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Tori Tinnin, a sophomore business major, and Lamarr Dixon, a sophomore
mathematics major, enjoy a quiet moment behind Steele Building.
Chapel Hill agency assists students with financial woes
■ A Franklin Street agency
helps students and residents
budget their finances.
BY LAURA GODWIN
CITY EDITOR
The beginning ofthe school year brings
more than just new professors and new
classes. For many, it can mean charging
hundreds of dollars for books, groceries
and supplies. All too often, those charged
dollars become lingering debts.
There is help available to students and
residents who find themselves dealing
with mounting bills. The Consumer
Credit Counseling Service, located at
1829 E. Franklin St., isanonprofit agency
that specializes in helping consumers
control mounting debts.
Leslie de Monchaux, a counselor for
the service, said her organization’s pri
mary function is to be a resource to those
who want to become better consumers.
“Probably about nine out of 10 folks
come in for counseling and probably
about one out of 10 come in for debt
management,” shesaid. “Wetry towork
through how much to spend a month.”
The service is part of a nationwide
program. Locally, it receives funding
primarily from the United Way, Orange
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County and the towns of Carrboro and
Chapel Hill.
De Monchaux said most students fall
into trouble financially when they make
credit card purchases.
There are some people who fall into
financial trouble for “legitimate reasons”
such as a sudden illness, “then there are
the people who just know they don’t
have the money and put it on die Visa
card anyway,” she said.
John Deak, a junior from Winston-
Salem, said the beginning of the school
year brings worries which make it easy to
lose track of personal finances. “You just
get caught in the early rush,” he said.
“I’m just too busy to worry about per
sonal finances.”
De Monchaux said that students are
not bad consumers, rather, most are un
educated about good money manage
ment. “I don’t know where people are
expected to learn money management,”
she said. “You just don’t learn this stuff
out of the air.”
Freshmen who are away from home
for the first time pile up-debts, because
the typical parents do not share with their
children how to manage their funds, de
Monchaux said.
Deak said being away from home
made a difference in his personal finances.
“It’s a lot of stuff to start out with,” he
said. “Money was always there when
Wage increase could mean higher prices for all
BY MELISSA STEELE
SENIOR WRITER
Local employees and business man
agers said they were beginning to wonder
if there’s more to the recent minimum
wage increase than meets the eye.
President Bill Clinton signed a bill
Tuesday that will increase minimum
wage to $4.75 starting Oct. 1,1996, and
then to $5.15 on Sept. 1,1997. The raise
means that many hourly employees will
be pulling in larger paychecks. But busi
nessmen said they are afraid they’ll be
swallowing the difference.
“I don’t think (the wage increase) is
going to help anyone,’’saidJamilQumeh,
manager of Subway on Franklin Street.
He said the initial 50 cents won’t make
University to foot bill for graduate student health insurance
BY DAVE SNELL
STAFF WRITER
Thanks to a change in state law adopted
by the N.C. General Assembly, UNC-
Chapel Hill’s graduate students will re
ceive free medical insurance this year.
The new law, which allows the Uni
versity to draw from its own budget to
provide such insurance, will affect about
5,300 UNC-CH graduate students.
Graduate and Professional Student
Federation PresidentKatherineKraft said
the new insurance plan would give UNC
CH a more competitive edge in attracting
quality graduate students.
In file past, the University had trouble
“I don’t know where people
are expected to learn money
management. ”
LESLIE DE MONCHAUX
Certified Consumer Credit Counselor
your parents were around.”
For students who might have charged
too much during the book rush, de
Monchaux said the counseling service
can help.
Because the counseling service is part
of a nationwide program, de Monchaux
said she is able to deal with credit card
companies directly and sometimes get
them to accept a lower monthly pay
ment.
When clients come to the service, they
receive a one-on-one counseling session
in which a budget is worked through.
“We try to work through how much to
spend a month, ” she said. “A lot of times
all people really need is a plan.”
For those consumers who have good
credit and would like it to remain that
way, de Monchaux recommends buying
a money management self-help book.
“Make steps to educate yourself, because
now is the time to keep these devastating
debts from piling up,” she said.
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much of a difference to the part-time
workers he employs for only a few hours
per week. The consumers are the ones
who will really pay, Qumeh added.
