4A - Thursday, Septemnber 13, 2007
4
Thq Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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the University of Michigan since 1890.
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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KARL STAMPFL IMRAN SYED JEFFREY BLOOMER
EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR
Unsignededitorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
A wish half granted
Pell Grant increase only part of financial aid solution
Tired of paying more for college every year? Congress feels
your pain. Last week, lawmakers passed a newfinancial aid
bill intended to increase the total funding to Pell Grants by
cutting subsidies to private student lenders. The bill, which comes
on the heels of legislation passed this summer to curb preferential
treatment of lenders by universities, is proof that the Democrats
may yet be capable of following through on their campaign prom-
ises. However, this modest increase in aid for lower-income fami-
lies doesn't go far enough to alleviate the burden of the increasing
cost of going to college.
The new legislation will cut subsidies to quate financial aid because of the dubious
private lenders by $21 billion, while rout- "expected family contribution" listed on
ing $11 billion to increase the maximum the Free Application for Federal Student
amount of the Pell Grant from $4,310 to Aid. This EFC factors into the amount of
$5,400 per year. With tuition at the Uni- aid the student qualifies for regardless of
versity now at $5,149 for in-state students whether parents actually supply it. This
and $15,556 for out-of-state students per is particularly relevant at the Universi-
semester, most of those receiving the Pell ty, where students are suffering another
Grant will also need additional grants and tuition hike this year.
loans. Thus, their prospects of avoiding a Even the improvements expected to
mountain of debt upon graduation are only come from the new legislation won't be
mildly improved. fully phased in for five years. To truly ease
The bill will also cut interest on need- the burden, we need an overhaul not only
based federal loans in half, helping stu- of the grant system but also of federal loan
dents repay their debt more quickly. While programs. In 1993, then-President Bill Clin-
this is a major improvement, there is still a ton proposed the Student Loan Reform Act,
significant difference between the amount which would have offered federal financial
of financial aid awarded to students and aid with manageable interest rates. One of
the amount most students need to cover its most attractive characteristics was that
tuition, housing, textbooks and other it would have offered reasonable aid with-
school expenses. out wasting money on subsidies to interme-
Even with these gains, students will con- diary private lenders. But the Republican
tinue to encounter obstacles within this Congress was unreceptive to the idea of a
flawed system of financial aid, which hasn't program that would have handled almost
been significantly amended since the High- 50 percent of all student loans and curtailed
er Education Act of 1965. Bolstering Pell private loans in favor of federal ones.
Grants is an admirable step, but the trite- While the increase for Pell Grant fund-
ria for eligibility remain too strict to help ing shows that Congress is making an effort
everyone. For example, last year, only 3,350 to ease the financial burden of students,
out of the University's nearly 40,000 stu- more can be done. We need to reform the
dents benefited from Pell Grants. Generally current system to focus on direct federal
only those whose expected family contribu- loans and prevent more students from fall-
tion to college costs is less than $4,000 are ing into unmanageable amounts of debt to
eligible for the grant. private loan companies. So what's stopping
Many students must pay their entire cost our Democratic Congress from revisiting
of college while failing to qualify for ade- Clinton's idea?
Editorial Board Members: Ben Caleca, Mike Eber, Brian Flaherty,
Emmarie Huetteman, Kellyn Jackson, Gavin Stern, Jennifer Sussex,
Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya.
JACK DOEHRING
9 r
4/
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4
Sir, I don't know, actually."
- Gen. David Petraeus, commar ider of American forces in Iraq, when asked during his report to Congress about
whether American actions in Ir aq have made our country safer, as reported yesterday by The New York Times.
Eat like you vote
A s young Ann Arbor collegians,
we are part of a unique and
to political activism as to the
personal luxuries
made possible by x
a newfound free-!
dom of living away
from home. Thus, ?
it is possible for the -
very same students
who have camped'
out in shackles for'
eight hours on the BRYAN
Diag in protest KOLK
of. world hunger
to blow 50 bucks
at the Brown Jug later that evening.
Thus, the students passing out fliers
for Oxfam can still enjoy meals at the
Chop House. Thus, the hybrid SUV.
My hat is off to those who are genu-
inely dedicated enough to spend a day
sitting in a cage for world hunger, and
I am all for any attempt to help solve
the problem. But I've also handed far
more money to Zingerman's than to
the World Health Organization. Is the
desire for delicious sandwiches anti-
activist? You can't donate your cake to
the needy and eat it too.
