8A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAIRY KANSAN
CAMPUS
MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2009
Tutoring programs can help to relieve study stresses
BY JUSTIN LEVERETT ileverett@kansan.com
During their time at the University, students may find it difficult to cope with the pressures of college-level coursework. That's when campus tutoring services can provide them with an extra academic boost. Here are a few places where students can find affordable peer tutoring.
SUPPORTIVE EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
SES, located in room 7 of Strong Hall. It is a federally funded program that offers free walk-in tutoring and course-specific tutoring by appointment to eligible students.
Only first-generation college students, students whose families are low-income and students with a
documented disability are eligible to use SES services.
"It's a pretty extensive tutoring program — huge in fact," Rod Oelschlager, academic coordinator for SES, said. "I hire 30-45 tutors. It varies by semester, but I've had up to 50."
Oeschlager said that the program had existed for more than 30 years, and that 87.6 percent of SES participants were in good academic standing by the end of the 2008 academic year.
Jeffrey Mark Gordon, Houston graduate student, has been a tutor with SES for three years.
"I've had lots of fun learning about different styles of learning." Gordon said. "I have to take the needs of every individual into account."
To receive tutoring, students must complete an application, provide
documentation and interview with a Support Services coordinator.
KU WRITING CENTER
Consultants at the Writing Center in 4017 Wescoe Hall are available for free to help students with any kind of writing, from personal essays for English class to resumes, cover letters and grant applications.
Rian Patrick, Wichita Senior and office assistant at the Writing Center, said students were drawn to the variety of resources the center provided.
"Some come voluntarily, others are recommended," she said. "And some get extra credit from their professors."
Writing Center student workers must pass a semester-long training course that teaches them to analyze content and style, proofread and help
students brainstorm. According to its Web site, the Writing Center aims to give student writers another pair of eyes, adding perspective on their work.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND ACCESS CENTER
The AAAC, located in room 22 of Strong Hall, provides tutoring services along with workshops, consultations and disability resources. Its tutors help primarily with lowlevel math, science and foreign language courses.
"Our tutors go through rigorous interviews before getting the job," Kristin Scott, associate director of the AAAC, said. "Each semester, we see growth in this program."
Students meet with tutors in
groups of two to four, for three hours each week in classrooms on campus. The AAAC tutoring program charges students a $60 fee per semester course, which according to the center's Web site, is less costly than most private tutors. Those who have filed a FAFSA, Federal Application for Financial Student Aid, can apply for fee waivers.
HAWKLINK
The HawkLink program, located in the Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center, focuses on freshmen with diverse backgrounds.
Students in HawkLink meet weekly with a counselor who acts as their tutor and helps orient them to Lawrence and the University.
The program collaborates with several academic departments to
present seminars introducing students to various campus resources. HawkLink also supports sophomores with a program called Transitions, and culminates with a special HawkLink graduation.
Tiffany Spriggs, retention specialist for HawkLink, said the goal of the program was to help students of color stay in school for at least two years.
"We started 10 years ago by providing students with pre-101 adviser", Spriggs said. "Now, to receive tutoring, you have to get involved in the HawkLink program."
Spriggs said that HawkLink presented students with many opportunities, but that it was their responsibility to make the most of them.
Demonstrators shout in the lobby outside the hearing room as California State University students, faculty and others protest budget cuts at a meeting of the CSU trustees in Long Beach, Calif., on July 21.
— Edited by Lauren Cunningham
FINANCE
Financial aid harder to come by for students as budget cuts continue
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. — Struggling with budget shortfalls that reach into the billions, several states are making deep cuts in college financial aid programs, including those that provide a vital source of cash for students who most need the money.
At least a dozen states are reducing award sizes, eliminating grants and tightening eligibility guidelines because of a lack of money. At the same time, the number of students seeking aid is rising sharply as more people seek a college education and need help paying the tuition bill because they or their parents lost jobs and savings during the recession.
Many of the affected programs are need-based grants that provide money that complements financial aid offered by schools and the federal government. Without that cash, some students may be forced to drop out, transfer to cheaper schools or simply have less money available for rent and groceries.
"...Folks coming in are probably going to have much more difficult getting by year to year in college..."
University of Illinois senior Brandi Cho, 21, said her parents cannot afford to make up the $2,500 she expected to do without after her state grant runs out in the spring. She is considering two options: Find a second week-end job on top of the 15 hours a week she already works, or cram
five senior-level accounting classes into the fall semester so she can graduate early.
"The best that I can do is just start saving every penny that I have." Choa said.
State financial aid accounted for 12 percent of the grants awarded to college students in 2007-2008, according to the New York-based College Board. While that's a fraction of the financial aid provided to millions of students by schools, the federal government and private scholarships, the demand for aid is booming. Roughly 620,000 more students applied for federal aid in the first quarter compared with last year, a jump of more than 25 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The cuts come as lawmakers and governors struggle to balance
SARA GOLDRICK-RAB University of Wisconsin- Madison professor
much more difficulty getting by year to year in college and staying enrolled as a result," said Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert on financial aid. "The safety net is falling away."
budgets crippled by the recession's impact on tax revenues.
In Illinois, a state scrambling to find $11 billion in budget savings, officials are telling 145,000 low-income students who receive the state's need-based Monetary Award Program grants to accept no help in the
spring semester because money for the program will run out.
