the daily collegian Mike "Red-Eye" Sctiirra reads the day's headlines while he sits outside the Vets' House. Wives stretch dollars and hours By KAREN ROLLER Daily Collegian Staff Writer Ann McLaren, who works for the thought their husbands were off at ' Stultz was one of the wives who ran University's Veterans Affairs, probably school having a good time, this just into the different shift problem, but she has a good handle on her line of work. doesn't seem to be so. landed the '9 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift instead She's married to a veteran herself. "I went through college and as far as of the night shift she had been working "Sometimes it's hard for veterans studying goes, I know it's not easy," said previously so that her husband, Jim wives, with the Universijx - lifp,itieitlg:w4T4tqcOnr; . ,whogehusband;i:Mark;,e , w,lll`":: , sth'-business adimnistrAtion),"and their whole new lifestyle and not' having a be graduating in May With a degree , in 3-yeV-Old daughter, Erin, "could see livable income," said veterans cer- accounting. "He's in school all day then each other more. The day hours are tification secretary McLaren, whose he pitches in at home. It's not an easy " working out well, and putting us in a husband, Rhett (10th-pre-dental), plans time." more normal position," she said. to go on to graduate school. The only small concession to envy of The wives, like their husbands, are "But I had been a student and know their husbands' studies lies in the fact older than most of the students, but most what it's like. I'm used to being poor," that some of the wives would like to get said they feel comfortable in the com she said'. , or finish their degrees, too, after their munity. Finances are probably the biggest husbands graduate. "What's nice is that there's a fairly concern for the nearly 500 veterans' "I don't have my BS and I'd like to get significant number of older students wives at the University. Most of the it someday," said Joanne Stultz, who here, t 00 ,,, McLaren said. wives have to work outside of the home works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at a local hospital. The rural atmosphere of State College to supplement their monthly military "I'd like to get into hospital ad appeals to many of the wives, too. income. ministration, or a higher level of nur "We're going to scrounge," said Susan sing." "It's like a breath of fresh air," Snyder, who moved to State College The working shifts of some husbands Snyder, who moved to State College about three weeks ago with her veteran and wives can create problems, . too. from Baltimore, said. "And it's a nice husband, Mark, and their 5-month-old Sometimes she'll be working while he's place for Danny to grow up in." baby, Daniel. home and he'll be in school when she's Stultz too, said she likes the area and "We were used to two paychecks, then home. Snyder, who said she will be said she is glad to be settled in the area Danny came along. We've managed, but looking for a job soon, said it's important for the time being. ... it's going to be rougher with the $422 to make time for getting together and "The service has you moving all over monthly check only covering the rent getting out once in a while. the place, and it's nice to know that we and car, barely," she said. "We schedule time for each other in don't have to go any place for a while. "Still, the sacrifice will be worth it in order to talk and think things out," she We know that for four years, we're going the long run," she said. said. "And at least once a week we hire a to be right here," she said. Groups help, from happy hours to a job If studies, home life, social life and general day-to-day concerns, from maintaining Veterans Administration coping do not take up enough of the veteran's time, he might Educational Benefits to hints on making the most of fall, look into some University resources open to him. football weekends. Counseling, tutoring information and The Penn State University Veterans Organization, open to assistance in locating part-time jobs, as well as many other all student veterans, rents a house at 227 E. Nittany Ave. that services, are available here. is a social gathering place as well as "home" to 27 single Developmental Year, a program designed to strengthen the veterans. The politically and socially active organization holds background of students who do not meet regular admission meetings at the house every other Wednesday and Happy criteria, is another option for the vet Hours every Friday. Veterans Affairs, 135 Boucke, handles all student veterans' Studying at the Vets' House doesn't seem to be a problem for Dave Stabile (12- electrical engineering). 1,, ii ... . . ~ 1.-Via..i:*--:'..-.' Although one veteran said he thought babysitter and go out. Or, often, we'll go wives probably resented working and . out and take Danny with us." a weekly look at life in the University community Coming home: Like an eighth grader squeezing back into his first-grade seat By KAREN ROLLER Daily Collegian Staff Writer Two months before Mike Powell arrived at the University he was in the combat zone of Vietnam. The year was 1972, and veteran were starting to trickle into the universities. But "we were treated like average, incoming, freshmen," said Powell (7th-industrial arts and art education). Now the University has first-year programs, coun seling and organizations available for vets. However, the switch from military life to university life is still far from easy for most of the nearly 1,000 Vietnam ( those who fought in the war) and Vietnam-era vets (people who were enlisted during the war years) on campus. "The totalitarian environment in the military has a lot of impact on you. The readjustment to a college environment is hard to imagine if you've never ex perienced it," Brian Clark, University veterans counselor, said. "Suddenly you're in an open environment and if you don't want to go