Frida~, March 19, 1982
Cabrini College, Radnor, PA 19087
VOL. XXVIII,
No. 9
lobbying effort BY RITA CALICAT & PAT CONWAY
Edgar, a representative from southeasern Delaware County, It was 6:20 a.m., March l, the met with Maureen Rock, Nancy sun was just rising and the weathTaylor and Pat Conway at 2: 15 er was brisk . Most of us had been p.m . He spoke to these students up since 5:00 a .m. preparing for about his position on this issue . the long day ahead. A sense of Edgar, who supports fiancial excitement filled the air as aid and G.I. education, believes Cabrini and Immaculata stuthat every dollar spent on student dents boarded the buses to Washloans is repaid by the student in ington, D.C. taxes . He said that cuts in finanMarch 1 had been designated cial aid will increase, not deas National Student Lobby Day . crease the deficit by the end of Students from all over the United the 1980's. States would meet in Washington According to Edgar, Reagan 's to protest the proposed cuts in defense budget is horrendous . He financial aid by the Reagan adsaid , "We may have a nice deministration . Although Cabrini fense system in a few years but and Immaculata would represent no society will exist to defend if only a small fraction of the we cut back on health and educa masses, they would nevertheless tion ." voice their concern . They were Although Edgar believes that informed of important facts the future of financial aid looks which related to Cabrini or Imbleak, he feels that the students maculata students specifically CABRINI STUDENTS, including Carol Hasson, Dane Linn, Peggy Heffernan Karen Kelly and can still win this fight . He said and any student receiving finan- Theresa Collins really outside the Cannon Buildmg in Washington, D.C., where students from all that the future of student aid cial aid in general. over lobbied for financial aid on March 1, 1982. depends on the votes of the " modThe students busied themerate republians " like James total wipeout of several of the selves with the task of preparing students were informed on how to The students were arriving for Coyne, repesentative from Penn num ber gr ew rapidly. existing programs to aid students intelligent questions which, when---tobby effectively . Various consylvania . "Moderate re in obtaining a higher education answered, would provide needed gess people, who supported finanthe day's effort and the issues publicans" are those republian information about the proposed cial aid , urged students to meet under concern were addressed in would be eliminated. who do not totalAccoding to Arlene McEvilla , representatives financial aid cuts . An air of de- with their local representatives. full force . Under the proposed ly support Reagan's proposal to financial aid director at Cabrini termination filled the buses as It became quite evident that budget cuts, student financial aid College, "If the proposed cuts are cut financial aid. the journey progressed. Students organizers of the day's efforts would be drastically hit . According to Edgar, there is a passed, Cabrini would stand to conversed about the issue and it were not expecting such a large The philosophy behind these lose $505,822in aid which would good chance that the "moderate was clear that they were sincere turnout of students . The first two affect better than 200 of our stu- republican" will vote against Rein their efforts . events on the agenda were so cuts advocates the removal of the agan 's proposed cuts if enough government's responsibility to dents ." The buses arrived in the capi- overcrowded that additional From 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m ., students express their concern tal at 9:30 a.m. and spirited stu- times had to be provided. An educate . The proposed cuts would over this issue. students met with their repesendents lined the steps of the Can- early estimate of the number of eliminate any federal participation in student financial aid. A t at iv es . Congressman Bob non Building while, inside the students present was 3,000. That
Reagan: Higher ed. is not a federal responsibility BY JOYCE PATITUCCI
Because President Reagan does not think higher education is a federal responsibility, his proposed budget for 1983 includes cuts in aid to education of almost 25 "le . These cuts will only amount to less than 1 % of the federal budget, but they may be signifi c¡ant enough to close the ivycovered gates in the faces of those who depend on that money to finance their educations. Cabrini 's financial aid director, Arlene McEvilla, said, "The burden on the family is going to be drastic if the proposed budget goes through ." According to McEvilla, about 84 % of all students attending Cabrini receive some type of fi. nancial aid . Of this 84 %, no one receives aid in excess of their need. McEvilla said that on the average, as much as 20 to 30 % of family income goes toward college education today. Because of rising costs everywhere, it is much harder for students today to finance their own educations as compared to ten years ago . Although comparitively there is more aid available now. it is true that student need
to those who can demonstrate a has also risen . with the McEvilla explained that the need compatible college also seeks funding from guidelines set up by the federal corporations, but they do not con- government . This has many peotribute as much as the college ple up in arms because the money would like. "We are trying to get for those loans does not come money from private corpo- from the government, but from rations, but we just don't get it. I private lending institutions. The don't see us getting 1 million government subsidizes only the dollars in one year." interest on a loan, not the loan According to Martha Dale, di- itself . Many people are outraged that rector of alumni affairs, and John . Heiberger, vice president of de- the president is willing to allocate velopment and public relations, a more dollars to defense than any corporation's decision of if and other area; at the same time he is cutting aid to education. Many what to donate depends greatly on alumni support , as well as argue that a military-minded private contributions. Dale said president should see some sort of relationship between the comthat it is not the amount received petitive arms and technology from alumni that is important, but the number of alumni who do race , and college education . contribute at all. Heiberger said In fact, if McEvilla could ask that if a college's graduates Reagan one question, she would aren't willing to donate, corpo- ask, " Philosophically , how could he justify doing this and raising rations aren't likely to offer their financial support either. The col- the military spending ." lege itself contributes about McEvilla calls much of the $200,000a year in academic and money spent on defense "deadend dollars" since so much of the athletic scholarships . As has been reported in Lo- weaponry purchased sits idle. quitur earlier this year on several However, if the college is given occasions, the Guaranteed Stu- $3,000,000 by the state, it returns dent Loan program is also a more than $6,000,000to the govtarget to undergo restrictions ernment in revenues. limiting the availability of loans Even more enraging to some
were the president's words regarding unemployment several weeks ago, citing a lack of education on the part of job-seekers as a major cause of joblessness. If the proposed budget goes through, some private colleges, such as Wellesley College, are going to consider an aid-blind admissions policy, whereby a student would not only have to pass academic standards set forth, but would also have to prove an ability to meet college costs without benefit of fi11ancial aid or student loans . This will eliminate many students before they even know how much financial aid they would be eligible for. McEvilla said no student is ever admitted to Cabrini according to ability to pay, and an aidblind policy was not going to be considered at all. Speculators estimate that cuts will force small institutions to close , and will drive thousands of ¡ students from private colleges to state institutions . Where it may cost the state $1,000 per year to educate a student in private-school, it would cost the state three times that amount to educate the same student in one of its own institutions. Said one
disgusted professor, "The taxpayer is still going to to wind up paying ." McEvilla said she does not like having to turn down needy students, but fears she will be doing it more often in the future . "There 's nothing I hate more than having to say 'I'm sorry .' You have the need but we don't have the money." In the meantime, she suggests students write letters, contacting their representatives, and stage rallies . Assistant financial aid director Beth Leiberman said , "Budget cuts will not be the death of Cabrini College if the college's reputation is maintained . Wehave a very concerned adminstration. The rest depends on the students." It also depends on how well budget director David Stockman, who himself earlier conceded that the adminstration itself did not know all the consecquences of the budget, can sell the 1983proposal to Congress . With Stockman's credibility almost entirely destroyed because of an interview with Atlantic magazine, doubting the stability of the budget, it's anybody's guess .