The Behrend Beacon
Real dorm life begins once parents hit the road
by Robby Messer
Campus Correspondent
Northern Arizona University
Moving into a dorm can be an in-
teresting and eye-opening ex
perience. For many students, it’s the
only time parents will ever see their
living quarters. And that's a good
thing because the floors are swept,
mirrors polished and desktops
buffed to a shine (with the excep
tion of mine, with its broken
drawer). These cramped, little
spaces won’t always be so. well,
clean and Mom and Dad don’t
need images of how these rooms
digress seared into their brains.
Average college costs
increase by five percent
by Colleen Deßaise
College Press Exchange
-The cost of college
NEW YORK-
tuition will continue to outpace in
flation this year, and students are
borrowing more than ever to get de
grees, according to a new study. "I
had scholarships and parental sup
port for college [but] have been re-
lying on loans — about $50,000 —
for graduate school." said Derek R.
Larson, a doctoral student in history
at Indiana University.
His wife is also a graduate student,
and they wonder how they’ll pay off
the loans, he said. "I expect we'll
be lucky to pay off our debt in 10
years after finding work, assuming
we can both find jobs in our respec
tive fields at all," he said. "1 feel
quite insecure about the financial
future my investment may bring."
According to a College Board sur
vey released Sept. 25, students at
four-year public colleges and univer
sities can expect to pay about 6 per
cent more this year lor tuition. Thai’s
about $155 more than last year.
Four-year private schools boosted
undergraduate tuition this year by 5
percent, which means students will
have to pay about $607 more. Room
and board also jumped, an average
6 percent, or $220, at public colleges
and universities, and about 4 per
School newspapers go up in flames
by Nicole King
University of Central Florida
ORLANDO, Fla. Efforts to put
together a baek-to-school newspa
per were trashed when someone
dumped several hundred copies ot
the Central Florida Future in trash
bins throughout the University ol
Central Florida’s campus.
School police are looking into the
incident, which happened sometime
between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m„ Aug. 20,
and school officials have vowed to
punish whoever is caught. The case
is being treated as a theft, and could
rise toA felony status depending on
the newspapers’ value.
"This is a violation of the law and
university rules,” said Garth Jenkins,
Middlebury College argues
student responsible for his death
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. (CPX)
Middlebury College is trying to
fend off a federal lawsuit insisting
that the school be held liable tor the
death of a 22-year-old student who
died in an alcohol related car crash.
The suit was filed by the father ot
Ryan Waldron, a Middlebury senior
killed in 1997 after driving drunk
from a campus party at the social
house Zeta Theta Phi. It charges that
both the college and social house
have “at least as much responsibil
ity (if not more)... tor Ryan s death
as did the acts committed by Ryan
National Campus News
In fact, Mom and Dad don’t need to
know a lot of things after this milestone
called move-in day has passed. Maybe
some parents know this, which is the
reason move-in day feels like this big
private joke among the students who
nod dutifully as their parents check out
the facilities.
Move-in day for me was no excep
tion. Just like everyone else, my par
ents and I crammed everything imag
inable into my tiny space, and just like
everyone else, I thanked the parents for
helping me schlep my stuff up to my
room. They cooed about the tiles miss
ing from the floor, the water that leaked
from the heater, the light that didn’t
work, shelves that didn’t exist you
name it and I just stood there nod
cent, or $195, at private schools, the
study found.
Donald M. Stewart, president of the
College Board, said that despite costs
that "are daunting too many, for most
Americans, the fact remains that col
lege is still accessible — especially in
the light of financial aid currently avail
able."
“for most Americans, the fact remains that
college is still accessible — especially in
the light of financial aid currently avail-
able. ”
Stewart urged students and families
to keep college costs in perspective,
noting that a majority of students pay
less than $4,000 per year. Only about 5
percent of college students attend the
highest-priced universities that charge
more than $20,000 a year, he said.
The study by the College Board, an
association of about 3,000 colleges,
also found that federal aid is available
to students at a record level —more than
$5O billion. But most student-aid
growth has come in the form of federal
associate dean of students. "It’s a
suspendable offense. The law needs
iron clad information, (but) I don’t.”
The Future’s associate publisher,
“This is a violation
of the law and uni
versity rules. ”
Karen Andrews, an attorney for the
college, likened the suit to holding the
state of Vermont liable when a state
licensed bar serves a minor. She filed
a motion asking that the suit be dis
missed, denying most of its allegations
and stating that even if Middlebury
were negligent, the college’s fault
would be “lesser in degree than Ryan
Waldron’s own fault.” Waldron lived
off campus after his social house was
shut down for alcohol-related viola
tions. His father’s lawsuit alleges that
he got drunk on “blackout punch,” a
mixture of beer and vodka, and died
-Donald M. Stewart,
president of the College Board
-Garth Jenkin associate
dean of students.
ding in agreement.
But I had other things on my mind
“Isn’t this a
dry dorm?”
and so did just about everyone else
loans, said Lawrence Gladieux, ex
ecutive director for policy analysis at
the College Board’s Washington of
fice. In 1995-96, federal loan pro
grams provided $29 billion in aid to
students —57 percent of all available
aid.
In contrast, federal grant support
continued to decline—despite a slight
increase of $4O in the maximum Pell
Grant. Now grants represent just 42
percent of total federal, state and in
stitutional aid.
"Since the mid-70s, the Pell Grant
has lost ground both to inflation and
to the rising cost of college —a 40
percent decrease over 20 years," said
Stewart. But Jack Joyce, associate
director of information at the
association’s College Scholarship
Service, points out that half of all stu
dents enrolled in higher education re-
Brian Linden, said he was shocked
when he heard the papers were miss-
"Something needs to be done.” he
said. “This is very serious and not
something we consider just an ordi
nary college prank.” Jenkins said he
also was concerned about the paper’s
advertisers, one of whom was the
university’s own bookstore, which
had two full-page ads in the paper.
