Methodist College
Fayetteville, NC Vol. XXXV, No. 1 Wednesday, August 27, 1997
Words from the wiser:
Upperclassmen share secrets
They can tell you what they’d do
differently if they were freshmen again.
They’ve been there. And they survived.
The College Press Service
Ask a college senior or jun
ior what they remember as the most
difficuh thing about their first days on
campus, and most are quick to re
spond.
“Not knowing what to ex
pect,” says Denise Palmer, a Brigham
Young University senior.
And perhaps just as bad,
“not knowing anyone,” adds Beverlee
Bailey, a senior at Columbia College
in Chicago.
Surviving the adjustment
from high school to college can be a
tough time for incoming students.
There’s dealing with roommates, be
ing away from home, and coping with
studies.
In fact, national statistics
indicate one out of four students will
drop out after freshman year. That’s
one reason why newcomers may want
to seek the advice from those who
know campus life best; upperclass
men.
“Students are far more likely
to believe it’s the truth if it comes
from other students,” says Dr. Betsy
Barefoot of the National Resource
Center for the Freshman Year Expe
rience at the University of South
Carolina. “The most recent research
indicates that the power of upper
classmen to affect the success of first-
year students is unparalleled.”
With that said, here’s some
tips from a few seasoned collegians
on how to survive campus life and
make the most of college years.
•Danger Zone: no
curfews, no parents
Ahh, there’s nothing quite as
sweet as the first taste of freedom—
but don’t overdo it, students caution.
“When you first get there,
any holds that your parents had on
you vanish,” says William Lee, a sopho
more at Western Illinois University.
“You have the option to do whatever
you want. It you want to party the en
tire weekend, you can.”
Like it or not, there are no
parents to wakt you for class; no school
principal keeping attendance. Brian
Hulse, a sophomore at Utah Valley State
College, says he had trouble adjusting
to that. “There’s no penalty for ditch
ing, and I just didn’t go,” he said.
Even if professors may not re
quire attendance (but most Methodist
College professors DO for 100 and 200
level classes—better check the atten
dance policy!), don’t forget that you’re
really there for class, say students.
“Go to class. Don’t skip. It’s
a really bad, bad habit to start,” stresses
Sarah Carlson, a University of Michi
gan junior. “Once you start, you think,
‘Oh, that wasn’t such a big deal.’Then
you skip again and again. The problem
is if you aren’t there to hear the lecture,
it’s hard to understand it when it’s on
the exam.”
While it may be a relief not to
have anyone nagging you to get to bed
early or to clean your room, the flip side
is that Mom isn’t there to help with laun
dry, either. Some students report that
juggling a full courseload, a job, and a
social life make for a serious time
crunch.
Kristen Rolf, a junior at
Harvard University, says it was hard
“finding the time to do all the things you
never realized you were going to have
to do, like doing your own laundry and
buying your own shampoo.”
•Fitting in
You don’t know anyone yet
and your bags are barely unpacked, but
it’s time to register for classes. Next
you’ve got to pick up textbooks.
Where’s the business office again? You
don’t know your way around cam
pus!
“Don’t get stressed out,”
advises Faith Moody, a Kansas City
Community College sophomore.
“Relax and you’ll be able to do your
best.”
Take time out to take care
of yourself, no matter how busy
things are, say students. “Take a jog
every now and then,” suggests Kedar
Kulkami, a junior at the School of
Art Institute of Chicago.
Amber Zimmerman, an .
Eastern Illinois University senior,
says trying to “fit in” to the social
scene really stressed her out. “Now
that I’m a senior. I’d tell freshmen
NOT to try to fit in,” she says. “Just
be yourself”
Some students who at
tended larger colleges say the enor
mous size of first-year classes was
overwhelming.
“1 came from a small town,
and the most difficult thing was prob
ably adjusting to a large number of
people,” says Meagan McGahuey, an
Iowa State University sophomore.
It’s best to turn to others,
whether you’re confused about your
major or fighting with your room
mate, says April Richardson, a St.
Phillips College sophomore. “If
counselors won’t help you out, ask
other people, upperclassmen mainly,
for help,” she says. “They’ve been
around and should know what
they’re doing.”
