The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 07, 1981, Image 1

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    un-off elections to be Wednesday
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By DENISE RICHTER
Battalion Staff
IfCen Johnson and Marc Schneider are
in the run-ofi for the office of Texas
A&M student body president.
H Run-offs in these elections will be
iftdnesday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Polling
sites will be the Commons, Evans Lib-
the guard room, the Memorial
Relent Center and Sbisa Dining Hall.
Complete election results were re-
ied and certified by the Judicial
d Monday night following the spe
cial election that gave graduating
Seniors the opportunity to vote.
IA total of 6,185 ballots were counted
intheballotting, which began lastTues-
I and Wednesday, and which con-
ded with the special graduating
ior election Monday. An additional
117 ballots were not counted because of
computer incompatibility.
Johnson received 2,267 votes (40
cent) to Schneider’s 1,415 (25 per-
David Collins received 1,366
[tes (24 percent); Matt Woodruff was
rth with 343 votes (6 percent); and
jary Elizabeth Herring got 304 votes (5
jrcent).
The following offices will be con-
ted in Wednesday’s run-off election:
Indent body president — Ken John
son and Marc Schneider
Ken Johnson
Vice president for external affairs —
Sue Vito and Blaine Edwards
Class of ’84 president — John Dungan
and Kam Hutchins; Class of ’84 vice
president — Nicole Williams and
Joseph A. Sandoval
Class of ’82 historian — Mark Morris
and Bryan Bartels
Graduate Student Council representa
tives
Agriculture (five places) — Paul Pierce,
Bruce Clark, Neil Jeter, Morrie
Luka, Jim Harris, Marcel Valday,
John Roach, Kevin Bond and Saun-
dra Hodge
Education (two places)—Rick Putnam,
Kay Moss and Barbara Tuepek
Engineering (one place)—Sam Aleton,
Dan Ruhn, Patricia Harding, Der
rick Sallee and Afison McFarland
Senators
Agriculture at-large — Eloy Corona and
Curtis Stewart
Graduate off-campus (three places) —
Tim Sager, George Stork, Frank
Stiles, Dan Watkins, Buddy Urbanc-
zyk and Shish Mehta
Preliminary results indicate the fol
lowing winners:
Legislative vice presidents
Academic affairs — Kathy Bartholomew
Finance — J. Terry Smith
Rules and regulations — Rhonda Rhea
Student services — Chris Langford
Yell leaders
Seniors — Mike Thatcher, Norris Hod-
gin and John Nisbet
Juniors—Uwe Wolfgang Guenther and
Tom Joseph.
Off-Campus Aggies
President — Paul Bettencourt
Vice President — Bruce Martin
Secretary — Rhonda Rhea
Treasurer — Melissa Montgomery
Residence Hall Association
President — Tim Ryan
Vice President — Michelle Rowland
Secretary — Gaye Denley
Treasurer — Kevin Bailey
Senators
Ward I — Dale Collins, Donna Zim
merman, Sherry Trask, Chris Dun
can, Chrise Cleveland and Mike
Meyer
Ward II—Jeff Anthony, Patricia Linck,
Roland Flanagan, John W. Porter,
Pat Pearson, William Beard,
Michael Hafher, Cheryl Roberts and
Jerry Ward
Ward III — Adren Pilger and James
Saxon
Marc Schneider
Ward IV — Shannon O’Farrell, Ellen
Pifer, Eddie King and Cody Whitten
University Apartments — Jim Scrivner
Graduate off campus — Fred Seals
Mosher-Krueger — Kristy Wright
Aston-Dunn — George Boozalis
Keathley-Fowler-Hughes — Cathy
Seeburger
Haas-McFadden-Neeley-Hobby —
Melissa Gosper
Spence-Briggs-Modular — Laura Furr
Crocker-Davis/Gary-Moses-Moore —
Mike Maddrey
Mclnnis-Schuhmacher-Hotard-Walton
— Mark A. Stasney
Law-Puryear-Hart-Cain — Joe Nuss-
baum
Geosciences senior — David Close
Agriculture at-large — Mike Wolff
Architecture at-large — Barton A. De
nnis and Brad Simmons
Business at-large — Debby Rutledge
and Lisa Kueck
Education at-large — Beth Castenson,
Lynda Beard and Patsy Jenkins
Engineering at-large — Dave Ward
Geosciences at-large — Linda Holman
Science at-large — Bobby Ogdee and
Jeff Young
Veterinary Medicine at-large — Denise
K. Williams and Mark Vara
College of Medicine — Satish Patel
See complete election results on
page 6.
Ihe Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
.74 No. 129
12 Pages
Tuesday, April 7, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
The Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High
83 High
84
Low
59 Low
61
Chance of rain.
none Chance of rain. . . .
