Student Life | December 7, 2007
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STAFF EDITORIAL | PROFESSOR SMITH’S LAST LECTURE TODAY | SEE FORUM, PAGE 4 TUDENT IFE THE SINDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY L IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 129, NO. 41 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2007 WWW.STUDLIFE.COM Fewer appeals leave SU with Administration discusses money to burn tuition at annual forum part of the money set aside for BY TEDDY WHITE BY PERRY STEIN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER appeals because there has been such low demand. CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Student Union (SU) is encour- “The treasurers wanted to After meeting with students aging student groups on campus see the funding percentage [for at the annual Tuition Forum on to appeal for more funding after category I groups] higher,” said Tuesday to explain, and receive spending from the appeals fund Marius Johnson, SU treasurer. feedback on, the breakdown of lagged considerably in compari- “Because they could safely do it, tuition, the Washington Univer- son to previous years. they moved $15,000 so the fund- sity administration will meet As of Thursday afternoon, ing percentage would be higher.” with the Board of Trustees to- there was about $115,000 avail- The student activities fee, night to set the offi cial tuition able in the appeals fund for which is set at one percent of the for the 2008-09 academic year. Washington University student annual tuition paid by each stu- The Executive Board will of- organizations. dent, determines the SU budget; fi cially announce the tuition This amount is signifi cantly because tuition rates are rising price to the student body on greater than it has been in past faster than infl ation, the budget January 7, 2008. years, which is typically around is larger this year. To determ ine the tuition $30,000, said SU President Neil Also, a new rule restricts the price, according to Chancellor Patel. groups that can receive money Mark Wrighton, the Board con- The appeals fund is used to from the SU Treasury. Funding siders a variety of internal and supplement student group’s allo- for class councils, school coun- external factors such as faculty cation for the purpose of funding cils and executive committees— wages and the global economy. programs that are not originally and specifi cally the appeals for “We try to garner informa- budgeted for. those big ticket items—is now tion about what family income The surplus this year comes the responsibility of the execu- is doing and how a family can SCOTT BRESSLER | STUDENT LIFE on the heels of a year in which tive branch. support the tuition that we the treasury ran out of money “You can see the effect,” said set,” said Wrighton. “We take a From left to right: Justin Carroll, James McLeod, Ed Macias, Mark Wrighton, Bill Witbrodt and Barbara Feiner at more than a month before the SU Speaker of the Treasury John look at infl ation and other indi- the annual Tuition Forum on Tuesday night in Mudd Multipurpose. The Wash. U. administration will meet with end of classes. Ablan. “More money overall and cators that may be relevant to the Board of Trustees tonight to set the offi cial tuition for the next academic year. Last March, the treasury emp- a decrease in the number of en- what’s going to happen July 1, tied its appeals fund premature- tities able to make funding re- which is the next fi scal year.” ly, preventing student groups quests is bound to lead to the re- Although the current rate 15th for food costs. said Wrighton. “We look at how plus percent. Our endowment, from appealing for funds for any maining groups having greater of infl ation stands at about While the administration much it costs a student to at- which at the end of the fi scal end of semester programs. access to those funds.” 3.5 percent, vice chancellor of said the University tries to tend Washington University year on June 30 totaled about At the time, many students This change comes as a result Finance Barb Feiner said that remain competitive with the in a year and then we look at $5.7 billion, is not all dedicated criticized the process by which of a decision handed down last costs in academia rise faster prices of our peer institutions, how much the family can af- to purposes where we can move treasury spent money from the year by the judiciary branch. than the rate of infl ation. Washington University is typi- ford to pay and the result is the the money around to do things appeals fund saying that they Based on this year’s sur- “A rationale that I read cally the fi rst to set its tuition amount