UNL tuition increased by 5 %
By Shane Tucker
Staff Reporter
When times are tough, a busi
ness often pushes the brunt
of its financial difficulties
onto the consumer.
On Saturday, the University of
Nebraska-Lin
coln showed that
it was no differ
ent.
The NU Board
of Regents voted
________ unanimously last
weekend to approve university bud- .
get guidelines, which include a five
percent increase in tuition fees. The
regents will approve the final budget
at their meeting in July.
a a
The decision was in accordance
with the Legislature’s budget recom
mendation tor the next biennium.
According to university officials,
the proposed tuition rate for under
graduate residents is $64.50per credit
hour, a 4.9 percent increase from the
previous $61.50 per credit hour cost.
Nonresident undergraduate students
will experience a 5.1 percent increase,
from 1167.50 per credit hour to
$176.00.
Graduate students will also be sub
ject to an increase, with resident rates
raising from $81.50 to $85.50 and
nonresident rates increasing from
$201.25 to $211.25 per credit hour.
Similar tuition increases were ap
proved for the University of Nebraska
A *
at Omaha, the University of Nebraska
at Kearney and the University of Ne
braska Medical Center.
UNL student regent Keith Benes
expressed concern with the increase,
but said he did not feel students were
“carrying too much of the burden.
“The overall trend of tuition in
creases disturbs me...but we’re doing
what we have to do to maintain the
quality of programs at the univer
sity,” Benes said.
Benes said he was concerned that
if tuition continued to rise every year
while the Legislature cut or left the
university budget with a zero percent
increase, students might end up pay
ing an unreasonable amount of money
See REGENTS on 2
mm •
Public service possible tuition option
»y ueura Janssen
Staff Reporter
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
students may be able to pay for
their education with public
service work if a new legislative bill is
passed by Congress, a university offi
cial said Monday.
The House Education and Labor
Committee and the Senate Labor and
Human Resources Committee ap
proved a bill last week that would
create a national program in which
students could work off up to $ 10,000
in college tuition by performing pub
lic service work.
Students in the program would also
get a stipend and qualify for health
care and child day-care benefits ac
cording to Larry Apel, UNL’s Associ
ate Director of Scholarships and Fi
nancial Aid.
"If we could set up a good commu
nity service program, we could help
the community and the nation as a
whole; 1 think that’s what (President)
Clinton envisions," Apel said.
President Bill Clinton is a sup
porter ot the bill.
Apel said the proposed program
would be available to anyone over age
17 who is a high school graduate or
who has a general education diploma.
Students could participate in the
proposed program before or after a
debt had been made on tuition, he
said.
High school graduates could earn
up to 110,000, which would be cred
ited to an institution of higher educa
tion, by doing public service work
part-time for two years or full-time
for one year.
College students who already have
debt could earn up to $10,000 in the
same manner to give to the lender of
the debt.
The program would begin with
25.000 students qualifying the first
year and would eventually grow to
150.000 students. It would cost an
estimated $9.5 billion over the next
five years.
Concerns about the costs of the
program will figure prominently in
the decision of Nebraska Sens. Bob
Kerrey and Jim Exon on whether to
support ine diu.
Dorothy Endacott, Exon’s press
secretary, said the senator had told
how the cost of the program would
impact the budget and that it would
grow into an entitlement program.
Sen. Kerrey also has not taken a
position on the bill yet because there
are both things he likes and dislikes
about the bill, said Peggy Johannsen,
Kerrey’s Deputy Press Secretary.
While Kerrey said the program
fosters the spirit of volunteerism, he
was also concerned about costs,
Johannsen said.
But Apel said the program would
offer numerous advantages, not only
for participants but for society.
,rIt would give people jobs and an
opportunity to see that they can do
something,” Apel said. “It would give
them an alternative to being on the
street.
“Young people would be working
and doing good for the community
and doing good for themselves at the
same time,” he said.
Jeff Zeteny/DN
Jazz in June
^Annette Murrell sings the blues to the sounds of the
Mother's Big Band Tuesday evening in the Sheldon
Memorial Sculpture Garden. Murrell is a University of
Nebraska-Lincoln English graduate student. About 200
people attended the last outdoor jazz concert of the
month.
Football season ticket sales hurt
by lack of student interest
The decline of studenJTicket sales over the past 10 years
should level off thi§ seaspnr^ \
Student ticket demand declining
By Brian Sharp
Staff Reporter _
After Nebraska student football
ticket sales hit their lowest
point in over 25 years last sea
son, the University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln has decided to make some
changes.
Joe Selig, UNL athletic ticket of
fice manager, saidstudent sales had
been declin ing steadily for the past 10
to 12 years.
And this has prompted UNL Ath
letic Director Bill Byme to alter the
way tickets are apportioned to help
ensure that Nebraska continues its
current NCAA record of 188 con
secutive sellouts since 1962.
Previously, all unsold student tick
ets were ottered to tne public on a
game by game basis. Now, Byrne
said, student seating has been cut to
about 10,000, minus the 189 seats lost
in Memorial Stadium’s May collapse
— still well over the 7,441 sold last
year.
The seats that had been given to
students will now be offered to the
public as season tickets.
Byrne said the decline in student
interest was not just a UNL problem,
but at numerous schools across the
country as well.
He said the reason for this was due
mainly to a change in the demograph
ics of the student body. The typical
18-24 year old student has been re
placed by the now more common 24
26 year old, single-parent student look
ing IOi ways uj gcnuiatc mumrc in
stead of spend it.
But, Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne said the problem was not to
be taken lightly. He said decreasing
student season ticket sales is a definite
concern.
“From 17,000 sold 10 years ago to
about 7,000 last year, that’s a tremen
dous drop.” Osborne said. “We’d like
to see more student support; students
need to feel that the program is an ally
and not an opponent”
Student ticket sales for the upcom
ing season areexpected to hold steady,
while faculty and staff season ticket
sales are believed to continue to drop
off slightly, Selig said.
rt See TICKETS on 3