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(12/16/02 4:41pm)
Freshman Amber Watson walks across the Wright Food Court cafeteria, carrying a sub, soda, chips and a bag of Kellogg's Pop-Tarts toaster pastries.\nShe paid $1.49 for the Pop-Tarts.\nOnly about 100 yards west, 10th Street Market, a small Asian market, sells Pop-Tarts for 73 cents a bag including tax. But Watson said she'd rather buy it at the food court to use her meal points.\nLike Watson, meal-point holders keep buying at the IU-run cafeterias and convenience stores, though most items are 10 to 200 percent more expensive than outside the university. This phenomenon is partly due to meal points, which IU Residential Programs and Services requires students to buy to live in dorms. Meal points have no monetary value outside the university and are nearly non-refundable under the meal-plan contract and cannot be rolled over from one academic year into another.\n"We have no choice," said freshman Elizabeth Jones. "We have to use them. Otherwise, we'll lose money."\nThis semester, about 10,000 people, mostly dorm residents, have bought meal points worth $23.1 million, according to data provided by Sandra Fowler, RPS dining service director. About 95 to 97 percent of the revenues cover costs, and RPS programs spend the rest, she said. Any funds left go to the university. \nRPS officials, who track students' buying habits mostly by statistics, translate steady sales as students' willingness to trade current prices for convenience, said Graham Shepfer, RPS special services and food services coordinator.\n"The majority seems to say, 'OK, well, I don't like this price but want that item. And I don't really want to go out to town to get it, so I'll get it right here,'" Shepfer said.\nFreshman Mateo Huerta said the convenience is important but still overvalued. He holds a 24-ounce bottle of Dasani mineral water he bought at the Wright food court for $1.39, 30 percent higher than $1.05 including tax at Mr. D's, where he said he often visits.\nDevon Novotney, a freshman living in the Eigenmann dorm, said the dorm's convenience store, or C-store, is worth the high prices, as he doesn't have to trek through the winter cold to the Village Pantry, a two-minute walk away. But he calls the current prices "ridiculous."\nIn late 2001, the IU Student Association discovered that a group of 30 items in C-stores cost $108.40, up 41 percent than $63.95 at retailers like Kroger and Marsh.\nBut the methodology is unfair, Fowler said.\n"Our customer base is much less than major grocery chains, so our purchasing power is not that of a Kroger or Village Pantry," she said. \nAli Akhras, who owns and manages the 10th Street Market, a non-chain store that mainly targets the Asian population, disagrees. \nRPS can work harder to cut costs to offer lower prices, said Akhras, who drives to Chicago every Wednesday looking for wholesalers with the best deals.\nBut the current prices are the best RPS can offer because of unusually high costs of running the food courts and C-stores inside expensive campus buildings, said Brian Barker, RPS C-store coordinator with 10 years of retail and wholesale experience. Diversifying brand products is expensive, and the RPS's hurried launch of its C-stores between 1998 and 2000 has proved costly. To respond to what students said they needed, the organization set up those stores without much financial assessment or business deals.\n"The students didn't want a traditional dining setting," Barker said. "And that promoted all this." \nThe C-stores' prices will gradually drop to near Village Pantry's in a few years, Barker said. For three years, he has called manufacturers like Kellogg's Co. to advertise IU's buying power. Today, they and RPS are designing contracts, which will bring lower prices. Also, RPS has just changed its wholesaler and is computerizing its operation to cut costs.\n"Will it get better? Yes," Barker said. "It's just starting to get there. And that's what I want students here to know."\nThe RPS grants refunds under rare conditions, such as medical and dietary problems, family emergencies and military or academic events, Shepfer said. \n"I've got quite a few requests, 'I'm not using my plan, and can I have reduction?' The answer in almost all these cases is, 'No,' Shepfer said. "RPS normally rejects financial hardship as a reason for refund."\nStudents can have half of their meal points refunded if they graduate in December, Shepfer said. \nStudents' buying peaks around the end of the academic year when RPS nullifies their remaining meal points, said senior James Hooten, who spent his sophomore year working part-time at the Willkie C-store. Tired of food sold at RPS services, students rush to buy boxes of soup or shampoo.\n"They don't want to lose their points for nothing," Hooten said.\nBut the buying rush is due to students' unsound money management, Winstead said. If they spread their meal points over an academic year, it takes around 13 points a day to consume all of them, he said.\nRPS officials have been discussing whether to let students roll over points from a year to another, "but it can't just happen within a year," Winstead said. "You have to look at financial impact it may have"
(12/03/02 4:27am)
Medical premiums will jump 12 to 30 percent next year for IU faculty and staff, a double-digit increase for the third consecutive year. But the impact will be softened, as the University will also raise its health-care contributions by a double-digit rate.\nThe University plans to offer six kinds of medical plans in 2003, and four of them will demand higher premiums than this year, depending on the size of family an employee insures, according to documents published by the IU Human Resources Services. The premium increase will range from $29 to $149 a month. Costs are generally higher for employees insuring their kids, spouse or entire family.\nThe University will raise its fixed medical contributions by 18.4 percent, a weighted average of the six plans' rates, according to those documents.\nIn 2003, IU's health-care contributions will total $74 million, a hefty 72 percent increase from $43 million in 1999, said Daniel Rives, associate vice president of IU Human Resource Services. With the costs of medical services soaring nationwide, human resources officials expect the prices of IU health-care plans to keep rising in parallel after 2003, said Susan Brewer, director of IU Health and Welfare Plans.\nWhen spring rolls in, University officials may discuss whether to change the way it divides health-care premiums between workers and employers, Rives said. But it's too early to speculate whether IU will shift more financial responsibility to employees.\nTechnically, it's not the University administration but the schools and departments that pay for IU health-care contributions, along with all the other employee benefits, Rives said.\n"For example, in the event that benefit-program expenses increase at a faster rate than state funding, (the University's) units may reallocate funds from salary reserves, positions and other budget items," Rives said.\nSchools and departments don't single-handedly reallocate their budget items. Directions roll down from the IU administration to campus administrations to campus responsibility centers to schools and departments, according to Steve Keucher, IU Budget Office director.\nIf the price of health-care services keeps rising as rapidly, some IU departments may become unable to pay the insurance costs solely by rearranging or canceling other budget items. \n"Solutions to this problem will involve senior administrators and the trustees of the institution," Keucher said. "At this time, it is premature to speculate on outcomes."\nOne reason for the rising costs of health-care services is medical providers shifting costs to those who can afford their services, Brewer said.\nHistorically, health-care providers have earned the largest chunk of their revenue from Medicare and Medicaid, federal insurance programs for elders and the poor, Brewer said. But the U.S. government has been paying less and less for those programs, and medical providers are watching their revenues decline.\n"So what they do is to shift costs to make more money off the people who are paying," Brewer said.\nAlso, medical costs may rise as the aging U.S. population uses more medical services, Rives said. Advanced technology drives health-care costs higher, too, though it extends lifespan. With uninsured population increasing, insurance firms charge existing customers more. And new prescription drugs come out with higher prices.\n"Essentially, both the price and quantity of medical services are increasing at a rate that significantly exceeds the general inflation of other goods and services," Rives said.\nOnce a year, IU officials adjust the amount of the University's self-funded medical plans.\n"To establish premiums for several self-funded health care plans, IU depends on third-party administrators -- several of which are insurance companies -- to provide data on current (medical) expenses and actuarial projections of associated expenses for any future period," Rives said. \nTo offer self-funded plans, the University pools money from employees and its own contributions, and uses the fund to buy access to physician networks and customer services, and pays employees' medical expenses covered under those plans, Brewer said.\nIU has no price control over the two medical plans it offers through health maintenance organizations, which independently set their prices, Brewer said.\nUnder the new rates, which will become effective in January, the monthly premium for the IU PPO-Plus family coverage will rise 27 percent to $975. Employees will pay $314 of that premium, an increase of $103 from this year. \nThe IU PPO-Pus coverage for an individual employee will climb by the same rate to $354. Employees will bear $63 a month, which is $30 more than this year. \nThe same trend holds true in IU PPO-Choice, whose family-coverage premium will rise 30 percent to $1,098. Employees will be accountable for $437 of the premium, and that's $149 higher than this year. The premium for individual workers will also rise, and they'll pay $108 a month, up $46 from this year.\nThe IU PRO $900 Deductible, which finances medical costs of policyholders after they spend $900 out of their pocket, will have no increase.\nNo IU employees in Bloomington belong to the University's HMO plans, for medical service providers in town don't participate in them, Brewer said.
