UJ C
Thursday, September 9, 1 982
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 82 No. 13
Legislators preparing to off set student aid cuts
By Deb Kollars
"Up in the air," "It's anybody's guess,"
"No one knows for sure," were the vague
words state officials used to describe the
future of student financial aid in Nebraska
at a public hearing of the Legislature's
Education Committee last week.
But they have to be vague, they said.
Until Congress acts on certain proposals
and bills, states won't know how much
federal funding of student aid to count on.
However, at least one UNL administra
tor, Don Aripoli, director of Scholarships
and Financial Aids, said the state should
not wait, but rather act now in planning
for state-supported financial aid to post
secondary students.
The purpose of the hearing was to
discuss an interim study of financial aid
to post-secondary students in Nebraska.
According to LR241, the Education
Committee was to investigate the proposed
changes in federal student aid programs,
the impact of these changes on Nebraska
students and the possibility of setting
up state-supported financial aid programs.
Student and administrative representatives
from post-secondary schools across the
state attended the hearing.
Ralston Sen. Gerald Koch, chairman
of the Education Committee, sponsored
the resolution. At the hearing, Koch said
that although he is unsure at this point
what the state's role in providing financial
assistance will be, he wants to be certain
that any program would be equitable,
fair and readily available to all post
secondary students. Any state program also
should be consistent or reliable, year after
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Role defined
William Fuller, execitive director of the
state Coordinating Commission for Post
Secondary Education, said that by Dec
ember, the commission will be ready
to make recommendations regarding the
state's role in providing financial aid to
students. By then, Congress will have
acted on certain bills, elections will be
finished, and Nebraska .'s fiscal condition
can be evaluated better.
Fuller pointed out that Nebraska
post-secondary students received some
$97 million from federal grant and loan
programs in 1981-82. Total tuition and
fees income from all Nebraska post
secondary schools in 1981-82 totaled
$93 million.
Part of that $97 million from grants
and loan goes for living expenses.
'These figures show that the impact
of the federal programs is huge," he
said. "If anything happens, as has been
implied by President Reagan's proposals,
Nebraska students are really going to feel
the cuts."
Students affected
Aripoli agreed that students are going
to be feeling the federal cuts. But he
stressed that rather ' than waiting to see
what exactly these federal cuts will be,
Nebraska officials should be preparing
now to take partial responsibility for
student aid.
"We need to be pro-active, not
reactive " Aripoli said. "We neei to assume
that something (cuts in federal funding)
will happen, and we need to proceed now
in order to be ready with state programs
when the time comes," he" said.
Some of Aripoli 's suggestions included:
- Establishing a state work-study
program similar to that in Colorado.
- Appropriating the funds to a state
grant program already in existence.
- Setting up a state scholarship program
with merit as one of the criteria for the
award.
- Organizing a state-funded loan
program similar to the National Direct
Student Loan program with interest
rates of about 5 percent.
There are two major "what ifs" in
Congress regarding cuts to student aid,
Aripoli said.
First, he said, there's still the question
of how much federal money will be
available for the 1982-83 year.
On Aug. 28, Reagan vetoed a supple
mentary appropriations bill, which
included providing $140 million to Pell
Grants and $77 million to Supplemental
Grants. These additions would bring the
levels of the grants back up to the 1981
82 federal funding levels.
Action expected
Congress is expected this week to try
to override the President's veto. Recent
reports indicate, however, that the over
ride has little chance of passing.
Therefore, Aripoli said, while there
will be federal aid for the present school
year, the amount will be lower than in
1981-82 unless Congress overrides the
veto.
The other "what if concerns Reagan's
recommendation to cut nearly 50 percent
of the federal funding for student aid in
1983-84.
When Congress acts on these proposals
next spring, members probably will
"temper" the recommended Cuts, he said.
But some cuts will go through, and the
state needs to be prepared to take over
some of the responsibility.
If the Legislature acts in the spring
to set up state-supported aid programs,
the state should be ready and able to
take up the slack from federal cuts for
the 1983-84 school year, Aripoli said.
Fager leaves UNL Student Court;
edekind maintains 'no-salary' stand
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By Eric Peterson
ASUN President Dan Wedekind announced Jennifer
Fager's resignation from the UNL Student Court at an
ASUN Senate meeting Wednesday night. Fager, who
resigned Sept. 3, mentioned "other preferred interests"
as the reason for her resignation.
Fager was in a long dispute with the court relating
to conflicting testimony she gave over student 'campaign
posters. The court asked that she be removed from
ASUNs Electoral Commission. Fager's counter-suit
against the court lasted into this semester, when her
term on the court was to start.
Reacting to a recent Daily Nebraskan editorial, Wede
kind said ASUN Second Vice President Bob Fitzgerald's
refusal to accept an executive salary is not intended to
urge the NU Board of Regents to change the situation.
Fitzgerald has refused to take pay for his work with
ASUN because the ASUN president is unpaid.
The regents took away the top salary starting this
year, citing a constitutional provision mat university
regents cannot be paid. The regents refused to distinguish
between the duties of a student regent and an ASUN
president, since the same person performs both
functions - an interpretation the regents' own lawyer
did not confirm, Wedekind noted.
Wedekind said he has formulated several suggestions
he will take to the administration for proposing the next
UNL budget. He said the budget should reflect the true
needs of the university rather than attempt to second
guess the Legislature.
Wedekind said ASUN will continue efforts made
through the summer to prevent students from shouldering
an unfair portion of university costs through tuition
increases. He reiterated that a tuition increase would be
fair only in relation to a corresponding increase in legis
lative funding.
Wedekind also asserted that consideration of tuition
costs should include laboratory fees and other student
fees. He insisted that existing programs, especially instruc
tional areas of the budget, should receive priority above
all others, such as new programs or administration costs.
Wedekind pointed out that individual colleges should
receive budget adjustments which consider cost increases
unaffected by enrollments. For example, Wedekind noted,
engineering and business faculty salaries have been forced
up by market shortages without the college enrollments
changing.
Residency requirements face revision
The NU Board of Regents will decide at its meeting
Friday whether to approve proposed changes in tuition
residency requirements.
The meeting will begin with subcommittee reports
at 8 a.m. Friday at Regents Hall, 3835 Holdrege St.
A public hearing on the proposed changes is scheduled
during the formal meeting, which will begin at 1 1 a jn.
Some major changes in the residency requirements
are the shortening of the minimum residence period for
cut-of-state students from two years to 180 days, and
to grant immediate resident status to university, state
college and technical community college staff members.
These changes are in line with statute changes made
by the Legislature at the university's request during
the last session.
The board also will decide whether to approve the
1983-84 operating budget request, not including salary
and fringe benefit increases. The operating budget request
guidelines were approved at the board's July meeting.
Also at the meeting, UNL Chancellor Martin Mas
sengale will recommend spending up to $970,570 for
improvements in the Nebraska and East unions, university
housing and the University Health Center. The money
will come from the Replacement Fund of the Student
Fees and Facilities Revenue Bonds.
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Staff Photo by Craig Andrtsm
A student member of the Moslem Iranian Student
Society Lincoln chapter, is shown outside the Ne
braska Union Wednesday afternoon participating in
an anti-Khomeini demonstration. An MISS spokes
person said the event was to show an example of
situations that are actually occurring on the streets
of Iran. The event also commemorated the 18th
anniversary of the founding of the People's
Mojahedin Organization of Iran, a parent branch of
MISS.
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