6A NEWS
SUA
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Student Saver Card gives discounts
BY JACOB MUSELMANN
jmuselmann@kansan.com
The Student Union Activities has revamped the Student Saver Card, formally called the Preferred Student Card, to include more on-campus discounts to students.
The card now gives discounts on ticketed events and priority access when purchasing it. With the card students can now receive a free small drink with any purchase at most KU Dining locations and free shoe rentals with paid bowling games.
The card also offers a 15 percent discount on KU Bookstore merchandise, excluding textbooks, electronics, food and sale items.
"From an economic standpoint it's smart, just because other student options are so expensive right now," Emily Gairns, Leawood senior and SUA vice president of
communications, said.
The card helps to pay for SUA events throughout the year. Joe Day, SUA president, said pricing the card was important.
"We take our prices very seriously." Day said. "We know there are a lot of other options on campus."
SUA experienced a 50 cent reduction from the student activity fees it collects from each student, resulting in about a $15,000 decrease in funds available this semester. He said the organization was trying harder to consider what it needed to include and where reductions could be made.
Michelle Compton, student development adviser, said SUA was responding by "spending wisely and skimming evenly" from event funds.
"Everybody is feeling the budget cuts." Compton said.
So far, more than 600 cards have been sold.
"While not as much as last year, it's still good for the economy." Justin Sailer, SUA vice president of administration, said.
Gairns said there was a possibility that sales would not be as high this year, but that those who had cards would use them more. The Kansan reported on Aug. 17 that card sales were lower than last year.
The card costs $30, and still allows students free admission to weekly SUA movie showings.
Student Saver Cards can be purchased and picked up at the SUA Box Office, located in the fourth level of the Kansas Union, until Aug. 31.
—Edited by Anna Kathagnarath
SUA STUDENT
SAVER CARD
DISCOUNTS
- KU Bookstores
- Oread Books
- Jawbow!
- Jaybowl
- Discounts on select major ticketed events such as comedians, bands and speakers
- The following KU Dining locations:
- The Underground
- Crimson Café
- Chinnson Cafe
- Union Pulse
- Murphy Hawk Stop
- Visual Arts Hawk Stop
- JPR Hawk Stop
- JRP Hawk Stop
— www.silc.ku.edu/options/services_fall.shtml
SCIENCE
Halted plan means new rocket may be obsolete
WASHINGTON — NASA will test the powerful first stage of its new Ares moon rocket Thursday, a milestone in a program that has already spent $7 billion for a rocket that astronauts may never use.
When that first stage is tested, it will be mounted horizontally. The engine will fire, shake and make lots of noise. But by design, it will not leave the ground. The same could be said for NASA's plans to go to the moon, Mars or beyond Earth orbit. It's not so much a physical challenge for engineers as it is a financial challenge for budgeteers.
The $108 billion program to return to the moon by 2020 was started five years ago by then-President George W. Bush. But a special independent panel commissioned by President Barack Obama concluded that the plan cannot work on the existing budget schedule because it's likely to cost at least an extra
$30 billion through 2020
Even NASA's soon-to-betretired space shuttle fleet has proved that getting off the ground isn't a given, with two launch scrubs this week of a mission to the international space station.
The space station is finally finished. Yet NASA's long-standing plans call for junking the outpost in about seven years. If the agency keeps that schedule, it would mean that in the next decade NASA's astronauts could be going nowhere if there's no moon mission.
Obama's special panel looked at other options available for the space program — such as skipping the moon and going directly to Mars or an asteroid, or just cruising in the solar system. But they kept using words like "least worst scenario" during their final public deliberations earlier this month. In their report due Monday, they will also give advice about the end of the shuttle and space station programs.
Associated Press
FINANCE FDIC to disclose troubling numbers Thursday
NEW YORK — The coffers of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have been so depleted by the epidemic of collapsing financial institutions that analysts warn it could sink into the red by the end of this year.
That has happened only once before — during the savings-
and-loan crisis of the early 1990s, when the DFIIC was forced to borrow $15 billion from the Treasury and repay it later with interest. The government agency that guarantees depositors against the loss of their money in a bank failure may need its own lifeline.
The FDIC on Thursday will disclose how much is left in its insurance fund, and update the number of banks on its list of troubled institutions. That number shot up to 305 in the first
quarter — the highest since 1994 and up from 252 late last year. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair may also use the quarterly briefing to discuss how the agency plans to shore up its accounts.
Small and midsize banks across the country have been hurt by rising loan defaults in the recession. When they fail, the FDIC is responsible for making sure depositors don't lose a cent.
Associated Press
STUDY ABROAD
BY JACOB MUSELMANN
jmuselmann@kansan.com
KU creates exchange program
language.
"The more I read and saw in the news, the better China sounded," he said in an e-mail from Beijing.
Jeremy Appleton, Lee's Summit, Mo., senior, is at the cutting edge of the business world. He is the first University of Kansas student to take advantage of one of two new study abroad programs for business students in Beijing and Guangzhao, China.
Students can choose between the University of International Business and Economics, in Beijing, and Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhao, where they will have the opportunity to learn Chinese business practices as well as the Mandarin
Carol Rose, director for the Institute for International Business at the University, said it was important for business students to be aware of Chinese business because of their increased presence in the global business market.
"We need to be doing more in China," Rose said. "China is such a huge trading partner with the U.S. People are doing more in China then they thought they would be 20 years ago. China is an important economical force."
Renée Frias, program coordinator for the Office of Study Abroad, said that students in all fields, not just business, had shown increased interest in Asia in the past few years. Other newly created study abroad
programs include Music Therapy in Thailand and Architecture in Asia. Michele Arellano, assistant director of OSA, said the number of students traveling to Asia last year increased roughly 40 percent from the year before.
The new program is a direct exchange, which requires a one-for-one student ratio from each university. Two students from Sun Yat-Sen University came to the University last semester, unofficially starting the program. Students must apply through OSA and maintain a 2.5 grade-point average in the business school to be eligible.
Rose said it was harder to get KU students to commit to the program than to get Chinese students to come here. She said she understood that business students at the University already had enough on their plates and might not be eager to add the stress of learning a new language such as Chinese. Still, Frias encouraged students to take the plunge, emphasizing the importance of experiencing the language and culture of the company they might one day be working for.
"While I'm here I want to continue to meet other people, learn as much Chinese as I can, and get the best feel I can on their views on business." Appleton said.
Appleton agreed that one of the biggest challenges was the language barrier, but he would not let that stop him from learning.
Edited by Brenna M. T. Daldorph
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