Newspaper Page Text
10
March 30, 1995
Financing a college education
By Charles Ross
YOUR PERSONAL FINANCE
Due to the rising cost of higher
education, going to college has
become a major investment. Just
how major? At a four-year, pri
vate institution, you can expect
to pay over $60,000 for tuition,
room and board, books and addi
tional expenses before gradua
tion.
At a public college or universi
ty, things are somewhat less ex
pensive. Four years of tuition,
room and board, books and addi
tional expenses currently aver
age about $25,500. If you attend
a public college outside of your
own state, expect to pay an addi
tional out-of-state fee of about
$12,000, bringing the total to a
little over $37,000.
With these kinds of costs to
consider, most students will be
seeking funding from several
sources, including grants and
scholarships, loans and work.
Financing a college education
is easier if you know what your
options are. The odds are that
you can qualify for some form of
aid, whether grants, scholarships
or loans.
Grants
A grantislike a scholarship. It
doesn’t need to be paid back. Pell
Grants are federally funded and
provide a basic foundation for a
financial aid package. Under
graduates who attend school at
least half-time can receive up to
$2,200 a year under Pell Grant
stipulations.
Supplemental Educational
Vein treatment available in Augusta
CHICAGO
Ultrasound-guided
sclerotherapy, one of the latest
technological advances in the
treatment of varicose veins, is
now being made accessible to
residents of Augusta. Physicians
at the nation’s largest medical
practice specializingin the treat
ment of vein disease, Vein Clin
ics of America (VCA), have de
veloped an accelerated treatment
program (ATP) to provide help
for the one in five Americans
who suffer with vein disease.
“We've had people travel all
the way from London for this
treatment,” explains D. Brian
McDonagh,M.D., founder of Vein
Clinics of America. “We realize
that ultrasound-guided
sclerotherapy is, for the most
part, only available in the very
biggest markets, and we wanted
to provide busy people outside
those areas with a viable alter
native to vein-stripping surgery.”
Here’s how the program works.
* VCA will arrange for a pa
tient from out of town to stay in
a local Atlanta hotel for two to
three days and receive the accel
erated procedure.
* Physicians will use ultra
sound technology to guide the
treatment of veins that are caus
ing problems. Ultrasound per
mits the physician to diagram a
“map” of a patient’s venous sys
tem, showing precisely wherethe
source of the vein disease is.
* Sclerotherapy, a non-surgi
cal procedure involving injec-
Get in the swing of
things at Wilson Golf
Power Swing Contest
Incelebration ofthe tournament
coming to town, local residents
and their families can get into the
swing by participating in the Wil
son Golf Power Swing Challenge,
Sat. April 1 from noon until 4 p.m.
Local golfers will compete for priz
es, including a set of Wilson golf
irons and woods.
There will be a power swing
division for kids 13t0 17 yearsold,
with the winner receiving a set of
Wilson irons and woods, and a golf
ball guessing contest for kids 12
and under for the chance to win a
Wilson junior golf set.
The contests will take place at
Sam’s Wholesale Club at 596 Bob
by Jones Expressway. Phone: (706)
863-7846.
CALL
724-7855
TO SUBSCRIBE
AUGUSTA FOCUS
fi Financing a college
] i educationis easierif
f ((‘~ | you know what your
/ ‘ options are. The
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&‘i;g form of aid, whether
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= \&_, or loans.
Opportunity Grants are provid
ed by the college the student at
tends and don’t have to be paid
back. But your child must attend
school at least half-time. Under
these grants, the student can
receive up to $4,000 per year.
Loans
The Stafford Student Loan,
formerly the Guaranteed Stu
dent Loan, is a government spon
sored program that allows un
dergraduate students to borrow
up to $2,600 for each of their first
two years of study. Up to $4,000
is available for the remaining
undergraduate years. Graduate
students can borrow up to $7,500
a year. The money isn’t repaid
until the student leaves school or
tions, is then used to close the
diseased veins.
* After the patient is treated,
another map is diagrammed to
show the physician how blood
has been rerouted to healthy
veins in the leg.
Previously, a patient with a
severe case of vein disease would
have been forced to return for a
series of office visits over the
course of several weeks or even
months, because before the use
of ultrasound, the physician
could not be certain that the
source ofthe vein had been treat
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is no longer attending on a full
time basis.
Another popularloan program
is available to parents: The Pa
rental Loan for Undergraduate
Students or PLUS loan program.
Under this program, parents can
borrow up to $4,000 per year,
with a total of up to $20,000 per
student.
Student Loans/ Home Eq
uity Loans
The home equity loan is fast
becoming the loan of choice
among educational loans. The
amount that a parent can bor
row varies with each financial
institution. Homeowners can
generally tap at least 80 percent
of their home’s value. The ad
ed, without several follow-up vis
its spaced out over several weeks.
Ultrasound has been a boon to
patients and doctors, in that it
allows the physician to identify
allthe diseased veins, even those
not visible on the skin’s surface.
“Venous disease is often hidden;
therefore it is possible that a
patient with only a few visible
varicose veins actually has sig
nificant venous disease which
could cause the leg to ache dur
ing periods of prolonged stand
ing,” explains McDonagh. “Addi
tionally, like fingerprints, every
vantage of a home equity loan is
that the interest you pay is gen
erally deductible on your tax re
turn,
Work Study Programs
One of the many options pre
sented to students as part of a
college financial package is the
opportunity to work their way
through school. The College work
Study program provides jobs for
undergraduate and graduate stu
dents who need financial aid.