(11/12/02 4:28am)
When the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to a 41-year low last week, IU students deep in federal debt got a dose of relief.\nIf the rates stay low until summer, the U.S. Department of Education may cut the already all-time-low rates of federal loans, including Direct Federal Stafford and PLUS loans. \nThe possible rate reduction may mean a lot for IU students in Bloomington, 35 percent (about 16,000) of whom borrowed a combined $137.8 million from Uncle Sam last year, according to the Budget Office.\nSince 1990, the average federal debt held by IU seniors has jumped 143 percent to $18,514 from $7,620, according to the Office of Student Financial Assistance's Web site. In the same period, average debt among grad students has ballooned 232 percent to $44,267 from $13,323.\nConsolidation\nWithout any further reductions, Stafford and PLUS loans have the lowest rate in history, so students should think about loan consolidations, financial advisers say. For no charge, the Federal Consolidation Loan program allows students to package their federal loans into one big loan and permanently lock in the fixed rates.\n"If you are getting ready to finish your program -- undergraduate, graduate, whichever -- you should be looking into consolidations and their options," said Charles Ranard, associate director for the IU Office of Student Financial Assistance.\nThe Stafford loan interest rate, the base used to set the fixed rates in consolidations, stands at 3.46 percent a year for students enrolled in school and 4.06 percent for repaying graduates.\n"Rates used to be close to 8 percent a few years ago, and now rates are around 4 percent," Ranard said. "That's a huge benefit." The federal government puts an 8.25 percent interest-rate cap on Stafford loans.\nStafford loans are the biggest source of student loans in the nation as well as at IU. In 2001, Bloomington students borrowed $55.7 million in unsubsidized Stafford loans alone, according to the financial assistance office's data.\nIn the same year, helped by their parents, students borrowed $22.6 million in the federal PLUS loans, which now have 4.85 percent interest for both enrolled and graduated students.\nUnconsolidated, the loans' rates will rise or slide every summer along with the market. On July 1, the U.S. Department of Education changes the federal loans' rates according to the 91-day Treasury bills auctioned back in May. Treasury bill rates are determined by the short-term rates.\nThe federal government lets consolidators stretch their repayment periods to 30 years to reduce monthly payments. They can also choose from four repayment plans designed to ease repaying. \nAn average 4.4 percent of the IU graduates just entering repayments defaulted each year between 1992 and 2000. They, too, may be allowed to consolidate their defaulted loans if they meet federal requirements. \nStudents may wonder whether they should wait until spring's treasury bill auction, as they may see even lower loan rates in July.\n"It's a hard decision to make, and someone like me cannot tell students whether they should consolidate or not," Ranard said. Financial advisers cannot take responsibility if the Fed suddenly raises interest rates before July.\n"Those students are financially responsible for their own loans," Ranard said. "Nobody else can take that responsibility."\nEconomists generally agree the Federal Reserve won't slash rates again, as the central bankers want ammunition left in case the economy drifts from bad to worse, said Bill Witte, an economics professor. At the same time, most economists don't believe the recent rate cut will kick inflation skyward, given the high U.S. productivity keeping prices down.\nStudents can consolidate private-sector debts if they have Federal Family Education loans, Ranard added. In the FFEL program, private lenders, such as Citibank or Bank One, lend students at federal loans' rates, with the government insuring repayments.\nConsolidating federal direct loans through FFEL lenders is possible, and so is consolidation of FFEL loans through the U.S. government, Ranard said. \n"But there are subtle differences," he said, as FFEL lenders and the government offer some different benefits. "You should investigate both. Research them. Find out the benefits."\nStudents should know that everyone might not gain from consolidations, especially those with Federal Perkins loans, Ranard said. Between 1995 and 2001, Perkins loans borrowed by students in Bloomington increased 65 percent to $5.8 million from $3.5 million, according to the budget office.\nThe Perkins loan comes with special cancellation provisions, said Barbara Bright, director of the IU Student Loan Administration. Perkins debtors can have the government void part or all of their outstanding loans if they teach at specific elementary or secondary schools, work at medical institutions or serve the U.S. military after graduation.\nStudents may consolidate their Stafford and Perkins loans and gain average rates lower than 5 percent, which is the Perkins loan's fixed rate. But the consolidated loans will lose deferment or cancellation rights.\n"That's something students really need to be aware of," Bright said.
(10/29/02 5:36am)
Graduate students are preparing a survey to evaluate the working conditions of their colleagues on campus, and the results may help improve IU education.\nThe survey aims to poll graduate employees at each academic department and gauge the treatment they are getting, said John Johnson, a Ph.D. student in the History and Philosophy of Science Department. Johnson is a member of the Graduate and Professional Student Organization and heads its Grad Employees Committee, whose members are working on the survey project.\n"It's often very difficult for grad students to know what things are really like in other departments" because no such data seemingly exist in the University, said Elizabeth Rytting, GPSO secretary and a graduate student in the English department.\nMany assistant instructors work more than their appointed 20 hours a week because their work demands more time, Rytting said. Johnson said he has heard stories that some graduate employees spend their own dollars on class materials, as their small departments have limited budgets. And others meet with their students at local coffee shops, because their departments have no offices for them.\n"This is my opinion, not the GPSO's, but I think a lot of graduate students just don't know what their situation is," Johnson said.\nNot knowing how their peers in other departments get along, graduate employees find it hard to judge how they are treated.\n"It seems like a lot of graduate students assume however it was when they started is how it is at the University," Johnson said.\nThe survey project will give graduate employees, including associate instructors and research assistants, a picture of what their departments are doing and file complaints if necessary, Johnson said. Likewise, the survey will help departments learn how their counterparts treat graduate workers so they'll be able to follow their peer's suit or take corrective action.\nIn any case, many believe the quality of the University's education will notch up.\nEugene Kintgen, associate dean of the Research and University Graduate School, said that only when the survey is done, the GPSO will become able to take on the next issue: Do poor work conditions hurt the quality of instruction?\n"But the first step clearly is gathering reliable information, and I support the GPSO in their desire to do this," Kintgen said.\nFor all the benefits it may bring, the survey project may not reach graduate employees for a year or more. That's because of multiple projects the graduate employees committee runs, the seasonal turnover of its volunteer members and limited free time committee staff can spare for the survey, Johnson said. But being slow is also deliberate.\n"If we did a bad job, asked ambiguous questions, got confusing answers and did inadequate data analysis, we wouldn't be any better off than if we had no information," Johnson said.\nThe GPSO is a division of the Research and University Graduate School, and the official government for graduate and professional students in Bloomington. The organization is made up of representatives from each department, who bring to the GPSO any concerns held by their fellow graduate students.