•Sharing space
Once you’ve got beds,
desks, dressers, and everything else
imaginable squeezed into the tiniest
space possible, well, it’s easy to see
how you and your roommate could
get on each other’s nerves.
“Communal property can
be a problem. Just be aware of that,”
says Andreas Ringstad, a University
of Chicago junior. “And don’t mon
key with your roommate’s stuff.
Some of them can be very touchy.”
See ADVICE, page 2
Student researches causes
of first-year “homesick blues”
By Colleen DeBaise
College Press Service
Homesickness can put a
damper on the first few months of
freshman year.
While some first-year stu
dents are out meeting new friends,
cheering at football games, and
whooping it up at dorm parties, other
are doing nothing—except thinking
about home.
Why do some students get
homesick, and others not?
That’s exactly what Nicole
Scaramelli wanted to know. The 1997
Dartmouth College graduate spent
her senior year researching a prob
lem that experts says afflicts as many
as 30 percent of first-year students.
“Homesickness is one of the
leading causes of people coming into
the health center to see a counselor
or doctor,” said Scaramelli, a psychol
ogy major.
For the 12-month project,
she studied about 100 Dartmouth stu
dents and dug up evidence to suggest
tbat homesickness is mostly linked to
a student’s personality; people who
are introverted tend to be more likely
to be homesick, according to her
study.
Scaramelli says she delved
into the topic even though she her
self never experienced a bad bout of
the homesick blues. But during her
freshman year, “one of my roommates
had a difficult time adjusting and ended
up leaving school,” she said. “That kind
of sensitized me to the issue.”
Working with Dartmouth pro
fessor William Morris, Scaramelli asked
first-year students to fill out a question
naire in the summer before starting
Dartmouth, and then six weeks after
arriving on campus. The questionnaire
tested students’ personality types.
Scaramelli says she thought
the survey results would verify what she
calls her “grieving hypothesis,” that
“people who were happiest in their
home life might have a greater sense of
loss in a new situation, and would there
fore be more likely to experience home
sickness.”
But that was not the case. “We
were pretty surprised, ” she said. “The
If you’re feeling homesick, you’re not
alone. But don’t suffer in silence!
Here’s where to find some help:
The Resident Advisor or Area Coordinator
for your dorm
The Counseling Center--630-7150
The Campus Ministry Center--630-7157
Budget pact
offers wealth
of education
tax breaks
The College Press Service
WASHINGTON-College students and their
families could reap major benefits from a new balanced
budget agreement between the White House and
Congress that includes as much as $40 billion for
education-related tax breaks.
The plan contains both tax credits and tax
deductions for higher education, while a separate
agreement should pave the way for confined increases in
Pell Grants as well.
“It’s a tremendous package of new resources
for families and students going to school,” said Edward
Kealy, executive director of the Committee for Educa
tion Funding, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy
group.
The tax provisions are similar to President
Clinton’s original HOPE scholarships, which provide tax
breaks for the first two years of college. But the final
budget plan also follows a complex formula that may
have most families looking to their accountants for help.
“It probably will require better advice and more
information from both college financial aid officers and
high school counselors,” Kealy said. Despite the
complexities, the plan “opens up the possibility of
college for all families,” he added.
Here is a brief description of the tax provisions;
•Freshmen and sophomores would get a tax
credit on the first $1,000 of tuition and a 50 percent
credit on the next $1,000. For example, a student with
$2,000 in tuition costs would receive $ 1,000 plus half of
the next $ 1,000, for a total aid package of $ 1,500. These
students also would remain eligible for Pell Grants of up
to $3,000 in 1998, based on financial need.
•Juniors, seniors, graduate students, and
returning adults would receive a 20 percent credit on the
first $5,000 of tuition and fees through the year 2002
and the first $10,000 of tuition and fees thereafter. These
students also would remain eligible for Pell Grants.
•All students could get a tax deduction of up to
$2,500 a year for interest paid on education loans.
Families and students could claim this credit even if they
do not itemize their tax returns.
•Families and students could make penalty-free
withdrawals from Individual Retirement Accounts
(IRAs) to pay for college costs.