I like to comfort myself with the
thought that eating itself is a politi-
cal act. Of course, this is definitely a
cop-out. If eating is a form of democ-
racy, it is sort of despotically imposed
on us (you don't have to vote, but try
abstaining from the agricultural sys-
tem). But seeing as we are doomed to
live our lives eating anyway, we might
as well try to affect what sort of votes
our appetites are casting. What a great
way to satiate those pangs of activism
burning in our guts.
The basic function ofan industrial-
ized food system in a capitalist coun-
try is to produce the cheapest calories,
wrap them in the brightest colors and
paste them on the largest billboards.
America's brilliant solution was corn.
Asking is fine, but
incentives would help
keep grads in-state
TO THE DAILY:
Although Neil Tambe's impas-
sioned plea in his column this week
(Ask, then ask again, 09/10/2007) was
undoubtedly a genuine expression of
allegiance and sympathy for a state
that we call home for at least eight
months every year, simply implor-
ing Lansing to "ask us to stay" will
not "allow us to be role-players in the
rebuilding of our Michigan."
Michigan needs jobs. Before it
can justifiably "ask" graduates of its
top academic institutions to stay, the
state needs to abandon the misguid-
ed and tremendously myopic notion
that it can tax and spend its way
back to the prosperity of the Motor
City glory days. There are simply too
many barriers to entry and too many
disincentives to staying in Michigan.
No amount of groveling for retention
will trump the market for human
capital in this state.
Both empirically and anecdotally,
anyone who has taken an introduc-
tory economics course - or anyone
exercising ten seconds of thoughtful
common sense, for that matter - can
tell you that a high-tax business cli-
mate is a terrible idea for attracting
investment and creating jobs. Those
in Lansing, however, can't seem to
understand this. The governor and
the state legislature thought it pru-
dent to cut funding to state universi-
ties and increase taxes on businesses
(the newest tax increase out of Lan-
sing is actually called the Michigan
Business Tax), while Detroitwallows
hopelessly.
Tambe implies that Michigan can
rely on Model-T nostalgia and palm-
geography pride to keep the talent
that the University cultivates, but
such optimism can only go so far in
a state with the highest unemploy-
ment rate in the nation. Such loyalty
is laudable, but that dedication also
requires reciprocation. Policymakers
cannot simply "speak to us directly,
instead of just presenting strategic
plans and economic initiatives meant
to snag college graduates," as Tambe
suggests. In fact, the former requires
the latter. Michigan must first com-
Lt can grow in incredibly dense popu-
lotions, is easy to harvest by machine
a id because of its use of Ca carbon fix-
ation, is able to produce more calories
pvr acre than almost any other natural
pl ant (just how natural modern corn
is is dubious).
Because of soaring commodity
prices in the early 1970s, Earl "Rusty"
B utz; President Nixon's secretary of
agriculture, was given permission to
do anything necessary to bring down
pr ices, thereby preventing politi-
ca1 turmoil for our nation's smartest
president. His solution was to drasti-
ca.[ly change the farm subsidy system,
which until then had worked by lend-
ig farmers money in order to keep
their corn off the market, preventing
farms from overproducing and going
bro ke. Butz suggested the government
simply hand out checks whenever
prices went down. This seemingly
innocuous swap effectively encour-
aged as much overproduction as each
farmer could manage and is still in
place today.
Commodity prices dropped quickly
in t'he '70s, bringing this story to what
would appear to be a happy ending.
But who really benefited from this
new formula? Farmers now have to
compete to produce as much corn as
humanly possible for prices that don't
follow the curve of inflation. Brilliant
scientific minds across the country
continue to find new and ingenious
uses for the still growing piles of corn
we produce, but most of it continues
to end up in our stomachs (in some
very surprising ways), and it isn't all
that healthy for us. The real winner is
the man behind the curtain: Mr. Agri-
business, Inc.
So I say, down with the man. Get out
your sandwich boards and let's march
like good college students. Surely you
are just waiting for the inspiration to
shake your fist at something. Not a bad
idea, I'll be the first to admit. But why
not go in a more delectable direction?
This year, I'm casting my vote with
my stomach. I checked out some Ital-
ian cookbooks, replaced the Pop Tarts
in my cupboard with fresh tomatoes
and have been eating like a king. My
ingredients are 100-percent organic
and - not in the Whole Foods-com-
mercialized sense of the word. My
produce and meats come straight from
the inviting and conveniently located
farmer's market in Kerrytown.
