Newspaper Page Text
January, 1967
THE SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
Page 5
FACTS ABOUT STUDENT
LOANS
by MARILYN SWARTZ
The Collegiate Press Service
WASHINGTON (CPS)—Despite expansion of student
loan programs by Congress and private sources, mounting
student applications for loans have outpaced the available
supply of funds, a Collegiate Press Service study has revealed.
The House of Representatives voted in Klay to grant
$190 million for student loans under the National Defense
Education Act. The Senate Appropriations Committee re
cently approved this increase over last year’s $179 million,
but the full Senate has not voted on it yet.
In the commercial sector, the American Bankers Asso
ciation (ABA) initiated a campaign last June to persuade
bankers to increase student loans. Financial institutions, which
lent nearly $150 million last year to students, are expected
to provide up to $400 million this year.
The shortage in funds is due to soaring college enrollment,
not to fewer bank loans, according to the ABA’s legislative
counsel, James Smith. College enrollment for 1966 is es
timated by the Office of Education at six million, a ten per
cent increase over last year.
To accommodate the growth, colleges must expand, and
over three-fourths of American colleges and universities have
recently raised tuition and board, according to surveys by
the Life Insurance Management Association.
Tuition and room fees for at least 25 schools are $3,000,
and costs are expected to rise.
Possible cheating in loan applications may account for
some increases in requests. Parents may be borrowing money
through their children because of low interest rates granted
to students, Smith said.
Meanwhile, other parents have sold their stocks to obtain
money, despite a twenty per cent drop in stock market prices
over the last months, and some students will work this year
instead of joining the class of ’70, according to Smith.
Under the NDEA student loan act, undergraduates can
borrow up to $1,000, and graduate students can receive $2,500
yearly, not to exceed $10,000 for undergraduate and graduate
study combined.
Students pay no interest on loans while in school, and
only three per cent after graduation.
Federal allocations, divided among states on the basis of
school enrollment and requests, are granted to students
through financial aid offices of colleges. Schools must match
government funds by providing 10 per cent of every govern
ment loan.
Under commercial loan programs, students borrow directly
from banks or loan companies, instead of their colleges.
Interest rates are held at six per cent, although commercial
rates range from six-and-one-half to eight per cent.
While a student attends college, the federal government
pays the interest, then pays three per cent when studies are
completed. Thus the cost to students for loans at commercial
banks is equivalent to that under the government NDEA
program.
In areas where loans have not been granted to students
before, such as Miami, Washington, D. C. and coastal areas
of New Jersey, banks are not cooperating with the student
loan program.
On the whole, of the nation’s 14,000 member banks of
ABA, 7,000 banks, representing 75 per cent of the nation’s
total banking assets, participate in student loan programs.
The loan shortage might have been intensified, had Con
gress accepted President Johnson’s proposed revisions for the
federal student loan program.
Last January, President Johnson urged eliminating the
NDEA program and establishing government backing to banks
for more student loans.
Bankers strongly opposed the President’s measure, and
said they could not support the government’s insured loan
plan and their own student loan program.
States and private organizations, such as the United Stu
dent Aid Fund, insure private student loan programs now.
Representative Edith Green (D.-Ore.), chairman of the
House education subcommittee, accepted the bankers’ argu
ments and called the President’s proposal premature.
The administration withdrew its proposal and suggested
extending the federal program for another year with a $29
million cut in appropriations.
The House and Senate Committee rejected this proposal,
and increased the loan program.
A Fable for Students
And, lo, it came to pass that in the first month there went
out a decree from the administration that all the world was
to be tested. And there was a three-day period of preparation
declared in the land, that they who were to meet this great
trial might prepare their hearts and minds for the days of
tribulation. And many there were that studied, and many there
were who slept, and many there were who despaired, and
there were they who labored to know the outcome of the
days of tribulation through observation of cards.
Then at last the days came. And, lo, at the sixth hour
there arose a great multitude and went unto breakfast, and
they went with heavy hearts thinking of the trial which was
to come at the eighth hour. And some had slept for one hour,
and some for two, and some there were who had slept not,
yea for many days had they not slept. There were in those
days in that land many worshippers of Nodoz and of the
god of coffee, Caffein, and of many other idols of the night.
And others abided in the dormitory, keeping watch over their
books, and reading once more the book of the prophet which
is called Class Notes.
And some there were who knew, and some there were who
knew not. And behold, there were many clutching to them
the word of hope—which is, being interpreted, “pony.”
