.
EDITOR
' Paula Lavigne
OPINION
EDITOR
Matthew Waite
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Erin Gibson
Joshua Gillin
Jeff Randall
Julie Sobczyk
V.y‘: :r-‘-yy aI:
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Guest
VIEW
Dollars
and sense
College costs match
success with debt
From the staff at The New Hampshire
at the University of New Hampshire.
DURHAM, N.H. (U-WIRE) — Soon,
most of you will be up to your ears in debt.
A national survey released last week said
the average student’s debt has morg than dou
bled in the past six years, mostly because of
higher tuition and a switch in financial aid
from grants to loans.
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watch much of your hard-earned paycheck
get used, not for food and clothes and the
necessities, but to pay off the bills you accu
mulated during the four (or more) years you
spent in college.
Of course, the ramifications of this devel
opment are numerous. Students will put off
buying a house or a new car.
But students won’t be the only ones to feel
the heat Parents will be forced to make some
changes while their children have to fork over
thousands after they graduate. Graduates will
look for jobs closer to home so they can live
with Ma and Pa for a couple of years.
Back in 1991, the average student debt
was $8,200. Now, it’s $18,800. Fifteen years
ago, 41.4 percent of financial aid came from
federal loans, 54.6 percent from federal
grants. Now, federal loans make up 58.9 per
cent, while federal grants make up 39.7 per
cent of financial aid. (The remaining 1.4 per
cent comes from other sources.)
Times are changing.
And while the ridiculous rise in tuition is
part of the problem, federal support is also
responsible. Of course, we go to school in a
state that pays so little attention to the prob
: tesnof money for education that it is almost
embarrassing.
And while the situation is changing, it s
not going to help the people who are going to
school right now. Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is try
ing to push things in the right direction, but a
lot needs to be done.
Over the summer, the University System
of New Hampshire Board of Trustees passed
a 14 percent in-state tuition increase, the
largest in about a decade. Now, every full
time, in-state UNH student pays $580 a year
more in tuition than he or she did last year,
even though even the most fervent UNH sup
porter will admit the education we’re receiv
ing this year is not $580 better than the educa
tion we received last year. Inflation is one
thing, but it just doesn’t add up.
High tuition is a great way for the rich to
get richer, while the poor get poorer. A lot of
poor, hard-working 18-year-olds can’t go to
college because they know they’ll never be
able to pay off all the debt that would accu
mulate.
Meanwhile, there are some lazy rich kids
who float through high school, then have Ma
and Pa foot the bill for college- Sure, the chain
can be broken, but the odds are stacked
against it.
- The most ironic thing is that it’s society
that demands us to get an education in order
to be successful. At the same time, it’s also
demanding us to put ourselves in debt Is this
$e way it Should be in the freest counfly in
the world?
Well, that’s the way it is right now.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Fall 1997 Daily Nebraskan. They do
not necessarily reflect the views of toe
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its
employees, its student body or the
University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
Acoiumn is solely the opinion of its author.
The Board of Regents serves as pubisher
of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by
the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The
UNL Publications Board, established by
the regents, supervises the production
of the paper. According to policy set by
the regents, responsibility for toe editorial
content of the newspaper lies solely in
the hands of its student employees.
. 'v4 * i J :>'v Y .V
Latter Mlcy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief
letters to the editor and guest columns,
but does not guarantee their pubfcation.
The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to
edit or reject any material submitted.
Submitted matenatbecomee property of
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Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34'
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lettpis@unlinfo.unl.edu.
For sale: cheap
I read of the exclusive marketing
contract between the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln and PepsiCo in the
“Reporter,” the newsletter of the
University of Nebraska Foundation.
Corporate sponsors should sup
port universities for what they do, not
for what they promise not to do.
Raising funds through restriction of
choice runs counter to what universi
ties are about, that of being forums
for free and open exchange of infor
mation and ideas.
In the “Reporter” article, Brenda
Barnes, president and chief executive
officer of Pepsi-Cola North America,
is quoiea as saying uinl is cieariy a
crown jewel among the nation’s state
university systems.” UNL is a good
university, maybe a great university,
but it is not a crown jewel. The money
flows, and the hyperbole begins. The
fact that the editors of the “Reporter”
chose to print Barnes’ quote indicates
that respect for truth is already an
early victim of the PepsiCo deal.
What is UNL providing PepsiCo
for about $2 million a year for the
next 12 years? The opportunity to
imprint on the buying habits of stu
dents for the rest of their lives.
Imprinting is what universities are
about, but historically this serious
business has been entrusted to profes
sors, not soft drink distributors. At $2
million a year, this sacred trust has
been sold cheap.
Ron Struss
Eau Claire, Wis.
I would like to express my severe
disdain for the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln in its decision to
I .... '
Matt Haney/DN
cancel the Halloween midnight show
ing of “The Rocky Horror Picture
Show” at the Culture Center for no
apparent reason whatsoever.
Like many others, I spent plenty
of time getting ready and all dressed
up to go have a good and sober time. I
was quite angered to find that cancel
lation notice posted on the door.
Granted, “Rocky Horror” is a lit
tle risque (transvestites, bisexuals,
Meatloaf) to these good ol’
Midwestern folk, but with all the
many posters about down with homo
phobia and discrimination round
campus, isn’t it blatantly hypocritical
of die university to cancel “Rocky”
on die basis that it’s “not suitable for
UNL students?”
And isn’t the university devoted
to promoting healthy, sober alterna
tives to the frat parties and all the
drinking involved? So why cancel an
event that would kill two birds with
one stone?
I spoke to many people who,
when they learned the show was can
celed, went immediately to some
one’s house to get drunk, for lack of
anything better to do on a Friday
night.
That doesn’t reflect back well
onto the university either, does it?
Kelly Romanski
freshman
news-editorial
Due credit? -
In the latest edition of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln staff
newsletter, “The Scarlet,” Chancellor
Moeser praises the university land
scaping staff for its hard work in
clearing off the campus after the tern
Die storm we just witnessed.
What I would like to know is if the
chancellor has any intention of hon
oring the many fraternity brothers
who banded together and helped out
so many people on and off campus
who were in trouble because of
downed trees and other weather-relat
ed maladies.
It is unfortunate the public must
rely on local news coverage of these
heroes because the head of the uni
versity refuses to notice them. Could
it be because they are supposed to be
a bunch of drunk, stupid, woman
degrading punks? It’s sad that with all
the good fraternities do for this com
munity and communities arouhd the
world they only get press when stake
politically important tragedystrikes
them internally. • ^
■'Siil v«n
Jason Fredi fcgill
UNL film/video
producer/director
Haney’s
VIEW
(ikiL,Stilt Smtrn
DN
VIEW
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