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Vol. 21, no. 2
Nader Urges Consumers To Exercise Duty
By Jan Travers
“Power in the executive
suite is held by the money
people, and not the people
whose specialty is the pro
duct,” according to a con
sumer advocate speaking
in the area Friday.
Ralph Nader, speaking
to a crowd of 300 people at
Penn State University,
Harrisburg, urged the au
dience members to exer
cise their civic obligation
to get involved with big
business.
Speaking on the subject of
executive accountability,
Nader said that most peo-
Ele can’t name heads of
irge corporations, even
though many have been in
power a long time. “If you
know the name of a person
who affects your life
through plant closings, en
vironmental problems and
consumer fraud, you are
not able to hold them
responsible for in
justices,” he said.
As an example, Nader
related how his consumer
group studied 120 speeches
of Roger Smith, chairman
of General Motors. “Smith
Belt Tightening and Planning is Key To Financial Aid
By Ray Burkett
Renegotiations concerning
student aid continue in
Washington as this article is
being written, but the outcome
does not appear optimistic.
According to Don Holtzman,
Financial Aid Officer at Capitol,
a reauthorization of Title 4 funds
for student aid was conducted
this year. These funds were
originally devised in 1968, and
with the present budget
tightening in Congress some of
the changes will be negative.
In the future it appears students
will need to depend more on
loans as grant money
diminishes. Congress has raised
the maximum Pell Grant from
$2,100 to $2,300 but whether or
not the appropriations will reach
that amount is another story.
One of the positive changes
that has occurred is in the
definition of “dependent” and
“independent” student status.
Prior to this year a dependent
student was classified as anyone
Capital T imes
paid no attention to the
product, not to how good it
was, but to how automated
the process of manufactur
ing was,” Nader said.
According to Nader, this
is why GM is suffering
from a lower market share
today. “They are losing
because they don’t have
the product,” said Nader,
“ana we, as consumers
are paying the price
who received over $750 worth of
support from his parents,
anyone who was claimed as a
tax exemption, or anyone who
resided at home for more than 42
days either this year or the
previous one.
The new definition sights
anyone over 24 years as
independent and anyone under 24
as dependent unless
independency can be proved.
Holtzman believes
Congressional cuts on student
aid are not as drastic as the
Presidential Administration had
originally proposed. For
example, with programs such as
5.E.0.G., College Work Study,
and N.D.S.L., the
Administration wanted thier
elimination, however, Congress
has seen fit to keep them afloat.
“As far as colleges stepping in
to make the difference,”
Holtzman said, “because of
some tax reforms schools may
find themselves in a tighter bind
than they were previously.”
Another negative aspect of tax
The Ca
r spoke to a crowd of 300 as the first speaker of the Provost's
through layoffs and plant
relocations.”
Nader discussed several
causes of this closed door
policy. People must condi
tion themselves about how
to evaluate heads of com
panies, by insisting the
chief executive officers
know their products.
“They only know about the
{iroduct what their under
ings have told them,” he
reform is the taxation of
scholarships, fellowships, and
grants if they are greater than the
cost of the tuition. If the funds
are limited to tuition, they are
tax exempt, if used in other
areas such as housing they will
be taxable.
According to Holtzman, one
benefit of being in Pennsylvania
is the existence of the PHEAA
program. Last year PHEA
appropriated a much greater
amount of funds for state grants
to help supplement the shortfall
in Federal funds. PHEAA has
also created bond issue loans
which are a great help for
students.
The State of Pennsylvanians
offers two different loan
programs which help subsidize
the Federal programs. One is for
those who don’t qualify because
of income and another for those
who need more than the $2,500
allocated by the Federal
Government. In the first case it
is a non-subsidized G.S.L. and
in the latter case it is a
ital Colle
said. “This is their wsy of
protecting themselves. In
the event of an investiga
tion, they can honestly
answer that they did not
know.’”
Nader asked how many
executives, even though
they lied, got fired from
GPU for the TMI disaster.
He added that, to his
knowledge, several were
transferred from the area
supplemental loan.
When asked if he knew of any
underused, alternative sources of
aid, Holtzman replied he wasn’t
aware of any that are not being
utilized. One of Financial Aid
Office’s responsibilites is to
search for funds they can tap
into for students. Holtzman
warned students to beware of
companies or organizations
which advertise finding obscure
funds for students, for a price.
Some banks have developed
special educational loan
programs amounting to a “line
of credit” approval where
students can write checks up to a
certain limit. The drawback is
the interest rates are not nearly
as favorable as the Federally
subsidized programs.
Planning is the bottom line,
according to Holtzman. “When
our children are bom is when we
should begin planning for
college, not when they graduate
from high school.” Foresight is
needed, in respect to investment
counselling and the creation of a
OCT 8,1986
ieries.
iCture
but none were fired. “This
signals to other nuclear
power plants that their job
is not on the line,” Nader
said.
Nader blamed the media
for focusing on institutions
instead of the people run
ning them, and said that
there is no training ground
in the field of consumer
(continued on pg. 10)
savings program for future use.
In conclusion, we discussed the
topic of repayment of loans and
aid following graduation. Both
the Federal and State
governments have developed
severe consequences for those
defaulting on loans.
Federal employees who default
have the funds deducted from
their pay. PHEAA has a
collections department which
has taken people to court and
cost them a considerable amount
after defaulting. It also has a
negative effect on a person’s
credit rating and will multiply
the chances of ever receiving
another G.S.L. or N.D.S.L. if
one decides to return to college.
Inside
PSU football P 2
Asking Around P 4
Cynicism and Humor P 5