Welcome Home
Fish Bowl
Alumni!
Revisited, p. 5
UNC Inauguration p. 3
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October, 1986 -Vol.^, No. 1 Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Circulation 1,500
Friday Night before a packed auditorium in ECSU’s Wil
liams’s Hall, Sheila Hughes, a senior, was crowned Miss
ECSU. She will serve as an ambassador for ECSU until this
time next year. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse
Hughes of Camden, N.C.
HOMECOMING 1986 SCHEDULE
ECSU Homecoming 1986 started this week with various events
planned for students and alumni.
STUDENT EVENTS
Monday, October 27: ECSU Day - Wear your eyeglasses, caps, scarfs
and carry your umbrella; 8:00 p.m. is “Class Clash”. Past events have
included pie eating, free throw, hula hoop and other silly events between
the classes.
Tuesday, October 28: Dress-Up Day - Wear your best to impress; 8:00
p.m.- is Toga, Toga, Toga, Toga time! Strip your bed and wear the sheet
or else pay a buck to enter.
Wednesday, October 29: Mix & Match Day - How outrageous can you
be? Plaids and stripes and polka-dots are the fashion today.
Thursday, October 30: Blue & White T-Shirt Day gives you a chance to
show your Viking colors; 8:00 p.m.-talent show in Williams Hall where
the undiscovered will be discovered.
Friday, October 31: Halloween Costume Day for some of us, some of
you can just be normal; 6:00 p.m.-preparation for the big Homecoming
Game with a mock funeral, pep rally, step show, mini-concert and dance
“til the goblins come out” (or 3:00 a.m.).
SATURDAY, November 1: The countdown to game time begins with a
HOMECOMING PARADE at 10:00 a.m.; at 1:30 p.m. there is a pre-game
show and HOMECOMING GAME;at 8:15 p.m. there will be a HOME
COMING CONCERT featuring The Force M.D.’s and Shirley Jones in
Vaughn Center (See related stories on Entertainment page.); An ALL-
NIGHT DANCE is scheduled after the concert.
ALUMNI SCHEDULE ,
Friday, October 31: 2:00 p.m.-a meeting for prospective ECSU
Alumni Band Members. Organization meeting in Williams Hall, band
room.
7:00 p.m.-HALL OF FAME BANQUET held in the K.E. White Grad
uate & Continuing Education Center.
9:00 p.m.-organizational meeting of the ECSU Class of ’67.
9:30 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.-Ice-Breaker at Holiday Inn; $3 per.
Saturday, November 1: 7:45 a.m.~a breakfast at the Holiday Inn with
Miss Alumni & Court.
10:00 a.m.-HOMECOMING PARADE.
1:30 p.m.-pre-game activities.
2:00 p.m -HOMECOMING GAME.
9:00 p.m. -10:00 p.m.-Happy Hour at K.E. White Graduate & Continu
ing Education Center.
FOURTH ANNUAL BLUE & WHITE BALL at K.E. White Graduate &
Continuing Education Center; Music by Mr. “M” and The Organization;
$12.50 per.
New rules cause financial woes
By Steve Smith
Co-Editor
See Related Story p. 8
The fall semester is already
several weeks old, yet many
students aren’t sure of the
status of their financial aid
applications or if they will
even qualify for aid, accord
ing to James E. Swimpson,
director of financial aid at
ECSU. Many students erro
neously believe the delays are
the result of the Graham-
Rudman-Hollings Deficit Re
duction Act (Graham-Rud-
man Bill).
“The bill itself has not
slowed things down at this
point,” Swimpson said.
“However, the verification
process, which we have had
to deal with for the last couple
of years, has had a real se
rious impact on the speed
with which we have been able
to process applications.”
The verification process
has been around for a few
years according to Swimp
son. Verification is the proc
ess whereby applications for
financial aid have to be
checked for accuracy and
consistency.
Swimpson said new regula
tions in this process have
caused an increase in the
number of applications which
must be checked for various
reasons, such as inconsistent
data.
“We were told that about 30
percent of the applications
would be selected to be
checked but it has turned out
to be about 50 percent or
more,” Swimpson said.
“When you have to deal with
that many verifications and
the number of students her
who qualify for aid-it’s a
nightmare.” According to
Barbara Simpson, assistant
director of financial aid at
ECSU, between 85 and 90 per
cent of ECSU students re
ceive some kind of aid.
The new regulations have
led to a backlog of applica
tions needing to be verified,
according to Swimpson. De
spite the backlog, the same
number of personnel have
had to handle the extra work
load, he added.
“We have been so busy try
ing to check those applica
tions we were required to, we
haven’t been able to spend a
great deal of time looking at
applications we weren’t re
quired to verify.”
Swimpson said some stu
dents have been admitted
without their grants being ap-
proved-with the school gam
bling that the student’s grant
eventually would be ap
proved. Although the gamble
was somewhat of a risk,
Swimpson pointed out that it
was not a high risk.
“One of the things I used in
making that determination
was what kind of aid a return
ing student received last
year,” he said. “The amounts
are not going to change dras
tically unless there’s been a
drastic change in the students
situation. As far as freshmen
are concerned-if we have a
copy of their parents’ tax
statements-we can make a
reasonable prediction on
what kind of aid they will
probably qualify for.”
According to Swimpson, be
tween 200 and 300 students
would not have been able to
register for fall semester if
the financial aid office had
not taken some risk.
Verification requirements
come out on an annual basis.
This year’s came out in late
May and the financial aid of
fice could not begin the proc
ess until mid-June. Swimpson
believes this could have had a
negative impact on enroll
ment.
“If we cannot give incom
ing students some indication
of the type of aid they might
be qUalfied for, they might
decide to do some other
things,” he said.
Swimpson said that be
cause of the large number of
outstanding applications and
the limited amount of time
they had to get things done,
they had to cut some earlier
awards to make money avail
able for other students.
“Some of those students
whose awards were cut did
not feel very kindly about it,”
Swimpson said. “I think
many of them felt they were
being penalized. That was not
the case at all-it was a mat
ter of doing what would be
fair for all students.”
Some of the delays can ac
tually be traced to the stu
dents failure to get applica
tions in on time and failure to
fill the applications out cor
rectly, according to Swimp
son. The office staff is plan
ning to hold a series of
financial aid workshops on
campus to help the student
understand the application
process.
Swimpson said he does be
lieve the need factor should
be proven, but the whole proc
ess can become a burden to
students and parents. He also
said the changing rules help
cause the confusion.
“Verification has been
around, but they keep chang
ing the game plan after every
inning,” he said. “That’s
when it gets a little danger
ous. Many people just don’t
complete the application
process because of frustra
tions they run into trying to
complete the application.
Having to resubmit and re
submit gets a little frustrat
ing.”
Swimpson said he hopes
that next year they will get
the plan early so they will
know what to expect. He also
said he hopes that more stu
dents will complete the appli
cation materials so they
won’t have to experience any
unnecessary delays.