INSIDE • Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 2 • Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 3 • Sushi . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 4 • Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 6 • Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGES 7 & 8
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THEVISTA University of Central Oklahoma
The Student Voice Since 1903
U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball team prepares for 2012 Paralympics •Page 7
WEDNESDAY • June 13, 2012
THUNDER UP!
Students and faculty, wearing Oklahoma City Thunder apparel, gathered in front of Old North June 12 to show support for the opening game of the NBA finals. The Thunder and Heat will play the second game of the series Thursday, June 14 at 8 p.m. at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Photo by Kat Wells, The Vista
Campus Life
As troops return from Middle Eastern conflicts, UCO has seen a steady rise in veteran enrollment M.A. Smith
Contributing Writer The bronze and blue have seen an increase of the red, white and blue around campus. With more and more troops coming home from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, this year, UCO has seen a spike in veteran enrollment. Last year, UCO Veteran’s Affairs Office enrolled 1,541 students for the 2011 spring, summer and fall semesters, said Adam Johnson, UCO associate vice president and registrar. This included 608 for spring, 273 for summer and 660 students for the fall semesters. These numbers are up from 1,510 the previous year and 1,240 in 2009. UCO also received about $1.5 million in G.
I. Bill money for the students’ tuition and fees. “The students certified were active duty service members, veterans of active duty service, currently active Selected Reserve and Oklahoma National Guard service members, disabled service members under the VA Vocational Rehabilitation program and eligible dependents of certain categories of veterans.” Johnson said. Veteran’s Services also attributes the increase to changes in the G. I. Bill and new benefits. “There has been an increase since the new Post 9/11 G.I. Bill came into effect in the fall of 2009,” said Linda Wright, UCO Veteran’s Administration coordinator. She also said the numbers show that the increase will continue into next year. “The VA expects the numbers to keep going up due to
the downsizing of troops and because there will be fewer National Guard members and Reservists serving as Active Duty service personnel.” UCO doesn’t have numbers for veterans who have graduated. But, Wright said that is about to change. “We have never tracked graduation rates for veterans, but effective with the fall 2011 term, we did put in to place a procedure to start graduation tracking,” she said. These trends show one thing; the troops are coming home, and they want something better for themselves, their families and their children. They want an education. “With the Afghanistan pullout by 2014, there will be more and more soldiers returning home, getting out of the military, and moving on to another chapter of their lives.
Business
The door to that next chapter opens by using their educational benefits and getting their degree,” Wright said. The increase in enrollment is not centralized to Oklahoma. Veterans across America are also taking this time to get their degrees. According to an article by CNN, there were 923,836 service members who received federal education benefits last year. Nearly half (555,329) of these service members received money under the Post 9/11 G. I. Bill changes. While the veterans say the money allows them to attend college, it is the support and friendships they have on-campus that really matters. “A lot of us are loners. When you get out of the military, you kind of don’t know where you’re at,” Vincent Acevedo, 26, retired Marine who served in Baghdad, told CNN.
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Oklahoma economy improving despite decline of fuel prices Signs of a diversifying economy are appearing in OklaStaff Writer homa, as the state treasurer’s office recently announced that the state’s revenue had increased for the month of April, even though oil and natural gas prices were still low. In the latest edition of the Oklahoma Economic Report, State Treasurer Ken Miller wrote that unemployment in the state was three points lower than the current seasonally-adjusted national unemployment rate, which sits at 8.2 percent and credited the state’s recent economic growth to higher income and sales tax collection rates. He also levied criticism at out-of-state commentators, such as Wall Street Journal writer Stephen Moore, who were opining negatively on Oklahoma’s “failure to eliminate the state income tax.” “Tax reform should not be confused with simply eliminating the state’s largest revenue source on a wing and a prayer,” Miller wrote. “Tax cut promises are easy to make when necessary cuts in spending and tax incentives are ignored.” Miller lambasted the comparison of Oklahoma to Texas, which does not currently have an income tax. “One editorial pointed to Texas’ lack of an income tax as proof that Oklahoma shouldn’t have one either,” he wrote. “It stated that Texas pays its bills with a sales tax, but ignored its property tax burden is about three times higher than in Oklahoma. Interestingly, Oklahoma has had positive in-migration from Texas for three years running and a per capita income Trevor Hultner
growth rate that has outpaced most no-income tax states during the last decade.” The report claimed that due to the rising income and sales tax collection rates, the state had earned more than $1 billion in revenue, an increase of 7.7 percent from last April, while gross production dropped by more than 20 percent. “People are working and earning more money, so we’re seeing an increase in income tax collections, and people are buying more goods, so we see an increase in sales tax collections,” Deputy Treasurer Tim Allen said over the phone on Friday. He said that the treasurer’s office has seen a steady growth in income tax and sales tax collections for a while, and they’re
continuing to rise. “We continue to see positive signs in the Oklahoma economy,” he said. Other areas of the report dealt with the history of Oklahoma’s energy development as well as details on the Keystone XL pipeline, which will run from the Alberta Tar Sands in central Canada to Cushing, Okla. The line is controversial among environmental groups because of initial plans to run it through a highly sensitive area above the Ogalalla Aquifer, the largest fresh groundwater reserve in the western hemisphere. Gov. Mary Fallin will be representing Oklahoma at the 2012 Global Petroleum Show in Calgary, Alberta, Canada this week, where she will be speaking with industry leaders about the pipeline, according to the Associated Press.