STATE, LOCAL
“ INTERNATIONAL
Dr. Hess Presents Status of Girls in NC Sequester Leads to Student Worries
Hannah Thornton, staff writer
The Status of Girls in North Caro
lina is a report that has swept North
Carolina and the progress of w'omen
by storm. The report analyzes how
girls in North Carolina are faring in
seven areas: demographics, poverty
and economic security, education,
media, physical health, mental health,
sexual health, and leadership and civic
engagement. Data was utilized from
over ten sources at the national and
local level. The analysis looks at girls
primarily and then delves into factors
of age, grade, race, and ethnicity.
Dr. Allen, Meredith College president,
and Dr. Hess, assistant professor of so
ciology, are the two main writers of the
report. Dr. Hess came to be involved
after Dr. Allen approached to faculty
seeking interest in the project. The
group realized that no one was taking
a look at girls as a
whole across North
Carolina.
Dr. Hess writes
that the importance
of this report for the
Meredith campus lies
in the work and em
powerment Meredith
students can give to
closing the knowl
edge gaps of data and
solutions for the many problems that
this report brings up and was unable
to mention.
Junior Bailey Dunn has been
involved from the start. She was a
research assistant, along with heather
Losee, for much of the statistics that
would be in the report. Bailey even as
sisted with writing two of the sections:
“Substance and Alcohol Abuse” and
“Media and Technology Use by Girls
in NC.”
The report was presented at the
NC Women’s Roundtable on Monday,
March nth, 2013 in Greensboro. The
Women’s Roundtable was created
by the North Carolina Council for
Women, who created the report on the
Status of Women in NC. Upon realiza
tion that both reports, one for women
and one for girls, were to be published
at the same time, a discussion on the
status of both women and girls was
created, hopefully to have much media
coverage.
Bailey Dunn described the Round
table as “honestly a breath taking ex
perience. I don’t think I have ever been
in a room that was full of so many
powerful women in my life.” Women
from every race, profession, and back
ground attended the conference to
discuss the status of females in North
Carolina and how they can make better
futures for the coming generations of
women in our state.
The overall findings of the report
and the Roundtable are best reported
in Dr. Hess’ words, “Overall, there are
reasons to feel great about how girls
are doing—for example, girls are hold
ing their own in terms of educational
achievements; rates of teen pregnancy
are declining; and rates of participa
tion in high school sports are increas
ing for high school females. However,
the major cause of concern is the level
of inequality among
girls by race/ethnic
ity in the state.”
The significance of
the report lies in that.
“I don't know if I
have ever been in a
room full of so many“f“X“ac."“r
powerful women in
my life.”
here and there is no
longer any excuse for
ignoring the facts.
College women
like the students of
Meredith College are needed des
perately to step into the shoes of the
women who have come before us and
paved the way for us to stand up and
fight for girls in North Carolina, the
USA, and across the globe.
For more information and links to
reports and other websites, please go
to Meredith.edu/status-ncgirls.
Monique Kreisman, staff writer
Sequester is a set of automatic
spending cuts that went into effect on
March 1st. It was established in the
Budget Control Act of 2011 and it was
set to begin in January; however, with
tax cuts expiring at the same time.
Congress delayed sequestration until
March. About half of the cuts will
come from the defense budget and half
will come from domestic spending.
The Office of Management and Budget
(0MB) in the executive branch has
been given the responsibility of cutting
over $1 trillion from the federal budget
over the next ten years.
While the 3% cut in federal spend
ing will not be noticed by most of the
population, there are several changes
that will directly affect college stu
dents. The Federal Work-Study (FWS)
program will be ciit by $49 million and
The Federal Supplemental Education
Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) will be
cut by $37 million for the 2013-2014
ditional fees. A $6 fee is tacked to a
Stafford loan, and fees for Direct Sub
sidized and Direct Unsubsidized loans
will be raised from 1% to approximate
ly 1.05%. Fees for Direct PLUS loans
for parents will be raised from 4% to
approximately 4.20%. It may not seem
significant, but it will amount to a sav
ings of $82 million.
Students are worried that the Pell
Grant, a federal aid program that
does not require repayment, may be
cut; however, they need not fret until
at least the 2014-2015 school year.
The Balanced Budget and Emergency
Deficit Control Act of 1985 protect the
Pell Grant through 2014. The rapidly
growing $36.1 billion program gave
aid to 9.4 million students in 2011,
which was a 52% increase from 2008.
When the grant is eligible for cuts, it
could mean that low-income students
lose $500-$ 1000 a year in aid.
Boehner, Pelosi, Obama
school
year. This means that about 33,000
students could lose their federal
work-study jobs, but as of now, the
exact numbers are unknown. Some
schools, like Syracuse University in
New York, have announced that they
will use endowments to maintain the
current level of aid given to students.
Others must decide to either lower the
amount of aid given to each student or
offer aid to fewer students.
Some federal loans now have ad
photo via www.motherJones.com
It is also
expected that the Teacher Education
Assistance for College and Higher
Education (TEACH) grant for students
who agree to teach for four years in a
low-income area will be cut.
HERALD@EMAIL.MEREDITH.EDU
Editor: Amy Hruby — Assistant Editors: Jessica Feltner, Cody Jeffery — Advisor: Dr. Rebecca Duncan
Staff Writers: Lizzie Wood, Helen Kenney, Marzia Nawrozi, Monique Kreisman, Sarah Haseeb, Shanna Alley, Maitlyn Healey,
Emma Johnson, Abigail Gupton, AJ Thompson, Hannah Thornton
The Meredith Herald is produced by the College throughout the academic year and published by Hinton Press. The paper is funded by the College and through independent advertising. The opinions expressed
in the editorial columns do not necessarily reflect those of the College administration, faculty, or student body. The policy of this paper requires that submissions made by 5 p.m. the Thiu^y before publi
cation and that contributors sign all submissions and provide necessary contact information. The editors and staff welcome submissions meeting the above guidelines.