National security: college tuition
The quest to stop big business universities from robbing students broke
By MARTY SANTALUCIA
Columnist
MFSSO7S@PSU.EDU
With the semester quickly coming
to a close and, for most of us, a
new one right around the corner,
we find the rather obnoxious
beggar, better known as the Bursar,
knocking on our doors looking for
another semester's tuition. This
is not, however, a traditional city
pan-handler who will be content by
the two dollars you got for change
after buying lunch. This is a 92,000
pound behemoth that has been to
hell and back, crushed the unworthy
with its oozing mounds of flesh,
has tasted human meat, and now
you look like dinner. The price for
your life is $6,000 plus books, a
place to live, a car if you need it,
clothes, supplies, and food. Once
you appease the monster, it lumbers
toward the horizon until you can no
longer hear its chant of "We Are
HUNGRY!"
This is obviously a fabrication
of my overactive imagination.
What is very real, however, is
the sky rocketing cost of the all
but necessary college education.
According to the U.S. Department
of Education, the average cost of
a 4-year college, including room,
board, and fees such as books, rose
from $5,504 per year in 1985 to
$17,447 per year in 2006. Even
if inflation were the only thing
boosting prices, schools like Penn
State are still over by around
$7,000. At this point the guidance
counselors are standing in outrage,
for I have not included in my
presentation the copious loans and
grants available. If you happen to
see someone around you stand up
while reading the paper, you found
a counselor. Feel free to ask them
about all the opportunities you have
to not qualify for money.
The simple truth is that even with
financial aid, the average family
earning $20,000 in 2000 would put
about 40% of their income toward
college while those making $60,000
and up were putting in only 10%.
Financial aid, in general, is spread
pretty evenly across the incomes
with a traditional student receiving
around $lO,OOO per year. About half
of this number comes in the form of
loans and will need to be paid back,
putting those who already have the
money at an advantage. Ultimately,
the cost of college is daunting for
lower income families; however,
not going to college can be much
more costly. According to a 2002
report by the U.S. Census Bureau,
people with a Bachelors Degree will
earn $45,400 a year. By not going
to college, one's annual salary drops
to $26,000, only $7,000 a year more
than someone who did not graduate
from high school. Add to this that a
person without a college education
will not make much more than that
through out their life, while the
salary of degree holders will go
up at a significantly higher pace. A
solid rule is that the more education
you have, the more money you will
make. What you can see here is
that those without money cannot
afford to go to college to make
more money, and therefore cannot
send their children to college either,
a cycle forms that is extremely
difficult to break from.
I have been involved in
government since my first campaign
in tenth grade. Looking at trends in
even that short amount of time, one
begins to notice that politicians have
a terrible habit of throwing time
and money at the wrong part of a
problem. Typically, they will aim for
what will solve the problem fastest
with no regard for the longevity
of the plan. Occasionally, the fix
will fail before Election Day, but it
generally works out. College costs
are unfortunately suffering the same
fate. Looking at the problem with
squinted eyes blurs everything just
enough to make one believe the
government can effectively throw
money at the students and make
the issue of paying for college go
away. Admittedly, this does help
to alleviate a certain amount of
financial burden. Many, however,
still struggle to pay for inexpensive
colleges or make concessions and
reject pricier schools which may
be of a higher quality. As costs for
college continue to soar, more tax
payer money will also be required
to appease the Universities and get
the nation's younger generations an
educations they need to succeed on
a national and global scale. The real
question politicians and students
alike should be asking is not how
much money students should be
getting from the government,
but why the hell are colleges so
expensive to begin with?
Universities, our beloved Penn
State included, have realized the
importance of the service they
provide and exploited it. As a
postsecondary education becomes
PSH bookstore: dream destroyer
By MATTHEW SHORTALL
Staff Reporter
MCSSOI3@PSU.EDU
With the semester winding down,
you, like many other students,
eagerly look forward to the
promise the next year brings: new
friendships, blossoming romances
and the chance to resurrect your
GPA after playing nothing but
WoW/Guitar Hero/Wii Baseball the
term before. And so, like the dawn
of so many other semesters, you
will march to,Ohnsted this January,
your cheeks kissed a rosy-red by
the winter frost, your beaming
face bouncing pure sunlight off the
freshly fallen snow, with thoughts of
hope for the semester ahead.