•Students whose employers pay for under
graduate education could receive benefits worth $5,250
a year before incurring any tax liability.
White House and congressional negotiators still
are working on details of eligibility for the pro
grams. One option under discussion would offer
eligibility to two-parent families earning up to
$80,000 a year and single parents earning up to
$40,000 annually.
Two-parent families earning $80,000 to
$ 100,000 a year and single parents with incomes of
$40,000 to $50,000 a year still would get some
benefits, but those with higher incomes would lose
eligibility.
The tax credits also are not refundable for
low-income families, which means that students or
their families must incur some income-tax liability
to qualify for the new benefits.
“Combined with the Pell Grant increase,
this agreement can allow families and college to put
together financial aid packages that make higher
education accessible,” Kealy said.
He also praised negotiators for promoting
lifelong learning through the 20 percent credit. “It’s
a lifetime credit that’s there to be used at any time.”
The tax package differs in some respects
from the Presidcnl’s original proposal, which
included an annual guaranteed $1,500 tax credit for
the first two years of college and a $10,000 tuition
tax deduction. But that plan did not allow students
to get Pell Grants in addition to the tax breaks.
“The most needy student does better in
this agreement,” said Ray Taylor, who represents
community college leaders in Washington, D.C. By
adding the Pell Grant provision, he said, needy
students can get both direct assistance and tax
benefits.
Republicans also claimed the President’s
original plan could promote tuition inflation among
colleges. A broader approach to tax relief, with
several different components, will not increase
inflationary pressure, they said.
But the complex new package will force
colleges to step up their financial aid advising. One
potential headache is that families still must pay
their tuition and fees in the fall and will not get the
tax credits until they file tax remrns the following
April.
“Colleges must advise students of the new
system, at the very least,” Taylor said.
results were exactly opposite. People
who were most unsatisfied with their
homelife were most likely to be
homesick.”
Students were deemed to
be homesick by the way they re
sponded to statements like “1 feel
lonely here” and “I think about home
constantly.”
The ones who battled
homesickness also were msot often
introverted students who tended to
be dependent on others. “It sort of
seemed like a double-edged sword,”
Scaramelli said, explaning that intro
verts find it hard to meet new people.
“It you have trouble getting that sup
port, you’re kind of in a bind.”
See HOMESICK, page 2
MC to honor Fred Chappell at
13th Southern Writers Symposium
Staff Report
Methodist College will honor
North Carolina author and teacher Fred
Chappell Sept. 26-27 at its 13th South
ern Writers Symposium.
The theme for the two-day
event is “Fred Chappell: Places of Pos
sibility.” Dr. Mary Wheeling White, as
sistant professor of English, is serving
as symposium director.
A well-known poet, novelist,
and UNC-G English professor, Chappell
will read from a book in progress. Look
Back All the Green Valley, at a dinner
Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.
On Sept. 27, he will give an informal
reading and talk, “Chat and Backchat,
Sass and Backsass,” at 2:45 p.m. in
Hensdale Chapel. This is open to the
public at no charge.
On Sept. 27, the Methodist
College Theatre Department will
present a staged dramatic reading of
Chappell’s poetry entitled “Hillside and
Holler: Voices and Echoes.” Tickets for
this event, scheduled for 8 p.m. in
Reeves Auditorium, are $5.
“Much of Fred Chappell’s
work deals with region—specifically
North Carolina—and explores the infi
nite possibilities found within seemingly
limited places,” said White. “For two
days, the symposium participants
will share their ideas on how
Chappell’s literature, criticism, and
even his teaching journey into un
expected places, from the magical
to the technical.”
For more information, con
tact Dr. White at 630-7492. A com
plete schedule of the symposium
events is on the Web at
www.apcnet.co m/Methodist/
Methodist.html.
INSIDE
SGA’s efforts result in new visitation hours
-page 2
Debt counselors give advice on budgeting
--page 3
Upcoming sports events highlighted
-page 3
New year gives everyone fresh beginnings
-page 4
Welcome to all freshmen and new students,
and welcome back to all returning Monarchs!
The Pride is your voice on campus, so let us
hear from you.