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PUBLISHED WEEKLY
ATLANTIC CHRISTIAN COLLEGE, SEPTEMBER 14, 1972
NUMBER TWO
ACC Holds 71st Annual Convocation
Federal Aid
Funds Cut
By BKN CASEY
Dir. of Student Financial .Aid
Prior to the beginning of the
current school year great
numbers of college students
across the nation found them
selves in a quandry when at
tempting to arrange financing
for their educations.
While numerous factors were
involved, the dilemma began to
develop when the U.S. Congress
made sweeping changes in the
federally funded student aid
programs on June 23, 1972.
Coupled with these reforms,
increased demands for student
aid across the nation resulted in
grossly inadequate funding for
loan, scholarship, and work
programs at Atlantic
CHRISTIAN College and most
all other institutions of higher
learning.
The National Defense Student
Loan Program created in 1958
has been replaced by the
National Direct Student Loan
Program. The most far reaching
effect of this program was the
striking down of provisions for
many eligible borrowers to
cancel a portion of their loan
principal for teaching.
The National Direct Student
Loan Program allows borrowers
i
President Wenger Welcomes Masses at l!)72-7:i Convwation.
to cancel a portion of their loans
only if they are teaching in
schools designated by HEW as
having a high concentration of
students from low income
families or teaching of the
handicapped. Previously the
borrower could cancel ten per
cent of their loan principal each
year up to five years if they
taught in any public or non-profit
private school.
The new Basic Opportunity
Grants Program created by
Congress will not be funded until
1973-74. The program is designed
to guarantee all students a
minimum grant — less family
contribution. It remains to be
seen if the new program can
elude the problems of present
programs, mainly inadequate
funding.
During the current school year
at Atlantic Christian, we face
shortages in all phases of
federally funded financial
assistance programs. In the new
National Direct Student Loan
Program we have a tenative
commitment from HEW of only
sixty-six per cent of the amount
previously approved by the U.S.
Office of Education panel. This
means we will have some $31,000
less in this program during the
current year than what we
received the prior year. Some 40-
50 less students will receive such
loans.
The Educational Opportunity
Grants Program and the College
Work Study Programs were
cutback 42 per cent and 20 per
cent respectively.
The most devastating blow
came in the Nursing Student
Loan Program where we
received only 40 per cent of the
amount requested. Many
students face cutbacks in their
aid packages while others will Ix-
denied loans altogether. Those
See I'KDKK \I. All) Page :i
Student Enrollment Increased
The smallest fall enrollment
increase in 28 years for the
Nation’s schools and colleges,
and a record $90.5 billion in
educational expenditures during
the 1972-73 school year were
predicted today by HEW’s Office
of Education.
Data supplied by the National
Center for Educational Statistics
for the annual back-to-school
survey indicate a total
enrollment in public and
nonpublic schools that will
increase over the fall of 1971 by
only one-half of one per cent.
However, the Office of
Education’s statistical center
foresees for total educational
expenditures a jump of 6.3 per
cent from last year’s $85.1
billion.
Total enrollment will rise for
the 28th consecutive year to a
record 60.4 million persons, but
this increase will occur mostly
at the higher education level.
Enrollment of degree-credit
students in colleges and
universities is expected to
advance from 8.5 million at the
beginning of the 1971 school year
to 9 million this fall — a gain of
six per cent.
The back-to-school figures
exclude undergraduate students
enrolled in occupational or
general studies programs which
are not creditable toward a
bachelor’s degree. There were
an estimated 730,000 of these
nondegree-credit students in
institutions of higher education
in the fall of 1971. Data also
exclude persons attending other
post-secondary activities, such
as private trade, vocational, and
business schools.
Total enrollment in
elementary and secondary
schools is expected to decline by
approximately 200,000, with a
gain of 300,000 at the secondary
level (grades9 through 12) being
more than offset by a decline of
500,000 in the elementary grades
(kindergarten through grade 8).
The enrollment in kindegarten
through grade 12 is expected to
decrease from 51.6 million to 51.4
million, or less than one-half of
one per cent.
