Monday, August 8, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
7
LOANS
From Page 1
diminish accessibility to gradu-
ate-level education for students
and worsen the strain of repaying
loans.
In an Aug. 2 statement, the
Student Aid Alliance accused the
federal government of trying to
"balance the budget on the backs
of students," adding that the two
provisions are part of "a clear pat-
tern of an assault on the core stu-
dent aid programs."
"The elimination of the in-
school interest exemption for
graduate and professional stu-
dents and on-time repayment
incentives for student borrow-
ers will result in college becom-
ing more expensive for millions
of students and their families,"
the statement said. "With wide-
spread recognition that our
nation sorely needs to power up
its economic engine, it is more
important than ever to preserve
and provide adequate funding for
the array of federal student aid
programs."
Direct subsidized loans for
graduate students at the Univer-
sity currently carry a borrow-
ing limit of $65,500, with a fixed
interest rate of 6.8 percent for
loans awarded after July 1, 2011,
according to the University's
Office of Financial Aid.
The Office of Financial Aid
offered 3,992 graduate students
Direct Subsidized Loans, totaling
$35.7 million, during the 2009-
2010 academic year. At the time,
University officials said they were
not certain if the rise in costs
would result in lesser rates of
graduate and professional school
matriculation.
Stephen DesJardins, director
of the University's Center for the
Study of Higher and Postsecond-
ary Education, said enrollment is
dependent on a range of factors,
including tuition rates, cost of liv-
ing, the government's credit rating
and federal interest rates.
"You would think that if the
costs of gaining financing rise,
there will be some people who
decide to go to a less expensive
school or some people ... may not
go," DesJardins said. "But people
have different sensitivities to
changes in these prices. It's really
complicated the way it plays out ...
It's not straightforward."
In an e-mail interview on Aug.
5, Pamela Fowler, executive direc-
tor of the University's Office of
Financial Aid, wrote that she was
also unsure if the end to the subsi-
dized loan program would reduce
enrollment.
"We have no way of knowing
if the elimination of the interest
subsidy will have negative impact
on an individual graduate stu-
dent's decision to enroll," Fowler
wrote.
Fowler wrote that ultimately
the decision to attend the Univer-
sity is dependant on a variety of
factors that must be considered
when making a final choice, add-
ing it's important for students and
detractors to look to the more aus-
picious aspects of the debt deal,
like the preservation of the Pell
Grant program
"We did not get everything
we hoped for, but the cuts are not
over and the fight to preserve all
student aid programs continues,"
she wrote.
UMCCC launches new blog
O'DELL
From Page 1
Fitzgerald said. "He lives in Ann
Arbor, and also has the experi-
ence of having worked at another
university, which I think was
important to the University of
Michigan to find someone that
had that experience of working in
a university setting."
Fitzgerald added that in
choosing O'Dell, the University
was impressed that he was known
for having "great integrity and
openness."
Joe Piersante, interim execu-
tive director of DPS, echoed
Fitzgerald, adding that O'Dell -
who worked for the Ann Arbor
Police Department for over 20
years - was chosen for his vast
experience and reputation.
"I think Greg is an excellent
choice," Piersante said. "He's got
a great reputation in law enforce-
ment in Washtenaw County, and
he's had experience as a deputy
chief at the Ann Arbor Police
Department. He's a man of high
MNA
From Page 3
everywhere for that specialized
care. Health care of that caliber
requires nurses with specialized
knowledge. When the employer
starts decreasing the benefits
package, it will be harder to
recruit and retain that high cali-
ber of nurses both now and in the
future."
Though the economic down-
turn afflicting Michigan has
forced various unions around
the state to experience pay and
benefit concessions, Sincox said
the nurses union believes that
UMHS has mitigated economic
troubles.
She added that UMHS
doesn't appear to be suffer-
ing from the economy since the
program has continued to profit
over the past 15 years and sev-
eral of their top executives have
recently received salary increas-
es. However, she said UMHS has
undertaken a large financial bur-
den with development of the new
Mott Children's Hospital and
moral integrity.1I think it's a good
choice and I think he'll do well
here at the University of Michi-
gan."