Ohio is eliminating grants of up to $2,496 for low-income community college students, and cutting them by more than 50 percent for low-income students at four-year
universities. The state is axing $640 grants for 58,000 private school students and grants of up to $4,000 for 22,500 students attending two-year, for-profit schools.
The Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board projects that more than 20,000 low-income students will not receive grants because of a lack of money and a sharp increase in applicants.
money to someone like me," said Maria Zimbardi, a 33-year-old mother of three in Youngstown, Ohio, who will not receive the nearly $3,300 grant she got last year. She is working part time as a waitress while learning administrative and accounting skills at National College, and is taking out more student loans — which now total $29,000 — so she can graduate next May.
Education Sector, a Washington-based think tank, warned in a recent study that student debt was at an all-time high, with a rising share owed to riskier private student loans. The study warned that could eventually reduce access to higher education and lead to more students defaulting on their loans.
"It's going to start to impact the equation of whether college is worth it for some students," said Erin Dillon, a policy analyst for the group.
In Michigan, where state lawmakers have yet to pass a spending plan, about 96,000 students don't yet know the value of their Promise scholarships — or if they get one at all. The state's Republican-controlled Senate vote to eliminate the $140 million program
'That's a lot of
"It's going to start to impact the equation of whether college is worth it for some students."
ERIN DILLON Policy analyst
that provides high school graduates with up to $4,000, but Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm has vowed to restore some of money.
er need, said Connie Hutchison, the executive secretary of the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board. That meant university students who applied in July for aid are learning the pool of money has run out.
"We're getting a lot of questions about why students are not getting financial aid they got last year," Hutchison said. "It's so hard to explain to them."
Wisconsin decided to slightly increase the average grant awards because students are showing much great
RECYCLING
Garrett Rainbowt, Larned junior, breaks down a cardboard box as part of the KU Recycle program on Friday morning behind Corbin Hall. As more students move in, more recycling stations will be added as a way to curb preventable waste.
Chance Dibben/KANSAN
KU environmental group to remove move-in waste
BY ALY VAN DYKE avandyke@kansan.com
Amid the cramped elevator rides, banged shins and sweltering heat, move in day at the residence halls can be fairly stressful.
But one aspect of moving in doesn't have to be; disposing of wasted cardboard in a responsible, sustainable and convenient way.
One of the student recycling technicians, Nick Benson, Orlando, Fla. sophomore, said this would be his second year helping with move-in day as an employee of the stewardship program, also called KU Recycle.
At least that's the goal of the University's Environmental Stewardship Program, which is providing cardboard recycling bins at each residence hall, accompanied by at least one student recycling technician to help break down boxes and dispose of trash.
Benson said GSP, Corbin and Oliver Halls generated the most cardboard last year — three truckloads full — and expected the same this year.
Benson, also a coordinator with environmental group KU Environs, said he liked working with KU Recycle because he felt as though he was making a difference by encouraging people to live more sustainably.
"If we don't do it, no one will," he said.
The University's move-in recycling efforts began Aug. 14 and last through Aug. 21.
Celeste Hoins, administrative manager of KU Recycle, said move-in was one of the major recycling efforts at the residence halls.
Hoins said the University collected 7 tons of cardboard at last year's move-in,2 tons less than the 2007 move-in haul.
Although recycling tonnage generates revenue for the program, Hoins said she hoped to see the decline in cardboard tonnage continue as a result of people using fewer packaging materials.
"In the waste management hierarchy, reduce and reuse come before recycle." Hoins said. "I know it's the hardest of the three to achieve, but if we are going to live more sustainably, we must reduce the amount of packaging waste we consume."
Hoins said KU Recycle would resume collecting usual materials — mixed paper, newspaper, bottles and cans — from residence halls the week of Aug. 24.
According to KU Recycle's Web site, the University has recycling bins in 89 campus facilities, seven outdoor bin locations and a communal recycling drop off at the west Park and Ride Lot for those living off campus. The recycling program collects anything from office pak to steel cans.
Ryan Callihan, Lenexa senior and president of KU Environs,
said the University did a good job of making recycling easy and accessible, but said students would still have to meet the University halfway.
"There's only so much KU Recycling can do to make it easy to recycle," he said. "There needs to be some effort on the students' part, too."
That effort, he said, could be taking an extra second or two to locate a recycling bin on campus for a pop can or recycling bottles and cans after a party rather than littering the lawn or throwing them away.
The University went from recycling 57 tons of materials in the 1992-1993 school year, to 542 tons in the 2007-2008 school year, which Hoins said she saw as a positive result of University and student support.
However, she said, there was still room for improvement.
"I'd like for us to see people changing their behaviors in a way that reduces the amount of trash, specifically packaging waste, that they generate in the first place," she said.
Hoins said shed like to see the overall waste stream recede, but until then, she hoped total recycling tonnage would continue to increase as a reflection of people recycling waste instead of throwing it away.
Edited by Alicia Banister
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CRIME
CRIME Man detained for holding 'Death to Obama' sign
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — The Secret Service is investigating a man who authorities said held a sign reading "Death to Obama" outside a town hall meeting on healthcare reform in western Maryland.
The sign also read, "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids;"
said Washington County Sheriff's Capt. Peter Lazich.
Lazich said deputies detained the 51-year-old man near Hagerstown Community College Aug. 12 after getting calls from a number of people attending the meeting.
Barbara Golden, special agent in charge of the agency's Baltimore field office, said an investigation is ongoing.
Associated Press