INSIDE THIS EDITION
WMLi^
X\/'ins1;on — Salem State X_JniiAxex'sit>^
Catch the Xmas spirit
see pg. 2
John Glenn flies again pg. 2
Mozik Modehng Troupe struts
into the new millennium pg. 3
The rise & fall of Ice Cube pg. 3
Fewer grants feed tuition hikes
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The cost of college continues to rise as
available federal grant money erodes,
putting higher education out of reach for
many low-income American families.
Student grants are covering a signifi
cantly diminishing proportion of college
costs. Pell grants-the major source of feder
al money for low income students- provide
about half of what they did 20 years ago,
according a study released Nov. 17. In the
1976-77 school year, the average Pell grant
covered 19 percent of the cost of attending
a private, four-year institution, and 39 per
cent of the price of a public four year
school. In 1996-97 the most recent year
available for the study-the average grant
covered 9 percent for private schools, and
22 percent for public.
BY KYLA Al^TON
Reporter
Nov. 3rd was a great day for the
Democratic party. The senate, along with
the 2nd and 4th District House races, were
won by democrats John Edwards, Bob
Etheridge and David Price.
In the highest profile race in the suite,
Edwards, the underdog, beat out
Republican Sen. Lauch Faircloth.
Edwards’ victory was attributed to many
factors. One was the high turnout of mint'r-
ity voters, tne majority of which voted for
Edwards.
Women voters helped Edwards in his
victory over Fa..cloth. Women voters
Even more striking, the maximum Pell
grant, given to the more needy students, fell
from covering 35 percent of private-college
costs in 1976-77 to 13 percent in 1996-97;
for public schools, it dropped from covering
72 pcrcent of the price to 34 percent, the
study said.
“If low-income students don’t attend
community college, they can’t afford col
lege at all”, said Thomas Parker of The
Education Resources Institute, a non-profit
guarantor of privately issued student loans,
and one of the groups that released the
report.
“What we like to think is we have a
system where people have both access and
choice, but what we’re rapidly developing
is a system where people have access but no
choice,” he said.
The average Pell grant award declined
accounted for 60 percent for Edwards ver
sus 40 percent for Faircloth. Faircloth may
have only himself to blame for that turnout.
It is said that women are more inclined to
have an adverse response to negative cam
paign tactics like those used by Faircloth.
Edwards also did well in areas of the
state where Faircloth had many supporters.
Faircloth is involved with hog farming and
thought to be the leader in the agricultural
parts of the State. This proved to be false.
Edwards gained a great deal of support
from political moderates. Moderates were
65 percent in favor of Edwards versus 32
percent in favor of Faircloth.
The 2nd and 4th Disu-ict Hou.se races
brought p.o '.umovers. Early on in the 2nd
by 23 percent-adjusting for inflation-over
20 years, but college prices rose by 49 pcr
cent, and family incomes crept up by just 10
perccnt over the same period.
In 1996-97, the maximum Pell grant
available was $2,470 for qualifying stu
dents. In 1997-98, it went up to S2,7(X) and
is at S3,000 for the current year.
“Even with those increases, the bottom
line is the net price still increases for most
fiimilies, particularly for the lowest-income
students,” said Jamie Merisotis, the presi
dent of The Institution for Higher Education
Policy in Washington and a co-author of the
report.
About 3.6 million of the nation’s 14
million college students receive Pell grants,
and more than half of Pell recipients in
four-year-schools qualify for the maximum
amount of money.
District race, Dan Page(R> attacked
Etheridge, linking Etheridge with President
Clinton, at the time when the Clinton-
Lewin.sky .scandal was big news. Those
attacks apparently did not stick in peoples
minds as Etheridge won the election.
In the 4th disuict race, David Price was
more secure than Etheridge in District Two.
The counties that fall into the 4th District
arc heavily demcKratic. Even though both
North Raleigh and Cary are heavily
Republican, Robcrg did not get enough
..niec *0 secure his scat.
Card system
brings a mix
of responses
HYKHISHAKUACI!
News editor
Winston-Salem State University stu
dents will now use vendor cards to pur
chase copies from the library’s Xerox
machines. The disposable cards are .sold in
S5 and $10 increments and are available at
the campus bookstore. Library staff
believe they will provide more convenience
for students and faculty by eliminating the
use of change in the copy machines?
The cards themselves are irreplaceable
if stolen or lost. Once the money has run
out, .students and faculty can simply pur
chase another one.
Students will not have to worry about-
carrying around a pocket full of excess
change - or lack thereof, and library staff
will be able to provide more efficient .ser
vice to students and staff without having to
be disturbed in order to disU"ibute change to
students.
There is however .some opposition to
the new vendor cards. Some students feel
the cards will not make copying any easier
than it is now. One problem .seems to lie
with the card’s prices.
“We do not use the copy machine in
the library simply because we have to pay.
We can go elsewhere and make copies for
free,” said one student when asked how he
felt about the cards.
Library suiff assures that although the
prices of copies goes up one cent with the
vendor cards, everyone including faculty
will be expected to pay the .same amount
for the copies.
“I think it is inconvenient for students
to go to the bookstore and purcha.se a card
to make copies in the library,” says one fac
ulty member.
While the popularity of the vendor
cards is still in question, library staff con-
tmues to have faith in this new form of
technology.
However for those who would prefer
to stick to the old way of things, the old
copy machine on the first n(x>r ol the
library is still available for u.se. The price is
the usual 5 cents, although the library staff
complains the quality of print from the old
copier is not as good as the new machines.
Use of the two new machmes in the
library that accept the vendor ciirds, is
strongly encouragcd in order to get your
si:ev[;mx)r,i>agi;3
So, So Close
The Winston-Salem State
Rams football team traveled to
San Diego for the Gold Coast
Classic, where they played
Grambling State.
This was the Rams’ first
appearance in the classic,
which is in its second year.
Grambling, a Division 1-AA
team, won 35-28. It was the
Ram’s final game of the season
(photo at right).
‘4^
»VV
n
Photo by Baxter Griffin
Democrats big winners in N.C. polls
Edwards becomes senator-elect, beating Faircloth with help of moderates