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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 2003)
world ttaliol ted rectmentiot °ly law, i Afghanistan trar y to ilt am and ilt ation." me minisiei final draft ' feared l prime ter could emerged as litical and ry rival to resident, a concern ii i try that has i little but ui}'. rtant thini Afghanistan said Jawid sman for rzai. “This nade for next 100, onsiderable ted in the ipoint one- if the upper Of those, D D ■1 on« ion it 9 J ,1 LI i hip. ii Opinion The Battalion Page 9 • Tuesday, November 4, Those money woes Higher Education and Affordability and Equity Act helps manage student costs JOHN DAVID BLAKLEY More than 50 years ago in his Commission on Higher Education, Former President Harry Truman declared that “the American people should set as their ultimate goal an educational system in which at no level — high school, college, graduate school or professional school — will a qualified individual in any part of the country encounter an insuperable economic barrier to the attainment of the kind of educa tion suited to his aptitudes and interests.” To many college-bound American students today, this economic barrier is still real. In many unfortunate circum stances, the sole obstruction between young men and women and the substantial benefits of a college education is not a lack of intellect, but a lack of wealth. In a country in which higher education has become a requisite fora middle-class income and standard of living, access to this education should be an aspiration within the reach of all who exert themselves. In an admirable act of bipartisanship, Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., and Rep. Phil English, R-Penn., have spon sored a bill that will make paying for college less arduous for young people and their families. The Higher Education and Affordability and Equity Act, as a whole, provides needed tax relief to students and parents paying for college. One of the more important facets of the act is the permanent retention of the educational provisions included in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Taken together, these education provisions will provide more than $29 billion in benefits over 10 years, according to the American Council on Education. Currently, the Student Loan Interest Deduction caps the amount of interest on student loans that can be deducted from a person’s taxes at $2,500. All college students have heard horror stories from former students who, years after graduation, are still paying off student loans and the consequential interest. If passed, the Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act would expand the Student Loan Interest Deduction to allow borrowers a full deduction of the interest on their student loans. At present, all scholarships, fellowships and grants are only tax exempt if used for tuition, required fees and books. However, the assistantships are designed for students to use for the general cost of living expenses during college. The Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act proposes an expansion of this exemp tion to include the cost of education in its entirety, including room and board, computers, trans portation, meal plans and research expenses. Coverdell Education Savings Accounts are a popu lar method parents use to save money for their child’s future college education. These accounts allow persons to make an annual contribution to an account designat ed for a specific student under 18 years of age. The incen tive of such an account is that any growth and withdrawals, if used for qualified higher education expenses, are free from federal income taxes. Under the Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act, the annual contribution limits to these accounts would increase from $2,000 to $5,000. According to the Princeton Review, the average cost of a year’s tuition, room and board, and subsequent fees will increase by $10,000 in the next 15 years. Savings accounts designed for saving money going to college education should be able to allow contributions that reflect the growing costs of higher education. The Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act is a sen sible alternative to the Affordability in Higher Education Act recently introduced into Congress. This bill, proposed by Rep. Howard McKoen, R-Calif., penalizes universities for tuition increases, when in reality most of the time universities are not to blame for these increases. The penalties for universities with tuition increases, if the rise is greater than two times the rate of inflation, is a loss of Title IV programs designed to provide financial aid to students. McKeon’s plan would, as means to protect students from tuition increase, cut financial aid to stu dents. The Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act would help relieve the growing financial burden of college placed on students and their families. Even more importantly, the act can, in some situations, decide whether a deserving student is able to attend college. John David Blakley is a sophomore political science major. MAIL CALL Abortion ends an innocent life In response to Jonathan Steed’s Oct. 3 column: Mr. Steed continually attempted to divert the reader’s attention from the issue at hand. Regardless of the rhetoric infused on both sides, the central subject of debate does not change. The issue: abortion. The to an innocent life is ended. Steed falsely claimed that the term “partial-birth abortion” is a product of “anti-choice propaganda.” However, if you go to the Intelihealth Web site, and look up the term par tial-birth abortion in the medical dic tionary search tools, it is defined as, a n abortion in the second or third trimester of pregnancy in which the death of the fetus is induced after it has passed partway through the hirth canal.” What then, Mr. Steed, should this pruesome procedure be called? ^e child is delivered, the abortion- lst Punctures the back of the skull, a tube is inserted, and the child’s brains are sucked out. Once the body goes limp, the child is fully delivered. In truth, this barbaric pro cedure should not be named “par- hal-birth abortion.” It should be Ca lled infanticide. Amber Matchen Class of 2000 Wines will always 0c cur, not an excuse Although I do not doubt that Mr. teed did research in this subject e tore he wrote the article, I find s °rTe discrepancies in his report and ,he actual bill itself. Where Mr. Steed ^Plains that partial-birth abortions 0LJ ld make the right of the mother to srrrinate her pregnancy on grounds i her own physical well-being illegal, 18 completely false. th t 16 must under stand, as well, a P ar fi a l-birth abortions happen h ate in the pregnancy that the V would be able to live if given c chance with the medical tech- '° l0 9y here in the United States. s °’ I am absolutely disgusted in ® quote