that the student still that we might like to do.” were too lax in their allocations; about for college and universi- price for the next fi scal year. needs to cover all the costs.” The endowment, however, this year they have reallocated See APPEALS, page 2 ty expenses rising faster than “In comparison to other uni- Despite endowment increas- does contribute signifi cantly to the cost of infl ation is that a lot versities, in terms of timing, we ing 20 percent this year, Wrigh- fi nancial aid. $250 million of of the things that have become can’t look back over this year ton said that endowments will endowment goes to fi nancial cheaper over the years because and see what other institutions not affect tuition price or fi - aid which results in a payout of Student Union use of appeals fund of imports and immigrants are have been doing, because gen- nancial aid. While Wrighton about $10 million a year. This not included here in our bud- erally speaking, we’re the fi rst conceded that the University represents about 14 percent of Fall 2006 Fall 2007 gets,” said Feiner. “Our budgets major research university to is in constant need of more the total fi nancial aid. are primarily driven by highly announce next year’s tuition,” fi nancial aid, he added endow- The University’s fi nancial Money educated labor force that goes said Wrighton. “So in some ment funds are categorized aid has had success with the originally up much faster than the rate of sense, we are a pacesetter.” as restricted funds and must approximately 600 students in fund: $254,000 $240 000* infl ation.” Financial aid is also affect- be used for specifi c, predeter- from the class of 2007 gradu- On a list of 26 universities, ed by tuition prices. Accord- mined projects. ating with debt, who have an Washington University ranks ing to Bill Witbrodt, director “We don’t have the latitude average debt of $22,000—well Money left 17th for highest tuition price of student fi nancial services, that some people think to take below the national average. over at the among comparable Universi- because of the simple formula our endowment gain and re- “We know that students who end of the $26,351 $115,411 ties, 12th when mandatory fees used to determine fi nancial deploy it for a purpose that are worrying about fi nances semester: are included and seventh when need, fi nancial aid packages today we think is important,” can’t fl ourish and students room and board costs are in- generally rise with the cost of noted Wrighton. “Our endow- who are worrying about their *Last week the treasury voted to transfer $15,000 out of the appeals fund to the Category I appeals fund. cluded. The University ranks tuition. ment performance was really parents’ fi nances can’t fl our- third for room and board and “We use a simple equation,” great; we did increase about 20 ish,” said Witbrodt. DENNIS SWEENEY | STUDENT LIFE CHI-TOWN Chinese ranked among top language courses v With an eye towards further improve- ment, some changes will be implemented BY DAVID SONG used as models to redesign NEWS EDITOR equivalent Advanced Placement (AP) courses in high school. A recent study conducted by Therefore, a future student who the College Board recognized has received credit from the re- one of Washington University’s designed Chinese AP test could Chinese courses as among the skip third-level modern Chi- best in foreign language and lit- nese. erature. “It was an extensive nomina- The class, third-level Modern tion process across the coun- Chinese I, is divided into multi- try,” explained Terri Ward, se- ple sections, taught by Fengtao nior lead research at EPIC. “The Wu, senior lecturer in Chinese, courses were nominated by and Ke Nie, visiting lecturer in people in their fi eld, as courses Chinese. equivalent of their AP course. The Educational Policy Im- So when a student comes to an provement Center (EPIC), the institution with AP credit, the LILY SCHORR | STUDENT LIFE institution that conducted the question is, ‘which course do study, examined university they not have to take?’” Dean Dirk Killen, associate dean in Arts & Sciences, teaches Tai Chi to students from the East Asian Persuasion BLOC in the Village on practice courses across the U.S. The eight AP courses exam- Wednesday night. Dean Killen also teaches a Tai Chi class for beginners class in University College. to select 10 that best fi t the ined by the EPIC study were the study’s criteria. Those 10 courses will be See CHINESE, page 2 Basketball and more... It’s who you know... INSIDE: NEWSROOM PHONE 314-935-5995 Come to the Field House What’s the difference Sports . 3 ADVERTISING PHONE on Saturday for the men’s between applying for college Forum.