(10/08/02 6:50am)
Sliding stock markets struck the IU Foundation hard in the 2001-2002 fiscal year, wiping out millions of dollars from its long-term fund. But foundation officials say the loss will have no direct impact on students.\nThe fund, called the Pooled Long-Term Fund, is a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds worth nearly $1 billion.\nThe University and its departments channel various portions of the donations they receive into the long-term fund according to donor preferences.\nBetween July 2001 and June 2002, the value of the Pooled Long-Term Fund declined $80.7 million, or 8 percent, to $928.1 million from $1.008 billion, according to the data recently published by the Foundation. Payments such as the returns paid to investors contributed to the decline, but the main catalyst was the weakening stock market, said Gary Stratten, chief investment officer for the Foundation.\nThe losses in the Pooled Fund won't cause scholarships or fellowships to decrease, said Barbara Coffman, director of communications at the Foundation. The Foundation has been raising more money than before, including money designated for financial aid.\n"It's not as though there were a pool of scholarship money and that it were spread equally over students," Coffman said. \nThe long-term fund is invested in two different funds run by the Foundation: 70 percent in an equity fund consisting of stocks and 30 percent in a fixed-income fund composed of bonds.\n"On the stock side, as the tide receded, just about everything went down," Stratten said. \nThe Pooled Equity Fund's value fell 12.3 percent in the fiscal year that ended in June, dragging the long-term fund along the way, according to the Foundation's report. The figure excludes a 1.6 percent annual management fee that the Foundation takes from the equity fund's market value. \n"The market has been really, really challenging," Stratten said. "But our portfolio has held up fairly well."\nWith its portfolio filled with various sizes of U.S. and foreign stocks, the equity fund outdid the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, which fell 18 percent in the same one-year period. The index, commonly called the S&P 500, tracks the average performance of 500 widely held common stocks.\n"One must look at (the Pooled Fund's) losses in the context of the entire market," IU Foundation President Curtis Simic said. "During the two fiscal years ending June 1, 2002, the S&P 500 lost 31 percent. The IUF Pooled Long-Term Fund lost 12 percent for those two years. That means our diversification strategy worked."\nThe fixed-income fund grew in value and helped soften the impact of the stock losses. The Pooled Fixed Income Fund, a collection of U.S. and international bonds, rose 5.1 percent in the fiscal year that ended in June. The figure doesn't account for a 1 percent annual management fee charged by the Foundation.\nThe Pooled Long-Term Fund's million-dollar decline will have no immediate impact on students, Stratten said. The University and its departments are getting steady streams of returns, thanks to the fund's structure and distribution method.\nThe Long-Term Fund works like a mutual fund, Stratten said. The Foundation issues the fund's shares called "units" in exchange for investments made by the University and its departments. Unit holders receive annual distribution.\nIf a department receives a $1 million gift and the donor tells it to invest the money in the Long-Term Fund, the department will put the $1 million in the Fund, and will get 1 million units from the Foundation if units are $1 apiece.\nUnits' values fluctuate with the Fund's asset value, Stratten said. The Foundation uses a "12-quarter rolling average" distribution method designed to cushion the impact of the price fluctuation of unit-holders.\n"It is a smoothing technique and buffers the University, in this case, from the vagaries of market performance," said James Perin, chief financial officer of the Foundation.\nIn June, actual annual distribution for the Pooled Long-Term Fund stood at $0.0564 per unit, about the same as early 2001, according to the Foundation's documents. The rate is 30 percent higher than $0.0432 in early 1998.\nIn 2001, the foundation raised a record $232.7 million in private contributions, according to the organization's Web site. Because of the recent economic downturns, Foundation officials predict that the currently audited 2002 result won't beat that figure, Coffman said. But they expect it to mark the third best year, following behind $109 million raised in 2000.
(10/01/02 5:14am)
Late last summer, Jaywant Pansare bought a $150,000 house south of campus in Canada Park. The Masters of Business Administration student and Otis Elevator Co. project manager mortgaged 90 percent of the payment.\nSince then, mortgage rates dropped while housing value rose nationally. On Sept. 5, Pansare had an appraiser evaluate the house to refinance his mortgage.\n"The bank called me the next day, and told me, 'Well, we got your appraisal. Your appraisal is the same as before,'" Pansare said.\nWith mortgage and interest rates historically low, home sales have been robust across the nation, causing a 20 percent annual appreciation in coastal cities and heightening concerns for a possible housing bubble. \nThe increased buying has fueled real-estate booms in some parts of the country, but generally not in Bloomington, said Travis Vencel of Vencel Appraisal Services. Because the town is heavily populated by students who are in the area for limited periods, few of them buy homes, even when interest rates are low.\nIn some cases parents buy homes or condominiums for their children, hoping to sell these properties in a few years to break even, but they are too small a segment to impact the overall market, Weger said.\nBloomington also lacks "large-scale" high-income earners, essential to drive high appreciation in cities like New York, San Diego and Washington, D.C., Weger said.\nAlso, Bloomington has no corporations slated to hire thousands of workers, said Larry Pickens, co-owner of Century 21 Realty Group, Sabbagh Pickens. With no large population increases on the horizon, demand remains stable along with rents and property value.\nBloomington's lack of interstate highways and myriad stop signs also discourage many large corporations from opening businesses here, Pickens said.\n"As a result, Bloomington's housing market is healthy and stable," Weger said. "It just doesn't have the kinds of characteristics that lend themselves to a bubble."\nFor Pansare the consistency means that if he sells his house he is not going to make a significant return on his investment. Still, he is happy with his decision to buy a place because he feels that over the long run buying is cheaper than renting. In addition, he has complete privacy and independence from any landlord he would have to answer to if he was renting.\n"In Bloomington, if you look over 15 to 20 years, you will see an average housing-price appreciation of 2 to 6 to 7 percent, with 2 percent on the low side, 6 to 7 percent on the high side," said Kerry Weger, a real estate lawyer and an adjunct finance professor.\nHousing prices are determined by their ability to produce rental income. In fact, the overall annual increase in home and apartment rents has constantly been 2 to 5 percent including this year, slightly above the inflation rate, said Vencel, who is also the board president of the Monroe County Apartment Association.\nTotal home sales in Bloomington between January and June were about $105 million, up 15 percent from $91 million for the same period last year, according to data provided by the Bloomington Board of Realters. Listings also increased from 755 to 817, and the median price of a home sold rose 9 percent from $105,000 to $114,363.\nThe increase, which mostly includes non-renting home owners, is a result of people buying more expensive houses because of lower interest rates, Vencel said.\nThe numbers indicate a strong market and not a bubble, Weger said.\nA housing bubble occurs when realty values spiral upward, as people speculate higher prices ahead and compete to buy up properties, said economics professor Bill Witte.\n"That's not related to the underlying supply and demand," Witte said. Eventually, people notice the prices have gone too high, and buyers gradually disappear. Sellers become stuck. They get foreclosures and have to sell their properties but cannot find buyers.\n"Then, the price collapses," Witte said.\nSuch speculative buying is foreign to the Bloomington market, as it's too risky, Vencel said. Fixing and remodeling older apartments in town produces little new income. Before the work is done, people may change their taste and preferences. That may nudge the properties out of fashion and pull down their value.\n"You don't speculatively buy apples -- which will go bad next week -- so you can sell them in January," Vencel said.
