Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Friday, January 19, 1990
3
Late filers given less aid
By Matt Taylor
Keesan staff writer
The earlier students apply for financial aid, the better their chances of receiving maximum allotments, a financial aid officer said yesterday.
March 1 is the priority date for filing 1980-91 financial aid applications, according to the Office of Student Financial Aid.
Julie Cooper, assistant director of financial aid, said applications would receive first consideration for release in ships. grants and campus-based aid.
After March 1, Cooper said, the office would make awards with the remaining funds.
Students generally must meet no deadlines to receive aid, although
some scholarships have filing deadlines, she said.
"If students miss the March 1 priority date, we encourage them to be filed by June 1," Cooper said.
She said federal funds were available for late applicants who meet requirements.
"Students who are eligible for Pell Grants or Guaranteed Student Loans will receive an award, no matter what," Cooper said.
To apply for financial aid, students must complete an American College Testing packet, available in the office. The packet contains a Family Financial Statement, which must be sent to ACE with an application fee. Students submit their own financial information and their parents' if they
are considered dependents by their parents.
By sending the ACT forms, students may become eligible for grants, scholarships, Perkins Loans, Guaranteed Student Loans, Health Profession Loans and College Work Study.
Students do not apply for specific aid programs with ACT. Instead students could receive an aid package that would help to cover costs between what the student can pay and what expenses actually would be.
In-state undergraduate pay $6,180 total expenses for an academic year, according to office projections. Out-of-state undergraduates can expect to pay $9,300.
Students receive half of each year's award at the beginning of each semester.
Thirty-seven percent of KU students receive some sort of financial aid, according to office estimates.
Jerry Rogers, director of financial aid, said there was some type of fund available for any eligible student.
According to an office publication, KU financial aid awards about 14,800 grants, loans, scholarships and work/study jobs each year.
"An eligible student is hardly ever turned away," he said. "When the funds from private sources run out, there is usually some kind of federal aid available."
Keith Thorpe/KANSAN
Graduation will be an afternoon affair
e winter sun casts long shadows across the lobby of Strong Hall. Wednesday's morning sun disappeared behind two days of clouds.
By Pam Soliner
Kansan staff writer
Brenda Isaman was pleased to find out that graduation would be earlier this year.
Isaman, Vernillion senior, said the time change would make it easier for her family to return to her home town, which is 80 miles north of
"At night, it's so hard for my family to get here and get back," she said.
The University of Kansas Commencement Committee decided to begin graduation at 2:30 p.m. on May 17, having the usual evening ceremony.
Steve Grabow, committee chairman and professor of architecture and urban design, said Isaman's case was only one reason for the change.
"From the time the lunch programs end until the actual commencement, there's a six-hour dead period." Grabow said.
But Roby Jordan, Overland Park senior, said it was traditional to have it at night. She has attended three graduations.
Committee members also hoped the shorter time between morning activities and the actual ceremony would eliminate some of the drink-
He said Memorial Stadium wasn't equipped for nighttime activities. Committee members worried that the 25,000 spectators and 3,500 graduates would have trouble exiting the stadium.
Grabow said that by eliminating the dead time, graduates' families wouldn't have to wait and then drive home in the dark.
"I kind of liked it at night," she said. "It's kind of neat, walking down the hill, when it's almost dark.
In the past, some spectators had complained about difficulties finding their way out of the stadium and to their cars.
"After graduation, you're ready to go out and celebrate. Now it will be 4:30 when you get out."
Shadow Play
Grabow said he was worried about tradition until he found out that
56
Some people might feel that the evening ceremony is a tradition, but historically, it hasn't always been at night.
- Steve Grabow
— Steve Grabow
Commencement
committee chairman
graduation had changed several times in the past 125 years. Until 1978, commencement was held on Monday.
"Some people might feel that the evening ceremony is a tradition, but historically, it hasn't always been at night," he said. "I started off thinking everything was sacred, but we had to change for changes to make things better."
The committee, which met after last year's commencement, is made up of administration members, two senior class representatives.
Grabow said the only drawback with the earlier time was the possible high temperatures.
Rob Edmiston, head weather observer at the KU Weather Service, said the earlier time would make a difference in temperature.
He said the average temperature in mid-May was 77.4 degrees. But at the procession starting time, a half hour before the hottest part of the day, the temperature would be closer to 80 degrees, he said.
"I don't see a whole lot of sense in it," Edmiston said. "If we're behind a warm front, it could be miserable."
Grabow said that was the trade-off they had to make. He said they considered a morning ceremony, but that would push the hooding ceremonies to Saturday, forcing some families to stay overnight. The committee thought that change would be too drastic.
Robin Eversole, director of University Relations, said graduates would be mailed their commencement information in early March.
House likes circuit breakers for better property tax relief
By Rod Griffin
Kansan staff writer
Kansas citizens angered by increased property taxes are demanding relief, and the besieged Legislature has been listening.
