Friday, March 27, 2009
Tuition to increase in 2009
By Adam Spinelli
contributing writer
a 155589(,/ psu.edu
In an e-mail sent out on
Friday, March 20, the Penn
State Board of Trustees
detailed plans to raise stu
dents' tuition by as much as 5
percent.
John Surma, chair of the
board's subcommittee on
finance, said that an effort is
being made to decrease this
number.
Some students have
expressed concern over
increases in tuition.
"It's hard because I'm out of
state," says Amber Weber, a
freshman majoring in political
science. "I'm from Ohio and I
already pay over $30,000 a
year to go here. Tuition is
already high enough and it is
just going to get harder to pay
especially if it is going to keep
increasing every year."
The Penn State system,
along with most other schools,
has raised tuition almost every
year in order to pay for rising
costs that are associated with
the school. Among these costs
are items like electricity for
the dorms, heating and other
bills that come.
Penn State officials realize
that times are hard right now,
and because of this, a one per
cent reduction, at least, will be
considered. This is all depend
ing on the University's appro
priation, and other economic
ties that will occur between
now and when the board
meets in early June.
"If we could, we would pro
pose no tuition increase what
soever." Surma said in the e
mail. "But that would created
an additional shortfall that
could seriously disrupt the
quality of education at the
University. We wish that
increases could be smaller,
and that our internal cuts were
less severe, but we must be
"Th'd PniewSttitto."‘
system t 4along: with
most other sdhools,
has raised tuition
almost every year In
order to pay for ris
ing costs that are
associated with the
school. Among these
costs are Items like
electricity for the
dorms, heating and
other bills that
come.
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In an e-mail sent
out on Friday,
March 20, the Penn
State Board of
Trustees detailed
plans to raise stu
dents' tuition by as
much as 5 percent.
diligent in preserving the long
term fiscal stability of the uni
versity."
In order to lessen the cost of
the tuition increase, faculty
and staff salaries will be
frozen, and the University will
make about $2O million in cuts
to the budget.
"This makes me feel a little
better," Weber says. "It is nice
to know that they are at least
trying to help us out."
"I don't like the fact that
they are doing this," says
Melanie Powell, a freshman
majoring in psychology. "It
just makes things. hard
because I already am going to
end up paying more back on
my loans than college original
ly costs because of interest.
Now I'm going to have to end
up paying even more than
what I originally planned for."
While many students are
upset, there are some that do
understand that this is not
something that can be avoid
ed. The country is in a diffi
cult situation right now and
the University is doing all they
can to provide the best educa
tion for their students.
"I don't really have an opin
ion," says Phil Heidenreich, a
junior majoring in political sci
ence and history. "I don't like
CAMPUS NEWS
having to pay more, but we all
have to pay it. The only way to
get out of it is to transfer to
another school. I'm not going
to transfers schools either, so
I'll just pay it back eventually."
While the tuition is being
raised on students, other
applications are also being
raised. According to Director
of Financial Aid Jane Brady,
federal aid is also being
increased such as grants like
the Pell Grant. The amount of
money that can be offered will
be increased to almost $4,000
for the 2009-10 school year.
"Not all of this is Penn
State's fault," says Brady.
"Penn State was hurt just as
much as everyone else in the
country was. We had money
invested into the economy for
our scholarship entitlements.
When the market starts doing
poorly, this effects our ability
to help students."
But no matter how much
money has been lost, accord
ing to Brady, Behrend still was
able to give out over $1 million
this past year to local students.
Brady also gives helpful tips
for students that may have any
questions or worries about
this increase.
"Get your FAFSA in as soon
sossible with the current
information," said a statement
on the .. Penn State Behrend
financial aid website. "Take
advantage of everything that is
here on campus as well. The
students are paying for
resources like the CDC and
LRC, so use them. Part of your
tuition money goes towards
tutoring and other activities
that they sponsor. I also
encourage students to look for
outside scholarships. Our
newest financial aid counselor,
Terra, has been working hard
updating all that information."
For more information on the
outside scholarships, read the
PDF file on the Penn State
Behrend Financial Aid web
site.
Dog
continued from front page
35 19-year-olds, and 25 20-
year-olds in the bar at the time
of the raid. The owners, bar
tender, and bouncer will all be
charged with, "contributing to
the delinquency of minors"
and "providing adult bever
ages to minors."
Herb Karg, a former Shaggy
Dog Tavern employee who
worked at the Dog from
August to December 2008,
says minors were never
served during his time at the
establishment.
"If I was bartending I would
check ID's before 9:00 p.m.,"
says Karg. "After that, we had
someone sitting at the door
checking ID's."
Karg also stated that the
Dog had a "generally younger
looking crowd" due to it's
proximity to Gannon and
drink selection.
"The owner, Kenny Toglia,
was known to have allowed
underagers into the Dog on a
regular basis," says Karg. "I
rarely worked the door check
ing ID's so I don't have any
knowledge of admitting per
sons under 21."
