The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 08, 2006, Page 7, Image 7
Social Work, SG team up
to laud work-study students
Albany Gault
THE GAMECOCK
The Department of Social
Work has partnered with
Student Government to
show appreciation for desk
assistants and work-study
students.
The affair will be held at
Thornwell 111 Friday from
noon until 2 p.m., offering
pizza and refreshments to
work-study students.
SG officials said the
gathering is to show work
study students that they are
doing a great job.
“We are partnering with
the International Social
Work Students Association
because the people in
social work are in charge
of improving programs for
the well being of everybody.
We feel this partnership
will help us to create more
programs to improve the
student life at USC,” said
Vivian Castro, international
director of the Division of
Student Affairs and graduate
student.
SG encourages the
college’s administrators to do
similar events at least once a
year and expand it beyond
full-time employees.
Veronica Castro, treasurer
of the International Social
Work Student Association
and graduate student, said
it is important to recognize
and appreciate work
study students because if
they are happy with their
environment they will give
100 percent.
Castro is also a candidate
for senator in the College of
Social Work.
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LOROS • COOTIOUCD PROfT) I
to take advantage of the
law... . There were abuses in
the system,” she said.
Baker said $4 billion in
savings from curtailing these
abuses were used to great
the new grants.
“We were able to take
some of those savings...
and reinvest them in
SMART and Academic
Competitiveness grants,”
Baker said.
Academic Competitiveness
grants are designed to give
incoming freshman $750
if they took a rigorous
curriculum in high school,
and $1,350 in their
sophomore year if they
maintain a 3.0.
A student interest group,
the State Public Interest
Research Groups’ Higher
Education Project, says
that while the new grants
are extremely beneficial
to low-income students,
other stipulations will hurt
students in the long run.
According to the Higher
Education Project, the
savings generated by
Congress come from
eliminating certain windfall
profits in the lending
industry.
In a radically simplified
scenario, a loan company
receives federal subsidies
in exchange for lending
students money. The
company is guaranteed
a “Special Allowance
Payment” from students
based on an interest rate.
If the interest rate for
students varies, and a
student pays back more
money than a loan company
expects to receive based on
the SAP, the loan company
can keep the excess money
as a profit.
The Deficit Reduction
Act requires loan companies
to return that money to the
federal government instead.
This $13 billion in saved
subsidies makes the SMART
and AC grants possible, but
PIRG says more of those
savings should go to needy
students, rather than the $4
billion earmarked to fund
the grants.
PIRG said in a statement
that most of the $13 billion
not reinvested in grants will
be used to pay for new tax
cuts.
As for interest rates on
loans, an older law will fix
student rates lower than
they have been able to vary
in the past few years.
Students now pay back
their loans on a variable
interest rate, which is
capped at 8.25 percent. An
agreement made in 2001
mandates that all new loans
taken out by students in
2006 and beyond will have
to be paid back at a fixed
interest rate of 6.8 percent,
eliminating the risk of
higher interest rates.
However, PIRG contends
that the Deficit Reduction
Act hurts a student’s parents
by raising the interest rate
for parent student loans to
8.5 percent.
Regardless of the loan rate
hike, PIRG lauded the bill
for helping lower-income
students in various ways.
The bill increases
loan limits for freshman,
sophomore, and graduate
students, as well as lowers
the fee students pay when
beginning a loan until
2010, when the fee will
be eliminated completely.
The bill also expands loan
forgiveness for education
students if they agree to
teach math, science, and
special needs in high-1"
poverty areas.
Baker said the Department
of Education will be given
the task of fleshing out
requirements and other
details of the bill, with the
hopes of implementing
SMART grants by the fall
of this year.
- “The Secretary of
Education will decide which
languages will be deemed
critical to national security.
My hunch is Spanish will
not be one of them,” Baker
said.
The House vote was a
squeaker: 216-214, mostly
because included in the.
bill, which will cut out $39
billion from the federal
budget over five years, were
withdrawals from subsidies
in Medicare and Medicaid.
The Senate version of the
act, passed last November,
did so by a similarly small
margin of 52-47.
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RHP • COnTinUEDFROmi
There was much debate
among senators _ about
whether the roommate
contracts would be
^ r, effective.
Some senators believed
resident advisers would have
more complicated schedules
to manage, while others
thought it would not change
anything at all.
“Some people may not
take the roommate contracts
seriously,” said Jack Ellis,
a second-year business
administration student.
Some senators thought
the new policy would allow
too much freedom and allow
things to get out of hand,
while others countered
that an RA’s responsibility
was to handle those issues.
Other senators believed that
the new policy would not
change much at all.
Also at the meeting, RHA
passed a $664 financial
allocation for five delegates
from USC to attend the
No Frills Conference at
the University of West
Georgia.
RHA will present
comedian Ty Barnett on
Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. in the
Russell House Ballroom.
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«
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