You might envision yourself with
some classmates huddled over cups
of coffee in the library until the
dead of night, vigorously cramming
for the exam the following
morning. You may picture yourself
summoning an inhuman amount of
courage to finally ask that special
guy or girl out for dinner and a
movie. This will the semester of
change, the moment where you will
finally apply yourself and start life
anew.
And you'll smile. You'll laugh. For
nothing this year will shake your
exuberance.
What happens?
Like the end of a wonderful
dream, as you, with the other boys
and girls make your way from the
Grey's Anatomy: the show some love to hate
By ALLISON MILLS
Staff Reporter
MXA932@PSU.EDU
"Grey's Anatomy." Is it a popular
television series or a pandemic
addiction sweeping the nation,
sparing none (with the exception of
those younger than its TV-14 rating,
of course)?
For diehard fans who anxiously
await each new episode and find
themselves distracted in their
daily routines when the life of
Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) is
yet again threatened, this series is
most definitely the latter. It's an
obsession, addiction and fixation,
but naturally without such negative
connotations of these words.
But shocking as it may be, there
are those who can't help wondering
why "Grey's Anatomy" is a huge
deal and simply roll their eyes at
friends, colleagues or classmates
irritatingly rehashing details of
every episode.
Creator Shonda Rhimes is now
undoubtedly one of ABC's most
valued assets. Rhimes captured
viewers' interests and hearts with
the first dramatic and hopelessly
complicated, yet comical episode.
The night before her first day as a
a required level of academic
achievement in almost every
industry, with some even going as
far as to require Graduate school,
college remains legally optional.
In a prime example of the gray
space between laws and morals,
postsecondary institutions found
that they could raise their prices at
ridiculous rates and people would
still pay them, in fact, record
numbers of people would still
pay them. Our own Penn State
Harrisburg is a prime example
of this influx as each year we see
more students arrive, this years
Freshman class being the largest to
date. Simply put, the government
needs to intervene and find out why
universities need the tremendous
sums of money that they take in
through tuitions as education is not a
commodity that we can wait for the
parking lot, a strange uneasiness
rolls in your stomach as you strain
to remember your destination before
the classroom, before the land of
hopes and dreams. A slight whoosh
glides past your ear, the sound a
wave makes as it gathers from a
distance, and then a voice, dark and
menacing, rasps in your ear: Hopes
and dreams? Oh my poor, poor
friend, this is the place where hopes
and dreams come to die!
Startled, you glance to your
left and then to your right, in an
effort to identify the trickster, but
he is gone. In fact, everyone has
vanished. Then, the whooshing
sound begins to pick up and you
begin to remember where you were
headed before the classroom. As the
wind pounds your face you grind
your teeth and clench your toes into
the ground in an effort to hold on
to one last shred of jubilation, but
it's too late. The realization crashes
over you, and you remember that
it's that time of the year again: the
semi-annual pimp-slapping that is
the trip to the Penn State Harrisburg
Bookstore.
As you close the door to the
bookstore behind you, you cough
and wave your hands wildly, as
the dread is as thick as fog. Before
you lays a sprawling sea of young
men and women doubled over,
convulsing and shrieking in pain
like it's the battle of Normandy.
You climb your way past masses
of hysterical engineering students
(their heads wildly oscillating as
surgical intern, protagonist Meredith
Grey has a drunken one night
stand (showing such responsibility
already!) with a man who turns out
to be a brain surgeon attending Dr.
Derek Shepherd (Patrick Demspey),
also known as "McDreamy," and
Meredith's new boss at Seattle
Grace Hospital. Whoops!
But who exactly are the viewers?
Are they all obsessed or are there
people who only like this show a
little? How extreme are some of the
dedicated fans?
A search for "Grey's Anatomy"
groups on Facebook sheds light on
these questions. There are over 500
global Facebook groups, notably
few of which are anti-Grey's
Anatomy. Some proclaim House
the superior show while others
claim "Grey's Anatomy" stole its
plot from Scrubs. These groups
are by far the minority, however.
"Bug Me During Grey's Anatomy
and I'll Insert This Scalpel Into
Your Spleen," boasting 117,063
members, describes itself as a group
for "the ones who are almost serious
about the scalpel thing, the ones
who McName their McLives, the
ones who put Grey's above their
other obligations, and the ones who
free market to figure out. I have had
ideas for possible solutions to the
problem in the past and now I have
the podium to voice those ideas
from. If I ever run for an office, this
will be my first bill.