(09/17/02 6:12am)
Each semester, about 200 families facing hardships like death, illness and job losses consult with assistant bursar Janet Flynn. Affected families may be allowed to spread students' school expenses over a longer period.\nThis year, stock prices dropped, job growth was stagnate and IU tuition rose. But Flynn says she has seen no increase in hardship families.\n"I don't think there's any large difference I've seen," she said.\nWhile some national media report on students' financial crises caused by the country's economic problems, there are few visible signs in Bloomington of financial disasters forcing undergraduates out of college. And experts and statistics suggest there are a few.\nThis fall, according to the IU Budget Office's report, the Bloomington campus enrolled 29,768 undergraduates, up 2.2 percent from last fall's 29,125. The credit hours they registered also grew 2.5 percent to 435,522 from 424,753, suggesting a rise in tuition spending.\nPublic and private gift aid is on a steady climb. That must be helping many undergraduates pay for school, said Bill Ehrich, associate director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance. In fiscal year 2000-01, undergraduates in Bloomington got $50.8 million in grants and scholarships, according to the IU Budget Office's tracking of their bursar accounts. That's a 60-percent rise from the $31.7 million in fiscal year 1995-96. This year Ehrich expects continued growth.\nIn-state undergraduates in need must have little trouble staying at IU, with need-based federal and state and school grants and loans, Ehrich said. The state gives no aid to out-of-state undergraduates in need, but they get federal aid.\n"Anyone who applies for the financial aid is offered something," as long as one's financial need meets federal requirements, Ehrich said.\nGeneral-study freshman Neil Michalares has $8,000 in state and federal grants. He recalls no trouble landing the grants. Junior Brad Marr has won federal grants and loans worth $5,000. Getting them wasn't difficult, he said.\n"That's the same as the last year and the year before," Marr said. \nThe same is true with senior Melissa Pudny, who just secured $2,700 in federal loans. "It's always been very easy to get it," she said.\nWith stock markets falling, some parents saw a steep value decline in funds they planned to use for college expenses, so they telephoned the financial assistance office and pleaded for aid for their students, Ehrich said. Those calls didn't surge suddenly, but have gradually increased as stock markets softened.\nTax-free college-savings plans may wreak no financial havoc, said Mark Dollinger, undergraduate program chair of the Kelley School of Business. Those plans assume one slice of a family's college-savings portfolio, not the entire pie.\nBut the majority of IU undergraduates are from middle or upper-middle class families, Ehrich said. These families normally invest in stocks for retirement, he said. It's possible that after stock markets dived, some of them may be investing less in college funds for their students.\nYet their income bracket stays the same, Ehrich said. Their kids remain unqualified for need-based financial aid.\nTo stay in school, these students may borrow federal student loans with historically low interest rates, said Susan Pugh, director of the financial assistance office. \n"Remember, students can get federal loans without demonstrating financial need," she said.\nEarly July, the U.S. Department of Education set an all-time-low interest rate of 3.46 percent to federal Stafford loans. And the rate for students in their repayment periods became 4.06 percent, the lowest in history.\nIn fiscal year 2000-01, IUB students borrowed $41.2 million in non-need-based student loans, which includes unsubsidized Stafford loans and Supplemental Loans to Students, the Budget Office's reports show. That's a 38-percent increase from $29.9 million borrowed in fiscal year 1995-96.\nLow interest rates are also seen in private loans like the Sallie Mae Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS), which lets parents borrow the full education cost, Ehrich said. According to the Web site of the education-funding provider Sallie Mae, PLUS loans borrowed between July 2002 and June 2003 have an interest rate of 4.86 percent, an all-time low.\n"The difference in career earnings for a college grad over a non-grad is tremendous," Dollinger said. "So spending money on higher education makes sense."\nGrowing part-time jobs may offer additional help, said Jan Nickless, who overseas the IU Student Employment Office. Between July 1999 and September 1999, the office saw 558 local employers posting 1,362 part-time jobs to its list, she said. The same period this year had 4,987 part-time jobs posted, though employers shrank to 478.\nThe increase can be due to full-time employers replaced with cheaper temporary staff. "I don't like to see that, but it's the reality," Jan said.\nIU tuition ranked the 4th cheapest among Big-10 schools excluding Northwestern University in 2001, as the IU Factbook shows. But Mary Anderson, director of admissions, said, "I think it's almost impossible for students in today's world to pay their college expenses completely." \nSince 1990, IU has doubled the yearly tuition for full-time undergraduates from $2,272 to $4,573, the IU Budget Office's report shows. That exceeds the 41-percent rise in the Consumer Price Index, the nation's main inflation gauge.\nFor the near future, low-interest loans may remain valuable for undergraduates, Ehrich explained. If economic growth slows, more undergraduates will enroll with more credit hours. Needs for aid will rise. With grants limited, some students will get nothing. If without parents supporting, then, they will need loans.\nAlso, those loans will help get over with another possible recession, which could add to the financial burden of undergraduates as it usually accompanies tuition jumps, Ehrich said.\nSince 1980, IU tuition has jumped over 10 percent three times, according to the data gathered by the IU Budget Office. All came in the recession years: 1982 with 14.9 percent; 1983 with 15 percent; 1991 with 13 percent. The state of Indiana refused to run enough debts to cover declining tax revenue; it reduced education subsidies and caused IU to raise tuition, economics professor William Becker said.\nMacroeconomists generally see a slow economic growth ahead, economics professor Eric Leeper said. But U.S. invasion of Iraq might alienate other oil-producing nations in the Middle East, cause oil prices and then production costs to rise, and trigger another recession.\n"I have no idea what the probability is … but I believe that probability is non-negligible," Leeper said.\nIn recession or not, a moderate increase in tuition is a sure thing, said Bill Stephan, IU vice president for public affairs and government relations.\n"President Brand has indicated that in all likelihood, tuition will continue to increase, given world-wide competition for high-performing faculty, a sluggish state economy, the need to continue our investments in science and technology, and rising health and energy costs"
(08/29/02 5:19am)
One summer day last year, junior Nichole Stucki walked into Nick's English Hut and told a bartender she wanted to work there part time. She filled out an application form and left. In a week, she got a call and learned she had a job.\nStucki took the right approach. The 75-year-old pub never advertises job openings because the stream of applicants never dries up, said Carey Pittman, a bartender of 12 years at Nick's.\nWhile inquiring worked for Stucki, there are various other ways to discover non-advertised openings, which account for 80 percent of the existing part-time jobs, said Melissa Ritter, who helps job seekers at the IU Career Development Center. The center, located at 625 N. Jordan Ave., advises students on finding part-time jobs on and off campus.\nMany employers post jobs on the Internet or in newspapers, but Ritter said students may have to seek good jobs out on their own. \n"Students have to know about a hidden job market," Ritter said.\nJob seekers can find non-advertised jobs through friends and families. Or they can personally visit businesses and check job openings. \n"You always want to use any avenue at your disposal," Ritter said.\nStucki visited Nick's at "the right moment," when the bar was looking for workers, Pittman said. About 90 percent of the part-time waitresses at Nick's are those who came in at the right moment, he added. "So if you really want to work for Nick's, you just keep at it," he said.\nJunior Kosin Mekeatngam works at Circuit City, a job he landed by directly asking. In July 2001, he walked into a Circuit City in Indianapolis, where he was temporarily living, and asked for a job. On the spot Mekeatngam was asked to fill out an application packet. He then answered 200 multiple-choice questions, which took an hour and half. For the following week he kept calling the store, asking about the result, he said.\n"Then the manager asked me to come in, did an interview, asked me a couple of questions," Mekeatngam said. "And he said I was hired."\nAfter working there for a month, Mekeatngam moved back to Bloomington when the fall semester began, and was transferred to the electronic shop's Bloomington outlet, he said.\nIf reluctant to ask for jobs directly, students can visit the Student Employment Office, part of the CDC, which helps students locate part-time jobs on and off campus, said Jan Nickless, who oversees the employment office. The office constantly posts part-time jobs at http://www.indiana.edu/~career/parttime/jobs.html, Nickless said. Also, staff of the CDC can advise students on interviews, proper dress and issues regarding getting a job, Ritter said. \nFriends and families can also help find part-time jobs, though it may depend on students whether they get them and keep them.\nIn late spring, a library science professor told senior Judith Garrison about an opening at the IU Undergraduate Library. Garrison researched the position, confirmed she met its requirements, filled out an online application, took an interview and won the job, she said.\nGarrison, today a master's student in library science, said the professor's advice served as a reminder, but added, "Nobody helped me get this job."\nJunior Robin Fulk's brother worked at T.I.S. Bookstore for four years, and she said it helped her land an interview in early August 2000. She has worked part-time since then at the bookstore, but the connection alone probably hasn't guaranteed her the position.\nThe bookstore hires many part-timers before the beginning of each semester, preparing for the first busiest two weeks, said Lara Stolz, who trains student workers at T.I.S. But after the busiest period, the management lays off about half of them, after examining their performance, Stolz said.\nSchool organizations advertise jobs on the IU Career Development Center Web site, and politeness and professionalism can be keys to landing those openings.\nEarly September last year, junior Daraius Dubash found an opening at the CDC online. He e-mailed the center his resume and won an interview. Dressed in an ironed shirt and slacks, his shoes neatly polished, he met with Kathleen Matthies, assistant director of the Arts and Science Placement Office. But they discovered that Dubash's crammed class schedule couldn't fit the position.\nMeanwhile, his dress, politeness and answers left a lasting mark in Matthies. Four months later, she offered Dubash a job. \n"I was like, 'OK. That sounds good,'" said Dubash, now a senior.\n"What really impressed me was that he sent me a thank-you letter and then sent me another letter stating that if there was any opening, he would be more than willing to take it," Matthies said.
