Hammond, LA
February 4, 2020
S O U T H E A S T E R N L O U I S IA NA U N I V E R S I T Y
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, pg.2
MARCH FOR LIFE, pg.4
BASKETBALL VS. UNO, pg.7
New tuition fees raise concerns about Southeastern Promise DYLAN MECHE Staff Reporter
Recent fee adjustments for the spring 2020 semester have caused some students to have concerns about the Southeastern Promise. Starting this semester, students will be charged up to $150 per credit hour that is above 15 hours. According to the university, the net change to tuition charges will be $86 for 16 hours, $220 for 17 hours and $354 for 18 hours. This new fee is capped at 18 hours. In a letter addressed to the student body, university president John Crain described the reasoning behind the implementation of these new fees. “With the competitive recruiting landscape in higher education, we have to maintain a cost of attendance for our students that is competitive relative to other institutions,” explained Crain. “However, we are also cognizant of the fact that our operational costs continue to increase.” Crain also noted that the university remains committed to access and affordability. “Even with this fee adjustment, Southeastern remains more affordable in comparison to many other institutions
with a cost of attendance that is lower than the average for institutions in Louisiana,” said Crain. Kay Maurin, chief enrollment management officer, further clarified the purpose of these new fees. “The Excess Credit Hour Fee is a fee assessed to students enrolled in more than 15 credit hours with a cap at 18 credit hours,” stated Maurin. “Traditionally, tuition was capped at 12 credit hours, so there was no revenue generated for hours above 12 credit hours, even though there are costs associated with providing these additional hours, specifically as it relates to instructional costs. Students will still be able to enroll in up to 15 credit hours with no increase in cost resulting from this fee.” Maurin also noted the shortfalls that made the university implement these new fees. “This fee will assist in offsetting some of these costs, even though it will not fully cover such costs,” said Maurin. “There are many institutions that assess similar fees, including some of our sister institutions in the University of Louisiana System.” The university began discussions regarding the implementation of the fee during the fall semester. In December, the Board of Supervisors for the University of
Louisiana System approved the policy. Students who are enrolled in the Southeastern Promise, a scholarship that guarantees a fixed net tuition throughout a four-year path to graduation, have expressed concerns regarding the new fees. Some have reported that they initially received a fee increase, despite the fact that they were enrolled in the Southeastern Promise Scholarship. Those who were enrolled in the scholarship received additional aid from the university to cover the charges in order to maintain a fixed tuition rate, but many students who were enrolled were not aware of the new fees and worried that their tuition would increase. Abbie Johnson, a sophomore criminal justice major, is enrolled in the Southeastern Promise Scholarship and shared how she reacted when she believed she was charged with additional fees. “This semester, I am taking 19 hours, and I was being charged more than last semester,” shared Johnson. “The Southeastern Promise has put a new scholarship in my pending aid. However, I am still having to pay nearly 500 more dollars for taking more classes.” Johnson expressed that she felt
see FEE INCREASE, pg. 8
Preply undergoing updates to enhance language learning TRINITY BROWN Staff Reporter
A new member of Theta Phi Alpha runs home to her sorority on Bid Day in the fall of 2019. Spring 2020 Recruitment offers a more casual experience for potential members than fall recruitment. File Photo/Le Souvenir
Spring recruitment process explained
ELANA GUILLORY Staff Reporter
With the spring semester upon us, sorority recruitment has reappeared at the university. Spring 2020 Recruitment offers a more casual way for girls to meet members of sororities through interest parties, contrary to the formal fall recruitment schedule. Jessica Litolff, Collegiate Panhellenic Council president, explained that the main difference between spring and fall recruitment is the structure of the recruitment process. “In fall, Panhellenic hosts recruitment,” said Litolff. “A potential new member would sign up through an online program, but we host it. In the spring, Panhellenic doesn’t host it at all. So, the chapters host interest parties where people will have pajama parties at the house, like ‘Let’s go to IHOP,’ or ‘Let’s get some ice cream’ to kind of meet the girls, but it’s very informal, whereas in the fall, it’s a very formal process.” Litolff commented on how social media influences spring recruitment. “A lot of them just post their fliers on their Instagram pages, and like, if you know someone in class, or if they’re your friend,
