6A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 6 20
FAFSA
(CONTINUED FROM 1A)
"It's just probably not appropriate for students to pay for that service," Moeder said.
Covington said FAFSA preparation firms often targeted high school seniors and their parents, who may not be familiar with how federal aid worked.
Bob Szrot, director of Online Financial Aid Services in Lawrence, said students were concerned about filling out the FAPSA correctly and they were willing to pay to have it done well.
Srot's company charges about $114 for an interview in which a reviewer fills out the FAESA with a student.
"There are scam Web sites out there, which we acknowledge," Zsrot said. "I feel that our company is quite up-front about letting people know about the service we provide."
Alexander and Sizot maintain that their companies aren't running scams but that they are similar to H&R Block and offer financial advice to students.
"We try to stay on the high road and say we do the FAFSA and just make sure it's done perfectly," Alexander said.
Megan Wesley, Hutchinson senior, said she would never pay to have a company fill out the FAFSA for her because it's already free. She said if she were to make an error on her FAFSA, then the Department of Education would let her know — a fact KU administrators confirmed.
"I don't understand how they could fill it out any better than I could." Wesley said. "It seems bizarre."
Kansan staff writer David Lin-hardt can be contacted at dlin-hardt@kansan.com.
Edited by Mindy Ricketts
》 ACADEMICS
Writer earns science fiction award
Years of writing science fiction has earned James Gunn the title of Grand Master.
The title, held by 24 other authors including Issac Asimov and Ursula K. Le Guin, recognizes lifetime achievement in the science fiction or fantasy genres.
James Gunn, director of the KU center for the study of science fice
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America will present the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master title to Gunn at its New York meeting May 11 to 13.
tion, said it was "the greatest honor one could anticipate in the field"
Gunn
"These are the giants in the field so you don't really expect to join
their company" he said. "It was a great surprise."
Robin Wayne Bailey, president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Inc., said Gunn's work was idea-driven as opposed to character-driven and his ideas were always carefully worked out.
"I thought he was a very clear an up-front, even overdue, candidate for Grand Master," Bailey said.
Bailey, who notified Gunn of the honor, said he wouldn't have missed the opportunity for the world.
"His impact on the field has gone far beyond his books," he said.
Thomas Seay, Alpharetta, Ga., graduate student, said the award was "pretty much the finest thing that can happen to a science fiction author"
"Few people have done more than he has to advance the scholarly study of science fiction or the teaching of SF writing," he said.
Seay said Gunni's "knowledge of the genre is absolutely encyclopedic. He's generous, a true gentleman, intimidatingly brilliant and absolutely devoted to his field."
Dorice Elliot, chair of the English department, said the award was an "honor for the University and it honors his outstanding career."
Beside his influence on the field, Elliot said Gunn also had a large influence as a teacher and had taught several students who went on to become published science fiction writers.
"He's just had an all around out-standing science fiction career."
Elliot said.
Gunn, who goes by the personal motto of "Let's save the world through science fiction," said science fiction was a way to make people think about present conditions even though the book may be set in another world and time.
As for the future, Gunn has no plans to stop writing.
"I don't feel like myself if I'm not writing something," he said.
Kansan staff writer Kim Lynch can be contacted at klynch@kansan. com.
>> SCIENCE
Edited by Jacky Carter
Launch to proceed despite concerns
BY MIKE SCHNEIDER ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE CANVERAL Fla. — NASA wrestled with two late breaking technical concerns which showed up Tuesday two days before the launch of space shuttle Discovery, but managers weren't sure if they could delay the start of the mission.
A deck hand aboard the USS Intrepid throws a docking chain, known as a monkey fist, to the dock crew so they can pull in the lines and the intrepid can be tied to dock in Bayonne, NJ on Tuesday. The ship was successfully towed from its berth in New York Harbor after a three week effort by the U.S. Navy to free the ship from over twenty years of accumulated salt and marine debris.
The launch still was scheduled for Thursday night.
The first problem dealt with a power surge which shot through one of the space shuttle's power systems during preparations overnight, although key elements such as the external tank, the solid rocket boosters and the main engines probably weren't affected, said LeRoy Cain, launch integration manager.
go off and assess that everything is OK." Carn said. "If there is anything we need to retest or check out more so than what we otherwise would do we need to retest that."
The second concern was with an adhesive on the reusable solid rocket motor which may have failed a test.
"We probably not going to have any issues, but we want the teams to
we want to talk about that."
The weather forecast for the planned littoff of Discovery was downgraded slightly Tuesday but still remained favorable for the first night space shuttle launch in more than four years.
Concerns about clouds over the Kennedy Space Center at the launch time of 9:35 p.m. EST Thursday caused forecasters to reduce the chances of favorable weather to 60 percent from 80 percent. Strong wind was expected on Friday and Saturday, diminishing the chances of good launch weather for those days to 40 percent.
"The first day is the best day weatherwise," said Kathy Winters, shuttle weather officer.
Weather will improve early next week. NASA has four launch opportunities over five days, if needed, to start the 12 day mission.
The space agency likely won't attempt to launch past Dec. 17 since flight controllers want Discovery on the ground before the new year.
Shuttle computers aren't designed to make the change from the 365th day of the old year to the first day of the new year while in flight. A potential solution to the problem hasn't been thoroughly tested.
During their 12-day mission, Discovery's seven astronauts planned to rewire the space station, deliver a 2-ton addition and replace one of the space station's three crew members.
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