I'm not joking when I say that the
tomatoes actually taste sunny. Sure,
they're more expensive, but I kind of
like throwing cash around anyway.
Taking activism to
-the kitchen yields
delicious results.
And throwing it in this direction is a
step toward changing more than just
my own life for the better. These are
dollars going back into the local com-
munity instead of off into the vacuum
of Agribusiness, USA. These dollars
help keep Ann Arbor the vibrant and
unique place it is, and I hope in the
grand scheme of things it also means
one less box of Pop Tarts in the world.
It's a luxurious brand of activism, to
be sure, but itfits Ann Arbor just about
as well as the hybrid SUV.
For further reading on the history
and science behind the industrializa-
tion of our food system, I recommend
the first quarter of Michael Pollan's
book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" as a
very engaging and concise overview.
Bryan Kolk can be reached
at beakerk@umich.edu.
SEND LETTERS '(): TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
mit to lowering taxes and loosen-
ing regulation before graduates can
commit to staying.
I may lack perspective as a non-
resident, but it seems all-too ironic
and all-too telling that this state's
beloved Tigers now play in a ballpark
named a fter a company that just left
Detroit for Dallas.
Before we "ask, then ask again,"
let's create the jobs we hope to fill.
Franklin Shaddy
Business junior
Boycotting won't help
the boys on the field
TO THE DAILY:
In response to the recent letter
tellingstudents not to go to any more
football games (Fans need to teach
University a lesson, 09/10/2007),
boycotting the football games is not
only the worst idea ever imagined,
but it is also appalling. We need to
remember tliat this is just a game,
and the players are students just like
us. A true fan doesn'tboycott a game
or call for the coach's head at every
bump in the road. Bumps are to be
expected. Instead, we should stick
by our team and fellow students,
and cheer like we've never cheered
before this weekend against Notre
Dame. Supporting our team right
now is the best thing we can do, and
I expect to see a packed stadium full
of maize and l-blue on Saturday.
Megan Kern
LSA senior
Michigan fan ashamed
ofllow f wVolverines
TO THE DAILY:
I'm going to just come out and
.say it: Michigan fans suck. We've
been spoiled for so many years that
the first year we have a bad start (a
horrible start), half the school turns
on the team. It htirt a lot losing to
Appalachian State - almost as much
as getting blown out by Oregon. But
since when did we start booing the
Maize and Blue? Since when do we
turn on the quarterback who led us
to two Rose Bowls? Listening to half
of the student section chant "Ryan
Mallett" was almost as frustrating
as seeing many of our so-called fans
leaving at halftime.
It shouldn't matter if the team is
down by 3 or by 42, a real fan doesn't
bail halfway through the game. A
real fan sits through the whole thing,
no matter how painful it is. A lot of us
grew up as Lions fans anyway, so we
should be used to hard times.
Mike Sanderson
LSAjunior
Oregon fan impressed
by Michigan fans
TO THE DAILY:
This past weekend, I had the
pleasure of attending the Michigan
vs. Oregon football game. I am a
senior atOregon, and as a 21st birth-
day gift from my father (a Michigan
alum), I got to fly out from Port-
land to share this game with him.
Coming to the Big House was truly
intimidating not just because of its
breathtakingsize, but also the sheer
number of opposing fans I saw in a,
sea of maize.
I was a little afraid of how these
intenseMichiganfanswouldrespond
to my display of green and yellow
pride. To my pleasant surprise, not
one person made me feel uncomfort-
able for being there. Walking around
the stadium to where the visiting
Oregon fans were sitting, fans wel-
comed me and seemed truly excited
to have so many Oregon fans there.
As the game went on, I was even jok-
ingly asked by employees if we could
trade hats-or jerseys.
I wanted to congratulate you,
Michigan, for having such friend-
ly fans. I was impressed with the
maturity and positive competition
that we don't necessarily see as
often on the west coast, especially
amongst the younger fans. The
game ended surprisingly, and I wish
you luck with the rest of the season.
It was a treat to come out and show
my pride with my dad, getting just a
taste of what his college experience
was like.
Meredith Bedrick
The letter writer isa senior at the
University ofOregon.
KEVIN DEKIMPE I
fatpig. ,go tr5 "in "' s aono,
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