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January 18,1989 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 88 No. 81
Committee approves free classes for ‘oldsters’
By Jana Pedersen
Staff Reporter
The Education Committee of the Ne
braska Legislature unanimously passed a
bill allowing Nebraska residents w ho are
60 years old or older to attend classes tuition
frcc at any state college or university.
Five of the committee members voted to
pass LB 180 onto the main legislative agenda.
Three committee members were absent for the
vote.
During the subcommittee hearing, the bill’s
sponsor. Sen. Jim McFarland of Lincoln, said
the bill woultf not only benefit senior citizens
but also traditional college students.
“Because of their experience, because of
their knowledge, (older students) have ideas
and could bring their skills and their knowl
edge to the classroom and benefit all of the
students including the undergraduate stu
dents,” he said.
As part of the bill, which is based on similar
■w . -i
legislation passed in Ohio, tuition-free service
would be provided only with instructor’s per
mission and in classes where space is available,
McFarland said.
Funding would not be a problem, he said,
because any fees other than tuition would be
paid by the student.
These students would participate in all ac
tivities in the class but would not receive col
lege credit, he said.
Most older students do not want to take
classes for credit, McFarland said, and those
who want credit would have to pay regular
tuition.
However, classes taken on a non-credit
basis will still have benefits for older students,
he said.
“ . . . (the classes) could still provide a
stimulating academic experience for those
who always wanted, but perhaps could not
afford, to attend college,” he said.
A 1985 survey by the American Association
of Retired Persons found that 25 states have
passed legislation similar to Nebraska’s bill,
McFarland said.
See TUITION on 3
Allen Schabe..
State Sen. Jim McFarland of Lincoln speaks before the Education Committee
on Tuesday.
Lytle expects same level or student tees
By Jeff Beals and
David G. Young
Staff Reporters
Although the Committee for
Fees Allocation has asked uni
versity organizations to cut
their budgets for next year, the
group’s chairman, Kevin Lytle, said
it is unlikely student fees will be
reduced in the fall.
STUDENT
“If (student) fees arc raised, stu
dent reaction would be much the
same as it has been. Fewer and fewer
people can afford it,” Lytle said.
It student fees do not go up stu
dents should be “more than happy,”
he said.
Lytle said CFA’s goal this year is
to prevent an increase in student fees.
“In order to maintain the same
quality of services, we can’t decrease
budgets. Budgets must rise to cover
inflation.
“Right now people are gelling
more than their money’s worth.
People lose out with decreases.”
Student lees are divided into two
groups: Fund A and Fund B.
Lytle said thatCFA makes recom
mendations for all Fund A organiza
tions, which include the Association
of Students of the University of Ne
braska, the Daily Nebraskan and
University Program and Facilities
Fees.
CFA makes recommendations for
all Fund B organizations except Debt
Service, which is controlled by a
university bond agreement, Lytle
said. Other Fund B fees go to the
University Health Center, Nebraska
Unions and Office of Campus Rec
reation programs and facilities.
Organizations that use Fund A
student fees submitted their budgets
to CFA Tuesday. Fund B budgets are
due Jan. 26.
In their UPFF budget requests,
UPFF requested a SI83,238 yearly
projected budget, or S4.40 per stu
dent per semester, which is an in
crease of 18.3 percent. ASUN re
quested S121,102, or S5.82 per stu
dent, a decrease of 7.7 percent. The
Daily Nebraskan requested S39.193,
or 94 cents per student, which is the
same as this year’s allocation.
Part of the proposed budget in
crease for UPFF is a SI,691 alloca- d
lion for the GayA-csbian Program- t
ming Committee. 1
Additional increases came due to
a 4.5 percent projected inflationary i
rate for early 1989, said James Gric- i
sen, vice chancellor for student af
fairs. (
Now that CFA has the organiza- l
lions’ budgets, Lytle said it will con- c
duct meetings every Tuesday and S
Thursday, when each individual or- r
ganization will make a presentation. I
“During the presentations we’ll S
look at all the fees used by user or- a
ganizations,” Lytle said. “We look
at what they do and how they used k
fees in the past. ci
“We’ll ask if they possibly can ri
lake any reductions before we make L
our recommendations.’’ -
After CFA makes its recommcn
alions, any organization can appeal
nc recommendation if it received
css than it requested.