to class, you don't have to; it's up to you. Before, you were told what to do, maybe forced to' do something, and these decisions just weren't up to you." Just getting through all the bureaucratic red tape at the University can be a frustrating experience for vets coming back to school. Often people in the military are fed up with being told to "hurry up and wait," Clark, also a Vietnam-era vet, said. Going through registration can be more of this same treatment and the vet has to put up with it even though he is now out of the military. "If took me three days to register because when I got there they said my cards were on hold. I needed. a physical, they said, which ended up setting me back $25," Mike "Red-Eye" Schirra, another Vietnam vet said. "I was grade A when I got here. Did I somehow change to grade B?" "Then they told me I couldn't go to my classes yet," said Schirra, who was wearing a Southeast Asia Olympic War Games T-shirt. "Well, I said I was going to sit in the classes I signed up for even if I needed to take a baseball bat with me." A difficult job Balancing the budget By CHUCK TORISKY Daily Collegian Staff Writer While soaring education costs have pared down the budget of most students, they have sliCed veteran's finances to the bone. Although the Pennsylvania. Higher. Education Assistance Agency pays 80 percent of a veteran's tuition, the veteran still pays the remaining 20 percent as well as other expenses. Often those expenses include sup porting a wife and family. The GI benefits for a full-time single student are $3ll per month. Veterans counselor Brian Clark said the rate has not risen in three years although in flation has cut into the spending power of the dollar more than 20 percent. "As a single guy I can get by, but the married guy with kids (would have difficulties)," said Jack Goodwin, former president of the Penn State Veterans Organization, as he shook his head. Approximatley one-half of the veterans attending the University are married and receive $370 every month. Benefits for veterans with children in clude the base married rate plus $52 for —by Karen Roller Leaves of absence from the Univer sity, forced by tight , finances, are not uncommon among veterans. Mike Fay (6th-art education) is an ex marine who, also took a leave of absence to raise money to continue his education. Fay, who lives at the Vet's House, paused while describing his money problems, looked around and said, "The vets take care of their own." The University bureaucracy, however, does seem to have improved since Powell and Schirra first landed at the university. Mark Snyder, a Vietnam-era vet who just began classes this term, said he had no, problems getting through all the red tape. "They set up the interviews, testing and everything. We had a little paperwork to do, but it was pretty easy," he said. "Orientation. Week was helpful, and as far as registration I walked in, walked through and it was simple." Snyder, formerly a welder, said it's hard to get back into the academic swing of things. "I'm knuckling down and using my mind," he said. "I haven't had to use it for seven years because welding involved your hands mostly. Now they're asking me to write stuff, and it's hard." Nearly all of the vets have the same problem. "You're out of.school for four or five years, and it's hard to sit down and hit the books again;" Mark Kusnir,• president of the Penn State. University Veterans Organilation, said. "Everything's spelled out for you in the military, and here it's just the opposite. You're in a wholly different environment." Being older than most University students can present some problems for vets, too. In fact, this academic adjustment is as big a problem as the financial difficulty vets face, Clark said. "Say you're sitting in Psychology 2, and you're eight years older than the other students in the class. What they're talking about isn't what you're interested in. You feel pretty much out of place," he said. "The classroom situation can be a pretty scary thing for the vets, too. You're entering an environment that's a little alien, and you've forgotten some stuff. You. look at your classmates, and they're all younger, and they've all had calculus," Clark said. Kusnir also said many vets feel uneasy around a younger student population and a sometimes younger teacher population. "Say you go into a lab and the grad student is two or three years younger than you, but he treats you like a little kid," he said. "It's, the tone that's projected." Although most of the vets are glad to go through the first child and $26 for each additional child. The VA also takes a veteran's wife's wages into consideration when it computes total benefits. Robert Jones (10th-food service) had to drop out of the University twice because of financial difficulties. As a result his PHEAA funding, good for only 12 consecutive terms, ran out. Last year Jones, a former U.S. Navy service man, enlisted in the U.S. Army reserve in order to receive the ad ditional $9O per month the army offered through this program. However, he was dissatisfied with the reserves and quit after only a short while. "I can't afford to have a kid," he said. "I'd have to drop out again and I'd never get to.come back." The Penn State Vets' House insignia marks the door of the place many veterans call home. ~.