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Economist: Factory report shows recession to be over

WASHINGTON — The most severe economic recession since the Great Depression is history, economists said Tuesday.

At least one economist said the report showed a sharp jump in the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index. Read more

More choice, less reform

The American people need economic security. Forty-six million Americans are uninsured. Costs go up year after year. This is a travesty. We need health care reform, and we need it now.

Sound familiar?

This is the establishment line on health care. And, truth be told, it is a serious problem. Read more

Cost of college has high school seniors weighing their options

Mike Maietta was eating lunch when he got a text message from his mom.

“Notre Dame,” it said. “Big envelope!”

Mike, a senior in high school, whooped for joy. The big envelope meant the storied Catholic university in South Bend, Ind., had offered him a coveted slot in its Class of 2013. But the $51,300 annual price tag is a formidable obstacle. So Mike and his parents are considering offers from several other colleges and calculating the costs — tuition, housing, holiday trips home.

This year, money is the driving factor for a growing number of high school seniors, who are spreading out the acceptance letters and crunching the numbers to decide what colleges to attend this fall.

Layoffs, plunging home values and decimated college savings accounts have vastly changed family finances.

“We’re ecstatic that Mike got into so many great schools,” said Michael Maietta, his father, an engineer at Microsoft. “But if you consider going to school out of state, you’ve got to think about all of the other costs: moving, flying back and forth for the holidays. You’re looking at about $3,000 a year just for travel.”

More than 7.6 million students have filled out the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a 19.9 percent increase over last year.

The federal Department of Education this month urged college financial aid officers to give more help to families suffering from the recession. And a record 30,428 students applied for 2,300 slots at Stanford, in part because the university boosted financial aid for families earning below $100,000.

Students have until May 1 to decide on a school, and many campuses require “matriculation deposits” up to $400 to secure their slots for the fall. As families weigh their options, some are going back to financial aid offices in hopes that packages can be boosted.

“The most heartbreaking appeals at this point are from families where parents are just being told about layoffs in the last few weeks,” said Karen Cooper, director of financial aid at Stanford. “Even those who thought they had a plan in place are scrambling to come up with new options.”

Mary Nucciarone, an assistant director of financial aid at Notre Dame, said several families of admitted students are asking the university to consider new information.

“Loss of bonus income, loss of home equity, decrease in assets, mortgages underwater,” she said. “People are coming back to us and saying, ‘Did you consider this?’“

Mike Maietta got into eight colleges, and narrowed his top choices to a final five: Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga and the University of San Diego.

As the Maiettas turn the options over in their minds, numerous factors come into play. Loyola Marymount and Gonzaga offered Mike partial scholarships, but Notre Dame and Vanderbilt did not.

Loyola, in Los Angeles, is within driving distance. But the cost of housing at Gonzaga, in Spokane, Wash., is slightly cheaper.

“Fifty thousand dollars a year is a lot of money,” said Mike, who wants to study mechanical engineering. “I’d like to go to Notre Dame or Vanderbilt, but I can see myself at LMU.”

By Dana Hull / McClatchy Tribune

Stick it to the Bush

The American economy is in turmoil. The housing market collapsed. Companies small and large are going out of business. The automobile industry is crying for bail outs, banks and investors are broke and we are spending billions of dollars that we don’t have.

At a time of economic crisis, the American people should be able to look to their leader — their president. But, good luck doing that. President Barack Obama is so concerned with making sure everyone knows that his administration “inherited” all of its problems from the Bush Administration, he doesn’t have much time be the president of the United States.

Obama started the blame game when he gave his inaugural speech in January and has continued to push this idea, that everything was already bad when he took office, ever since. I am not saying he is wrong; he did inherit these problems. They were set in motion long before he took office.

However, he needs to stop moaning about it and take responsibility for the problems he knew existed when he promised the American people his change. For many Americans, the only change they can see is what’s left of their bank account.

Spending $30 million to save Nancy Pelosi’s salt marsh harvest mouse sounds like earmark spending to me — something Obama assured us would stop when he took office. Obama’s policies of out-of-control spending and taxation of America’s middle class is driving our country further into debt every day and crushing the American dream.