He added he believes O'Dell's
experience working in both Ann
Arbor as well as in a campus set-
ting at Eastern Michigan Univer-
sity will allowhim to deal with the
challenges currently facing Uni-
versity police, such as the recent
assaults against women near cam-
pus.
"I think he's well-suited to
handle the challenge and any
problem that may face him," Pier-
sante said. "When he was the dep-
uty chief at Ann Arbor and I was
the deputy chief at University of
Michigan, we had numerous occa-
sions to lead and collaborate on
crime."
According to the University
press release, O'Dell has resided in
Ann Arbor with his wife for more
than 20 years. He graduated with
a bachelor's degree from Eastern
Michigan University, attended the
University of Toledo College of
Law and graduated from the FBI
National Academy.
that shouldn't be paid for at the
expense of the nurses.
"The only concern UMHS
has expressed recently is how
much the new Mott Children's
Hospital is costing them," Sincox
said. "Their decision to build at a
time that the economy slumped
should not be paid for on the
backs of the nurses."
While UMHS represen-
tatives said they are looking
forward to returning to the
negotiations, the department
declined to comment on specific
points regarding the negotiation.
However, UMHS spokesman
Michael Steigmayer said that
despite the ongoing work toward
a compromise, patients should
not be concerned about the qual-
ity of treatment they will receive
through the system.
"Patients and families can
continue to be confident in the
care they will receive at UMHS
facilities during the negotiation
period," Steigmeyer said. "We
look forward to continued good
negotiations after we return to
the table on August 3 to reach a
mutual agreement."
Site aims to educate
community and help
cancer patients tell
their stories
By ANNA ROZENBERG
Daily StaffReporter
The University's Compre-
hensive Cancer Center launched
a cancer weblog on July 26 that
aims to help patients, families and
caretakers by providing informa-
tion, advice and discussion boards
for members to share their experi-
ences.
MCancerTalk.org currently
has about three updates per week
but is expecting to have daily posts
by the fall. The blog accompanies
the Center's Cancer AnswerLine
blog, which is monitored by oncol-
ogy nurses, according to Jennifer
Day, one of the blog's writers and
editors.
"The blog is more of a content
aggregator," Day said. "We're tak-
ing stories and press releases and
content that has been written for
other purposes ... and we take
information we receive from other
organizations that have a similar
mission in educating the public
about cancer."
Day added that the new
blog was inspired by Thrive - a
UMCCC publication intended on
helping those living with cancer
cope with the illness.
Becky Eggleston, manager
of the Cancer Answerline, said
the easy accessibility of Internet
resources like blogs provides those
who live too far to travel to a sup-
port group with the ability to use
information from the UMCCC.
"The goal is to be able to
have patients and family be able
to share their experiences with
one another along with providing
expert advice," Eggleston said.
She added that the blog has
some unique features, including
periodic live web chats with posts
by various medical experts. For
example, she said the blog recently
featured a physician discussing
colorectal cancer, which in turn
spiked the rate of feedback they
received.
"It piqued people's interest
enough so that they would want
to find out about more for them-
selves." Eggleston said.
While the UMCCC's blogis not
the first of its kind on the Internet,
Eggleston said it is more infor-
mal and catered to the patients'
interests in comparison to similar
blogs.
"Ours is more unique because
it's more for patients," Eggleston
said. "Other blogs we've looked at
are more 'institutional'..."
Scott Redding, senior brand
manager for UMHS, pointed out
that the blog is not the only new
resource the UMCCC has imple-
mented, adding they have recently
created a Twitter account and
YouTube channel to expand their
audiences.
"The reason we've added these
other avenues (is) ... we're building
much more content, we're getting
more information out there," said
Redding. "By expanding, we can
start to get our message out there
a little more to different people ...
maybe a different audience."
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