. . none
urant
John
311
brd Cain
open foi
r ) for the
ig sched'
) p.m. &
1:00 p.m
i:00 p.m
v a valie
, faculty,
vimming
3 r for the
rainu
liddle-class may be hit hardest
Budget cuts affect student aid
By KATHY O’CONNELL
Battalion StafT
Circumstances indicate President Ronald Reagan’s
oposed budget cuts in student financial aid would hit
iddle-income and working class families the hardest.
Financial Aid Director Dr. Bill McFarland, said the
roposed cuts would affect the Guaranteed Student
loan program and the Basic Educational Opportunity
|mnt program.
This is due to the fact that the cuts the president
ipports would be directed primarily at the same
•ograms which have made it possible for middle- and
te-income families to finance an education.
I Undercurrent regulations of the GSL program, an
idergraduate student may borrow $2,500 annually,
a maximum amount of $7,500, while graduate
udents can borrow a maximum $10,000.
McFarland said students must secure the loans from
immercial lenders that participate in the loan
•ogram.
One change proposed for the GSL program is to
iminate interest subsidies to institutions who lend
oney to students. Under the current program, the
ivemment pays interest to lenders for a designated
feriod of time based on the amount the student bor-
iws while he is in school.
Reagan also proposes contributions from other aid
■ograms and earnings from the family and the student
econsidered before granting loans to students.
Because these changes would impose a limit on the
aount of money a student could borrow, parents or
ic student would have to make up the difference,
resently, it’s possible for a student to finance the
lajority of his education through loans.
McFarland said the amount of money a student is
eligible to receive is dependent upon the actual cost of
education. He said the financial aid office calculates
approximate figures for tuition, books, room and
board, transportation and personal expenses.
Prior to Jan. 1, the GSL program was handled by
federal agencies; however, it is now handled by the
state. This is advantageous, McFarland said, because
applications can be processed faster when the program
is under state control. And “when it comes to collec
tion time, some people think it’s better to make pay
ments at home than sending their money to some
bureaucrat,’’ he said.
Not only did the program change hands, but the
interest rates were changed. Before Jan. 1, the rate
was seven percent, with a nine month grace period.
This means the government pays seven percent sim
ple interest on the total amount borrowed until the
time span has ended.
The new rate is nine percent simple interest with a
six month grace period.
McFarland said any student who secured a loan
before Jan. 1, still pays the seven percent interest rate,
however.
Under the new regulations, if a student borrows the
maximum amount,($7,500) he would repay approxi
mately $19,000 over a ten-year repayment plan. This
compares with the old regulations where the student
repays $14,000 over the same amount of time.
McFarland said the proposed changes are designed
to limit rapid growth of the GSL program.
Despite these proposed changes, officials expect an
increase from 3.2 million to approximately 3.6 million
in 1981-82. Without the proposals, there would about
4.5 million participants, he said.
The Congressional Budget office estimates that the
changes will cut into half the number of students
eligible for loans.
In the BEOG program, the maximum amount a
student can get is $1,750 annually. The average grant
paid to the approximate 2.6 million people in the
program is $929. McFarland said grants are awarded
by calculating the basic cost of education.
Appromimately 4,000 students, or 12.7 percent of
the 31,443 students at Texas A&M receive BEOGs.
But, because of the proposed changes, the federal
government has halted the processing of applications
until Congress can agree on what changes are to made,
McFarland said.
Proposed changes in the BEOG program, he said,
“seem to be a regressive change which will affect those
applicants from lower income families severely.”
There are two possible ways in which the grants
would be awarded. First, the amount the student
would receive would be limited to the lesser amount of
the maximum grant minus any expected family contri
bution.
Second, the student would receive the full cost of
education, after family contributions and $750 of the
student’s own earnings are subtracted.
In a UPI story. Sen. Clairbome Pell, D-R.L, was
quoted as saying the cuts in aid are “penny-wise and
pound foolish” since the long run affects of the cuts
could mean fewer highly trained people in the future.
Beginning the 1981-82 academic year, BEOGs will
be called Pell Grants after the senator.
Don Lee Munsell
Glen Wayne Mitchell Jr
Bob Leslie Boyles Jr.
Tulio Ruben Pena
Eva Fees Smith
Lobbyists target on tuition bill
By TERRY DURAN
Battalion Staff
Lobbying efforts from several schools
lave targeted a state senate bill now in
pmmittee that would double undergra-
uate tuition at state supported colleges
and universities.
LThebill, filed in mid-March by W. E.
srete” Snelson of Midland, would raise
Jiition at state-supported schools from
fS (PT ^ e P resent $4 t° $8 per semester hour
LltT for in-state undergraduate students.
tuition for out-of-state students would
heir nes also double, from $40 to $80 per semes-
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This I*
be con-
fternoon.
opetitioP
S; VVoiP’
In-state medical students’ tuition
ild jump from $400 to $3,600 per
fc-month academic year, while resi-
lent dental students will have to pay
a year.