that was extracted in such ' ar 9er context, “Whether illegal or I ’ Portions will always happen,” even a viable excuse to keeping thp° rti0ns le 9 a *’ l- ’ e is exact| y ri 9 ht in quote but that’s like saying, nether illegal or not, rape will always happen,” or “Whether illegal or not, murder will always happen, “because those crimes still happen too. But, should we allow rape and murder to be legal for the rights of those who commit those acts? The fact of the matter is whether illegal or not anything will happen, but it doesn’t make it acceptable. Kerri Vance Class of 2006 The unborn deserve same rights as living It is obvious to me that Mr. Steed, like a growing number of Americans today, has swallowed the idea that a human is not a human until it is born. 1 think this is the real tragedy in our culture today. It is a shame that we live in a country today that will hail a piece of rock with petrified bacteria from Mars as life, yet not give that same term of dignity to a child in the womb. It is a shame that we live in a town today that will give a funeral with full military honors to a dead dog but not to the children who are aborted every month right down the road. It’s because we have become a nation of selfish individuals. 95 percent of the abortions performed in the United States are done as a means of birth control, not for any sort of medical reasons. We are so overwhelmingly concerned with ourselves and our ambitions that we refuse to slow our lives down. We want the joy of sex without the natural responsibility that comes with it. We whine and cry and protest when someone actually stands up for what is right. Jason Ferguson Class of 2005 Choice exists before third trimester Partial birth abortions are banned once a woman enters the third trimester, and the only time they can receive an abortion is when her health is in jeopardy. To quote from the bill itself, “Partial Birth Ban Act 2003, Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit any physician or other individual from knowingly per forming a partial-birth abortion, except when necessary to save the life of a mother that is endangered by a physical disorder, illness or injury.” This is no serious assault on a woman’s right to choose, all it does is put a time table on it. If you want an abortion, do it before the third trimester. It’s that simple. The Partial birth abortion procedure isn’t men tioned in medical textbooks, because they don’t teach the proce dure— requiring piercing the fetus’ brain and sucking it out with a vacu um — in medical school. Nicholas Davis Class 2004 Activists skew the public's perceptions Mr. Steed defends a woman’s right “to choose when and where to start a family.” For that I must thank him; it is a very important right to defend. Unfortunately, like many other abortion proponents, Mr. Steed uses this precious right as a guise to pro tect abortion. However, banning abortion helps women, and does not deny them reproductive rights. Abortion is not a valid option. It kills an innocent child. Conception creates new human life, and abor tion murders that life. Abortion also hurts the women and men involved. Many promote abortion in the case of rape or incest, desiring to help the victims of these horrible crimes; how ever, they are unwittingly adding to the suffering of these already devastated women. Studies show that keeping the baby often helps a woman over come the pain inflicted upon her, while abortion actually increases the woman’s mental anguish. The truth is that women’s rights are only really defended when abor tion is no longer thrust upon them as a viable option, with the tragic truth hidden from them by avid abortion activists. David Dunton President Aggies for Life Class of 2005 Low attendance ruins Aggie spirit Texas A&M is a special place; a University full of tradition and a spirit that no one else can understand. I take a tremendous amount of pride in participating in traditions that thousands of Aggies before me have done. I think about E. King Gil when I stand the entire football game as a member of the Twelfth Man. After seeing pictures of the student side from this weekend, I discovered that some of my fellow students decided they didn’t need to join the Twelfth Man this game. It was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen: two ends of the third deck completely empty. Is the Spirit of Aggieland dying? After what I have seen this past weekend it is obvious to me that it is. To those of you who weren’t at the game: Where were you? We need you, our football team needs you, your Aggie family needs you. Don’t let the Spirit die; be a Fightin’Texas Aggie. Tony Carver Class of 2004 Football team staying protects tradition In response to an Oct. 31 mail call: Football players staying is a tradi tion, and should not be thrown to the curb like all the other wonderful tradi tions such as Bonfire, mums at each game for your date. Each game is a homecoming, but unfortunately many of you youngsters didn’t know this. To make the statement that the football players are more Aggie than many of the students is also an insult to the student body. Most of the players probably don’t really care about the wonderful traditions that my University holds so dear. Remember young man, the football team is part of the student body, so it is their responsibility to participate in 'the yell practice also. One other thing Army, it is a junior and senior privilege to whoop. What has happened to the class distinction regarding wildcat- ting? It’s not just a Corps thing. Hood Mauermann Class of 1985 Playing the game serves as no excuse It is not ridiculous for any member of the Twelfth Man to expect the team to attend the singing of the War Hymn after the football game, win or lose. Why if we are asked to be “the Twelfth Man on the team,” can we not expect them to at least partially participate in the Aggie War Hymn immediately after the game? The team did for the game against Kansas, which I thank them for. We do not discount their hard work on and off the field when ask ing them to stay for the War Hymn, but to start judging how much “more” they are an Aggie because they play sports is just plain wrong. We, in the stands, are just as much of an Aggie as the ones on the field, and asking the team to stay to sing a song in unity with the student body, “the Twelfth Man on the team,” is not asking much. After all, aren’t we all Aggies, one in the same? John Book Class of 2007 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 200 words or less and include the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style and accuracy. Letters may be submit ted in person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Letters also may be mailed to: 014 Reed McDonald, MS 1111, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1111. Fax: (979) 845-2647 Email: mailcaIl@thebattalion.net