Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Great Fries are Just the Beginning! n= . .— r— Now Open for Lunch 7 Days a Week! • Hearty Steaks • Award winning BBQ Ribs • Delicious Prime Rib • Upbeat Atmosphere • Killer Ribs • Ice Cold Beer 2 locations to serve you! 400 Columbiana Dr. M-Th 4-10:30pm 8304 Two Notch Rd. Jk- 407-6670 Fri-Sat llam-ll:30pm 788-5384 jTEUS Sunday llam-10:30pm If you are under the age of 21. it is against the law to buy alcoholic beverages. All ABC regulations enforced. (j!/f , 0T12&3 bedrbom apartments! lease before the end of July and you're automatically registered to win « a trip for 2 to the •f! Bdh3tT)3SH. Call 254-7801 for details. Students choose cell phones over university-provided plans BY STEFANIE FRITH ASSOCIATED PRESS ' SACRAMENTO - Instead of paying 9 cents a minute through Sonoma State University, 20-year old Sadie Gardere pays a flat month ly rate of $45 for a nationwide long distance plan that covers her calls home to the Bay Area. Savvy students like Gardere are saving money for themselves, but costing cash-strapped public uni versities millions of dollars by not using the school-provided telephone services in residence halls and dorm rooms. Universities say it is only a mat ter of time before they will have to consider raising student costs to make up the difference. "I would imagine over time that if there continues to be a further and further drop, it would be rea sonable to expect that there would be (an increase in tuition)," said Toni Beron, a spokeswoman for California State University, Long Beach. The Federal Communications Commission estimates that nation wide, 61 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds carry cell phones. xcdia agu, uuivcianica i-uuiu make good money serving as mini phone companies, said Sherry Manning, director and CEO of Educational Communications and Consortia Incorporated, a national university telephone billing service. Universities became whole salers, charging slightly more than they paid for service but less than local carriers. Eventually, however, students started using calling cards and long distance dialing because the adver tising was aimed at the youth pop ulation, Manning said. "And now, everyone is shocked that students use the Internet and cell phones as much as they do," she said. Travis Larson, a spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, a Washington-based wireless trade group, said it’s logical students would use cell phones because in the span of four years, they could live with a dozen different people and move four times. "Just imagine the nightmare at the end of the month trying to di vide up the phone bill," Larson said. Although many universities contract out phone services through their local telephone provider, many, like the University of California, Davis, have implemented their own switchboard. Either way, officials say, they are still losing out. "Schools are saying, 'I am an ucator, not a telephone service'," Manning said. The University of California, Santa Barbara has lost $500,000 in the last two years. Chico State has lost $400,000 in the last year. At the University of Rhode Island, student telephone billing has dropped from about $800,000 a year five years ago to just $100,000. As a result, some college cam puses are going all wireless, drop ping landline telephones and equip ping students with cell phones and hand-held computers. Those cam puses include Washington's American University and the University of Southern Mississippi. "Teachers could tell students class is canceled because of a snow day and students could access home work information and sporting events," Roberts said. Others, like the University of Wyoming, may invent their own calling cards for students. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Reliving CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 Farewell to Arms," toured the Strom Thurmond Wellness Center, heard the Lynn Dobson Pipe Organ in the USC School of Music, and re ceived a "behind-the-scenes look at moviemaking." The week ended .with a tour of the Fuji Photo Film plant and the Park Seed Company in Greenwood, and a dinner cruise at Lake Murray, whieh included a graduation ceremony for all partic ipants. Coordinator Peggy Binette was thrilled that former students have the opportunity to return to class es sometimes decades after gradu ation. According to Binette, many of the returning alumni have par ticipated in the program all three years. "People enjoy it enough to come back,” she said. Binette was especially excited to have Dorothy Payne in the School of Music as a participant this year and was the first faculty member to partake in Alumni University. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com