Daily Egyptian WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2015
Enrollment numbers concerning to provost
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
SINCE 1916
VOL. 100 ISSUE 27
Strumming in the holiday season
ANNA SPOERRE | @ASpoerre_DE
Admission and enrollment numbers for the spring 2015 semester are down compared to last spring, interim Provost Susan Ford said during the Faculty Senate meeting Tuesday. Ford said as of this week, more than 1,000 fewer students are registered for classes for next semester than were registered for spring 2015 at this time last year. Applications are down by 750 and about 300 fewer students have been admitted for next spring, Ford said. She said freshman and graduate students had the largest decrease. Ford blames part of the reduction on registration holds because students cannot register for classes until all holds have been cleared. She said about 400 students are experiencing holds on their records because their immunization records are not up to date. However, Ford said this number is also lower than in the past. Students who have not yet completed online consent and respect training are also unable to register for classes. Ford said about 500 students have this hold and should access the training on Salukinet. Consent and respect training is required by the university for all new students and transfers. Ford said the newly changed bursar hold amount is also a significant factor. A few years ago, the minimum debt students could have and still register was increased from $200 to $1,000. However, beginning this semester, the amount was reduced back to $200. “Within a year, the numbers of students not registered because of the Bursar hold was right back to where it was before the threshold was raised,” Ford said. When the $1,000 limit was in place, Ford said the university was the only state institution to allow students more than $200 in debt to register. Ford said the debt limit was announced eight months ago to give students time and resources to pay off their debt and meet the new limit. “There are still students who struggle to achieve a low enough debt level,” she said, encouraging students to meet with financial aid or their advisers. Ford said as of now, about 400 students are unable to register because they owe between $200 and $1,000. Fall 2015 enrollment was also down, with about 350 students less this semester compared to last year. “I’m particularly concerned about enrollment for spring,” Ford said. Anna Spoerre can be reached at aspoerre@ dailyegyptian.com or 618-536-3325.
Jacob Wiegand | @JacobWiegand_DE Claire Davis, a harpist from Clarksville, Tenn., accepts flowers at the SIU Choral Union/Concert Choir’s Carols and Lullabies of the Season concert Tuesday at Shryock Auditorium. Davis has been playing the harp for 13 years. “I love music and I love the beauty of the harp,” said Davis. “And the way I can kind of express myself through this particular instrument.”
Good Samaritan Ministries fight to serve community despite budget impasse CORY RAY | @coryray_DE
Many organizations are struggling with the state’s budget impasse and one non-profit in Carbondale that provides services to the needy is no exception. Good Samaritan Ministries, which is usually allocated $100,000 in state grants, has yet to receive any money because of the budget deadlock. The ministry functions on a $500,000 annual budget that comes from donations, which make up about half of its total budget, and government grants. “We’re struggling,” said Mike Heath, the ministry’s executive director. “It’s a very difficult situation.” About six weeks ago, Heath said the ministry-operated soup
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kitchen in Carbondale was in danger of being shut down. With the help of the Carbondale Interfaith Council, the ministry was able to keep functioning regularly. Heath said the soup kitchen is a little more problematic during the impasse because it doesn’t receive any grants and only receives money from donations that are not specified for any of the ministry’s other programs. “We’re trying to get donations, and people locally have been really good,” Heath said. “We’ve made it, and we’re hoping we will continue to, but the longer we go, there’s a great big hole that we don’t have from the state.” Melissa Lewis, of the ministry’s board of directors, raised $1,000 from fundraising. Lewis and a
group of five other people ran 25 miles along the Tunnel Hill State Trail on Nov. 21 with supporters pledging to donate a certain amount for each mile ran. They planned to run 50 miles, but had to stop because of freezing temperatures and rain. Lewis said they wanted to make people who were donating feel like a part of something and not like they were just writing a check. She also said the run was less about money and mostly about raising attention for the ministry. “It really just created a lot more awareness, and for me, that’s what it was,” Lewis said. “It’s wonderful that we raised a thousand dollars, but I was really trying to create awareness for Good Samaritan [Ministries] more than anything,
so people would really see there’s a need there.” Good Samaritan Ministries must still uphold state regulations and guidelines even without funding, so the ministry is performing the state-funded work without the state funds. Heath said even if a budget is passed by the first of the year and funds are appropriated, the ministry will have to wait an additional month before it receives a check. “You’ve got another big, long period of time with no money,” Heath said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, so it’s hard to say what we’re going to do.” Cory Ray can be reached at cray@ dailyegyptian.com or at 536-3326