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Viewpoints
Thursday, October 10, 2013 houstonianonline.com/viewpoints
Word on the Street:
Who’s at fault for the federal shutdown?
“Congress, because they’re all ignorant pricks.” - Kevin Marker, junior management information systems
Be wary...butof shutdown don’t freak about financial aid
In light of the recent government shutdown, scholarship-dependent college students all over the US are asking the same question: “Will the government shutdown affect my financial aid?” You will be glad to hear that they will be largely unaffected. The Department of Education was one of the departments hit hardest by the shutdown, furloughing 95 percent of its staff. The good news: they are still processing Pell Grants and Direct Loan payments by not furloughing staff associated with those major loan programs. In addition, they will continue administering Pell Grants and Direct Loans with the help of contractors who have already been paid. Just keep in mind that when working at five
ALEXA GRIGSBY Assistant Viewpoints Editor percent of normal efficiency, everything they do will be behind normal schedule. The DoE’s website has not been updated since the shutdown was declared last week. However, the website does state that “the Department’s Grants Management system is up and running throughout this period, and
grantees may continue to make drawdown requests.” The Federal Student Aid office of the DoE also released a statement on its website saying, “In the event of a government shutdown, we anticipate that there will be limited impact to the federal student aid application (FAFSA) process, to the delivery of student aid, or to the federal student loan repayment functions.” On a darker note, the DoE warned government officials that should the government shutdown go on for longer than a week, programs across the country would be hurt, severely curtailing the cash flow to colleges and universities. Colleges do continue to receive funds to support dropout
prevention programs for disadvantaged students. Students are not only students, so the shutdown might have an impact on you in other ways. Cuts to the FDA mean that your food isn’t being checked. With the absence of the National Transportation Safety Bureau, major roads around the country will be less safe. In short, your aid is still coming. People who were fearing the college-pocalypse can wipe their brows. That doesn’t mean that we, as students, should celebrate. Lots of everyday services we’ve taken for granted have quietly dropped off the map. Even though we are safe for now, the light at the end of the four-year tunnel is looking pretty dim.
“Both the Republicans and the Democrats. They’re a big mess, and they’re acting like children.” - Morgan Garza sophomore, communication studies
“I think everyone in Congress is responsible for it because (if) you don’t agree with Obama but you have to come to an agreement at some time.” - Ryan Caycoya, junior mass communication
Youth getting screwed over by older generation The government has shut down. Income inequality is increasing. The education system is a national joke. Unemployment. Sigh. While smartphones are a plus, now is not the best time in history to be young in America. Take our unmanageable piles of debt, please. I don’t want to be the generationbashing youngster who complains about what the old people are doing and doing nothing to help. I am a political science student who hopes to write policy to alleviate the nation’s woes. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, volunteering among youth has dramatically increased. Despite our work, we have a reputation for being apathetic, lazy and disconnected from the world around us. In our defense, I say that in a country where most youth can’t get jobs, meaningfully
MOLLY SHOVE Viewpoints Editor engage in politics, and whose education is less valuable than ever, I would rather plug in somewhere else. There are three major problems in this country that really rustle my jimmies. The first is the lack of economic mobility. The problem isn’t that the rich are rich and the poor are poor. The problem is that it is harder now than ever in the United States to become middle class if poor or rich if middle class. The income level in a household
affects everything from nutrition to education. Education affects what kinds of jobs someone can eventually get. The olden days when anyone could work really hard and get ahead are virtually over. This is a massive letdown of the American dream but could be helped with reformed education and tax incentives for businesses. The second problem is our generation’s inability to engage meaningfully in politics. Politicians pay attention to two groups of people: those who vote in large blocks and those who fund them. Seeing as many youth cannot vote, and many others don’t vote in a unified block, political leaders don’t pay attention to us. The fact that we are swimming in debt instead of cash also leads to political disenfranchisement. The average member of Congress is 62, almost half of them are millionaires, and they believe that the Internet is a series of tubes.
The third problem is the sickening relationship between debt and youth unemployment. The average college student graduates $35,000 in debt, according to CNN. Combined with a 50.7 percent youth unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that is a deadly combination. Youth have to gamble tens of thousands of dollars without any real guarantee they will be employed. This doesn’t even include people in relatively dead-end service jobs that barley cover living expenses. If education received a fraction of military or entitlement spending, students wouldn’t be bound to the ball and shackle of our debt. Sadly, all of these problems come together to create a very sad time to be a college student. This isn’t to say that everything is worse. It’s okay to be gay, nonwhite, female or non-protestant, which is a huge step forward for
society. The Internet gives us an incredible ability to communicate and sparks new industries wherever it goes. Horrible diseases which would have wiped out vast swaths of our population have been tamed by modern medicine. I am happy that I live in an air-conditioned dorm, eat FDAapproved food and can wash my dishes in a pretty awesome machine. Oh wait, the FDA is shut down. All I want is to become a hardworking, debt-free, civically responsible member of society. I want to believe that this is still the kind of country where hard work leads to personal success and changing the world in a positive way. To the 60-year-old politicians who shut down the government and take handouts from the AARP, please get out of my way.
The Houstonian Editorial
The Houstonian was named in the top 100 college newspapers for journalism students by JournalismDegree.org. Members of Associated Collegiate Press and Texas Intercolligiate Press Association.
EDITOR’S NOTE Articles, letters and cartoons by Houstonian staff members or others in this paper are their own and not the opinion of the Houstonian, unless it is noted as such. Submissions and letters to the editor are welcome. Please send submissions to viewpoints@houstonianonline.com. Articles may be edited for grammar and spelling at discretion of editor. Unsolicited oppinions should be 150 words or under. Please contact us if you wish to submit anything longer. Deadline for submission is by 5 p.m. on Mondays or Wednesdays.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Stephen Green....................................................................................................................................936-294-1505 FACULTY ADVISER Robin Johnson..................................................................................................................................936-294-1499 STAFF Molly Waddell.............................................................................................................................Associate Editor Molly Shove.................................................................................................................................Viewpoints Editor Connor Hyde......................................................................................................................................Sports Editor Joseph Redd...........................................................................................................................Entertainment Editor Monty Sloan.............................................................................................................................................Web Editor Jay R. Jordan......................................................................................................................... Assistant News Editor Kizzie Frank..............................................................................................................Assistant Entertainment Editor Jeremy Villanueva.................................................................................................................Assistant Sports Editor Alexa Grigsby..............................................................................................................Assistant Viewpoints Editor Marissa Hill.....................................................................................................................................Sports Reporter TBA...................................................................................................................................................Senior Reporter Miranda Landsman................................................................................................................Multimedia Reporter Samantha Zambrano.............................................................................................................................Layout Editor Kassidy Turnpaugh.....................................................................................................................Graphic Designer Staff Reporter...............................Dana Price, Christian Vazquez, Robert Sandoval, Samantha Gallindo, Kaleigh Treiber, Hannah Zedaker, Colin Harris
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