Gary Hogg, associate professor of industrial engineering, was caught in
varying degrees of perplexity as he played bridge yesterday in the
Memorial Student Center. Oblivious to the photographer, Hogg, from
Tourney bout is fair play
left, studies his opponents’ cards. Looking at his own, he seems none too
happy with any of his options. Sullenly, his thoughts sink into the play.
Hogg was playing in a preliminary tournament, sponsored by the Bridge
Committee, for the ACU-I championship. The regional finals of the
championship will be in February at North Texas State University in
Denton. Battalion photos by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Battalion
Arkansas lottery today at 5
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
The deadline for applying for
the Texas A&M-Arkansas foot
ball game ticket lottery is 5 p.m.
today.
Students have until that time
to appear at G. Rollie White
Coliseum and register in the lot
tery. Upon presenting his ticket
book and identification card, the
student will receive a numbered
token indicating whether or not
he will be with a date. Drawing
of tokens and issuing of the 377
student tickets will take place at
5 p.m.
Only 100 tokens for 200 tickets
had been drawn as of 5 p.m.
Wednesday.
B-CS to study funding
of college student loans
Only 38 shopping days Til Christmas
Residents of Hart Hall Ramp “C” are tree decorat
ing early for the holidays. They prepared a tree
with their own special ornaments — bicycles.
Battalion photo by Fawn Schul
l&M: lowest loan default rate
a
I
By CANDICE HILL
Battalion Reporter
Aggies have their faults, but at least
ey pay their bills.
As of Oct. 31, Texas A&M University
udents had the lowest default rate — 3
ircent — of any using the Hinson-
azlewood College Student Loan Fund,
le of the major long-term loans made to
illege students.
Hie default rate for several other uni-
irsities looks like this: Prairie View A&M
niversity, 50 percent; University of
ouston, 24 percent; Southern Methodist
niversity, 15 percent; University of
eras, 11 percent; and Baylor University,
percent.
Credit card canceled
“Texas A&M is doing better than any
other school who is a major user of our
program, ” said Mack Adams, head of Stu
dent Services Division of the Coordinating
Board, Texas College and University Sys
tem.
The other major long-term loan is the
Federally Insured Student Loan. The two
loans are similar except that the federal
loans are processed through a commercial
lender, such as a bank or a credit union.
The state of Texas is the lender for
Hinson-Hazlewood loans, but the loan is
still federally insured.
There are no statistics available from the
federal government on default rates for the
FISL. Alvin Bormann Jr., assistant direc
tor of Student Financial Aid at Texas
Free spender stops spree
United Press International
DALLAS — A Pakistani businessman
|o rolled through town dropping mil-
ions of dollars in the form of purchases
nd tips has either had second thoughts
bout all that money or he never had it in
be first place.
The name on the checks and American
xpress card slips was that of F. Masood
than, a Washington businessman who ap-
'eared to many to have infinite wealth.
Although in town only a short time
Monday, Khan reportedly purchased a
*ck of expensive furs from the plush
'eiman-Marcus department store. A short
ime later at an elite disco, he tipped a
Waitress with a $1 million check and paid
ibe winners of a dance contest $500,000
each.
Late Wednesday, however, it was
Earned Khan had contacted the Union
first National Bank in Washington and
'toppedpayment on the checks. American
Express indicated it had canceled his
c tedit card.
Khan has disappeared since his spend
ing spree and was not available for com
ment. The district attorneys office said it
was looking into the case but had not de
termined if charges could be filed.
Officials at the Pakistani embassy in
Washington confirmed Khan was a busi
nessman living in Washington.
“He’s a private businessman and is
neither an official of the Pakistani govern
ment nor related to any official,” the
spokesman said.
Other Pakistani sources said Khan car
ried two passports, one Pakistani and one
British. That source said Khan was rich,
“but not that rich. Something must have
happened to him to make him do this.”
Mike Christenson, one of the disco dan
cers who received a $500,000 check for his
dazzling dance steps, was so sure Khan’s
check was good that he already had started
making some lavish purchases, including a
downpayment on a large home.
By DOUGLAS ERCK
Battalion Reporter
A statute in the Texas Educational Code
may be the source of more student loan
funds for Texas A&M University students.
Article 53.47 of the code allows
municipalities to create an authority to
issue revenue bonds for raising money.
The statute was brought to the attention
of the Bryan and College Station city man
agers and members of the Inter
governmental Coordinating Committee
Monday by College Station city attorney
Neeley Lewis. Lewis said that under the
statute, the cities of Bryan and College
Station could create an authority to issue
revenue bonds. Money from the bonds
would be used to fund student loans under
a federal loan program.
The program would work like this:
Any strident eligible for a federally in
sured loan will go to a bank for that loan. If
the bank will not lend him the money,
which may happen because of the lower
interest rate on federal loans, then the city
could buy the note for the student and pay
the higher bank interest rate with funds
from the revenue bonds. The student
could then receive the loan through the
city’s intervention and pay at the low fed
eral interest rate.
North Bardell, College Station city
manager, said Monday’s discussion of the
program was only to see if either of the
cities would be interested in the program.
‘“Our thought right now is that since the
interest rate on bonds is up, it would not
be feasible,” he said, adding that the cities
would not be able to pursue the action
until there is a break in the bond market.
Bryan city attorney Charles Bluntzer
said,“Ifwe get favorable response from the
city council, we will look into it further,
but this is the first we have heard about
it.”
The statute comes from the higher edu
cation section of the Texas Educational
Code and basically makes available
additional student loan funds.
Republican victories bring
2-party politics to Texas
A&M, said he feels that the overall default
rate is probably just as low as the
Hinson-Hazlewood loan.