Public schools this fall will
enroll about 46.2 million pupils,
and the remaining 5.2 million
will be in nonpublic schools.
During the 1971-72 school year,
expenditures for elementary and
secondary schools amounted to
$54.0 billion ($48.9 billion for
public and $5.1 billion for
nonpublic schools), while the
expenditures for higher
education totaled $31.1 billion
($20.7 billion for public and $10.4
billion for nonpublic
institutions).
The National Center for
Educational Statistics also
estimates that about 2,320,000
elementary and secondary
school teachers will be employed
this fall. About 2.1 million of
these persons will teach in public
schools, while 220,000 will be
employed in nonpublic schools.
The teaching staff in public
schools is expected to be about
20,000 larger than last year, with
practically no change
anticipated for the nonpublic
schools.
The instructional staff in
colleges and universities is
expected to rise by about 3,000
from an estimated 630,000 in the
fall of 1971 to 660,000 in 1972.
These estimates are based on
the estimated enrollments
combined with the long term
trend in pupil-teacher ratios.
In the coming year, the
number of students, teachers,
and administrators combined
will exceed 63 million — more
than 30 per cent of the 209 million
people in the United States.
Center: The “Main Ingrediant”. Soul .And More Soul!
Left: Rusty Tabb Crowned Mr. Top Hat by Beth Harper At
Tri-Sig’s .Annual Top Hat Dance.
Right: Comedian Robert Kleen Entertains A.C. Students.
Ip
.Atlantic Christian College held
Its annual Kail Convocation for
the 71st academic session of the
institution Tuesday morning.
Presiding was Dan .1 Hensley,
chaplain of the college. Con
vocation speaker was Dr .Arthur
I). Wenger. pri*sident of the
college.
Citing the college's 70 years of
history, the college president
said. "Our history brings us to a
point where we join together in
liHiking at a common cause
our educatioiwl task. "
"The day to day operation of
an educatioiiiil program," .said
the spt'aker, "consists largely of
every man doing his own thing.
But, on an iK'casion such as this,
where we hmk at an institution's
piist history, prompts us to join
together as we think al)out our
various roles at the college "
"We join in praise for its past
and the treasure which it has
lx“(jueatht“d to us. We join in
Uiking an analytical l(X)k at our
present situation and we join in
looking forward to and planning
for the future."
Dr. Wenger said the college
community must use careful
planning in using its human and
material resources with utmost
effectiveness and would rwjuire
outstanding performances of
students, faculty, ad
ministrators and trustees. He
said there must be careful
nurture in development of
needed financial resources and a
careful re-statement of the
college's purposes in the light of
the current understanding of it.
Looking toward the future, the
spt'aker quoted a study which
was conducted by the Com
mission of Religion in Higher
Education of the Association of
American Colleges as it sought
to characterize tixiay’s student
and his overriding concerns:
"Among college and university
students, to say nothing of other
young people, there is profound
and plentiful evidence pointing
to a hunger for meaning and
purpose unlikeanything we have
experienced for a quarter of a
century. There is a searching for
ethical and moral integirty in
word and act, a quest for
meaningful patterns of activity
and structures of community,
and a pursuit of larger meaning
for personal existence.”
He further quoted from a
papyr given by Mrs. Dorothy
Eagles, a retired professor, at
the college’s last Parents' Day
Convocation: ‘‘It is my hope that
young men and women who
come to Atlantic Christian
College in future years may find
a way to a more stable economic
life and at the same time ex
perience the joy that ac
companies the growth of mind
and sensability — that the lives
of.iour graduates may be
enhanced by a sense of personal
wholeness and the in
terrelationship of all
knowledge."
Music for the convocation was
provided by the Atlantic
Christian College Chorus under
direction of J. Ross Albert.
Organist was Charles W. Rakow.
Pick Nick
Nick Galifinackis will be in at
the First Citizens Bank Building
at 8:00 p.m., Monday, Sep
tember 18. Everyone is urged to
attend the meeting sponsored by
the Democratic Women of
Wilson County.