Under the plan a student will be
paid at least the current federal
minimum wage. The exact
amount is determined by the type
of work and the skills required.
The total College Work Study
award depends on need. The stu
dent may work on or off campus,
and the employer will usually be
a private or public non-profit or
ganization, a state, or a federal
agency. The number of work
hours will be limited, depending
on class schedule and grades.
Before embarking on a money
hunt for college financing, be sure
tocontact your child’s high school
counseling office for application
deadlines and other information.
Also the U.S. Department of
Education offers a free brochure
that outlines the various types of
college aid programs. For infor
mation call 1-800-433-3243.
Charles Ross is host of the na
tionally syndicated radio pro
gram, “Your Personal Finance,”
and author of Your
Commonsense Guide to Person
al Financial Planning.
one’s venous system is unique,
making it almost impossible to
treat the underlying veins with
out the use of ultrasound.”
Vein Clinics of America is one
of the largest medical practices
in the country specializing in the
treatment of vein disease. Physi
cians at VCA have treated over
30,000 patients with vein disor
ders ranging from spider veins
to severe leg ulcers. For a free
brochure on vein disease, call or
write: Vein Clinics of America,
5505 Peachtree Dunwoody Road,
Suite 240, Atlanta, Ga. 30342.
hypertension advised to continue
calcium channel blocker drugs
A leading expert in hyperten
sion among African Americans
advised patients tocontinue tak
ing their medication despite a
recent study claiming an in
creased heart attack risk for pa
tients on calcium channel
biockers. Approximately eight
million African Americans are
diagnosed with hypertension.
“Patients should not stop tak
ing their high blood pressure
medication without consulting
their physician,” advised Dr.
James Reed, professor of medi
cine at the Morehouse School of
Medicine and president of the
International Society of Hyper
tension in Blacks.
“Infact, discontinuing the med
ication could place patients at
much greater risk for increased
blood pressure and even a heart
attack or stroke,” he added.
Widespread consumer concern
about research presented at an
American Heart Association
Council of Epidemiology meet
ing on March 10 has prompted
doctors, researchers and medi
cal associations across the coun
try to speak out in defense of
calcium channel blockers.
The National Heart, Lung and
Blood Institute issued a state
ment saying, “This type of study,
although useful, cannot provide
definitive information on the ef
fectiveness and long-term safety
of a class of drugs. Firm conclu
sions can only come from long
term randomized clinical trials.
Therefore, only if the University
of Washington’s study’s findings
are confirmed in a clinical trial,
will we know for sure that this
class of drugs is tied to an in
creased risk of heart attack.”
“Calcium channel blockers
havdibeen shown to be the most
effective drug therapy for Afri
can ' Americans,” Dr. Reed ex
plained. “It would be a tragedy if
this small case control study,
which is by no means definitive,
caused an estimated 5.3 million
African Americans currently on
calcium channel blockers to aban
don the medication that controls
their high blood pressure.”
African-American men and
women are more likely to suffer
J oey loves baseball, his mom's macaroni and cheese and his
dog, Rusty. He's like any other 8 year old, except that he's one
of nearly 20,000 American o
children who will be injured Ry
this year in an accident ‘ e
involving a bicycle and an & &
automobile. £ L
Six days a week, six hours a day, e 4j‘
this ordinary kid works witha . -’, g
highly specialized team of i
doctors, nurses and therapists =4 o £
to meet the extraordinary challenge of overcoming his injuries.
It's a big job for such a little boy, but for Joey (and Rusty)
the benefits couldn't be better.
CHILDREN'S
788 REHABILITATION
W™ CENTER
AT WALTON REHABILITATION HOSPITAL
Sponsored by St. Joseph Center for Life Inc.
& University Health Services Inc.
1355 Independence Drive ® Augusta, GA 30901-1037
706/724-7746 * 800/366-6055
Opening Doors To Greater Independence.
Consumer concern
has prompted doc
tors, researchers and
medical associations
across the country to
speak out in defense
of calcium channel
blockers.
from high blood pressure than
their white counterparts. Con
tributing factors are believed to
be too much salt in the diet,
weight, or alcohol.
“While small retrospective
studies may result in new impor
tant discoveries, one needs to be
cautious in interpreting the re
sults. More research is needed in
this area,” said Dr. Reed.
The National Heart, Lung and
Blood Institute is currently con
ducting a definitive study to in
vestigate whether the benefit,
versus the risk, of having a heart
attack is lessened by anti
hypertensive drugs like calcium
channel blockers. The Anti
hypertensive and Lipid-Lower
ing Treatment to Prevent Heart
Attack Trial (ALLHAT), an SBS
million, 9-year study, will exam
ine the ability of new anti
hypertensive drugs — calcium
channel blockers, angiotensin
converting enzyme (ACE) inhib
itors, and alpha blockers — to
reduce coronary heart disease
among older patients with high
blood pressure.
Foradditional information, Dr.
Reed urges patients and media
to contact the International So
ciety of Hypertension Blacks in
Atlanta at (404) 875-6263.
The International Society of
Hypertension in Blacks (ISHIB)
is a unique nonprofit organiza
tion dedicated to improving the
health and life expectancy of eth
nic populations in the United
States and around the world.
Founded in Atlanta, Georgia in
1986, to respond to the problem
of high blood pressure among
blacks, ISHIB’s mission includes
the total spectrum of ethnicity
and disease.