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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1996)
The Road To The College Basketball Finals Is Paued With Sweat And Misery. IV e' 11 Fly You Theie Instead. Enter The GTE 3-Point Play Sweepstakes For A Chance To Score A Trip To The 1997 College Basketball Finals. Sign up at our interactive basketball booth for the GTE Easy Savings Plan’™ and you’ll save up to 35% on your long distance bill for one year. Be automatically registered for .a trip for two to the college basketball finals. Get a free T-shirt. And a chance to shoot free throws for some really great prizes. So come by our booth, and you could be on your way to the college basketball finals. Where you’ll see that hard work does pay off. Well, for others, anyway. Coming to campus 9/2 - 9/6. SB Long Distance GTE Easy Savings Plan discounts are applied against current GTE long distance rates. GTE Easy Savings Plan is a service mark of GTE Corporation, c 1 996 GTE Service Corporation. Page Tuesday • September 3,1996 State universities face shrinking funds COUNT ON FOR HELP HOUSTON (AP) — In-state un dergraduates at the Univer-sity of Texas and Texas A&M University pay much less than they would at a private school. But in the past 10 years, their bills have tripled. That’s partly because the huge endowment that helps fund the schools has seen shrinking in come over the last five years. In a letter to UT students with their Fall 1995 tuition bills, UT President Robert Berdahl cited decreasing returns from the Per manent University Fund as a crucial factor forcing tuition and fees higher. The PUF is a $5.2 billion port folio of securities that includes royalties from oil and gas drilling on 2.1 million acres of West Texas land. Income fell over the last half-decade despite growth in the fund’s principal over the last 10 years. “The only way to ultimately contain tuition and fee increases is for the state to step up and pro vide better general revenue sup port,” Berdahl said. While the PUF’s 15.8 percent return on investment for the 1994-95 fiscal year met the aver age for all U.S. university funds, it placed next-to-last among the nation’s 10 largest funds, accord ing to figures from the National Association of College and Uni versity Business Officers. The state schools’ funds reaped a combined return of 15.8 percent in 1994-95. But the eight top-10 funds besides No. 2 UT and No. 7 A&M earned an average of about 22 percent. The 7 percent difference trans lates into $364 million when ap plied to the endowment’s $5.2 billion in assets. Return on investment in cludes principal appreciation, interest and dividends earned each year. For 1994-95, the PUF brought in $249.5 million in in- “The only way to ultimately contain tuition and fee increases is for the state to step up and provide better general revenue support.” Robert Berdahl UT president The Bat INI st DENTON, Texai rth Texas stride: sign them. UNT compute! try, who overst Recreational: usual class call d Programmini and games. This class is odman, a sent '$ a lot more wi ence class.” Goodman says hours a week it lieve a lifelong programming^ s kind of a in said. About 22 stude sfall. It was firsi ental basis. At tl kind in the coui ence, and it s« “Justry' was onei was not adde ustin hristopbe i/7 on $1 wanted sore come, and the principal grewh ^ ents > the $523.6 million, including add: tions of more than $50 millio from oil and gas royalties. The schools use the fund'i terest and dividends first topayd bonds issued for capital improve ments. The rest goes to ‘‘excellenc programs” such as scholarships,! brary acquisitions, student acth ties and admissions program PUF money funds almost 10 pe; cent of the UT budget and 11 pe cent of A&M’s yearly expenditure! In 1994-95, the income flowis to the universities amounted!! about one-third of total retun After accounting adjustment and after each school paid offi! PUF-backed bonds, only $11: million, or total return, was left for tin schools’ annual budgets. UT officials have complains that constraints of operating!! part of state government havecoo tributed significantly to thePUFi below-average performance. (Cat fornia’s is the only other states] tern in the current top 10.) At the UT system’s request, tli Legislature passed a measure! 1995 allowing the PUF to be ureiJe aggravated s an outside investment manager |ly one voman AUSTIN (iP) yed auto me minal recod h rapes in tie f to 1993, pxlic Police Sgt Br id Christojher tin, is supec than one-sixthti|g 15 rape, th< ! person ii the Boardm n sr epared tccon xual as>auli uldn’t reneml ils to ccrrob nee poire hac "He sai( he w t to the,partii Boardnan sa Dye wa initia Discounts off AT&T basic rates, refers to AT&T home or AT&T Calling Card accounts. Subject to billing availability Certain exclusions apply 'Subject to credit approval. ’Valid for lyr. Must sign up in 1996 and use service at least 1 hr./mo. $2.50/hr. for additional hrs. or $19.95 for unlimited usage. Customers pay separate telephone charges to reach the senicef