Rebecca Grilliot, production editor
for the Future, said she was frustrated
that her hard work was thrown away.
“I was shocked, I can’t believe that
anyone would do something like
this,” she said. “We all put so much
hard work into the paper.”
later that night when the car he was
driving home struck a tree. The law
suit claims that the punch Waldron
drank was prepared in an unautho
rized container using unregistered
quantities of alcohol that had been
sneaked into the house.
All student parties at Middlebury
at which alcohol will be served must
be registered with the college’s stu
dent activities office. The director of
student activities determines the
amount of alcohol that can be served
based on the anticipated number of
guests.
September 3,1999
as best I could tell. Y’see, nobody re
ally wants to make friends on the first
day. Sure, we might go around, intro
ducing ourselves to new hallmates
and suitemates, but if truth he told,
there are a lot of ulterior motives at
work. We’re just looking for some
body to bring us back to our rooms
when we’ve had too much to drink.
Of course no one mentions that to
the folks. (Let them gurgle about the
cinderblock walls in blissful igno
rance.) Or at least no one I know did
at my school, Northern Arizona Uni
versity, on move-in day. But our little
inside joke almost did fall apart when
one guy used a dolly to assist him with
moving in. He didn't have the luxury
of having parental assistance with
ceive some financial aid, often a com
bination of grants, scholarships, loans
and work-study. "Focusing on ‘sticker
price' or allowing ’sticker shock’ to
influence college choice will limit op
portunities that are out there for stu
dents,” he said.
Some private schools have reacted
to “sticker shock” with promises not
to raise tuition more than the inflation
rate; others have simply cut tuition.
The most publicized example is
Muskingum College, which cut its tu
ition more than S4,(MX) this year, from
$13,850 to $9,850.
James B. Appleberry, president of
the American Association of State Col
leges and Universities, said the good
news in the College Board report is that
there is more financial aid available for
students to attend college than ever
before.
The bad news is that the increase is
in the form of loans rather than grants,
which means "we are creating a seri
ously debt-burdened society," he said.
He blames rising costs on state leg
islatures that have "deprioriti/ed”
funding for public colleges and univer
sities. "Historically, most slates have
paid more than two thirds of the cost
of a college education, and the student
or their family paid the rest." he said.
“Now, many states pay only 50 per
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moving in his television. VCR, ste
reo. bookcase, ami couch. Heck, he
didn't even use the dolly to help him
iuove anv ol those things either. The
dolly was used lor one purpose and
one purpose only: to haul beer.
A couch can be humped, and a tele
vision can always be scratched and
still function properly. Four cases of
beer, however, need to be handled
with care. One bump, and thal.could
be one less beer. (To the average per
son that may not seem like much, but
to the dormitory lush who majors in
hangovers, it’s everything.)
As the beer was being paraded
through the hall toward its final des
tination. parents, almost simulta
neously, looked at each other as if to
Surprise!
good for your GPA
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Here’s a
back-to-schoo! tip: You want better
grades, demand that your professors
quiz you once a week
Still reading?
A new study suggests that students
who received a quiz on reading ma
terial every week outperformed other
students on midterm and final exami
nation grades by four to 24 percent.
Students with low grades benefit
the most from frequent testing. The
reason probably isn’t too surprising:
"Even when students believe they
can learn material in a class, and
when they know the appropriate
strategies for learning, they won’t do
it until w ; e give them a reason to
do it," says Bruce VV. Tuckman. an
educational psychologist at Ohio
State University.
In two studies, Tuckman com
pared the performance of two Florida
State University classes on educa
tional psychology. One class lie
quizzed every week on the reading
assigned for that week. Those stu
dents knew when to expect the quiz,
and what material would be covered.
He didn't quiz the other class, but
gave them comparable homework
assignments on the same reading
material.
In a third study, he compared the
performance of these two groups
sav "Isn't this a dry dorm?" An ugly
scene narrowly averted, good-byes
finally rolled around. Parents em
braced their children, and hometown
honeys stood teary-eyed in the halls
all confident that they had success
fully delivered the student they loved
to the land of higher education.
But the minute they were out, it
was time to christen dorm rooms.
Music blared, and the beer Bowed. (It
was a good thing everyone introduced
themselves. Otherwise, we would
have had to share a room, passed out
on the floor.) The parents were gone.
They saw the living arrangements and
approved. Wonder what would hap
pen if they knew about the lifestyle.
Quizzes
with a third class who were given
neither quizzes nor homework as
signments. Students wdto were
quizzed in the first two studies out
performed the other students' grades
by an average of four percent and
seven percent respectively.
In the third study, quizzed students
outperformed the students who did
homework by 16 percent, and the stu
dents who did neither by 24 percent.
But what is more interesting is the
grades the students received,
Tuckman says. Students with aver
age or relatively high grade point av -
erages earned approximately the
same grade for the midterm or final
exam whether they were quizzed or
did homework. But (he students with
low GPAs improved their grades dra
matically w'hcn they were forced to
study for a quiz every week.
"This shows that some people
have low GPAs not because they’re
not smart, but because they don’t
work hard " said Tuckman. Of
course, the students weren’t crazy
about tests, Tuckman said. "I was fa
mous for the spot-quizzes at Florida
State. Students hated me. They raged
in front of the whole class. They
haled being quizzed, and yet, it
worked,” said Tuckman. who now
heads Ohio State's new Academic
Learning Lab.
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