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16 11,
- A weekend without football
- Heath Ledger's early passing
- Cheap, short-lived goldfish
- Wind
Endowments don't boost financial aid
by Rachel Reeves
opinion editor
rcrsos7 o.l,psu.edu
'lt's that time of year again. January is
when every college student in
America is filling out his or her
FAFSA (or hounding their parents as to
why it isn't completed yet.) The time of
year when I try not to imagine how long
it will be after graduation when the
amount of money I earn comes close to
the amount of money I owe. The time of
year when I imagine myself, four years
from now, living in a cardboard box and
trying to cook Ramen Noodles over a
cigarette lighter.
As far as Penn State is concerned, I
am in just about the worst financial posi
tion possible. Being from a middle-class
family, I do not have enough money to
pay for college out-of-pocket, but then I
have too much money to apply for stu
dent aid. On top of that. I am an out-of
state student from Rochester, New York.
I still cannot understand why my room
mate manages to pay half as much as I
do while living in the exact same place,
consuming the same amount of food,
and attending the same classes she
even lives farther away from campus
than I do. And trust me, I live in New
York. I pay taxes.
So, another option would be scholar
ships, right? I am a white, financially
stable, Protestant journalism major. I'm
straight. I'm perfectly healthy, and both
of my parents are alive. I don't have
obscure hobbies like model sailboat
building or yo-yoing. This cuts down
my potential scholarships to contests
like Cosmo Girl of the Year 2008, along
every other WASP female aged 17-21 in
this country.
Even so. I'm applying for six or seven
scholarships this year. about one per
month all the way into July. I'm also
applying for an RA position, which is
the most effective way to cut college
costs. Last summer I worked about 48
hours per week to save up for spending
money and hooks. The real kicker is that
out-of-state tuition at Penn State was by
far my least expensive option for the
accredited communications program I
Childhood heroes can't carry over
by Rachel Reeves
opiniort editor
rcrsos7(q psu.edu
When I was a child, heroes were forever. They
came long before you and would continue
on. always a step ahead, always providing
something to aspire to. They were sure and infallible
and permanent, someone who had found a way to rise
above human limitations to become something really
great.
Well, there are certain things that no one tells you
about growing up. Like the fact that the road to adult
hood is paved with an unbelievable amount of paper
work, and that the dogs you and your friends all got ten
years ago will begin to die off in quick succession dur
ing your senior year of high school. One of the things
that no one tells you is that your heroes get old and
eventually fade. No. people leave you to figure that one
out on your own.
This Sunday night it was five below at Lambeau
field, and Green Bay was playing for the champi
onship. The cheers of the Green Bay fans were muffled
by their many layers, the talking heads were wearing
ridiculous winter hats, and players were sipping hot
Small, but nonetheless poignant observations:
by Christopher LaFuria
editor-in-cheif
csl5(X)5 V±psu.edu
- You can always tell when someone has a container of
Tic Tacs in their pocket.
- Pennies are filthy.
My vote doesn't count; frankly, neither does my
The United States was founded upon lies. So was
Coca-Cola
- The most expressive piece of clothing someone can
wear is their shoes.
- If an entity is full of awe, it is bad. If it has some awe,
it is good.
- Food always tastes better with chopsticks... Except
soup.
- Something smells like burnt apples.
- On the range of hygiene, if you're up, you're
American. If you're down, Europe.
- Not all floppy disks were floppy.
- Green Tea is yellow. While on the topic of drinks, if
real mountain dew was yellow, then there are too many
P [l\fi 01\i
wanted
You can imagine my frustration when
I picked up USA Today on my way to
my lifeguarding class (which I'm taking
to earn my 3 gym credits and simultane
ously become qualified for an above
minimum wage job this summer) and
saw the headline "College wealth soar
ing." The article was about very presti
gious schools like Harvard, Yale, and
MIT, but it made me curious about Penn
State. So I Googled my way to "The
President's Report on Philanthropy
2006-2007."
This reported that Penn State received
a record $1.7 billion from private
endowment this year, a net increase of
$279 million from last year. It also
reported that $1.54 billion (90 percent of
the endowments) went into something
called the Long-Term Investment Pool.
I'm still not sure what this fund does,
but the President's Report says that it
provides "long-term growth and sustain
able spending," and I've seen charts of
the amount in the fund steadily increas
ing over the years.
Schools like Harvard and Yale are
using their extra endowment money to
cut their middle-class students a break.