(08/29/02 5:17am)
During the 2001 fiscal year, IU received more private gifts and grants than any other public university in the United States. Since then, IU's fundraisers have been sweating bullets to keep up that pace in the slowing economy.\nDonors gave the University more than $300 million last year, making up 14 percent of IU's $2.1 billion operating budget, according to IU Foundation reports.\nThe total for 2002, which will be released next month, won't beat the 2001 record partly because of the weak economy, said Barbara Coffman, executive director of communications at the IU Foundation.\nBut to beat the economy, IU fundraisers have been working extra hard by improving their communication with donors.\n"One of the primary factors that affect giving is the economy," Coffman said. \nDuring economic downturns, some individual donors lose jobs, and some corporate donors suffer declining revenues. That forces them to reduce the slow down payments for their pledged gifts, causing annual private support for IU to decrease.\n"No matter how hard we worked, I don't think our number will be as high as last year's," Coffman added.\nThe major catalyst for the 2001 record performance is the Lilly Endowment, she said. It provided IU's life-science projects with $105 million, one-third of the $300.9 million the school received from the private sector that year. This year saw no such gifts.\nStill, the picture isn't totally gloomy, as IU will likely have the third best year ever, Coffman said. \nThe Foundation plans to publish the official results of 2002 in September after having them examined by an independent auditor.\nCommunication with alumni may be a key to counter the slow economy.\n"We are devoting a lot of time and attention to our corporate and foundation donors, hoping that once the economy turns around, they are going to remember that," said Richard Dupree, executive development director at the business school.\nThe Kelley school has cared especially about corporate donors in Silicon Valley and Wall Street, two major areas mauled by the recent economic recession, Dupree said. It has offered them faculty consultations, student interns and extra time to pay off their pledged gifts, hoping for their recovery and future paybacks.\n"We are not at all turning our back on them," he said.\nPartly because of these efforts, the Kelley school should see a record in private support for the 2002 fiscal year when audited, Dupree added. \nIn 2001, the Kelley school's annual fund, which solicits up to $10,000 a donor through direct mailing and phone calls, marked $2 million for the first time in history. \nThis year's figure, though not yet audited, will be even higher, Dupree said.\nSchool of Public and Environmental Affairs should also see a rise in private support for 2002, said SPEA's Development Director Susan Johnson. \n"I think the events of September 11 really heightened people's awareness of the critically important roles that public servants play," she said. \nAlso, SPEA fundraisers have contacted alumni more often than ever and tried to better convey financial needs, respect for donors and school activities, Johnson said.\nSchool of Education is also trying to improve communication with alumni, said Sarah Baumgart, External-Relations Director at the Education School.\nLike most departments, education focuses on financially savvy "major-gift" donors, who provide $25,000 or more, Baumgart said.\n"So it's not a matter of more phone calls, but a matter of developing long-term relationships with donors," she said.\nFor 2002, the education school will post a five-year high in annual private support, Baumgart said. But the increase may be due to the rising amount of payments from donors who pledged gifts a few years ago, she said. The effect of the economic downturn will be seen later.\nIU Foundation is running three fundraising projects partially designed to counter the slow economy, Coffman said. One targets international alumni, another targets women and the other is called "planned giving," which targets baby-boomers.\n"We realized that (baby-boomers are) a bigger than ever pool of prospective donors for planned gifts," Coffman said. \nDonating to their school gives baby-boomer alumni a way to contribute to the betterment of society, she said.\nIn the past five years, the private support for IU excluding non-governmental grants increased from $60 million to $230 million. This fiscal year may break the trend, but "it's a way of fundraising life," Coffman said.
(08/01/02 1:33am)
Ph.D. student Eric Ban sat at his dark Dell laptop in the Education Library and hovered the mouse-pointer over a printer icon.\n"I can send wireless to that printer -- anything I want," Ban said, gesturing at the library's printer.\nHis laptop wasn't cabled at all, but the printer groaned and spat out the file he printed.\nIU is becoming wireless.\nSince last year, some buildings have been made wireless-networked, including the Education Library, the Chemistry Library and the Undergraduate Library. At these libraries, students such as Ban can access printers and the Internet without hooking their computers up to a cable by using laptops equipped with transmission cards. Education professors say the pace of wireless conversion will pick up and advanced wireless technology will help improve teaching and learning considerably -- unless faculty shies away from the new approach.\n"It's like making everything dynamic and just-in-time," education professor Robert Appelman said, who specializes in instructional technology. \nThe Bloomington campus will mostly become wireless-networked in five years, Appelman predicted. Students and teachers will be able to go online, update their Web sites and trade their files freely within the wireless areas, boosting class productivity. Laptops will become prevalent, sending desktops out of fashion.\nBan already prefers sticking to his laptop instead of school-supplied desktops. \n"It's convenient for me to have everything in the same computer," Ban said.\nIn five years a wireless network will spread worldwide, said education professor Curtis Bonk, who specializes in computerized education.\n"Whether students are in grocery stores or at Nick's, they'll be able to tap into the Internet and respond to their classes," Bonk said.\nAlso, students and faculty will be able to exchange "authentic, real-world meaningful data" globally, he said.\n"If you teach economics, you want to know about rolling blackouts in California, gas shortages and economic collapses," Bonk said. "If students have real-world information -- say, they're doing an internship in California -- they're ready to provide current things for your class to discuss."\nCampus polls, surveys and course-feedbacks will enjoy high response rates as students and faculty will travel across Bloomington carrying their laptops or hand-held gadgets, Bonk said.\nIf unable to adjust to the coming wireless age, schools will close, Bonk said. Waves of online colleges and freelance instructors will surge into the market and compete with existing schools, he said.\nThe University Information Technology Services appears up for the competition and will probably put IU ahead of others, Appelman and Bonk said.\n"But UITS is a support organization," Appelman said. "They cannot drive instruction."\nWhether students will benefit from wireless tools depends on the faculty's willingness to explore wireless technologies, Appelman said. If instructors avoid the tools, "then nothing will happen," he said.\n"We are trying to say (to faculty), 'Look at the learning curb of students. Look at their engagement and enthusiasm. And if you just use those technology tools, you will end up with much more excited students with better productivity and everything,'" Appelman said.\nBut many instructors are slow to embrace new technologies, he added.\n"They should start going to laptops and get off their desktops," Appelman said. \nWith laptops, instructors can prepare class materials beforehand and bring them into wireless classrooms, he said. There, they can hook their laptops into media equipment and play or display the materials they prepared.\nTo encourage faculty, the school needs to provide more support for laptop users, Appelman said. Bonk agreed.\n"And IU needs to provide faculty training and support and help us share ideas," Bonk said. "Sharing teaching ideas -- with or without technology -- is a central function of a faculty member in the 21st Century"
(07/29/02 2:25am)
