Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 1995)
Jeff Haller/DN Students pick up loan checks and take care of their tuition bills Monday afternoon just before the student accounts service counter closes in the Administration Building. Aid Continued from Page 1 Loans, it may be too late. Only one had vaguely heard about the cuts. Nevertheless, the thought of get ting a smaller check next year upsets Beatriz Arbat, a graduate student in architecture. Arbat said the cuts would make a bad situation even worse. “I wasn’t happy with what I got now,” she said. Arbat, 26, works part-time for an architecture firm. The current loan program forces some students to spend more time working, she said, which makes their grades suffer. This attitude toward cutting stu dent aid is counterproductive to the nation’s future, she said. And she knows from example. Arbat is from Chile, which for many years did not offer students financial aid. If you didn t have money,” she said, “you were screwed.” Chile eventually realized that by not investing in the students, it was worsening its economy, she said. The country started a financial aid pro gram and saw an economic return. “Right now, money limits educa tion,” she said, “but it should be that your brain limits education instead.” While Arbat worries about her loan check in Lincoln, the Alliance to Save Student Aid in Washington is keeping track of what is happening on Capitol Hill. Sarah Williams, an intern at the alliance, said the House and Senate Republicans were leading the budget cuts. The Senate, with a smaller Re publican majority, “has been much kinder to student aid” than the House, she said. Hopefully, she said, the Senate will send the cuts back to the drawing board. “It’s better than it was six months ago,” Williams said, “but not as good as it should be.” All of the proposals will increase the cost of higher education, she said, and may keep people out of college; however, some Republicans have is sued statements contraiy to that claim. The Republican National Commit tee issued a paper called “The ABC’s of School Spending” in which it dis putes the claim that it is ending the student loan program. “Total student loan volume grows from $24 billion in 1995 to $36 billion in 2002,” the paper states, and “no student will pay interest on their loans while in school.” The paper explains cuts in thi s way: “Middle-class taxpayers have sub sidized the interest on loans to gradu ate school students who go on to be come lawyers, doctors and Ph.D. can didates.” Suzy DeFrancis, senior research counsel for the committee, said pro grams, such as the Federal Direct Stu dent Loan program, needed to be lim ited because they wasted the government’s money. The program, which makes the government the lender instead of the private sector, is offered to freshmen at UNL, Beacon said. Beacon said Republicans were pressured by bank lobbyists to limit the program because banks would lose money if students borrowed from the government instead. The letter also states that Pell Grant awards will be the “largest in history” — increasing from $2,340 to $2,440 —and that theie will be no cuts in the Federal Work Study and Supplemen tal Educational Opportunity Grant Program. people wno criticize tne Republi can position fail to see that increase, DeFrancis said. “They make it sound like you go up to the college loan door and there won’t be anything there,” DeFrancis said. But Beacon said the Pell Grant increase was misleading because al though the proposal would increase the maximum appropriated amount a student could get, it still wouldn’t reach the amount authorized in 1972 of about $3,600. Williams also disputed the Repub lican claims and said that if Congress wanted to make cuts, education was not the place to do it. “Everybody in higher education acknowledged there are other ways to do it,” she said. “Students shouldn’t get the brunt of it.” But the road only goes down from - here, as Beacon predicts more cuts in 1997. Williams said President Clinton’s promise to veto at least six of the proposals was one sign of hope. Beacon agreed. “Clinton is the hero of education,” he said. There are no smal American Heart Victories in the fight Association against heart disease. ®1992 American Heart Associa,ion _ _M For the Right Look... Right Price... $9.00 Haircut & Style (Includes shampoo) reg. $12 $5.00 Off color of your choice: Permanent haircolor, frosting, highlighting (includes shampoo and style) $10.00 Off any Perm $39 or more (Includes shampoo, haircut and style) Get 10% Off any Salon service with your student l.D. Gateway Mall • 402-467-6106 Hair Salon ‘ 2 ' • * ! ‘V i« 4 Not valid with any other discounts or promotions. Long hair and specialty wraps priced by consultation. Ends Oct. 7, 1995. ©1995 Premier Salons International, Inc. If you’re into computer sciences, data processing, accounting, auditing, math or law... HI - DATA get in touch with State Farm. Our career opportunities are many and varied for qualified grads. If you’re selected, you’ll enjoy the advantages of working with a respected leader in the insurance industry. Expert training. State of-the-art equipment. Excellent pay and benefits. Plenty of room to grow. And you’ll enjoy Bloomington, Illinois, too. It’s a thriving community with the social, cultural and recreational activities afforded by two universities. Contact your Placement Director, or write Mary Holman, Assistant Director Home Office Personnel Relations, One State Farm Plaza, Bloomington, Illinois 61710. State Farm Insurance Companies * Home Offices: Bloomington, Illinois * An Equal Opportunity Employer