And, lo, it came to pass that the hour of tribulation was
upon them. And there were those who passeth and those who
passeth not. For many there were who in the weeks of training
had oftentimes ceased from study and many were those who
had crammed.
And when the days of tribulation were ceased, there were
those who slept and those who partied, and those who wept,
for these were those who knew within their hearts that victory
had not been theirs. But in all the land there went up a shout
of jubilation, for that the days of tribulation were past. And
in all the land abideth not one who bethought herself of the
days yet to come when the fifth month should be upon them
and the great god, Semesterexam, would again rule the land.
A. Williams
Twenty Five and Under
by Melody McDowell
Recently, TIME magazine chose the man of the year as
the uprising youth of twenty-five and under. In the Atlanta
area, the SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT has chosen a few per
sons who meet the qualifications of the TIME “Man of the
Year.”
Twenty-three year old Ronald (Swift) Smith has ac
claimed himself in the world of sports. Presently, Ron is quar
terback for the Atlanta Falcons.
Ron is no newcomer to football. As a student of the Uni
versity of Wisconsin, from where he graduated in 1965, Ron
played football with this Big Ten team for four years.
Ron, who hails from East Chicago, Indiana, has found
Atlanta to be a socially stimulating city. As a member of
Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, he has become active in the chap
ter in Atlanta. * * *
Cortez Greer, a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has
made his mark in the entertainment world. Only twenty-five,
Cortez has been featured at such places at Atlanta’s Pink
Pussycat, Peyton Place, and, is now at the La Camilla Lounge.
Cortez’s singing has been compared with the great artist,
Lou Rawls. Cortez has a talent of arranging music, in addition
to his singing ability.
Cortez attended Tennessee A & I before leaving to pursue
a full-time musical career. He admits that he is anxious to
return to college life.
Rudolph Jackson is twenty years old and a native of Way-
cross, Georgia. He is a business education major and mathe
matics minor at Clark College and a member of Omega Psi
Phi fraternity. Rudy is a member of the National Advisory
Committee. There are thirty students on this committee, nine
are from the South. Rudy’s specific job is to visit Southern
schools and interview students about questions of national
concern such as student reaction to the draft. He has worked
for the Federal Labor Department and attended a student
seminar where he had the opportunity to meet President
Lyndon Johnson.
Alvin Holmes is President of the Student Body at Atlanta
University. His major is History. Alvin is from Montgomery,
Alabama, and did graduate work at Alabama State. He wants
to go into politics and is president of the Young Democrats
Club in Montgomery. Alvin wants to promote better student
relations among the schools in the Atlanta University Center.
He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
Cracked A Book
Too Many
This light-hearted poem de
picts the thoughts and visions
of a young student suffering
from over-study and the effects
of various crutches she has
used to sustain her study for
exams. While drinking a pop,
she has hallucinations and
doesn’t recognize a doctor who
comes to give her a sedative
and take her to the infirmary.
Sleep-starved eyes peeping
in the little hole
See the bottom of the well of
gingerale
Worn fingers clutching the
filter of the cancerstick
Go ahead—inhale.
The last drink of the gingerale
well
Flows down the pancreas to
the kidney bells
200 cancer sticks—but one
more inhale
Before the great multiplying
of the cells.
Cracked a book too many
And the little head ringing
In the penna of my ear—
singing
Head gonna crack, crack,
crack.
Synthetic eyes thrown across
the room
Here come the maid on the
witch’s broom
Picking up the No-doz and
L.S.D.
But don’t you touch the
Bicardi.
Who is this all robed in white
I plum forgot chem lab tonight
With an epidermis needle
coming toward me
Is it time for more L.S.D.?
Cracked a book too many
And a little read-ringing
In the penna of my ear-
singing
Head done cracked, cracked,
C-R-A-C-K-E-D.
Marilyn Hunt
We...
Me. . .
Complex bundle of. . .
Simple . . .
Lover of life
Lover of people
Lover or love
Waster of time
And a pursuer of it
Dreamer of . . .
Harsh realist (sometimes)
“Tullee Stomper”*
Raiser of Hell (sometimes)
Lover of Peace
Sometimes “giver of gifts”
Too often the “Recipient”
Helper of people (I hope)
Antagonist (Sad but true)
Fool—Sorry about that!
But it’s Me
Not an excuse
But an acceptance.
*for definition, consult the
author. G.M.