Zealous to beat their archrival, IU seniors recently outdonated their Purdue counterparts in a contest run by the two universities' school funds. In a donation competition held through this spring, 14.7 percent of IU seniors gave or pledged monetary gifts for the school fund, outnumbering Purdue rivals by a margin of 3.3 percent, the IU Annual Fund reported. The contest, called 2002 Senior Face Off, pitted the rivaling seniors against each other to spur their drive to donate, with the winners determined solely by the participation rate.\nThe IU Annual Fund and the Purdue Annual Giving jointly designed and administered the first face-off in history.\n"It was a success," said Erin Trisler, associate at the IU Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to maximizing private resources for IU. "We had more people participate than last year probably because of the competition with Purdue."\nIn both spring 2000 and spring 2001, the annual fund ran the fundraising independently, Trisler said. The number of IU donors averaged 320, or eight percent of about 4,000 seniors contacted by the annual fund. This spring, with the introduction of the senior face-off, the number rose to 588, or 14.7 percent of 4,000 seniors contacted.\nThrough the face-off, IU seniors pooled about $10,000 in donations, Trisler said. The money will help fund technology, scholarships and career resources, Trisler said.\nAs the winner, IU was awarded bragging rights, said Jonathan Purvis, director of the IU Student Foundation, which marketed the fundraising in Bloomington.\n"It's good to encourage philanthropy in general," Purvis said. "And building off the natural rivalry between IU and Purdue is a good catch.\n"Anytime you can say, 'We beat Purdue in this,' or 'We are better than Purdue in that,' it is a good, friendly rivalry."\nSenior Brad Ader, who donated during this spring, said he felt like donating mainly because he got a job around that time. But he said the IU-Purdue rivalry probably motivated other donors.\n"Not necessarily large amounts, but I think you will get far more $10 and $15 donations than if there were no contest at all," Ader said.\nTrisler said the face-off's long-term goal is to increase the number of alumni who routinely donate for IU.\n"We would like (our seniors) to acquire a habit of giving, because the majority of the operating budget for IU comes from private donations," Trisler said.\nAccording to the IU Foundation's Web site, about 45 percent of annual IU budgets come from private donations, the rest coming from fees, tuitions and state subsidies. \nThe staff of the IU and Purdue funds came up with the idea of the face-off last summer as they jointly redesigned their fundraising, Trisler said.\n"We thought we needed to make it fun and to have a spirited competition with it," Trisler said.\nAfter they laid all the groundwork, the two funds enlisted their student foundations to involve students effectively. \nIn Bloomington, IUSF and its 25 student volunteers marketed the face-off, encouraging seniors to donate. \nThe face-off began in late January, with Purdue staff advertising it passionately.\n"Participating in the Senior Face Off gives every Boilermaker the chance to … show their school spirit through gifts and pledges, and beat IU one more time before graduating," said Jennifer Pratt, associate director of the Purdue Annual Giving, in a recent press release.\nDonations benefit IU students and alumni alike, Trisler said. Alumni contributions are a criterion in many school rankings, she said.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Since the latest violence began 20 months ago, Palestinians and Israelis have seen their death toll rise, military costs soar and economies sink. \nAs business media and local experts say, the Middle Eastern conflict has lasting, negative economic repercussions. Documents show the fighting has brought a financial instability to the region, where Palestinians -- whose economy has fluctuated more violently than Israel's -- seems to have bore the blunt. A political settlement may end the violence, but one expert says that unless it promises cooperation on economic issues, financial prosperity would greet Israelis only.\nThe Palestinian economy appears "more like a humanitarian disaster than a business prospect," BusinessWeek reported in early April. Income fell 19 percent in 2001 to $1,375 per capita, one-twenty-fourths of the U.S. average. Unemployment hovered around 35 percent at the end of 2001. Before the conflict, half of Palestinians lived on less than $2 a day. \nEconomic indicators show that Israeli unemployment is over 10 percent. Hotel occupancy rates dropped to 10 percent. Restaurants, which often witness suicide bombers, fared no better. And last year, gross domestic product contracted 0.6 percent, the first decline in three decades.\nJoshua Stein, the assistant director at the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center in Bloomington, said he saw grim signs of the Israeli economy a year and half ago.\nIn January 2001, Stein flew with 2,000 Americans to Israel, on a five-day mission run by the United Jewish Communities, an umbrella group for Jewish organizations across North America, he said. The mission was designed to show American support for Israelis, who felt depressed and globally isolated, he said.\nStein spent the whole trip in Jerusalem, touring café-lined Ben Yehuda Street and he felt disturbed at what he saw. \n"It was quiet," he said. "Many of the stores were out of business. Cafés were closed." \nHotels and restaurants had few customers to serve and Israelis looked disheartened and insecure, he said.\n"Usually, when I had been to Israel, I felt like having been at a birthday party," Stein said, recounting the previous seven trips.\n"I felt like the whole country was just in a funeral," he said after a January visit.\nStein stressed that neither Israelis nor Palestinians will economically benefit from the Middle Eastern flare-ups. \n"The reality is, on both sides, the cost is too high," he said.\nIf the conflict drags on, it'll continue to strain Israel's economy, said David Fidler, IU associate professor of law.\n"(Israel's) foreign trading and business partners will be wary of deepening commercial contacts with a country in the midst of a violent and unstable situation," said Fidler, who has served the World Bank as an international legal consultant, specializing in foreign investment in Palestine. Foreigners may find the region unattractive for investment, and buyers of Israeli goods may seek other suppliers in politically stable countries, he said. \n"The Palestinian economy is in ruins," Fidler said, "and the economic plight of the Palestinian people is already dire and desperate. If the violence continues, the economic fate of the Palestinians is tragic, both in the short term and in the longer term."\nSoon after the violence began in 2000, Palestinians lost 100,000 jobs in Israel, 77 percent of the total jobs they had held in the region excluding East Jerusalem, according to documents published by the World Bank.\nThe Palestinian economy needs Israel, but it's not the other way around, Fidler said.\n"Israel has increasingly sophisticated and globalized economic capabilities, while Palestinians remain utterly dependent on the Israeli economy," he said.\nIn July 2000 Fidler visited the Gaza Strip, the West Bank city of Ramallah and various other places, as part of his duties with the World Bank. \n"Walking through both the Gaza city and then Tel Aviv was a street-level education on the state of Palestinian and Israel economic prospects," he said.\nIsrael sells products to Palestinians and buys their cheap labor, but these activities aren't driving Israel's economic growth, he said. \n"Israel has, since the early 1990s, pursued a policy of decreasing reliance on Palestinian workers. Israel has also pursued an export-driven strategy to secure benefits from globalization."\nWithout economic cooperation from Israel, the Palestinian economy may falter, Fidler said.\n"Only a political settlement will provide the foundation for development of the Palestinian economy," he said. "The problem is that the political solution, which now seems most popular with Israelis, is separating the Israeli and Palestinian peoples entirely."\n The "separation approach" will make it impossible for Palestinians to build an economy that works well in the globalized world, he said.\n"The short-term prospects for the Palestinian economy, with or without continued violence are very, very grim," he said.\nThe gloomy economic backdrop may worry Palestinians. Yet, an economic downturn isn't a major concern for average Israelis, said Zvi Gilboa, a professional student in the IU School of Music who came to Bloomington from Israel three years ago.\n"I've been in touch with many of my friends in Israel," he said. "No one has ever mentioned to me financial situations."\nThey always talk about security and peace, not the economy, Gilboa said. \n"When you are afraid of going to restaurants because you are afraid of terrorist attacks, you don't think about money. You think about your life," he said.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
