ELON News
Kiplinger’s names Elon best value The Career Services program will be expanded, a new campus safety and security master plan will better prepare the campus community to deal with emergencies and increased funding for Elon’s signature study abroad programs will provide additional staff in the Isabella Cannon Centre for International Studies and underwrite costs associated with the university’s growing semester programs in Italy and Costa Rica. Fourteen full-time faculty positions will be added to further reduce teaching loads and reliance on part-time faculty. Additional staff positions will enable Elon to meet the demand for personnel to support growing programs and facilities. Increases in financial aid will provide new investments in the Honors and Fellows programs, need-based scholarships and scholarships to attract top athletes and those with special talents in the performing arts. Elon is also making substantial new investments in sustainability, including electric vehicles and energy conservation systems. To fund these initiatives, next year’s tuition and fees will be $24,076. Room and board for a typical student will be $7,770. This represents a total package increase of about 8 percent and maintains Elon’s position as a top value in private higher education. This year, the cost of attending Elon is 8.8 percent below the national private university average and nearly 20 percent below the average cost of other top-ranked private universities in the South.
Elon is ranked among the nation’s top 50 best value private universities in the 2008 edition of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Kiplinger’s ranks Elon #1 in the total costs category and #25 overall on its best value list. More than 1,000 private institutions were considered for the ranking. Schools were judged on six quality benchmarks and six financial measures, with quality of academic programs counting for two-thirds of the total score. Factors include student SAT scores, student-to-faculty ratio, graduation rates, total costs, financial aid and average student debt. Elon was the lowest-cost university among the top 50 best value schools. The university ranked eighth in student costs after merit-based aid is considered and 15th in student costs after need-based aid is considered. Elon is the top-ranked North Carolina university in the total costs and the total cost after need-based aid categories.
Elon buys Lighthouse Tavern
The university has purchased the Lighthouse Tavern and is gathering student input on what to do with the property. Elon bought the popular bar on West College Avenue near campus after it closed late last year. Three on-campus forums were held in February to allow students to share their ideas on its potential uses. Suggestions included converting it to a coffee shop similar to the Acorn and reopening it as a bar and restaurant.
“After a point, people say ‘why bother?’ if it’s only going to be more of the same and nothing they do is going to make a difference. We never get to know (Africans) except in their misery, so that keeps us in one frame of mind about Africa.” Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault described the media’s coverage of Africa as focused on the “four D’s” (death, disease, disaster and despair). Hunter-Gault, who covers Africa for National Public Radio, shared insights on the continent and her journalism career during a Feb. 26 visit.
Magazine of Elon
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