In the first two weeks of the 1990 legislative session, committees have heard proposals for constitutional amendments, tax lids and temporary circuit-breaker relief. The proposals under consideration include:
A $70-million circuit breaker proposed by Gov. Mike Hayden. A circuit breaker would provide temporary relief to small businesses and homeowners. The proposal includes $27.3 million for residential property, $15 million of which was appropriated by the 1989 Legislature. The circuit breaker would pay up to $500 in relief to a taxpayer who has a total household income of less than $35,000 and who comes from a household where someone is disabled, over 55 or under 18.
A $93-million circuit breaker identical to one proposed during the special session in December. Small businesses would be allocated $82 million by the proposal, and homeowners would receive $11 million.
Another $70-million circuit breaker proposed by House Speaker James Braden. R-Clay Center.
Although such proposals have met with approval in the House, circuit breakers have not passed muster in the Senate.
The Senate solution may be a constitutional amendment.
Braden introduced a local-option income tax for school districts. He said property taxes would be reduced by allowing school districts to replace them with an income tax.
Siberian study a search for ties to U.S.
Hayden will propose Kansas Proposition 13, an amendment to limit local property taxes. Hayden has not released any details of his proposal.
State Sen. Eric Yost, R-Wichita,
also has introduced an, amendment.
His proposal would place a 100-mil-
hip on property taxes. He said
property tax levies less than 100 mills
would be frozen at their 1989 levels.
A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed
property value. Yost said that propa-
tory tax levies of more than 100 mills
would be reduced.
"They would have to lower the property tax by $1 for every dollar the school district received from an income tax," Braden said.
By Sandra Moran
Kansan staff writer
While many students spend this summer basking in the sun, two KU graduate students in anthropology are studying the interior of northern Siberia.
As part of a five-year program to study the relationships between Siberian populations and American Indians, Tony Comzuzie, Lawrence, and Michael Bamshad, St. Louis, will go to Birchia in June or July for three months. Other groups then will continue the work.
"We'll be working with a group of people called the Old Believers," Comuzzie said. "They are a very isolated, almost ultra-orthodox sect of the Russian Orthodox church. The main thing is that they've been living for about 300 years pretty much in isolation in the Siberian interior."
As recently as 20 years ago, the Soviet government had not discovered some of the remote villages there, he said.
When the Soviets oid find them and actually went in, the Old
Bellevers didn't know who the Soviets were," Comuzick said. "They still thought the czars were in power."
Michael Crawford, a professor of anthropology who helped develop the program, said that the Old Believers had adjusted well to contact with the outside world. Comuzie said they now had established schools and medical buildings.
To study changes in the Old Believers genetic structure, the exchange group will take blood
samples.
Connitzie said they hoped to analyze mitochondria DNA, which is passed down from mother to offspring. Scientists can trace a population's genetic structure through the mitochondria DNA. By using this information, the scientists hope to link Siberians with American Indians.
Before any tests can be done, a proposal will have to be submitted to the KU advisory committee of human experimentation, Crawford said.
By Eric Gorski
Four groups asked to vacate Union offices
Kansan staff writer
Four work stations occupied by student organizations in the Kansas Union have changed hands, a Union manager said yesterday.
Environs, Amnesty International, the Off-Campus Center and the Non-Traditional Students Association were asked to vacate their stations at the end of the Fall 1989 semester because of lack of use, said Sue Morrell, manager for student Union
programs.
Morrell, a member of the program concepts and building use committee that determines who occupies the stations, said the displaced organizations failed to meet the requirements of a mid-year review.
Pinch magazine, the Campus Vegetarian Society, the Kiosk Literary Society and Bacchus are moving into the vacant spaces, said Ann Ewersole, director of the organizations and activities center.
She said the committee had no method for determining who gets the Union spaces but that they paid attention to how often the spaces were used.
"We're here, we can see who goes in and out," Eversole said of the work stations. "We can literally see what someone is loading in a station, and they weren't."
There are 10 offices, in addition to the eight smaller work stations used by student organizations to store
files, conduct phone business and have a campus location, on the Union's fourth floor.
Eversole said that the offices and work stations, which opened last fall, were in demand and that the committee tried to choose the organizations that would use the facilities best.
Mike Horan, Environs president, said that the environmental organization was trying to adjust to not having a campus work station.
Jaybowl
Sign-Up for Spring Leagues
Monday Mixer 7 p.m. Thursday Guy's'n'Dolls 7 p.m.
Tuesday Tri-Mixer 7 p.m. Friday T.G.I.F 4 p.m.
Wednesday Mixer 7 p.m. Sunday Mixer 6 p.m.
Leagues begin the week of January 22nd
Sign-Up at the Kansas Union Jaybowl
Level One · 864-3545