More than 500 people crowded Bryan Park Saturday to celebrate Juneteenth, the day triumphant Union forces arrived in Texas to announce the emancipation of all slaves.\nJuneteenth symbolizes African-American freedom and the importance of education, said Marsha Bradford of Bloomington Mayor's Office, as she spoke at the beginning of the celebration.\n"It is the time to promote and cultivate knowledge and appreciation of African American history and culture," Bradford said.\nJuneteenth is the oldest known celebration and ending of slavery, she said. The news of emancipation arrived in Galveston, Texas, in June 19, 1865 -- two and a half years after president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Since then, an increasing number of U.S. citizens have come to celebrate June 19 as "the average-American emancipation day," she said.\nThe celebration, organized by the IU Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, was the fourth in IU history. The center postponed it by 10 days this year in order for more people to attend.\nThe event was designed to educate the community about the history of slavery and to promote cross-racial and cultural understanding. Festival-goers marked the date by singing, dancing and talking.\nAlthough temperatures were in the high 80s, people strolled across the park and shopped for African-inspired clothes and ate African food, such as boiled goat meat, fried plantain and shish kebab.\nVendor Doi Mbanefo sold colorful clothes she spun out of silk, cotton and nylon imported from Nigeria. She was trying to promote African cultural heritage, she said.\nFor example, Nigerian women pay more attention to dress code than their U.S. counterparts, she said.\n"You always want to look best," Mbanefo said, who was wearing a light-green blouse and a wrapper, accentuated by a pink shawl over her shoulder and pink pumps. "You want to steal the show," she said.\nNearly 10 feet away from Mbanefo's table, Bloomington resident Collette Zumbrun and her daughter enjoyed African food under a wooden shelter.\n"We live in a multi-cultural society. It's important to learn about other people's culture," Zumbrun said while spooning African food to her one-year-old daughter.\n"(Learning about) how people see things differently, eat different foods, speak different languages and wear different dress makes life more interesting," she said. \nFrederick McElroy, IU Afro-American studies professor, said Juneteenth helps people remember what freedom means.\n"While celebrating Juneteenth, I want you think about involving yourself in this ongoing, continuous struggle for freedom, something that cannot be conferred upon you," he said to a crowd of about 50 people. To gain and retain the power to seek justice, one must continue learning, McElroy said.\n"Freedom is related to knowledge," McElroy said, referring to Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass. "Knowledge is a pathway from slavery to freedom. Freedom is always the bonus we receive from knowing the truth."\nChristina Wells, a high school sophomore from New York, attending IU summer school, listened to the speech and said it benefited her. \n"I'm a little more focused in terms of what I want to do: discovering my roots, my past and celebrating them," Wells said.\n"During the past 35 years Bloomington has become more open to African Americans," said Clarence W. Gilliam, president of the Monroe County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.\nIn August 1966, Gilliam settled in Bloomington after spending eight years in Indiana searching for a house to buy. Housing discrimination existed across the state, he said, but Bloomington was more racially tolerant than other cities.\nToday, the city can still do more to provide jobs, low-income housing and social activities for African-American youth, Gilliam said. But compared with three decades ago, "It is culturally friendly and more diverse," he said.\nDuring the celebration, three groups played music live in a pavilion in the park.\n"What kept me here right now is music," said senior music student Chris Farrar, as he sat under the tree listening to the Afro-Hoosier Band International playing Afro-Caribbean music.\nHe said he saw few IU students attending, but added: "Everybody is having a great time. I see a lot of smiles."\nOyibo Afoaku, director of the Black Culture Center, estimated that at least 500 people had joined the celebration.\n"This was, overall, a successful event," she said. Afoaku said she was especially pleased with what McElroy said about Juneteenth.\n"Knowledge is power," Afoaku said. "The more you know about what happened, the more you learn about how to treat others.\n"That's the whole essence of the celebration of diversity, which we did today"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
IU recently launched a multi-million dollar project to cultivate life science businesses, in an effort to spur Indiana's economic growth and thereby increase future state aids for education.\nThe $10 million project officially began in late June, when the IU Advanced Research and Technology Institute (ARTI) bought a building in downtown Indianapolis with $3.9 million of public and corporate contributions, said ARTI president Mark Long. The facility, named the IU Emerging Technology Center, works like hospitals' incubators nurturing newborns. It will support life science startups including pharmacies, hospitals and medical-device manufacturers, until they become commercially viable.\n"The primary purpose of the project is to stimulate economic development in Indiana through the creation of new companies, which will provide jobs and services," Long said. Newly hatched companies will also bring more taxes for the state, and thus more state subsidies for IU, he said.\nAccording to data from the Indiana Department of Commerce, the life sciences industry is the state's biggest employer providing 13 percent of private-sector jobs.\nARTI will equip the technology center with tools and high-tech gears designed to support life sciences, Long said. The agency will rent spaces at half the market rates for incubated startups, which will gain free access to the apparatus inside. It will also help find venture capitalists, and IU experts for business and science consultations. Further, ARTI is scheduled to offer free, monthly business seminars on management, marketing and manufacturing.
(06/27/02 2:31am)
The IU Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center is calling for people of all ages, races and backgrounds to celebrate "Juneteenth" Saturday. \nJuneteenth refers to June 19, 1865, the day victorious Union forces landed in Texas to announce the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of all slaves.To honor the end of slavery, the center will present a festival in Bryan Park.\n"The Juneteenth celebration should not be only for black people," Oyibo Afoaku, director of the Black Culture Center, said. "It should be for everyone in the U.S. because it marked the end of the enslavement of human beings in U.S. history." \nJuneteenth embodies the birth of a truly free, democratic nation, Afoaku said. \n"You cannot talk about democracy, human rights or diversity while people are being enslaved," she said. \nThe Black Culture Center postponed the celebration for 10 days in order for more people to observe it this weekend.\nAfoaku said the celebration aims to educate the community about the history of slavery. It also promotes friendship and understanding among people of different races, cultures and traditions.\nThe annual celebration, scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will be the fourth in IU history. The event will include food, live music, dancing, games, clowns and other entertainment. \nMusic groups scheduled to perform include the Afro-Hoosier Band International and the Kurt Lubbe Quartet. The West Indian Folk Dance Company from Chicago will hold a demonstration. A dozen vendors will be selling African food and soul food; African and African-American clothes; and ethnic accessories such as African beadwork.\nFrederick McElroy, professor of Afro-American studies, will speak at 1 p.m.\n"You will have fun, but also, you'll be able to learn what Juneteenth is all about, and why it is important in U.S. history," Afoaku said.\nAfrican-Americans in Texas began to celebrate the date as Juneteenth, and the custom spread across other states. And in December 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery across the United States.\nBecause slavery existed when the Declaration of Independence was issued in 1776, some elder African-Americans, especially those in the Western South, celebrate Juneteenth as their true independence day, said John McCluskey Jr., professor of Afro-American studies.\n"Those older people -- I do think -- feel that there's a special significance to Juneteenth," he said. McCluskey also said some African-American ancestors endured a period of delayed emancipation and began to honor the day they heard of their freedom.\n"It is my hope that (the Bloomington community) will begin to consider how complex history is and what those days mean for different Americans," he said. \nJunior Sekou Kante plans to attend the celebration and is hoping to see people of all ethnicities. \n"We would appreciate all people who come out, not just black people," Kante said. "It will be a truly great time to enjoy culture and great food all in one setting."\nKante will volunteer at a children's activities booth Saturday. \n"I'm going to try to make Juneteenth fun for children and instill a sense of pride in (people) about their heritage," he said. \nFor more information or to volunteer for the Black Culture Center Saturday, call 855-9271.