Penn State's tuition however, has
increased 4.3-5.5 percent this year, even
after being recognized as the most
expensive school in the Big Ten. If Penn
State wants to increase its widespread
alumni population, if it really wants to
increase diversity and out-of-state stu
dents, if it truly wants to invest in the
future, it needs to cut its students a
break.
Sooner or later the networking poten
tial, the solid academic programs and
the legendary football will not be
enough to bring students in anymore.
The opportunities that Penn State pro
vides won't be able to balance out just
how far in debt students will have to go,
and how hard they will have to work to
pay it off. I know that personally, the
decision between the cost and the bene
fits was really close, and that was before
the tuition increases. Penn State needs to
Wance out its Long-Term Investment
Pei ol and its long-term actions if it real
ly wants a sustainable future.
chicken broth on the sidelines instead of the usual
Gatorade. When the offensive line was crouched, wait
ing for the snap, the steam from their breath made them
look like bulls lowering their heads for the charge. The
coaches were bundled beyond recognition, Vaseline
smeared on their faces to prevent frostbite.
This was not glamorous, pretty-boy football. This
Well, there are certain
things no one tells you
about growing up.
was real, hard-hitting, can't get out of bed on Monday
morning football. This was winner-take-all, earn your
millions or go home football. This was the kind of
thing that my own childhood hero, Brett Favre, lives
And even though I have filled out enough paperwork
to bring down a small forest, and my dog is half-deaf
and can't see a thing in the dark, I faithfully believed
that this was a sure thing. All of the ingredients were
there - the historic home field in the frigid cold, the
championship game following a season that everyone
dogs taking a piss.
- "Bass" should be spelled "base." It is not a fish.
- One time, there was a squirrel that jumped into a
garbage can and couldn't get out.
- Canada is proof that God is mad at us.
- Hummus is delicious.
- Binder clips can double as clothespins, curtain rods,
and those clips you put on the open bag of chips to keep
them from spilling out.
- No one really knows how to work the fax machine.
- Neil Young is cooler than Tom Petty.
- Rooms in the house are insufficiently named. Of
course there is a bath in the bathroom, but there is also
a toilet and sink. There is a bed in the bedroom. But
there is also a dresser and a closet. And where did
"kitchen" come from?
- According to the paintings in some historic museums,
Picasso and Jackson Pollock were approximately five
years old.
- Proctologists should be called astronauts.
- March 5 is really Feb. 33. Except during leap years.
Then it is the Feb. 32.
- You will have a higher Vitamin C count if you give
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Friday, January 25, 2008
into adulthood
said the Packers would lose it had never failed before.
For three quarters everything went exactly like I
expected it to. Then, in the fourth quarter, something
shifted, and my hero became a human. A really cold,
kind of old, mere human being.
I can't put my finger on what happened or how I
knew, but it was clear that Favre was not having fun
anymore. The passes looked the same, but instead of
being born of recklessness, they were thrown out of
desperation. When the cameras got a close shot, his
expression contained no youthful determination to win
and prove the world wrong; it was instead the face of a
long-distance runner who just wants to make it to the
finish line. And long before overtime, long before the
interception, long before the Giants' 47-yard field goal,
I knew.
Favre has overcome many, many things: broken
bones, addictions, car crashes, cancer, grief, years of
doubt. And he always came back as young as ever, as
optimistic, as reckless as he had ever been. He proved
that no matter what happened, it was still worth show
ing up, giving it your best, and loving the game. But
Sunday night I caught a glimpse of a world that was too
fast, too cold, too harsh for my childhood hero. Sunday
night I grew up a little bit more.
peas a chance.
- If it's called an "automobile," then why do I need to
drive it? It should drive me.
- If someone offers me Sour Patch Kids, I like them to
pour it in my hands. If I choose to select them with my
own hands, I feel guilty taking more than two. If the
owner of the aforementioned Sour Patch Kids pours
them into my hands, I am ensured at least 12
- Rugby should have been played on
- The word "malarkey" sounds like
England.
- I like toast.
- Kites fly highest if they have the longest string
- The job title "secretary" implies that the person works
with feces
- If green were a number, and it was divided by 13, it
would have a remainder.
- It is easy to take things like milk and Christmas for
granted
- I am a lot better looking than the guy I saw in the mir
ror this morning,
- There are only two types of delicious pie: hot pie and
cold pie
Alt Is going
to be a hod
lading
carpet squares.
a bird from New