Don’t misunderstand – I want Obama to succeed because I love this country and I want it to thrive. I hope I am wrong about his economic plan. I hope it does bring us out of this recession and restore out country to its former glory that prides itself on capitalism and freedom.

It’s blatantly clear that Obama loves to be in front of the camera, but he needs to be spending his time in the oval office. Abraham Lincoln once said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Obama would be wise to take the advice of our previous renowned leader, before it is too late for him and too late for our country.

Constantly putting down our former president to make himself look better is a cowardly way out. Obama claims he wants to move forward. If this is true, he needs to stop looking backward, stop blaming the previous administration, and do so.

Admissions and Records

National trend shows grad school numbers up while economy is down, but are they related?

It seems there is nothing like an economic recession to kick you right into graduate school.

At least this is what nationwide numbers are implying.

In February of this year, the unemployment rate was at its highest in the last 25 years: an alarming 8.1 percent.

When the numbers were looked at closer, the number for those who were unemployed and lacked a high school diploma was at 12.6 percent. For high school graduates it was considerably lower at 8.3 percent, and it was only 4.1 percent for those with a college degree.

For parents, these statistics may not be so unfamiliar, in the sense that the higher the education level, the more job security is guaranteed — a point often difficult to drive home to kids.

Karen Carey, dean for the division of graduate studies, said that while numbers are up and the economy is down, she doesn’t necessarily think the two, at least on the campus of Fresno State, are related.

“It’s really hard to tell why this [rise] is happening right now,” Carey said.

“We think most of the graduates are coming to grad school because they want better paying jobs or realize they need a graduate education to obtain the kind of jobs they want.”

Carey seemed to think that even if the dip in the economy and the rise of graduate students is linked, it’s not as much as in past recessions.

“Our numbers have been staying pretty consistent over the past several years,” Carey said.

“We’re thinking that some of that is due to a new recruiter within our office that we have just hired.”

Students see postbaccalaureate degrees as essential

For Nicole Engle, a graduate student studying linguistics, not going to graduate school wasn’t really an option.

“I always thought about getting a master’s, but it wasn’t really until my last semester towards my bachelor’s that I decided to go for it,” Engle said.

“In education, if you want to teach at the college level, like I want to, you usually you have to have at least a master’s.”

Engle said that even if the economy wasn’t in a recession, she most likely would have made the same decision.

“Both of my parents went to graduate school and always said that a master’s degree is almost the new bachelor’s. If you want to be able to have a good job and support yourself, getting at least a master’s is always a good idea.”

Because Engle has a scholarship that will give her nearly half of what her graduate degree will cost, she said that in these economic times, it has been a lot easier for her to achieve her goal — although it was not the determining factor.

“I have the Provost’s Scholarship, which gives me $3,000 for the first year, and then I automatically get it again the second year, for a total of $6,000,” Engle said.

“I still would have gone to graduate school, even without the scholarship, because of the support of my family. They’ve been huge, in the sense that they will pay my way through school. It just gives them a lot more help, since I do have the scholarship.”

Student fees to go up 10 percent

Fresno State is being forced to make new plans in adjusting to the country’s economic crisis.

University President John D.Welty said, in a video posted on Fresno State News, that the university is awaiting the passing of the state and federal budgets for education, before making any final decisions.

“We’re making progress getting the budget established for 2009-10, but there still remains continued uncertainty,” Welty said in his video address.

However, the most recent proposed budget is most likely to see an $8.8 million cut.

The budget is pending on the passing of federal legislature’s passing of a $10 billion education plan, $50 million of which would be issued to the California State University system and $3 million which would be received at Fresno State.

In order to reduce the high cuts, it has been proposed to increase student fees by 10 percent, which would cover $4.5 million of the cut.

There is also the possibility that class sizes will increase as a result of the elimination of nearly 100 low-enrollment classes. Many part-time teachers will not be rehired as well and overall enrollment may decrease by 500-600 students.

The budget is only a proposal and will not be finalized until anywhere from late April to early June, Welty said.

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