The maximum amount of a long-term
loan is $2,500 per year for undergraduates
and graduate students and $5,000 per year
for those in medical or veterinary school.
After a student graduates, he is given a
nine-month grace period for re
adjustment purposes, and then a 10-year
repayment period begins. The minimum
repayment per month is $30, but this can
increase if a great amount is owed.
There are two short-term loans available
at Texas A&M. One of these is the Student
Aid Fund, set up by the Association of
Former Students. The other is the Texas
A&M Class of 1926 Fund. The combined
default rate of these loans is 1.4 percent. A
maximum of $750 is loaned and must be
repaid within one year.
Bormann said he believes there are
three reasons Texas A&M has a low default
rate. One is that the office staff of the Fi
nancial Aid Department briefs the stu
dents about the loan program and makes
sure they know what their responsibilities
are when receiving the loans.
The attitude of the students also has a
lot to do with the low default rate, he said.
Bormann feels that most students have
pride in this university, which has a direct
effect on their payments.
“A person who feels good about his uni
versity will be more apt to take care of his
responsibilities,” he said.
Another factor which influences the low
default rate, Bormann said, is the services
provided by the Placement Office. Its pro
grams help students after graduation,
which helps pay the bills.
The number of long-term loans per stu
dent has decreased because of grant pro
grams, such as the Basic Education Op
portunity Grant and the Texas Public
Education Grant.
The Financial Aid Department prefers
to provide grants and employment, grant
ing loans only if necessary. It tries to keep
the loans to a minimum so the student will
not have such an enormous debt after
graduation, Bormann said.
United Press International
AUSTIN — Republican Bill Clements’
narrow victory over Democrat John Hill,
coupled with the re-election of Sen. John
Tower, R-Texas, shattered 100 years of
Democratic domination of Texas politics
and means Republicans in the future will
have a better chance to win any elective
office.
Clements, 61, a millionaire oil drilling
contractor in his first campaign, shocked
Hill by piling up sizable leads in the state’s
metropolitan areas and trimming Hill’s
margins in traditionally Democratic rural
areas.
Tower followed a similar pattern in turn
ing back challenger Rep. Bob Krueger,
D-Texas.
Returns from all 254 counties, 215 com
plete, showed Clements with 1,161,135
votes to Hill’s 1,142,654 and gave Tower
1,127,711 to 1,113,284 for Krueger.
Neither of the winners received as
much as 50 percent of the votes, as Tower
received 49.84 and Clements 49.98.
“My election marks a new day for
Texas,” Clements said. “We literally have
turned a page in history and the political
scene in Texas will never be the same.”
Clements is the first Republican to be
elected governor of Texas in 105 years and
joined Tower in giving the GOP solid new
strength in the state’s top offices.
The two met for a handshaking celebra
tion on the steps of the state Capitol after
proclaiming victory Wednesday and at
tributed their victories to well organized
and well financed campaigns.
The financing, in both instances, was
unprecedented. With two weeks remain
ing in the race. Tower reported expendi
tures of $3.5 million and Clements re
ported spending $6.4 million.
Texas GOP chairman Ray Barnhart
noted Republicans gained two Texas con
gressional seats, won three new seats in
the Legislature, and captured several local
oftices.
“There’s no question we will contest
more races in the future,” Bamhart said.
“I think the feet we won a statewide race
shows the Democrats’ stranglehold has
been broken.”
Secretary of State Steve Oaks concur
red, saying an influx of residents from the
Northeast had enhanced the Republican
strength in Texas and increased the
number of Texans who consider them
selves independents. He said low voter
turnouts in black areas of Houston and in
Mexican-American precincts of San An
tonio contributed to the defeat of Hill and
Krueger, while there were record turn
outs in traditionally Republican stron
gholds such as the Midland-Odessa area,
southwest Houston and the Panhandle.
Hill conceded defeat shortly after noon
Wednesday, but declined to place the
blame on any portion of his campaign.
“We had a tremendous campaign, I
wouldn’t change a thing. It’s just that the
other side got more votes.”
See related stories on pages 4-5.
Aggie jokes go to
University of Texas
By MICHELLE SCUDDER
Battalion Staff
The traditional jokes are still
about Texas A&M University, but
this year the joke could be on the
Longhorns at the University of
Texas.
Utmost magazine, a student pub
lication at UT, is sponsoring an “Ag
gie joke contest” in honor of the an
nual football rivalry between the
two schools.
All entries for the contest are due
Saturday and the winners will be
notified within two weeks. Aggies
are eligible to enter the contest.
“We would encourage people at
Texas A&M to send in their entries
because they have more insight to
Aggie life than we do,” said Sandy
Fails, editor of Utmost magazine.
According to the November issue
of Utmost, “An integrated panel of
Aggie joke connoisseurs (pro, con,
and native Aggies) will examine all
entries for laugh value, originality,
and publishability (poor taste will go
no farther than the judges’ table).”
The top 10 entries will earn their
authors one of a variety of prizes, all
available from Austin merchants.
They weren’t expecting to have Col
lege Station residents among their
prize winners; in feet, they hadn’t
considered this problem, but Fails
said that out-of-town winners can
collect their prizes the weekend of
the Dec. 2 game.
This rendering of a Texas A&M
cadet is part of an advertisement
for an Aggie Joke Contest. The
contest — open to Aggies — is
sponsored by Utmost magazine,
a student publication at the Uni
versity of Texas.
Prizes include a pair of jeans,
dinners at Austin restaurants and
cafes, a gift certificate from Univer
sity Co-op, other merchandise amd
four subscriptions to Utmost
magazine.
All entries must be typed or
printed and include the name, ad
dress and telephone number of the
entrant. Jokes should be mailed to
Utmost Magazine, P.O. Box D,
Austin, Texas 78712.