In an interview with The
Erie Times-News, Toglia
claimed that at the time of the
raid he was in his apartment
on the second floor of the
same building as the Shaggy
Dog, and was unaware of
Traffic
continued from front page
One driver, upon seeing the
traffic stop, halted their vehi
cle in the middle of the road,
and turned around to try to
make it to the Bayfront
Connector. The police
noticed; within a few sec
onds, one yelled out, "We've
got a runner, Steve," and an
officer pulled away after the
driver in his cruiser. He
caught up to him before the
driver had made it more than
fifty, yards down the Bayfront
Connector.
The stop at Behrend
involved upwards of seven
police cruisers. The supervi
sor mentioned the need for at
least three officers to be at
the stop, but said that the
police would bring more
based on the traffic on the
road. Each time the officers
have come to Behrend, they
had brought more manpower
than the minimum, according
to the supervisor, in order to
move traffic along as quickly
as possible.
The supervisor of the oper
ation said that the traffic
stops conducted within the
campus required no coordi
nation or forewarning to the
college. Director of Student
Affairs, Dr. Ken Miller, said
that he knew nothing of the
traffic stop ahead of time, and
the event was not organized
through the college.
After fast start,
By Matt Alto
weather editor
mra5065 ,, psu.edu
With the 2008-2009 winter
season starting to come to an
end, the hopes of this year's
season being the snowiest on
record in Erie are slowly
diminishing. According to the
National Weather Service in
Cleveland. the total amount of
snow measured during the
2008-2009 season at the Erie
International Airport is 141.7
inches. If the area was not to
receive another flake of snow,
this season would go down in
history as the fourth snowiest
on record.
The snowiest winter ever
recorded in Erie was 149.1
inches in 2000-2001. At this
moment, this year's winter
season still has a chance to
creep into the second spot if
another 1.4 inches of snow
falls. With an additional 7.5
inches, this season could claim
the title of being the "Snowiest
of Record." One thing is cer
tain: the 2008-2009 season is
one for the Erie weather
record books.
Each month of the 2008-
2009 season has set a snowfall
minors inside the tavern.
Due to health code viola
tions, the Dog was shut down
the day after the raid.
According to reports, the
establishment had a "non
working toilet, sewage run
ning in the basement, unlit
exit signs, wiring in danger of
catching fire, and a portion of
the rear of the building near
collapse."
"[The Dogs had a janitor of
sorts to clean the floors and
take out the trash every day
and clean the bathrooms,"
said Karg. "But the building
had a fire in it before I had
even gotten there. The kitchen
had collapsed and the back
room was in poor shape.
Before I quit, we attempted to
solve a heat issue in the back
room by building a room
inside a room and adding
insulation. Aside from that,
the property was (and still is)
uninsurable. After the bust on
March 14, the building was
condemned."
Due to the high amount of
minors being charged, the bar
could lose its liquor license
and be terminated. Karg
doubts The Dog will be able to
recover from the incident.
"The fines are excessive and
[so are] the building repairs
needed to make the building
[safe]," said Karg.
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Interviews
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winter season slowly settling
record for their given month
except for February.
November, December, and
January all placed in the top
ten snowiest on record for
each of their respective
months. December went down
in history as the second
snowiest on record. When
January came to an end, this
winter season was on pace to
became the snowiest ever in
Erie. October went down as
the ninth least snowy with
inches of snow. Currently. this
month will go down as the
least snowy March on record.
With all this in mind, what can
we expect from April?
According to the Farmers'
Almanac long-range weather
prediction, our region can
expect a big northeast storm
system that could produce late
season heavy snow in mid
April. But for the most part,
the Almanac is predicting peri
ods of unseasonably cold tem
peratures. On the other hand,
The Old Farmer's Almanac
long-range weather prediction
says that we could expect
"above-normal temperatures
and below-normal precipita
tion" for April, the opposite of
what the Famers' Almanac
Monday Tuesday
High: 44°F High: 50°F
Low: 30°F Low: 36°F
Periods of sun with a Mostly cloudy skies with
slight chance of a shower possible.
rain/snow.
Wednesday Thursday
High: 51°F High: 55°F
Low: 35°F Low: 40°F
Mostly cloudy with a Partly cloudy.
chance of rain.
Interesting weather fact:
The greatest amount of slum to IA in a
24 hour period in Erie. PA \‘as 26.5 inch
es. This ()mired Davin her I 1 -1 '. 19-44
Weather linerasl rourteAr (11 student metcnilogi,st AMU Alto.
The Behrend Beacon I 3
said. Lastly. the Climate
Prediction Center's long range
models for the month of April
seems to support The Old
Farmer's Almanac by predict
ing normal temperature and
precipitation amounts for the
month. The average daily high
in the month of April is 55
degrees while the average pre
cipitation is 3.38 inches of rain
and 2.3 inches of snow.
If Erie sees its average snow
fall for the month of April. it
will move into second place. If
we hope to see the overall
record go down, a big snow
producing system will have to
move through our area. It is
not uncommon for Erie to see
large amounts of snow in
April. .lust four years ago, Erie
received 14.8 inches of snow.
But the long-range weather
predictions quickly dismiss the
possibility of a large snow pro
ducer, leaving the chances of
the snowiest season on record
slim.
The question now remains:
will the 2008-2009 season fin
ish as one of top three
snowiest on record?