The bill calls for out-of-state medical
udents to pay $7,200 a year (up from
); dental students’ tuition would
i $5,000 a year.
The proposal is a result of recommen
dations by a special committee charged
by the senate with a “study of the financ
ing of higher education in Texas with
particular emphasis on providing the
highest quality ... in the most efficient
manner possible.” The committee,
chaired by Lt. Gov. William P. Hobby
and appointed by Gov. William P. Cle
ments, submitted its report in January.
The committee recommended rais
ing faculty salaries 40 percent by fiscal
year 1983, increasing state funding of
organized faculty research, a tuition in
crease as outlined above, and changes in
the handling of available funds from the
Permanent University Fund. It would
also set aside funds from the tuition in
crease for schools not eligible for PUF
financing and scholarships for students
needing financial aid.
The committee’s report acknow
ledged that higher tuition rates might
cause up to a five percent enrollment
drop. It also recommended 10 percent
this ye^j
ce at th e !
; will pu!
5 faculty
x-hostage speaks
at A&M tonight
,ccept e '
ow (Ap rl
ice (roo 1 "
Former hostage Richard Queen will
>eak at 8 tonight in Rudder Theater.
Queen, who spent 250 days in captiv-
yin Iran, will speak on “An Analysis of
'^Iranian Hostage Crisis.” The speech
I sponsored by Political Forum.
During the embassy siege in Iran,
Queen took on the task of organizing a
makeshift library for the hostages. He is
now employed as an Iranian analyst by
the State Department’s Bureau of Intel
ligence and Research.
of fees collected under the new statute
be set aside for those hit hardest finan
cially.
The study estimates a net increased
income due to higher tuition of $51.9
million if enrollment figures remain
stable. If enrollment dropped five per
cent, about $46.2 million in extra funds
would be generated.
Mike Martin is a leader in the Texas
Student Lobby, an independent group
of mostly University of Texas students
working to defeat the tuition increase
proposal. Martin, who is also head clerk
for the senate natural resources com
mittee, says the senate is “taking advan
tage of a group that can’t defend them
selves” by raising college tuition.
“When you’re a student, you don’t
have a lot of time” to compete with
professional lobbyists,” he said.
Although the TSL does not officially
represent the UT student body — UT
has no student goverment — Martin
said efforts are being made to sway sen
ate higher education committee mem
bers to kill the bill in committee. He
said four committee members already
oppose the measure; two more will be
needed to keep the measure from mak
ing it to the senate floor.
The TSL is not the only group lob
bying against the tuition increase. A
Texas A&M Student Government lob
bying group has been researching the
situation for “quite a while, ” said David
Collins, 1980-81 external affairs vice
president, as well as the Texas Student
Association.
Collins said Monday that a report on
the situation should be finished within a
week. The report will state and support
a specific position representative of the
Texas A&M student body, he said.
An SG student survey was conducted
in March, asking students if they fa
vored the tuition increase and whether
the added “financial burden” would be
enough to cause the student to leave
school.
Texas A&M biology major Tom
Schwartz (son of former Texas legislator
A. R. “Babe” Schwartz of Galveston),
said it’s “unfair” to raise tuition, espe
cially in conjunction with President
Ronald Reagan’s proposal to cut the
Education Department budget by $9.2
billion over the next five years.
“They (the committee) admit at least
a five percent enrollment drop,” he
said. “They don’t care who the five per
cent are or where they go, just as long as
they get their extra money.”
Texas currently has the third lowest
tuition rate for in-state students of the
48 states ranked; Texas tuition for out-
of-state students is 25th of 48. Medical
school tuition for both resident and non
resident students is currently the lowest
of any in the nation.
“They’re just raising tuition because
it’s low,” Schwartz charged. He warned
of a “triple-threat” to Texas A&M stu
dents, due to recently-approved in
creases in room and board fees, the im
pending tuition increase and cuts to fed
eral grant and guaranteed student loan
programs.
Collins, Martin and Schwartz all say
the best thing to do right now is write
state representatives. “The important
thing is to write,” Martin said. “If no
one writes, those guys will never know
how we feel. ”
Silver Taps tonight
The Silver Taps Ceremony will be held tonight at 10:30 in front of
the Academic Building. The following Texas A&M students will be
honored: Don Lee Munsell who died March 15, Glen Wayne Mitch
ell Jr. who died March 16, Bob Leslie Boyles Jr. who died March 19,
and Tulio Ruben Pena and Eva Fees Smith who died March 25.
Lights on campus should be turned off from 10:20 p. m. to 10:50 p.m.
during the ceremony.