WEDNESDAY March 10, 2010
Vol. 93 • No. 8 ONLINE:
www.therambler.org
The Rambler The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917
Chuck’s Cheap Thrills does staycations. A&E, page 5
Hazinski moves on to represent U.S. at world championships. Sports, page 6
Tuition expected to jump 5 percent Jonathan Resendez
jlresendez@mail.txwes.edu
Wesleyan faces a tuition increase similar to other local public and private institutions. Wesleyan tuition will increase 5 percent in the fall, according to Vice President of Finance and Administration Bill Bleibdrey. Wesleyan’s increase estimate comes from predicting what peer institutions will do along with predicted fall enrollment numbers, Bleibdrey said.
“We want to stay in the same range as a lot of other institutions,” Bliebdrey said. “The issue is a lot of us come out with our price increases at the same time, so nobody really waits and see what’s there. We kind of expect, and react to, what’s gone on in prior years.” Bleibdrey said Austin College, University of Texas at Arlington and University of North Texas are among the schools Wesleyan looks at. UTA is increasing tuition 3.95 percent while UNT’s expected tuition increase is 5 percent, according to news
reports. Texas Christian University is increasing tuition 6.2 percent. However, Bleibdrey said he does not consider TCU a peer institution. Wesleyan’s scholarship budget will also go up more than 5 percent in the fall, which means more money available for students, Bleibdrey said. “We think that’s necessary based on the economic climate and what student’s tell us about the affordability,” Bliebdrey said. “It’s part art, part science.”
Director of Financial Aid Shanna Hollis said it’s important that students remember Wesleyan is a private institution. “It allows more flexibility in terms of how we award some institutional funding,” she said. “The more you have to pay in direct costs is directly related to the total amount you can receive in financial assistance.” Public institutions are feeling the pinch more than private ones, she said.
TUITION, page 3
Formerly homeless students find niche
Rene’ Edwards lredwards@mail.txwes.edu
Wesleyan’s student body is vast. It is made up of traditional, non-traditional, international and even previously homeless students. Two of these students are Melissa “Red” Bates, 29, and “Max”, 42, a current Wesleyan student who wants to keep his identity private. Red and Max have different backgrounds and stories, but share the commonality of going from homeless in Fort Worth to pursuing a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan. For Red, the choice to attend Wesleyan stemmed from childhood. She and her family have been members of the Polytechnic United Methodist Church since 1992. “I always loved the campus and knew that TWU was where I wanted to go when I decided to go back to school,” Red said. An English major and a current staff writer for The Rambler, Red said she lived in two Fort Worth homeless shelters for a total of three years. “The domino effects started when my mother died on Dec. 15, 2004,” she said. “After that, I moved in with some family friends who were like second family to me for about a year and a half, and that’s when I started TCC. Then the husband of the family said that I needed to find a job in a certain amount of time or I was going to have to move out. “I have no hard feelings because he was trying to make me jump into life with both feet, because I grew up kind of sheltered.” She didn’t find a job. “I went to the Presbyterian Night Shelter first, and I stayed there for about a year and a half,” she said. “Then I stayed with some friends at a camp site for a little bit, and then I went to the Union Gospel Mission.They’re the ones who put me back in school.” Eventually, Red got hired working the front desk at a women and children’s shelter across from Presbyterian Night Shelter “I really did love my job, and I loved working with the kids,” Red said. “Even though I was working and I loved my job and I felt like I had a purpose, I never forgot that I was homeless.”
HOMELESS, page 3
Rebecca Moore | Rambler Staff
There are approximately 6,378 people who are homeless in Fort Worth over the course of a year.
Jonathan Resendez
Honor society collects books
Melissa Bates mdbates@mail.txwes.edu
Mortar Board, the national senior college honor society at Texas Wesleyan, is hosting a book drive. Mortar Board’s national project is reading literacy. “If you look at the statistics, a child that hasn’t learned how to read by the time they are in second grade will not graduate high school,” said Alice Wade, president of Mortar Board. “Seven out of 10 will end up in jail.” The book drive will benefit a school that caters to Pre-K through 12th grade students. Mortar Board chose to work with a private school, Vision Academy. “The school has 47 students they are currently helping,” Wade said. “A lot of them are low income and they live in this neighborhood.” Pre-K through fourth grade children need books like Easy Readers, while upper grades need biographies, fiction and nonfiction. “We have children 3 years old learning how to read, then we have students all the way up to 12th grade,” said Tiffanie Alexander, Visions Academy teacher. Multiple copies of the same book are preferred so the entire class and teacher can read the book together, although single copies are accepted. “I think this is a wonderful opportunity for the community to become aware that we are here and
BOOKS, page 3
Study abroad trip offers firsthand exposure Jonathan Resendez
jlresendez@mail.txwes.edu
Some students crack a textbook and learn Spanish. But others can learn Spanish and receive course credits by actually living in Mexico. Wesleyan’s International Programs department will travel to Cuernavaca, Acapulco and Mexico City, Mexico from July 11 to 25. The majority of the trip takes place in Cuernavaca where students pick two out of three upper-
level Spanish courses to study while they stay with Mexican families. “We want to give students an experience that’s beyond what they would see as a tourist,” said Marie Boisvert, director of international programs. “The real value in the study abroad experience is seeing how everyday people in Mexico live, what their everyday life is like and experiencing their culture more firsthand.” Boisvert used the example of staying in a beach resort to
illustrate a tourist’s disconnection with the real essence of a location. “If you never explore beyond that, you’re not going to have a real sense of what it is to experience the culture,” she said. There are both obvious and hidden benefits to studying abroad. Complete language immersion is an advantage taking courses in Mexico has over taking courses in a Wesleyan classroom, Boisvert said.
“Instead of going home and speaking English, ordering something at the store or getting around here speaking English,” she said. “If you’re in Mexico, you have to do everything in Spanish. You’re thinking in Spanish and your language capabilities grow exponentially.” Roberto Gomez, assistant director for the Language Education Travel Service, said that seeing how the Mexican
International Programs
MEXICO, page 3 Students enjoy downtime from studying while in Mexico.