“It’s going to hurt the consumers in
the long run because we’re going to have
to raise our prices,” he said. He antici
pates many fast food restaurants elimi
nating their “value meal” menus and
going back to regular prices and possibly
even raising other prices.
Deciding how to make up for money
lost to higher wages is left up to indi
vidual business owners. Taking it out of
the business’ existing funds, raising the
price of their merchandise, hiring fewer
workers or firing current employees are a
few options they listed.
Donna Devanney, manager of Caro
retaining graduate students because of
low stipends, policies against granting
remissions or full waivers and lack of
affordable insurance, Kraft said.
“People need to recognize graduate
students are recruited just like athletes
are recruited,” Kraft said.
But Chancellor Michael Hooker said
an even more important issue than re
cruiting advantages was providing for
the security of students.
“It’s an issue of fairness and justice
more so than just being competitive with
the University ofVirginia and other com
parable institutions,” Hooker said.
Until this year, the University had no
funds for school-sponsored graduate
De Monchaux also recommends that
students do notkeep more than one credit
card. “It is OK to have a credit card, but
keep it to one credit card and only charge
things that are emergencies,” she said.
“It’s not that credit cards are evil, it’s just
that they snowball out of control.”
The Consumer Credit Counseling Ser
vice is open Monday through Thursday
from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., as well as
evenings Tuesdays and Wednesdays. To
begin the counseling process, call 933-
4226.
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lina Pride Sportswear, said she had not
given the wage increase much thought
yet, but said, “I think it’s about time they
increased minimum wage.”
Carolina Pride employees start at mini
mum wage so the business will be di
rectly affected. Devanney will have to do
something to make up for the increase in
pay.
“I’ll probably have to hire less people
and make them work more,” she said,
“But I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do.”
Several store managers in Chapel Hill
said their employees already start out at
a rate higher than minimum wage, so the
bill does not really affect them. However,
it is possible that the workers who manu
facture the clothes or products sold in
these stores work for minimum wage,
health insurance, when the legislature
allocated $17.8 million in academic en
hancement funds.
Legislators passed a law which al
lowed the two universities to use some of
the money to pay for graduate student
insurance.
Under the new plan, all graduate stu
dents will receive free medical insurance
this year, to be paid for by the academic
enhancement fund. Over the next three
years, the cost will be transferred to alter
nate funding sources, such as grants, for
the 1,500 graduate students receiving less
than $2,000 from state sources, Kraft
said. Graduate students getting more than
$2,000 from the state will continue re
THIRD PARTIES
FROM PAGE 3
an organization pushing ecological and
social justice. The party will not be on the
ballot, but local supporters are gathering
signatures to make consumer advocate
Ralph Nader a write-in candidate for
president.
Nader was nominated Monday at the
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Friday, August 23,1996
which would cause the manufacturing
cost to increase.
“I think (the wage increase) will set a
trend for all businesses,” said Chuck
Helpingstine, owner of Johnny T-Shirt.
“Prices will have to go up because they’re
determined by the manufacturer.”
Helpingstine said he might not raise
his employees’ pay at exactly the same
time as the bill goes into effect, but an
increase will follow closely.
Qumeh said he increased the starting
pay rate at Subway from $4.25 to $5.00
per hour a couple of weeks ago, knowing
that the bill would pass. He said he tried
to keep his new employees’ starting rate
at minimum wage for a trial period to
determine if they will be dependable
workers.
ceiving insurance paid for by the Univer
sity.
Hooker said the money would be part
of the state’s continuing appropriations,
allowing the University to continue to
offer the service even after the initial
funds ran out.
Graduate students used to have the
option of buying the UNC Student Pre
ferred Medical Insurance Plan for $654
annually, the same price paid by all stu
dents. The University will now cover
that cost.
The implementation date is Sept. 30,
Kraft said.
John Sweeney contributed to this story.
Greens’ convention in Los Angeles.
State Chairman Dan Coleman, a
Chapel Hill computer consultant who
joinedthe Orange County Greens in 1985,
said he is excited about the chance to vote
for Nader.
“There couldn’t be a more ideal candi
date, ” he said. “Nader is campaigning on
a group of issues that he has been in
volved in for a long time.”
5