~satt~ Thursday, Sept. 20 lb beginning freshman courses for refresher purposes, sometimes the classes are geared toward students wOth high-school perspectives. "Sometimes the early classes produce a kind of culture shock," Clark said. "It's like being in the eighth grade and going back to first grade and trying to squeeze back into the seats.," When students find out the older guys in their classes are Vietnam or Vietnam-era vets, the image of a soldier freaking out after hearing a car backfire sometintw,s springs to mind. This can add to a veteran's adjustment problems. Jack Swords, coordinator of Veterans Affairs, said he has counseled about 20 vets with emotional problems and relapses, including nightmares, but "the great majority of vets don't have these problems." The whole movie image of vets helps promog a negative picture of them, too, Powell said. "It's that image, that volatile, hostile, violent film image in "The Deerhunter" that people are seeing," he said. "Then they ask 'Was it really like that? Do they really play roulette in the camp?' I think the element the director was trying to 'portray was the living in constant fear, but you'd have to have been there to know what that was like," Powell said. "The genAtil populace wants to know about that, but you can't relate to something like that if you didn't experience it. "So, the movies were good in the sense that they brought that stuff to the public eye, but to a minimal degree, really." The unpopularity of the Vietnam war is sometimes transferred to the vets who were part of the milita*at that time, too. "For the first time in a war, the veterans were thought fools, or worse," Clark said: "The people who did serve were never recognized. They received no support from society at large." Powell said the vets who actually fought in the war, but who didn't necessarily believe in the war, cane back and nobody understood what they'd been throtib. "People just associated them with that uniform," he said. "And as far as I'm concerned, everyone who went over there was a hero a hero just for being there." Medical, moral aspects slated Abortion discussion to be held • Penn State Students for Life will will meet at 7 tonight in S-131 Human sponsor an open discussion -on the Development medical and moral aspects of abortion at 7 tonight in the HUB Assembly Room • Penn State Outing Club's Bike Committee will hold a mandatory pre trip meeting for members going to the • Public Relations Committee of Tuscarora Mountains at 7:30 tonight in 8 Individual Family Studies Un- Intiamural Building. • The North Halls Residence Staff will . dergraduate Student Organization will • _ sponsor a panel discussion on rape at 8 meet at 7 . tonight in S-103 Human • Free University will sponsor a tonight in Warnock Union Building. -Development. , poetry and prose workshop at 7:30 tonight in 319 Boucke. • The Society of Physics Students will meet at 7 tonight in 339 Davey. Band practice at 8 tonight followed by a • The Office of Religious Affairs will .• brotherhood meeting at 9:30 in 115 Music • The herb club will meet at 7 tonight Building. sponsor a film entitled "The Renaissance" at 7:30 tonight in in 323 and 324 HUB, . - - , Memorial Lounge of Eisenhower • Hrganizatian for Town Independent Chapel • Homophiles of Pena State will meet Students will meet at 6:30 tonight in 307 at 8 tonight in 212 HUB. . HUB • The Student Nurses Association is • The Undergraduate Political having sign-ups for its Sept. 29 Hershey • Delta. Sigma Pi will hold a rush trip now through Sept. 25 in 315 Nursing Science Association will meet at 7:30 tonight in 311 Boucke. meeting at 7:•30 tonight in 320 HUB. Education Building. • The Penn State Model Railroad Club 0 Triangle Fraternity will meet at 8:30 will .meet at 7:30 tonight in 307 Boucke. tonight at their house. • The Association for Childhood • Food Service Housing Ad- Education International will meet at 7 ministration will present 17th Century • Appointments to fill out applicatioris tonight in 111 Chambers. Holland at 6:15 tonight in the Maple . for food stamps and more information on Room in Human Development Building. the program are available by calling the Centre County Board of Assistance at • The. Association of Student Health 355-5531 Planners and Administrators will meet at 7:30 tonight in the Human Develop ! The Student Dietetic Association ment Living Center • The Graduate Student Association will sponsor Jogging: Do's andbon'ts at 7:30 tonight in 101 Kern. Man injured in one-car accident • • A Spring Mills man was seriously injured yesterday in a • Persons were cited for cruelty to animals Tuesday when one-car crash An Route 322, two and one-half miles east of their car was stopped at Parking Lot Blue Aby University Boalsburg. police. Police said the occupants of the car had a groundhog Marvin Ilgen, RD 1, Spring Mills, was admitted in critical tied to the rear of the car and were dragging it. condition to the intensive care unit of the Mountainview Unit of the Centre Community Hospital. He was taken to the hospital • Samuel Garland (11th-a4vertising), Penn Tower Apart by a passing motorist and treated for head and internal chest ments, reported to the State. College Police Department his injuries, State Police at Rock said. Honeywell camera was taken from his apartment sometime Police reported Ilgen was traveling east in his car on Route last Friday. The camera was valued at $225, police said. :322 when he fell asleep at the wheel. The vehicle crossed the road, traveled on the berm approximately 400 feet, then hit a tree head-on, police said. Prospect Ave., told State College police thirty to thirty-five of • • Joellen Schrock ( 10th-health education), 513 Wolf Hall, their albums were taken from their home Tuesday.. The told University Police Services Tuesday an unidentified man albums were valued at $l5O, police said was seen in the fourth floor women's restroom in Wolf ~~ ~ ~ t y rs~l:i' !i ~~ iJ Y':~~1 L@p~ i Mon-Fri 9:30 - 9 Sat 9:30 - 5:30 t• 11 !I • lE:L:> When's the last time you wrote to mom? Sale will be Tonite, Thursday eve., 6-11 p.m. 25-40% Head, Olin & Rossignol equipment • Phi Mu Alpha will hold German • John McCormick and Daniel Zulkanycz, both of 130 E SAS says:. .: 0t.....F.600.y....t0.5ki Come & save with our pre-season ski sale. .;r;:: 237-8190 • The Free U course Basic Concepts of Islam will meet at 7 tonight in 219 Willard. • Eco-Action will meet at 7 tonight in 225 HUB. SAS 1 1 5 S. Allen St -by Lynne Reese
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers