The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 20. 1994 - 3
Students borrow directly from government in new loan program
By BRAD SPARKS
For the Daily
With the cost of college rising every year, more stu-
dents are turning to loans to help pay for their education.
"If I didn't have student loans I wouldn't be able to go
to school, because my parents don't pick up enough of the
costs for me to go," said Michael Todd, an LSA junior.
A new federal program could make loans easier for
students to get. The University has been selected as one of
105 schools to participate in the first year of the Federal
Direct Student Loan Program.
The program, which took effect July 1, makes student
loans much easier to receive and pay back.
"The past two years have seen significant changes in
eligibility and the amount of .funds available under the
federal loan programs. Many of the most recent changes
make student loans less expensive to get and repay," said
Don Buehrer, an academic services representative for
*allie Mae, a private corporation that funds student loans.
The new program replaces the Federal Family Educa-
tion Loan Program's Subsidized Stafford, Unsubsidized
Stafford and Plus loans.
Under the old system, students would have to go
through a lender, like a bank, to obtain a loan. The Direct
Loan Program eliminates the middle man by allowing
students to borrow directly from the government.
The new system offers three types of loans. The first is,
the Direct Subsidized Stafford loan. This loan is offered to
students with financial need. The loan's interest is paid for
by the government until six months after the student
graduates.
The other two - the Direct Unsubsidized Stafford and
Direct Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS)
loans - are both non-need based loans. The Direct
Unsubsidized Stafford is almost identical to the Direct
Subsidized Stafford. The biggest difference is that the
interest on the unsubsidized loan must be paid or added to
the principal of the loan while the student attends college.
Parents can use the PLUS loan to help their son or
daughter pay for college. Repayment of this loan begin 60
days after the funds have been dispersed.
All of these loans have a low variable rate of interest.
The Direct Stafford - subsidized and unsubsidized -
loans cannot exceed 8.25-percent interest, while the PLUS
loans are capped at 9 percent.
A student becomes eligible for these loans when they
fill out and return the Federal Application for Student Aid
(FAFSA). The university then sends the student a state-
ment of loans and other aid that they may choose to accept
or decline.
Although the new regulations make it easier to receive
loans, Buehrer warns against borrowing too much.
"Broader eligibility, lower rates and more funds avail-
able is good news for borrowers who otherwise could not
get a loan,-or could not borrow enough because their
income was too high," Buehrer said.
"However, with easier access to loans, borrowers
should be more cautious than ever to only borrow whaf
they absolutely need."
The new Federal Loan Program is not without opposi-
tion. The American Association of State Colleges and
Universities (AASCU) contends that the new system's
"income-contingent" repayment option turns a college
education into a second mortgage.
The new repayment plan is designed to make student
loan payments easier, by spreading the payments out over
a longer period of time.
The problem with the plan, opponents say, is that the
payments become so low they barely cover the monthly
interest on the loan.
According to AASCU, a student who has a $17,500
loan upon graduation would pay $33,598 after 19 years
and seven months - $17,639 of which would be interest.
However, all of the Direct Loans offer an option to
prepay - pay off the loan or make a payment larger than
the normal monthly payment - without penalty.
Regents
approve plan
for visitor's
'center
1 $2.5M renovation of
Student Activities
Building will Include
new visitors' center
By LISA DINES
Daily Staff Reporter
The University has a $2.5 mil-
lion welcome mat for new students
in the works.
The visitors' center - an addition
to the Students Activities Building -
will serve as a gathering place and
information center for prospective
parents and students looking at the
University.
"Over the years there has been a
*eal desire for a place where students
and parents can go when they come to
campus," said University spokes-
woman Lisa Baker.
The University Board of Regents
approved plans for the project yester-
day. Bids should be in by the end of
October and completion is slated for
spring 1996.
The center will unite the admis-
ions and financial aid offices in one
rea as well as add rooms for hosting
group and video presentations. A
three-story atrium will provide a wait-
ing area for parents and students.
Vice President for Student Affairs
Maureen A. Hartford said the space
will allow the University to be "more
interactive" with prospective students
and "will be moving us more toward
*Over the years there
has been a real desire
for a place where
students and parents
can go when they
come to campus.'
- Lisa Baker
University
spokeswoman
a recruitment mode."
She added that along with the new
center, her office will likely develop
more programs to draw future stu-
dents to the University.
Along with the addition for the
,visitors' center, the building will have
an overall face-lift including new win-
dows, andentrance-ways, outsideland-
scape work, and cleaned bricks.
Regent Philip Power (D-Ann Ar-
Jbor) pushed for the building renova-
tions. He said its current outer ap-
pearance nominates it to "the list of
ugliest buildings on campus. U
Paul Couture, an assistant Uni-
versity architect, said everything pos-
sible will be done to avoid disrupting
unctions at the building during con-
1'truction. "The building addition as
it's being constructed will all be done
outside. Care will be taken to prevent
interruption in the building."
Detroit school
seeks state charter
Alma Wheeler speaks with Richard Cornell, interim dean of the School of Public Health, after receiving a certificate
in tribute to her father Albert Wheeler yesterday.
Tnbute paid to former'U'
proflessor, civil-rgt atVist
DETROIT (AP) -A private acad-
emy with an African-centered cur-
riculum may be the second school in
Detroit to receive a charter under the
state's new alternative-school law.
Imani Humphrey opened her first
private school 20 years ago, after 10
years teaching English in the city's
public schools.
She now has 128 students enrolled
between kindergarten and I Ith grade
at Aisha Shule, an African-centered
elementary school, and W.E.B.
DuBois Preparatory School, a college
preparatory school and is seeking a
state charter from the Detroit Board of
Education.
A charter would mean two things
for Humphrey: parents would no longer
have to pay the $3,500-a-year tuition so
more children from lower-income fami-
lies could enroll, and she would receive
$5,500 per student from the state.
The Detroit Board of Education
could vote on a state charter for
Humphrey's school at its Sept. 27
meeting, the Detroit Free Press re-
ported yesterday.
The state's new charter school law
allows the same per-pupil funding as
the local school district but gives more
autonomy to the school to control
curriculum and other matters. The
charters must be awarded by a public
university or school district.
The only other Detroit school with
a charter is Casa Maria Academy, a
middle school for at-risk students.
Wayne State University opened the
state's first charter school in Detroit
last year under a different law.
Casa Maria, and two other schools
awarded charters by Central Michi-
gan University, have yet to open be-
cause of building code and fire safety
issues, the Free Press reported. Casa
Maria and the Saginaw Chippewa
Academy in Mt. Pleasant may still be
able to fix the problems and open this
fall, said Jerry Misner, director of the
university's charter school office.
But the Michigan Early Childhood
Center in Lansing is in a building
unauthorized as a school and will not
open this semester, Misner said.
Two of CMU's other charter
schools, New Branches Elementary
in Grand Rapids and Northlane Math
and Science Academy in Freeland,
have already begun classes.
Last week, Kent Intermediate
School District approved a charter for
the West Michigan Academy of Envi-
ronmental Sciences in Ottawa County.
Aisha Shule W.E.B. Dubois stresses
independent learning for its students
and lots of parental involvement.
Many of the ideas that led Humphrey
to leave public education and forge out
on her own are now being embraced by
educators, including smaller classes,
multigrade groupings, teaching values
and cultural context.
As few as eight students are in some
classes, and no class has more than 15
students. At the beginning of eachclass,
students and teachers make a mutual
pledge of respect.
The students' African American
heritage permeates the school's decor
as well as its curriculum and literature.
Students have nothing but praise for
the school.
"This school, it just, like, made
me reach inside myself and find my
true self," says Muata Meadows, le6
and in the Ith grade. He has attended
W.E.B. DuBois for three years. Fcr
Malika Pryor, 14, the school provides
a more intimate setting for learning
than public schools she attended in
Detroit.
By MARIA KOVAC
Daily Staff Reporter
A man described as everything
from civil-rights activist to urban
environmentalist,Albert H. Wheeler
was remembered yesterday with the
first annual Community Service
Learning Fair dedicated in his honor.
The fait brought more than 30
community-based public health or-.
ganizations from all over southeast-
ern Michigan together in the Public
Health Building II.
Wheeler, who died this past spring,
earned a doctorate degree in public
health from the University in 1944
and became its first full-time African
American faculty member in 1952.
However, Wheeler's life in Ann
Arbor was much more than academic
as he and his wife, Emma, became
central figures in the civil rights move-
ment in 1960s Ann Arbor.
"His life was dedicated to social
justice - not just for the African
American community - but for ev-
eryone," said Professor Emeritus Eu-
gene Feingold in remembering
Wheeler. In 1954, Wheeler was in-
strumental in leading the local chap-
ter of the NAACP and worked to end
housing and job discrimination in Ann
Arbor.
