and Loans
(Bellamn Publishers) and the National Register of Scholar
ships and Fellowships (World Trade Academy Press)
all are updated regularly and should yield virtually the
same info as computer search companies.
Petition your library to carry these books if it does
not already. You also may find them stashed away in your
financial aid office, waiting for your director to read.
Another valuable and up-to-date reference is the
pamphlet, "Need a Lift?" available for 50 cents from the
"V 1 1 III II ill v
MI I'
: V-'. '
V .... ! J.f .!M!t
American Legion Educational and Scholarship Program,
P.O. Box 1055, Indianapolis, In. 46206.
More Un-free Money. States and individual schools
may have their own loan programs, although the number
of colleges using this plan has declined with the economy.
Banks, however, have figured out a variation on the
old "bait and switch" consumer fraud. After they tell you
they don't have anymore Guaranteed Student Loans at
7 per cent interest to give out ("Used the last one yester
day, sorry"), they pull out the all-new "line of college
credit loan." You can borrow up to $30,000 with up to
seven years to repay and the interest is only a paltry
12 to 18 per cent. . . .
Banks like these better than federal loans, not only
because the interest rate is twice as high, but because
they can credit-screen your parents, rather man deal with
unreliable you.
Banks make the real pitch to the middle income
families who may have been told they cannot get any
federal aid. You can get Guaranteed Student Loans
(discussed last time) no matter what your income. Even if
you cannot get the government to cover the interest while
you are in school, it still is a better deal than the bank's
version of ivy-edged Master Charge.
More Blood, More Sweat. Last year the Office of
Education gave $10 million to encourage schools to set
up cooperative education programs, ones where you alter
nate periods of work and study. You can make not only
money for school, but also job contacts for the post
graduation employment frenzy. Contact your financial
aid office.
Aside from the afore-mentioned .work-study and
study-work, there's the plain old work-work program
a part-time job. Although its financial aid section is
drastically out-of-date, on of the best books on getting the
job-summer, part- or full-time-remains Making It: A
Guide to Student Finances ($4.95 from the Harvard
Student Agencies, Cambridge, Mass.)
I haven't said much about special stashes for
graduate students: I thought you'd have enough trouble
financing the first four years. Nevertheless, there are pro
grams to encourage those who venture beyond the pale of
a B.A. Beside the scholarship books listed above, two
other brand-new sources are:
-How to Get Money for Education, Fellowships, and
Scholarships ($7,95 from Funding Sources Information
Center, Human Resources Network, 2010 Chancellor
St., Philidclphia, Pa. 19013.) This' lists the most current
sources of grad scholarships and research grants plus a
good number of fellowships.
-A relatively-unknown list of all the programs
tinancial aid or otherwise-that the Office of Education
funds, including a number for grad students who plan to
teach college, teach the handicapped, study mining or
f int 0"er public service jobs. You'll have to wade
through a bunch of other programs to get to Group II
Uiose issued to individuals. The list, "Cuido to OE
umimstered Programs, Fiscal Year 1975," may be pur
chased tor 30 cents from the Superintendent of
Eurnents, U.S. Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
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