they’ll invite you and let you know,” explained Litolff. For spring recruitment, Litolff said, people who are interested in joining a sorority can simply reach out to the organizations via Instagram. “It’ll be like DM, or contact a member, or you can literally just sign up on their Instagram account and say like ‘I’m interested,’ and they’ll just send you all the information you need, and a lot of it’s just like at the house, so you can just show up—you don’t actually have to sign up for anything,” explained Litolff. Litolff listed Alpha Sigma Tau, Sigma Sigma Sigma, Theta Phi Alpha and Phi Mu as sororities participating in spring recruitment. The bidding process of spring recruitment is also different than in the fall. Girls have the opportunity to receive bids, or invitations to a sorority, after attending a sorority’s interest event. “A sorority will offer a bid by phone call and just be like ‘Hey, really enjoyed having you come out to the events the last week or so, we would like to have you as a member, would you like to join?’ and you’ll be required to sign a piece of paper saying you’re joiningyou’re accepting a bid, and then you turn it in
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to the Office of Student Engagement, and then you start your new member period,” discussed Litolff. Fall recruitment guarantees that girls spend time with every sorority to determine where they fit best. However, during spring recruitment, getting to know people in each sorority is difficult, so it is preferred that participants attend if they are already acquainted with girls in the sorority they wish to join. “If there are girls that you know or that you hang out with who are already in that sorority, it would be more beneficial to go through with spring recruitment because you already know everybody,” said Litolff. “If you don’t really know anybody, and you’re just starting now, then I would suggest going through fall because you get to see all five, get to see all of their philanthropy, all of their social, everything they do as a chapter. You get to meet a lot of women, whereas in spring, you don’t really get to meet the range of women before you go in.” Although some sororities have already hosted their interest parties, Litolff mentioned they may still be open to new members.
see RECRUITMENT, pg. 5 Index
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Campus Life.................................2 Opinions.....................................3 A&E............................................4
Horoscope, Crossword, Sudoku....5 Sports & Fitness...........................6 News..........................................8
The start of another semester kicks off the search for new ways to study and more tutoring options. The university offers multiple different tools to help students with a wide range of subjects. There are resources such as the math lab, writing lab, Center for Student Excellence and a website named Preply. Preply was originally an idea founded in late 2012 and from there, the all-in-one website has been modified to consist of tutor search pages, a user interface and a video lesson software named Preply Space. On the website, students can learn more than 50 languages, along with other subjects like math, chemistry and physics. Students wanting to use Preply should register at the website preply.com and start searching for tutors. Choose a subject, find a suitable tutor, book the first lesson and proceed to checkout. They offer the first trial lesson, and if the student does not like their tutor, they can replace him or her for free. Students can take lessons via Skype or via Preply Space, which is software designed for video conferencing that has been created specifically for online lessons. Vladyslav Turchyn, marketing and search engine optimization specialist at Preply, explained that there is no hassle to meet up with tutors and students don’t have to limit themselves to tutors in their area. “We created Preply to make language learning more effective Stay Connected With Us! Like and follow @lionsroarnews.
and accessible,” said Turchyn. “See, offline tutoring has its obvious pitfalls: commute time, additional time for finding the right tutor, limited time slots and need to be at the physical location of a tutor. With Preply, you can take cheaper language lessons from any place of the world and not limit yourself to local tutors from your city.” Turchyn himself is a language learner, speaking five languages in total. “We understood that our customers are in a dire need of English tutors instead of just SAT and ACT tutors,” said Turchyn. The website will be updated in the near future to add more features for Preply customers. “In the future, we plan on adding various tools for scientific subjects— chemistry, maths,” said Turchyn. “In addition, our methodology team is in the middle of creating the learning plans for English learners; this will be scaled to other subjects— Spanish, German—as well as other language versions of our website. Also, we regularly work on increasing the supply of tutors and improving the product features.” Anyone who would like to become a tutor can register on the website, fill in their information and submit a video presentation as well as upload any certificates. This is to confirm their identity and increase their chances of finding a student. The website is now available to all students. Whether they are trying to become a tutor or looking for one, Preply can help. For more information, visit their website. Volume 91, Issue 19 A Student Publication www.lionsroarnews.com lionsroar@southeastern.edu