Earlier this year, Christine Lindstrom, director of United States Public Interest Research Group's Higher Education Debt Project, told members of the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit that "our research has documented that students are targeted, indeed, bombarded by credit card company solicitations, in the mail, on the phone and while they are walking across campus."
Claiborne Pell, the former senator who helped create government loans for students to go to college, died on Thursday at age 90. His vision of affordable education for all, however, didn't last quite as long. Private loans with hidden fees, little disclosure of total cost and packages designed to look just like government-subsidized direct loans have turned education loans from a social good into a banking bonanza and our educational institutions into profit centers for predatory lenders.
I was first consciously aware of our newfound dependence on computers in middle school, when a teacher of mine yammered, "What's wrong with you kids? Does no one teach you how to spell anymore? Why can't you spell?" I retorted with, "Spell check."
Imagine this. You wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom you share with your suitemates. In the morning, a friend stops by to show you a picture on his digital camera. It's a picture of the white board on your door. However, instead of the usual funny pictures and inside jokes from hallmates and visiting friends, scrawled across the board is the word "NIGGER." Trying to spare you the embarrassment, your friend erased the hateful word before more people could see it.
As California cuts college admissions and introduces the prospect of tuition hikes to help rescue the state from its self-inflicted billion-dollar financial mess, higher education gets pushed even further out of reach. It's a cold dose of reality for an 18-year-old just getting started.
This year, don't resort to a last-minute gift card. Buy something unique while avoiding the dreaded mall crowds by shopping for presents online. These Web sites offer original and affordable gifts, from beautifully crafted baubles to downright wacky knickknacks.
Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Know: Suddenly, the professor is taking roll in my 100-person lecture class and teaching assistants are taking it again in my 40-person discussion section. I'm told that if I am counted absent in more than a certain number of lectures and discussions, I will fail the class completely. But by the time roll is finally taken and class actually starts, we are 10, sometimes 20, minutes into the allotted class time. Far be it from me not to admit that some days, I couldn't ask for more than a shorter lecture. But in the back of my mind, I can't help but feel a bit cheated.
THE ORACLE: I hate sports. Watching the UC Irvine men's soccer team fall to St. John's on Saturday in below 40-degree weather in Queens, NY just reminded me how lame sports can be.
In order to close California's massive deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a mid-year budget cut earlier this month to cut $65.5 million from the University of California this fiscal year, adding to the $48 million already cut this year. Furthermore, the proposed 2008-09 budget means that the UC would need to save an additional $100 million to cover student enrollment, expansion and other rising costs not funded by the state. For those doing the math, that means the UC must make $213.5 million appear out of thin air.
