Maroon

              The Loyola Maroon Volume 71 No. 17 Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana 70118 February 12, 1993 Fee hike helps women's sports go intercollegiate By Martin R. Wells and Chris Bonura Staff Writers Last week, the Board of Trustees decided to raise the sports fee from Sl5 to $20 next year to support the women's soccer team. Students now pay a $15 sports fee every semester. According to the 1993-94 projected budget, the $109,000 generated from the sports fee, along with $21,000 raised through game guarantees, fund raising, and concessions, is distributed among men's basketball and men's baseball. Baseball receives $42,000 and basketball receives $30,000. The sports fee also helps cover administrative expenses for the teams, which account for $54,000. Women's soccer will provide the first opportunity for Loyola women to play intercollegiate sports in recent history. According to Craig Bogar, director of recreational sports and athletics, Title Nine, a federal law requires Loyola to provide "compatible support" to men's and women's sports. Women's soccer will use a $24,000 escrow account designated for the creation of women's sports teams to fund women's soccer's first year of NAIA competition. The fee increase will support women's soccer in the future. This money will go toward a part-time coach's salary, equipment, referee fees, and travel expenses for the team. The coach has not yet been chosen. Logan Crowe, coached die team this semester, but recreation sports is considering hiring a new coach. During the spring semester of 1991, students voted to support Loyola athletics through student fees. However, they may not have realized when they cast their vote that new athletic teams would require future fee increases.The referendum, which was approved by student vote in 1991, did not state that students would be consulted for future fee increases. According to Leo Nicoll.S.J., associate professor of history and faculty representative to the Student Affairs Policy Advisory Committee, if the board wants the program, then they should "sell" it to the students. "It's taxation without representation," he said. "I told them that I did not want the fee imposed before the students knew about it," he said, addressing the University Senate. "We had a chance to vote on the baseball and basketball programs and I think that was fair. We should also have a chance to vote on that [soccer team]," said Mark Thibodeaux, psychology senior. Craig Bogar disagrees. "Well, do students vote on the tuition increase?" Bogar asked, comparing the sports fee increase to the recent tuition increase."No one is ever in favor of a fee increase," Bogar said, "but students are very much in favor of women's soccer." While some students support the fee increase, others objected to the way in which the Board imposed it "It seems to me that if the school is going to charge you for it they should at least let you know,'' Karlaßuitrago, political science freshman, said Change in financial aid forms makes process simpler, free By ChaunHs Jenkins Contributing writer After years of depending on federal agencies to evaluate student eligibility, the financial aid department will be processing student aid themselves. The administration recently approved the change from the Financial Aid Form (FAF) to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Carol Monahan, assistant director for financial aid, explained that Congress's constant complaints against financial aid agencies requiring students to pay for processing encouraged the change. "This year we felt a stronger statement from Congress about their expectations from institutions. We figured this change was 011 the horizon so we decided to do it in 1993," Monahan said. The FAFSA form is shorter than the former FAF. It contains only the core questions required by the government. The FAF contained core and additional questions used to check for discrepancies in information with the help of financial aid agencies such as the College Scholarship Service (CSS) and American College Testing (ACT). f The federal formula for eligibility has also changed. It poses advantages and disadvantages for students. One change is that a report of home value is no longer required. Monahan explained that students whose homes are worth a large amount of money will no longer be penalized and face a possible decrease in financial aid. However, the new formula is not without its rough edges. A report of medical expenses and additional tuition expenses for those seeking financial aid in private schools has been eliminated. Monahan explained that this may hurt some students because they cannot claim these factorsfactors as major expenses. Dependency status has also changed. The section that required students to provide parental data has been limited to the standards of selfdependency alone. In short, the section that required students to answer "yes" if their parents claimed them as dependents or if students earned $4,000 or more has been eliminated. Monahan felt that the effect would balance out for students. "It will affect students on either side, but it doesn't mean that they will receive more or less money," she said. Monahan felt confident that the new financial aid evaluation process would be just as thorough as the federal financial agencies' evaluations. It is undetermined whether additional help with processing will be provided under the new system. "It's not a question of fairness, but our ability to play machine," said Monahan. Strummin' my stx-strtng—Chris Buckley, music senior, plays at little ditty by the Peace Quad last Thursday as Rita Bonln, marketing Junior, listens ./Photo by Bruce Hynwui, 5./. No comment: Faculty give hike mixed reviews, silence By )innn*m Landry Staff writer "We will prosper as a university as long as we deliver the quality of education to students equal to what we charge," —Dr. Marcus Smith No comment That Is the response many faculty members gave when asked about the new tuition increase announced by the University Budget Committee last week. ]n a letter to university parents, John Eckholdt, vice president for Business and Finance, said that part of the tuition increase will be used to help boost faculty salaries. It seems like amove that would please faculty members. But according to Dr. Earl Richard, professor of religiousreligious studies, the faculty's responses are divided. "Salaries axe low, and there are a lot of inequities, so the increase in salary is necessary, but 1 don't think that the university can keep raising tuition at this rate to solve the prob-  lem." ~— "Students, like the university, will have to learn to adjust," be added. Dr. Marcus Smith, associate professor of English, agreed. "I wish higher education could be free and restricted to students who insist on knowing. Professors deserve to be financially rewarded for their efforts, as are other professional groups, such as doctors and lawyers who were educated in universities." Because of the salary discrepancy the faculty has been fighting over since early last year, the 45 percent to 5 percent salary increase that the raise in tuition will bring is good news to some professors.Rebecca Saunders, a part-time English instructor, is unhappy with the outcome. Saunders said that as a part-time instructor, she is paid barely above the poverty level. Even so, she believes that a rise in tuition should be the last resort Richard agrees. "Raising tuition is the fastest way to buikl funds quickly, but the university needs to restructure endowments and stop expanding," he said. The new computer that die increase will help fund is also an issue debated by the faculty. Richard said that the university will be spending over $1 million dollars to replace the mainframe computer purchased in the '70s. He also said that the new computer's purpose was not just computerized phone registration. Smith hopes that the tuition hike will not prevent students fromretuming. "We will prosper as a university as long as we deliver the quality of education to students equal to what we charge," he said. If ITTWffTarcro ; SGA hears organizations I [QS2S3S&3 s Nicholls s,ams basebaU team I EBIiaLSJ : A Valentine's Day tree-t J H for fund distribution H 'n rst 8ame»18-2 j:| rom ,ty ar Sm* pao,, 9if See page 3 ■ Seepages jj Seepage*! m