According to Marlene Bcykc, di
ector of development for ASUN, the
otal fee per student per semester in
he 1988-89 school year for support
)f Fund A organizations was S7.81, a
otal of $325,225 a year. ASUN rc
civcd S3.15 per student, a total of
131,159; the DN received 94 cents
er student for a total of S39,193; and
JPFF received S3.72 for a total of
154,903. Fund A lees are refund
ble.
‘‘I think we made some progress
ist year with Fund A. We put a lot of
nphasis on getting some clearly
liable figures on attendance at cer
in events,” Griesen said.
See CFA on 5
Psychology students concerned
By Lisa Twiestmeyer
Si aIT Reporter
FI our University of Nebraska
L.incoln psychology stu
dents are starling an infor
mation campaign to increase
awareness among psychology stu
dents about a faculty shortage
problem in the department.
Inla Didrichsons, Bradley
Montgomery and Kathy
Stcinmillcr, all seniors, and David
Isaac son, a December graduate in
psychology, have pul together an
information sheet tilled “What
You Should Know as a Psychology
Major.”
The sheet cites statistics on the
ratio of psychology students to
faculty, the number of students
turned away from psychology
classes and the resulting problems.
Didrichsons said she and the
other students plan to distribute the
sheet to students in psychology
classes this semester before and
after class. They also have posted
the sheet on bulletin boards and
doors in Burnett Hall, where the
I psychology department is located.
The sheet states that there are
664 psychology majors this semes
I ter, up from 562 last year and 350
| in 1983. While this number has
| nearly doubled in the last live
j years, il«c sheet suites, the number
8 of faculty has increased by only 5
,i
Increase of Psychology Majors at LNL
John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan
percent in this same lime period,
up from 20 in 1983 to 21 now.
The sheet also gives registra
tion statistics for inc current se
mester. Three hundred thirty-five
students were turned away from
Psychology 181, whi< h has a 234
student limit. At the 200 level, 119
students were not admitted to
classes.
The sheet urges students to
write to Vice Chancellor for Aca
dcmic Affairs Robert Furgason,
Chancellor Martin Massengale,
John Peters, dean of the college of
Arts and Sciences and the NU
Board of Regents to make known
their concerns about insufficient
funding and staffing.
Didirichsons said the group de
cided before Christmas break that
someone needed to “lake action
See PSYCH on 3
Interim director Beacon gives
financial aid progress report
By Jerry (iuenther
Staff Reporter
Positive changes are taking
place in the Office of Scholar
ships and Financial Aid, ac
cording to John Beacon, interim di
rector of the office.
Beacon told the University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln Faculty Senate
members during Tuesday’s meeting
that most people “didn’t realize how
bad” the situation was in the office.
“As I look office the first of July,
1 soon discovered that there was no
way we were going to process all
those financial aid applications be
fore classes began,” Beacon said.
Some of the ways the financial aid
office alleviated this problem were to
make more short-term loans avail
able to more students and defer tui
tion payments for students who did
not receive their award notification,
Beacon said.
Students living in university resi
dence halls were allowed to defer
housing payments if they applied for
aid by Aug. 1, and students with
University Bookstore charge ac
counts were given additional time to
pay their bills.
Beacon said many problems oc
curred because the financial aid of
fice’s small staff was handling such a
large workload.
Y‘Thc Office of Scholarships and
Financial Aid (in 1987) handled more
money per employee than any other
Big Eight institution at a ratio of one
(employee) to almost S l .5 million (in
aid),” Beacon said.
Other factors causing delays in
processing financial aid requests
were problems with the new com
puter software in the office and in
creased federal aid regulations insti
tuted by Congress.
Beacon also announced that Gov.
Kay Orr recently recommended
$166,500 in increased funding for the
office in the next two years. The
Nebraska Legislature has yet to ap
prove Orr’s budget.
‘‘Unfortunately it’s (the increase)
in the second year,” Beacon said,
‘‘so we’re going to have to get
through yet another year... hopefully
that money is going to be out there for
us in two years.”
In other business, Robert Fur
gason, chairman, of the Central Plan
ning Committee and vice chancellor
for academic affairs, identified some
UNL projects that were ranked ac
cording to campus-wide goals and
objectives by a joint meeting of the
academic and central planning com
mittees.
Furgason said the committee
mcmbcis recommended 18 projects
for the 1989-91 Capital Budget Re
quest alter discussing them within the
context of campus-wide goals and
_______