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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1987)
*VUM4H % / AooA*. J Pay J B**y pa*A4*f f*+%miL J Moat *oo*nmata. J Qo.ta.claU. J Study. jeaUMouu College 3 urv | va | Back-to-School Edition Page IDAThe Battalion/Monday, August 31, 1987 -Campus Center provides help for students Services provided by center focus on promoting successful living experience at A8dVI By Jill Radenbaugh Reporter HlVelcome back to Texas A&M. If you’re an off-campus student, then welcome to the majority. ■steady 30,000 Aggies out of about 39,000 students will be living off Hipus this semester. For most, finding a place to live that meets all peeds and expectations is hard work. Hiut those that didn’t make the dorm list or can’t Find a place to live ■ have an alternative — the Off- pimpus Center. ■.ocated in Puryear Hall lounge directly across from the YMCA Building, the Off-Campus Center tries to meet the needs of homeless students by providing a variety. of services and programs that promote Successful living experience at AicM, says Kristin Sayre, coordina tor of the Off-Campus Center. The center will help students find a place ■live, solve roommate problems and inform students of their basic le gal rights as tenants. More and more freshmen are liv ing off campus because on-campus housing isn’t available to them, Sayre says. Increased enrollment has left more than 50 percent of the fresh men living off campus. The number of upperclassmen living off campus is even higher, she says. “Upperclassmen usually wait until the day before school starts to find a place to live,” Sayre says. “So we’re very busy the weekend before school starts.” Services provided by the Off- Campus Center include: • Housing Vacancy Listings: The center maintains up-to-date list ings of available housing in the Bryan-College Station area. A list of available houses, apartments, du plexes, rooms in homes, mobile homes, condominiums and town- homes is updated every three weeks. The center also conducts periodic surveys of housing prices and off- campus living costs to provide stu dents the most current information. • Roommate Referral Service: The center helps students find com patible roommates. Although the center makes no guarantees, the service does make the connection easier. A list of students needing roommates is compiled and updated every few weeks. • Roommate Counseling and Conflict Mediation: If students en counter roommate problems, the Off-Campus Center staff will help find ways to deal with the situation. The center helps students explore other living alternatives and makes them aware of their legal responsibi lities. • Information on Tenant and Landlord Rights and Responsibili ties: The center helps educate stu dents of their rights and responsibi lities as tenants. Basic lease information and answers to ques tions concerning maintenance prob lems, security deposits and other subjects are provided. • Programming: The center pe riodically sponsors programs and workshops on such topics as tenants’ rights, budgeting strategies and off- campus security. It also also has pro grams to orient and welcome incom ing freshmen. The “Off-Campus Students’ Spirit Rally” is a yell prac tice held only for off-campus stu OFF CAMPUS AGGIES dents before All-University Night. The program “Living Off-Campus at A&M” is conducted at the begin ning of each fall semester. Twice a semester off-campus freshman re ceive a newsletter, “Gimme Shelter,” that contains information on pro grams and services for off-campus students. • Off-Campus Aggies: Off-Cam pus Aggies is an organization espe cially for off-campus students. OCA organizes activities for off-campus students and provides information about upcoming events and special services. Parents’ Weekend, intra mural sports and bonfire are just a few University functions in which OCA takes part. • General Information about Off-Campus Living: The Off-Cam pus Survival Manual contains infor mation on leases, transportation, food costs and utilities. In addition, the manual provides students with apartment inspection forms, room mate tenancy contracts, sublease agreements, shuttle bus informa tion, security and budgeting. official says new skills test shouldn 7 affect A&M students By Kirsten Dietz Senior Staff Writer basic skills test for entering college freshmen won’t have much effect on Texas |M students, says Tom Matthews, asso- director of A&M’s Measurement and ting Services. "he test, approved by the 70th Texas islature, will go into effect in Fall 1989. It fill identify students who need remedial work or special placement in reading, writ- in Jand math. ^Matthews said that because about three- 3 Hnlis of A&M students come from the I, difKj 0 P ( l uarter of their high school class, he ex- pelts to have few remedial students identi- !r Red at A&M. Epte SCUi “The idea of having good information about a student is a sound one,” he said. “This particular test, though, is designed to identify students that we don’t have a lot of at A&M.” He said his office tests entering freshmen to determine which math course they should enroll in and also conducts credit by examination for a number of subjects. The bill creating the basic skills test was written by Rep. Wilhelmina Delco, D-Aus- tin, chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education. Sen. Carl A. Parker, D- Port Arthur, chairman of the Senate Com mittee on Education, introduced the bill in the Texas Senate. While Matthews thinks A&M doesn’t have a problem with remedial students, Parker thinks many college students in Texas are not adequately prepared to suc ceed in college and, therefore, do not get the full benefit of their college courses. “We’ve graduating a lot of college grad uates who can’t read or write,” Parker said. “It’s embarrassing. We are letting a lot of people stumble through college that were not adequately prepared when they got there to succeed. “With this basic skills test it will identify the problem areas for students and man date that various colleges and universities to address those deficiencies so they can suc ceed and they can recognize the full benefit of the courses they take.” Parker said that the burden of instilling these basic skills really rests with the sec ondary schools. But he says, “We can’t get to them.” While high school seniors are required to pass an exit test to graduate, Parker said, “But that’s just a test to see whether they fuction in society more or less, not one to determine whether or not they’re adequa tely prepared to succeed in college.’ “We finally decided without regard to whose responsibility it should have been that this (tne new test) is a practical way to address the problem.” Sen. Kent Caperton, D-Bryan, a member of the Senate Committee on Education, and Rep. Richard Smith, R-Bryan, voted for the bill mandating the test. While it is known what skills the exam will test, it is not yet known how they will be tested. The first steps toward the development of the test begin today at a Texas College and University System Coordinating Board meeting in Austin. It is expected that a liai son committee between the Board and the State Board of Education will be authorized to begin screening bids from six companies competing to develop the test. . While the committee will recommend which company to award the bid to, the State Board of Education will make the fi nal decision, said Janis Monger, a spokes man for the Coordinating Board. ave2 jagepl greene' -itaine': WAL-MART What's Important /s^OCJ! We, The Associates Of (Bryan, Texas) Have Pledged To Be Better Than We Were Before....To Strive For Excellence In All We Do, Because What’s Important Is You. 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