The Behrend College
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rsd April 13, 1995 Erie, PA 16563 Vol XLIII, No. 23
Extreme impact from budget
by Danielle M. Murphy
Collegian Staff
The Ridge administration has
released its proposal for the 1995-
96 Commonwealth Budget. If
passed, Governor Tom Ridge's
budget will have tremendous
impact on financial aid
availability for college students at
Pennsylvania schools.
Part of Gov. Ridge's proposal
will cut Tuition Challenge
grants in half and transfer these
funds into the Pennsylvania
Higher Education Assistance
Agency, which supplies state
grants to students and primarily
benefits private universities.
The Tuition Challenge grants,
a program started by former Gov.
Robert P. Casey, gives $2lO per
every full-time, in-state student if
the university does not increase
tuition by more than 4.5 percent.
Gov. Ridge's proposal lowers
this amount to $lOO per student.
Katherine Delfino, Assistant
Director of Admissions,
concerning the transfer of funds
Behrend Briefs
Vandalism
SGA Report
Research Grants
to PHEAA said, "What we lose
through this is in no way going
to be made up through state
grants. The private schools will
benefit the most."
Currently, Pennsylvania ranks
45th in state support for state and
state-related schools. However,
Pennsylvania ranks in the top
third in state funding for private
universities. According to Dr.
John M Lilley, Provost and
Dean, "This keeps the costs of
higher education up."
"It's getting harder, not easier
to qualify for these grants," said
Delfino. "Generally, people
with lower incomes get more
financial aid to offset college
costs. People within middle
income brackets really feel the
crunch. They're limited to loans
and Penn State may be viewed as
out of their reach."
There's less and less money
out there," added DeVino. "More
students are going to need loans
for college."
Gov. Ridge's budget proposal
would keep Penn State's state
Photo by R. Carl Campbell 111/News Editor
News
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appropriation at $269 million,
the same as last year. The
University had requested
$292,191,000. "We do have a
challenging budget," said Dean
Lilley. "But admissions have
increased 35 percent for Behrend
as a first-choice campus and we
will continue to raise our
standards."
Although the budget proposal
includes a cut in Tuition
Challenge grants, Penn State will
abide by the 4.5 percent tuition
increase cap. "I think you can
count on a 4.5 percent increase.
No more, no less," said Dean
Lilley.
The proposal will increase
PHEAA grants to $240 million
from almost $2lO million in the
1994-95 school year. A 17.3
percent increase is planned for
PHEAA grants, increasing
availability to 10,000 additional
students plus an increase in the
maximum grant to $2,700 per
year. However, according to
Penn State President Joab
Thomas, more than 50 percent of
STD expert speaks at Behrend
by R. Carl Campbell 111
Dr. Richard Keeling, the
country's leading authority on the
numbers of sexually transmitted
diseases among young people,
spoke yesterday in the Reed
Lecture Hall. Keeling, a
professor of medicine at the
University of Wisconsin at
Madison, is the chairman of the
HIV Disease Task Force of the
American College Health
Association.. His lecture was
titled, "Sex, Alcohol, and Self-
Esteem: Health and Community
Inside
Entertainment
Cartoons
Bad Boys
Horoscopes
News Editor
page 7
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AN.
the PHEAA funds go to privatc
universities and not state or state
related universities.
"We're working to improve the
budget proposal," added Dean
Lilley. "We are optimistic about
"We're working to
improve the
budget proposal.
We are optimistic
about improving
what Gov. Ridge
has
recommended."
- Dean John May
improving what Gov. Ridge has
Gov. Ridge's budget proposal
has yet to be approved and
on Campus" and was sponsored
by the Office of Student Affairs.
The main concern of the lecture
was the consequences when
choices and context come
together for college students. He
mentioned unwanted pregnancies
as the perfect example.
He stated that college students
do as they see. "They (college
students) are being told to just
say no, when all around them
they are hearing 'just do it.'"
Keeling seemed to define
alcohol as the root of the
majority of campus problems.
Sports
Just My Opinion
Men's Tennis
Softball
SLUUGIILS auu ►al.utLy voice
their concerns to local state
legislature members.
Representative Jim Merry
Fifth District
511 Main
East Girard, PA 16417
1-800-874-9669
Representative Linda
Bebko-Jones
460 East 26 St.
Erie, PA 16504
(814) 459-1949
Senator Anthony
Buzz d%min=ski
200 West 11 St.
Erie, PA 16501
(814) 452-4783
Senator Robert D. Robbin's
33 N. Main St.
Union City, PA 16438
(814) 438-7429
Senator Roy W. Wilt
Meadville
(814) 336-2760
He said that everyone suffers
from another's binge drinking.
Most campus situations that
involve violence and vandalism
are alcohol related. Alcohol is,
as Keeling mentioned, the
number one health problem on
campus.
Keeling said that most of the
problems are not because that
college students believe they are
invincible, as traditionally
believed, but that college students
aren't sure how to manage the
framework of making decisions
and handling the consequences.
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