His activism led to his eventual
election as the first and only African
American mayor of Ann Arbor -
from 1975 to 1977.
Richard Cornell, interim dean of
the School of Public Health, made the
formal presentation of the fair to the
Wheeler family and also remarked on
Wheeler's "excellence as a public
health educator and community ser-
vice leader."
"Al Wheeler passed away at the end
of winter term last year but we delayed
this recognition until the students could
join with us," Cornell said.
Organization development office broadens focus, changes name
By MAGGIE WEYING
Daily Staff Reporter
With plans to extend its responsi-
bilities, the Student Organization De-
velopment Center has chosen a new
name that will include its new roles -
the Office of Student Activities and
Leadership (SAL).
It will remain an office focused on
assisting student-driven organiza-
tions, however, it intends to broaden
its opportunities for leadership. The
office is also searching for a new
director.
Kathy MacKay, director of co-
curricular programs, said, "It's been a
long time since we looked at the mis-
sion of this office. The name change
is symbolic of a renewed commit-
ment to what the office has been do-
ing in the past - a commitment to
assist student organizations and to
help them accomplish things."
SAL will continue to offer many
opportunities for individuals and stu-
dent organizations such as leadership
and various other kinds of workshops,
retreats, fundraisers and Greek life.
The office will also focus on enhanc-
ing major campus events like "Senior
Days" and Festifall.
SAL also plans to issue a new
student organization handbook to help
students cut through the red tape while
promoting organizational activities.
"Sometimes when an organiza-
tion makes a change, people auto-
matically think that the change is go-
ing to be drastic," MacKay said. "The
same things are going to be happen-
ing in this office, however we're
moving a step up to work morefully
with student organizations."
MSA President Julie Neenan ap-
plauded SAL's efforts. "I think it's
great that SAL is seeking out student
needs and addressing them. Kathy
MacKay just recently announced the
change to us last week, so we haven't
felt the effects yet - but I'm looking
forward to it," Neenan said.
MacKay said, however, that even
with the broadening of the office,
students will still determine the di-
rection of their own activities. "We are
not interested in taking over student
activities, only to help with concepts
and offer advice," MacKay said. "To-
gether we can make it a more compre-
hensive and collaborated thing."
Besides increasing the opportuni-
ties available for students, SAL is
also in the process of a national search
for a new director. Panhellenic Asso-
ciation President Julie Stacey - one
of the two students on the search
committee - said, "We went through
a lot of applications and began nar-
rowing them down. We then did phone
interviews and met back as a commit-
tee to make our recommendations to
give to Kathy."
Some of the candidates for the
new director position have already
been invited to campus. MacKay and
Stacey said they encourage students
to attend a one-hour open forum to
talk to the first of the candidates this
Thursday, Sept. 22 at 5:00 p.m. in the
Crofoot Room in the Union.
"This office has been in a transi-
tion as far as staff is concerned. We
haven't had a director for the past two
years. With a new director in place we
will be able to become even more
focused and get even more thing
done," MacKay said.
REGISTRAR'S BULLETIN BOARD
Each term the Registrar will publish important information and key dates affecting students
DATES TO REMEMBER
Last Day to:
Wed., Sept. 28
Wed., Sept. 28
Wed., Oct. 19
WITHDRAW FROM FALL TERM- with payment of $50
disenrollment fee and $80 registration fee.
DROP CLASSES- with a reduction in tuition. NOTE: Some
units (Law, Medicine and Dentistry) begin classes on a different
academic calendar and this date will vary for those units.
WITHDRAW FROM FALL TERM- with payment of half tuition
and $80 registration fee. NOTE: This date will vary for the units
having a different academic calendar.
Group Meetings
U Saint Mary Student Parish,
New Eucharistic Minister
Training Church, 7 p.m.
U U-M Taekwondo Club, begin-
ners welcome, 2275 CCRB, 7-
info. session Business Admin-
istration Bldg. 1270, 4-5 p.m.
U 3rd Wave, mass meeting, 4th
floor Union, 7:30 p.m.
p.m.-8 a.m.
Q Campus Information Center,
Michigan Union, 763-INFO;
events info., 76-EVENT; film
info., 763-FLM.
U North Campus Information
Beginning:
Thurs., Sept. 29
WITHDRAW FROM FALL TERM- pay half tuition and $80
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