Because universities do not
receive all of their money from State
grants, the government cannot step
in and control their finances. The
U.S. government can instead use
the financial aid system to indirectly
control the costs of schools. Each
state would designate a school
which could prove it ran efficiently
and maintained a good reputation.
For the sake of my explanation,
I am going to use Penn State as
Pennsylvania's college. When a
student in Pennsylvania applied
for financial aid, their economic
situation would be taken into
consideration and they would be
they blurt out ridiculous gibberish
through nasally voices, a miserable
collection of bobble head dolls from
hell) to a young woman crumpled
to the ground, rocking back and
forth as she violently and repeatedly
slams her face inside a chemistry
book. You gently lift the book from
her face and gaze into her vacant
eyes and ruddy, tear-streaked cheeks
and ask her for her name. She
continues to teeter back and forth,
sobbing through fits of unintelligible
speech, until you lean closer and
hear: I don't kn0w...1 don't kn0w...1
don't know
You notice a cash register receipt
next to her, and picking it up,
gasp as you read the grand total of
$445.35. You realize why this young
girl fails to remember her own name
as she has befallen the Penn State
Harrisburg bookstore's endgame:
dehumanization.
What better way to show young
struggling students that they are
worth less than gum off the bottom
of a shoe than to charge them
exorbitant prices for textbooks? You
follow the trail of receipts (some of
them upwards of $4OO, even $500)
to the counter, where a middle-aged
man is meekly raising his concern
over the hours of availability to
one of the employees (I call them
"Joy-Breakers"). This Joy-Breaker,
a young man with his arms folded
and his mouth slightly pulled back
in a terse, smug grin (so obviously
indoctrinated in the bookstore's love
of sadism) spit back: A bookstore
quote episodes in their daily lives
at random moments." I'll admit it.
I'm guilty of all of the above, and
according to Facebook, so are quite
a few other people.
While this group is by far the
largest, a few others deserve
honorable mention if only for
their creative and drastic names.
"Breathing Comes Second to Grey's
Anatomy" is one group with which
I believe many would disagree.
Another is "The World Is a Better
Place with Grey's Anatomy." Tell
that to the people of Darfur. "If the
Quotes of Grey's Anatomy Were
Written in a Book, It Would Be My
Bible" is a group that shows the
radical loyalty and dedication some
fans possess. I'm a huge fan, but
again, the words of Grey just don't
hold as much power as the words of
Jesus for me.
Obviously "Grey's Anatomy" is
more than just a television show
to some, but how do we feel about
it here at Penn State Harrisburg?
Well, everyone can relax. No
one is going to try to saw their
leg off in the middle of Stack's
because they saw it on "Grey's
Anatomy." As surprising as it
may be, only 9 percent of those
THE CAPITAL TIMES
awarded enough loans and grants so
they could afford up to a $12,000
(the cost of Penn State) a year
tuition at any school they chose.
This would not forbid them from
attending a higher priced university
and putting their money toward
that school, the government would
simply not provide any more aid to
that student. As a result, students
would be encouraged to go to
moderately priced colleges as they
would be provided the means to do
so. In order to be in the budgets of
the majority of students and keep
a growing student body, schools
would have to lower prices or shrink
because they would not be able to
rely on the government to cover
their extortion of our nation's youth.
We are being held hostage by our
universities, and for the sake of our
bank accounts, it needs to stop now.
open and available to students past
. five and on the weekends? What
do you think this is, a university?
And with a pivot the Joy-Breaker
makes his way through the wailing
bodies gnashing at his heels to the
Back Room, where he will remain
throughout the day, ignoring those
who pleaded for service.
A classmate of mine recently
shared the observation that no one
leaves the bookstore with a smile on
their face. Walking past the hopeless
gray hue that comprise the walls
of Olmstead and having just laid
down $3,500 for a down payment
on a burger and fries from Stacks,
I just can't help thinking that as
students we're paying top-notch
money for all the charm, amenities
and service of a military reform
school (I swear the bookstore
gauges customer service on how
painful an employee can grimace).
