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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1996)
Exchange program offers tuition break Midwest students get lower out-of-state rates By Erin Schulte Senior Reporter Students in McCook, Falls City or South Sioux City have to make a longer haul to UNL than universities in other states. Some students wanting to study in a program UNL doesn’t offer might want to go somewhere else and not pay out-of-state tuition. The Midwest Student Exchange Program was created for them. Although the program was started three years ago, few college students know about it. Odus Elliott, academic officer for the Coordinating Commis sion for Post-secondary Education, which operates the program, said that’s because the program mainly targets Nebraska high school students. The program allows students to at tend colleges and universities in Kan sas, Michigan, Minnesota and Mis souri for 150 percent of their in-state tuition. This is beneficial to students who grew up closer to the borders of those states or want to study at a pro gram a nearby Nebraska institution may not offer, Elliot said. In turn, students from those states can come to Nebraska colleges and universities for 150 percent of Nebraska’s in-state tuition. All states ~ involved are members of the Midwest ern Higher Education Commission, which ineludes. nine states. Students in the program can save, between $506 and $3,000 a semester.u Elliott said the program was cre ated to encourage die states to work together to make their academic pro grams more readily available. There are no grade requirements for students to participate in the pro gram, Elliott said, although Kansas requires that participants be in the top quarter of their class. UNL has only eight students this year coming in from other states un der the program, Elliott said. But that’s mosdy because of geog raphy, he said— more border towns in Nebraska are closer to out-of-state institutions. “Nebraska is #big exporter of stu dents rightnow,” Elliott said. “We send out a lot mfer& l^taa are coming into,, the state.” X r ° '"^s) More college students finding jobs are a must for expenses OMAHA (AP)—University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Kim Carlton’s answering machine tells callers “by the time I get my mes sages, it’s really late.” But the senior isn’t out party ing with friends or cramming ig the library. Like an increasing number > of students, Carlton is wigging those late-night hours, trying to pay for increasing college costs and a more expensive lifestyle. More students are forking longer hours than ever before, the Omaha World-Herald reported Sunday. Close to 28 percent of young, full-time college students worked 20 or more hours per week in 1994, almost double the percent age that worked that much in 1970. “More than 20 hours and we start seeing an impact on their aca demics,” Janie Barnett, assistant financial aid director at Iowa State University and president-elect of the National Association of Student Employment Administrators, told the newspaper. Carlton, 23, takes a foil load of classes and holds two jobs, work ing 55 hours a week to help pay for school. That’s a lot more than av erage: Only |.8 percent of college students worked 35 hours or more in 1994, up from 3.7 percent in 1970. The U.S. Education Department reports that in 1994, die most re cent year for which statistics are available, 47.6 percent of hill-time college students 24 years of age and younger were employed. The per centage has risen steadily from 33.8 in 1970. They are working for a variety of reasons. The rising cost of at tending college is the most obvious. But college administrators also say students have other extras, like computers and stereos, to pay for. The Education Department’s statistics on working college stu dents go back only to 1970. But Vance Grant, a statistics specialist in the Education Department in Washington, D.C., told the news paper thatit is reasonable to assume that the percentage of college stu dents working has reached an all time high. Earlier this century, he said, the bulk of college students were from middle- and high-income families. Many of them received backing from their parents and did not have to work their way through school, he said. , Rising college costs, students and college administrators say, have compelled many to go to work to help pay tuition and other costs. At UNL, tuition, fees, room and board increased 60 percent from $3,255 in the fall of 1984 to $5,200 in fall 1994. That outpaced infla tion by 17 percentage points. Julie Zimmerman, a senior at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, has an academic scholar ship, two scholarships from orga nizations and receives assistance from her parents in Plymouth. A private university, Nebraska Wesleyan is charging $10,284 this year for tuition alone. The business major says, she works about 15 hours a week to pay part of the cost as well as to have some spending money. There’s an added bonus too — she has made contacts in part-time jobs at the Nebraska Education Department, the Nebraska Wesleyan financial aid office and elsewhere. “It just teaches you to priori tize,” Zimmerman said. “You know if you have some free time, you’d better get your (school) work done first.” ■? FREE MOVIE POSTERS .'V. ’ ••• 'U'' Thursday DSC 5 Pick Up Passes at the 1:30 PM Stop by and see the new 0ffl®es Jor Student Tracker and Metro Involvement ^ » in Broyhill Plaza 200 NU or 300 ECU The Lincoln Theater **«««** •|<|45 P St. University Program Council . nHS ■ 8 1 - —1—---—-1 I ' . " Offices move into ballroom as construction nears MOVING from page 1 bicle spaces while others will be distracted by the open areas, she said. But the staff should be able to meet students’ needs just as well, she said. The staff will use the same phone and computer lines and be just as organized, she said. “I don’t picture our services altering much,” Bugenhagen said. “It’s just the physical space that’s a mess.” John Graham, a senior graphic design ma jor, said the transition week would be difficult for him and the rest of the staff, but the new offices were well organized. As the graphic artist for Student Involve ment, Graham’s biggest worry was the reliabil ity of computers with the temporary wiring, he said. The close quarters may also cause a lot of noise and distractions, he said. However, communication might be im proved by having all the offices so close to gether, he said. The union administration and Student Involvement offices formerly were down the hall from each other. Graham will graduate before the renovation project is done, but he said he still recognized the benefits. “It’s a good thing to do, but it’s still a hassle.” Bugenhagen said that after the staff vacates the offices, construction crews will remove as bestos from the areas where the union connects to the expanded parts. The expansion will give Student Involve ment more space so it can offer more services to student organizations, she said. Among those services would be more com puters for students to keep records for their or ganizations or maintain web sites, mailboxes for student organizations, a wall-sized calen dar with a year’s worth of event listings and storage space, Bugenhagen said. “It’s worth the sacrifice for 16 or 18 months to have everything students will have when it’s done.” Are You Late? (cjw • Veiy competitive fees Womens i- • Supportive environment" Medical Center • Abortion procedures available of Nebraska • Saturday appointments available 493Q .-L» Street • Student discounts Omaha, NE 68117 • Visa, Mastercard (482)734-7500 > TbU free 1-800-877-6337 ,