(06/20/02 5:02am)
Nick Beardsley sat in a wooden chair inside Jimmy John's on Kirkwood Avenue and sagged his shoulders slightly. Beardsley, the burly, six-foot-tall assistant manager of the restaurant, recalled his unfruitful past attempts to get scholarships.\nBetween 1998 and 2001, Beardsley was an undergraduate student at IU studying financial accounting. During this period he applied for 20 different scholarships. He was awarded none of them. To fill the gap he worked part-time. It was then he began to see his grades decline.\n"I didn't feel really good about it," he said.\nWith the memory still fresh, Beardsley is trying to raise funds to offer scholarships for undergraduates in need. To achieve the goal, he privately runs a Web site named www.supportsomestudents.com. On the site, he calls for people to donate to a fund for scholarships. Half the funds will be divided into $2,500 checks and awarded to candidates who deserve them most. \n"The catch is that when donating, the donator has the opportunity to drive away with a new vehicle," he said. To encourage donations, he is offering a brand-new vehicle that he plans to buy with the donations he'll collect.\nBeardsley said online visitors donate through buying electronic tickets for $10. Donators are issued a ticket number that will function like a raffle number on Aug. 1, the day the Web site will pick the winner of a vehicle through a random selection by a computer. Beardsley said he he will pay for the delivery of a vehicle, but the recipient will foot the bill for taxes and title fees. \nBeardsley hopes to gather $50,000 in donations, he said, which he plans to spend to purchase a vehicle, sponsor eight to nine scholarships, and pay the cost of the Web site.\nIf donations don't reach the expected $50,000 mark, he will award 60 percent of the money in place of a car, and will distribute the rest as scholarships.\nChris Hamaker, area general manager for Jimmy John's, Beardsley's supervisor of six months, touts and supports the fundraising he believes will succeed. \nHe praised his colleague for a drive to help others. \n"For his age, he is unbelievable with such a good get-up-and-go he has," Mamaker said.\nSome students show skepticism on the way the fund operates, and Carrie Hanchar, junior, is one of them. \n"It sounds pretty fishy," Hanchar said. She will remain skeptical, until she learns details on the process to choose scholarship recipients and the motives behind the fundraising, she said.\n"It is like a raffle, but not," Beardsley said.\nHe will evaluate candidates to pick the most qualified, he said. Winners need a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, and should be active in community or school activities. \nBeardsley schedules to post detailed requirements and an application form online Aug. 1, he said. He expects to declare recipients online Aug. 30. \nBecause some find the project a bit doubtful, Beardsley said he is trying to win people's trust by "getting the words out there and convincing people it's not a shady operation, convincing people that I'm not walking home with lots of money." He said he has contacted several news media outlets, and is also drafting news releases for his Web site.\nBeardsley, with his white Jimmy John's apron hanging to his knees, explained his major motive behind the fundraising.\n"I hope to relieve a little stress for a couple of people," he said. \nHe understands the stress, Beardsley said. He hurriedly finished his Bachelor's degree in three years, in an effort to lighten his family's weight to support him financially, he said. Added to the compressed workload, he worked 12 to 20 hours a week to help fund his schooling. \n"My GPA suffered because of it," he said.\nAlso, his fundraising is to get a feeling of satisfaction, he said. \n"It is self-serving in fact that it will give me something to be proud of, something to show people that I've been productive," he said.\n "It's an experiment," he added.\n"I thought it was a unique idea." \nBeardsley said he will probably run the project again if it gathers $50,000 in donations this time. So far, from his family and friends he has sold 100 donation tickets, he said. \n"I'll hope for the best," he said.
(04/10/02 5:22am)
Student technology fees are like taxes. They're levied against students even if they don't use tech services. \nEvery year, student tech fees pool millions of dollars. The money is then spent for student services, Karen Adams, chief information officer and chief of staff in the IU Office of the Vice President for Information Technology said. But one of these services, the Student Technology Education Program Series, is unknown to and underused by many students.\nSTEPS are free hands-on computer training workshops run by IT Training and Education. Its annual budget rose 10 percent to $356,374 in 2001, according to UITS cost analysis data. But over the last five years, the number of STEPS users has steadily decreased, according to UITS's annual user surveys. In 1997, 32 percent of students surveyed said they had used the service. In 2001, the usage rate dipped by half, and only 14 percent said they'd used the service. \nBut of those students who used STEPS last year, more than 95 percent graded it better than satisfactory, and this has been the case for the past five years. \nSTEPS are workshops that teach high-tech tools such as Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, HTML, Netscape Composer, Dreamweaver and UNIX free of charge. Most tools are explored through basic, advanced and expert classes, and each class lasts two to three hours. No registration is required. \nPeople in IT Training and Education, which runs STEPS workshops, seem baffled. Their workshops satisfy most users but attract only a few students. \nITTE manager Chris Payne suggested three possible reasons students don't attend STEPS. Many prefer self-learning through NETg, the online tutorial software that teaches about 600 high tech tools. Many students are already high-tech savvy as well, and then there are those who don't seem to know about STEPS. Payne said he doubts undergraduates are aware of the service.\nAn informal survey conducted by the IDS on March 18 asked 30 underclassmen in the East Lounge of the Indiana Memorial Union if they'd ever heard of the service. Twenty-four hadn't. The same query was posed before 50 undergraduates at the IMU's Burger King. Forty-one said no. Of those same 80 students, only 11 said they had heard of or knew about NETg. \nThese 80 students cannot speak for all 26,000 undergraduates, but Payne's third guess seems not off the mark. Many students probably don't know they are funding STEPS through the technology fee. \nIn early January, Brandon Minton was Web-tech-illiterate. He could manipulate Word, Excel and PowerPoint like toys, he said. But he stood helpless before Web publishing tools.\n"I had no idea on how to build a Web site," Minton said.\nSince then, Minton, a senior majoring in informatics, has taken nine STEPS workshops: HTML, Dreamweaver, Netscape Composer, Photoshop and UNIX, among others. They took more than 20 hours, but he netted huge returns. \nToday, Minton can craft a Web site in two hours or less, he said. \n"First, I would open Dreamweaver," he said. "Then, I would start typing text that I would have on my page. Once I figured out the frame and how I wanted to go, I would place all the HTML tags. And the next thing would be to open up Photoshop and start making some designs that I could implement onto my Web site.\n"Once I laid out everything correctly…I would publish it on an SQL server. And everybody would see it."\nSTEPS instructors never forsake students for the sake of class progress, Minton said. \n"They are decent people," he said. "Really helpful. Really nice. Extremely nice." \nDavid A. Ray, a doctoral student in the School of Music who aims to become an opera singer, is one of those "decent people." Ray, a part-time instructor, lectures confidently before students, his voice resonating as if through a microphone. \nBut when he became an instructor in the summer of 2000, he was an Internet surfer who knew only Excel. \n"I thought that I had a great talent for playing video games, but not much more than that," he said. \nSo his supervisors told him: Learn before you teach. \nRay's training regimen was STEPS workshops. He joined classes as an observer and studied with students. \n"You would do this -- perhaps two to three times per class -- before moving on to the role of assistant," he said.\nTo become an instructor, one would observe two classes or more, he said. Behind the scenes, Ray said he studied textbooks to know them inside and out. He wanted to find the most effective ways to teach. He also studied how and why people used the software covered by the textbooks. \n"I feel as though I would be cheating the students to a certain extent," he said, "if I simply stood in front of class, walked through the materials and had no idea myself why I was doing certain things." \nSince January 2001, 3,000 STEPS users have taken after-class surveys by IT Training and Education. 80 percent of them said the level, pace and teaching range of workshops were "just right." 90 percent graded instructors "good" or "very good" at explaining subjects and answering questions. Assistant instructors were also called "good" or "very good" by 90 percent of those surveyed. And almost all said the classes were "satisfactory" experiences. \nSTEPS class materials have won two awards from the Special Interest Group on University and College Computing Services, a national organization that ranks colleges and universities by their quality of IT training. \nYet ITTE staff don't know why STEPS is unappealing to many students. Payne and Macmillan said they crave any advice from students. \nUITS has no plan to abort STEPS, Karen Adams said. Students will keep funding the program, whether they like it or not.\nIf they are not grad students, who are said to use STEPS more often, said Carol Macmillan,web education specialist of ITTE. But people in IT Training and Education don't want those feelings to fester. \n"Yes, we will work even harder to market to the undergraduate students," Macmillan said. ITTE will make undergraduates realize that "IT skills is what can set them apart from other job candidates, and help them edge out the competition," she said.