Why support something that only
makes life harder? And so, for
the especially frugal student who
wishes to have textbooks and eat for
the semester ahead, I provide this
useful list of alternative methods of
procuring the books needed for class
(If you dare to venture in, jot down
the ISBN's of what you need from
the bookstore, or ask your professor
if they could kindly e-mail the class
a list of the texts in advance).
Amazon.com, Ebay, half.com,
textbooks.com, starvingscholars.
com, cheapesttextbooks.com,
ecampus.com or order it directly
from the publisher.
64 surveyed responded they love
"Grey's Anatomy" so much that
they schedule their lives around
Thursday evenings. Twenty percent
replied they try to watch it every
week, but if they miss it, they watch
it online when they get a chance
or pray that a friend TiVo-ed it.
Twenty-seven percent surveyed
claimed they've seen the show a few
times and if they're around when
it's on, they'll tune in. Another 27
percent asked what all the hype was
about and 17 percent selected the
"Other" choice. Most who selected
"Other" claimed they don't watch it
or have never seen it.
One student wrote, "My roommate
watches it. It's not that great."
I think this statement shows the
campus's general indifference
toward "Grey's Anatomy. - It is just
a show, after all.
So no, you're not alone in your
feelings about "Grey's Anatomy."
If you like it, love it or need it,
you're in the minority at PSH,
but I'd be glad to talk Grey's with
anyone anytime! To all who wonder
if they're the only people on this
planet who don't watch "Grey's
Anatomy," you're at the right
college!
December 3, 2007
President's
Corner
By SAHAR SAFAEE
SGA President
SVSSO33@PSU.EDU
History will eventually repeat itself
One way or another it is inevitable;
it is our modern day déjà vu. We
can try to change it, but in the end
most people end up making the
same mistakes again. This sort of
sounds like a lose-lose situation.
Well, thankfully we, as well educated
individuals (at least most of us)
have figured out a way to not let this
happen. It is called learning from our
mistakes. (I am hoping you know
what the mistake is because I have
no clue.)
"If at first you don't succeed try,
try again..." sounds like an inspiring
quote but that is not the full of it. The
rest goes on to say, "...Then quit. No
use being a damn fool about it."--
W.C. Fields.
That brings me to my next point,
that is, if I had made any by now:
"No point in beating a dead horse
with a stick...?" OK, seriously this is
just filler and I mean I have nothing
else to write about so I am letting
you take a glance inside my train of
thought.
OK, now it's time for me to act my
GPA..?! For those of you who read
this paper congratulation you have
accomplished something today! And
for those you who do not read this, I
give you my condolences. I suggest
you try the sudoku. It is challenging
but stimulating at the same time. I
am assuming that you have heard the
term "read between the lines." Well,
this is not the time to do that. Pay
attention!
Hear ye, hear ye. PSH is putting
on their first production! Being
presented by the Back Stage Drama
Club is "All I Really Need to Know,
I Leaned in Kindergarten"! The play
is being held Dec. 6, 7 and 9. Make
sure you get your tickets in advance!
It is going to be spectacular.
A couple other events that are
happening this week are:
Student Government will be
sponsoring Stuff-n-Plush Dec. 4, so
get ready to stuff your plush! This
event will be located in the Gallery
Lounge
On Dec. 5, Lion Ambassadors
will be hosting the wonderful
Christmahanukwanzukah Bash from
7 to 11 p.m. at the CUB, so get your
holiday gear on and have a blast at
the Christmahanukwanzukah Bash!
I would like to thank all the
individuals who came to the Town
Hall meeting this past Thursday.
Thank you for your questions and
comments
Only about three more weeks till the
end of the semester. Hang in there.
You are almost done. Coming soon is
the winter break. Twenty-some days
to hang around and chill no pun
intended so be festive. Take out
your holiday decorations and put on
that smile because you do not have
to deal with school for a nice while.
This makes my heart grow three
times its size. Just thinking about
winter makes me think of snow
angels, snowmen, snowball fights
and sledding. Oh, so much fun
just can not wait! Sweet
Also do not forget about the
wonderful holiday shows that will be
on rerun till New Years day. I wonder
if they will come up with new shows
for the holidays.
From me to you I would like to
wish you good luck on your finals
and a magnificent winter break! So
I think l have to say peace for now.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of your
day. The members of the Student
Government hope you have a great
holiday.