The Pine Log

              CMYK
By Peter Orszag
Bloomberg News
As the U.S. population ages, and with the
effects of the financial crisis promising to
linger for some time, economic growth will
be lower than we would like. This is why the
federal government needs to do more to help
Americans earn college degrees.
For much of the 20th century, the United
States benefited from rapidly rising educa-tional
levels, as the economists Claudia Goldin
and Lawrence F. Katz of Harvard University
showed in their 2008 book, "The Race Between
Education and Technology." Over the past 30
years, however, educational attainment has
risen much more slowly. From 1960 to 1985, the
share of adult Americans with at least a col-lege
degree more than doubled, to 19 percent
from less than 8 percent. From 1985 to 2010,
though, the share rose by only about half, to
30 percent. This slowdown has exacerbated
inequality and crimped growth.
If the increase had continued at the same
rate as before 1985, about half the adult popu-lation
today would have at least a college
degree. More graduates would mean lower in-equality,
because the wage premium for a col-lege
degree would be reduced by the addition-al
supply. And it would mean higher national
income, because better-educated workers are,
on average, more productive.
So it is important to ask what we can do to
raise college graduation rates. It may be useful,
in turn, to break that question down into the
three stages of attaining a degree: high- school
graduation, college enrollment and college
completion. For now, I would like to focus on
the first two stages.
The first challenge, it seems, is already being
met to some degree. In a surprisingly encour-aging,
though little discussed, development,
the high-school graduation rate has been in-creasing.
After stagnating from 1970 to 2000,
it has risen by about six percentage points
over the past decade, reaching about 85 per-cent.
The increases have been particularly
substantial among blacks and Hispanics. In
a new paper examining this trend, Harvard
University economist Richard Murnane says
many recent school reforms (such as provid-ing
support and guidance to ninth-graders)
look like promising explanations, though he
says the evidence is too thin to allow definitive
conclusions, or to suggest exactly what we can
do to sustain or expand on the recent success.
The second stage involves college enroll-ment.
Among many considerations that in-fluence
a person's decision to attend college,
financial aid is a significant one. Aid to under-graduates
totals about $200 billion a year in
the U.S., and about two-thirds of students are
eligible for some form of assistance. A variety
of evidence suggests that every $1,000 of ad-ditional
grant aid per student increases college
enrollment by about three to four percentage
points, according to a review of the literature
by Susan Dynarski, a professor of public pol-icy
at the University of Michigan, and David
Deming, an assistant professor of education at
Harvard.
The reverse is also true; people who lack ac-cess
to financial aid are less likely to invest in
college. Michael Lovenheim and Emily Owens
of Cornell University found this effect in their
study of a 2001 amendment to the Higher
Education Act that prevented people convicted
of drug offenses from receiving federal fi-nancial
aid for two years. College attendance
among those affected by the rule plummeted.
It is not just the amount of aid that mat-ters
but also the complexity of the process.
Students apply for federal aid through the
Fafsa (free application for federal student aid),
which is cumbersome to the point of being in-timidating
to many potential applicants, who
are often unaware of the aid for which they are
potentially eligible. The 2011 Fafsa poses 116
questions, almost as many as a full 1040 tax
return (and many more than the simplified
1040EZ form).
The cost of this complexity was demon-strated
in the results of an experiment by Eric
Bettinger, an associate professor of education
at Stanford University, and several colleagues.
Working with H&R Block Inc. tax preparers,
the researchers randomly assigned potential
applicants to two different groups. One re-ceived
assistance in filling out the Fafsa, as
well as an estimate of their aid eligibility and
information about college options; the other
received information about aid eligibility but
no help in filling out the forms.
TODAY
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Visit us online at
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Volume 94
Issue 6
Next Publication:
Monday February 18, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
PINE LOG The
The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University
36
SATURDAY
H
Page 6
An inside look at
the conference’s
top big man
By Katelynn Wiggins
Staff Writer
If SFA fails to sign
an agreement with the
Department of Defense
(DoD), some military vet-erans
could lose tuition as-sistance.
The agreement is the
“DoD Voluntary Education
Partnership Memorandum
of Understanding between
the DoD office under the
Secretary of Defense for
Personnel and Readiness
and Stephen F. Austin State
University.”
“SFA is currently in the
process of completing the
application and executing
the agreement,” Damon
Derrick, SFA general coun-cil,
said. SFA has been re-viewing
the Memorandum
of Understanding since 2011
and must sign the agree-ment
by March 1, or the
institution will be unable
to participate in the DoD
Tuition Assistance program.
The tuition assistance
program allows payment
of 100 percent of educa-tion
costs for service mem-bers
up to $250 per credit
hour and $4,500 per year.
Application and gradua-tion
fees are not covered by
the program. Each military
branch has different specifi-cations
and rules for tuition
payment or reimbursement.
“Many colleges and uni-versities
throughout the
country had concerns over
(the memorandum’s) provi-sions,”
Derrick said.
Carolyn Hardy, assis-tant
director of admis-sions,
said the agreement
is completely separate from
the Montgomery GI Bill VA
Benefits. Hardy is one of
the two School Certifying
Officials for these benefits.
For more information
about the agreement and
for a list of universities that
have already signed it, visit
www.dodmou.com.
Volunteer registration is now open for SFA’s largest ser-vice
project, the fifth annual The BIG Event, which takes
place Saturday, March 23.
The BIG Event, sponsored by the Office of Student Affairs
Programs – Leadership and Service, promotes unity be-tween
campus and community as students come together
for one day to express their gratitude through service for
the support from the Nacogdoches community. Students
work in teams to complete projects across Nacogdoches
County as a way to say “thank you!” to the community for
their support of SFA students.
Students are encouraged to pre-register online through
Axes, or can register in person at the BPSC Involvement
Center. Students can find direct links to the registration
pages by visiting www.sfasu.edu/thebigevent.
“The BIG Event is a great way for students to interact
with the community,” Jamie Bouldin, assistant director
for leadership and service, said. “It is a unique way for stu-dents
to participate in community service here at SFA, and
we expect this year’s event to be our biggest yet.”
Bouldin highly recommends pre-registration for stu-dents
looking to get involved.
“If students pre-register, they will definitely be given a
project to do that day,” she said. “We will do our very best
to accommodate students who walk up and want to par-ticipate,
but we cannot absolutely guarantee that walk-ins
will be given service projects to work on.”
Students can sign up as individuals or in groups. Group
size is limited to five people, but larger organizations can
sign up multiple groups, which will be partnered together
for bigger projects. Projects will vary from needing as few
as five people to as many as 50 volunteers.
All participants should wear clothes they can get dirty,
and for safety reasons, closed-toe shoes.
The BIG Event began at Texas A&M University 31 years
ago as a way to say “thank you” to its surrounding commu-nity.
Since then, colleges and universities across the nation
have said “thank you” to their communities for the support
and gratitude given to students each day. More than 75
universities conduct a The BIG Event each year.
For more information on The BIG Event, visit www.sfasu.
edu/thebigevent or contact Jamie Bouldin at 936.468.1088
or jfbouldin@sfasu.edu.
pinelog@thepinelog.com
Student registration for The BIG Event now open
The SFA School of Theatre will present the stu-dent-
directed production of “WASP” by comedian
Steve Martin at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 2 and 7:30
p.m. Saturday in the Downstage Theatre in the
Griffith Fine Arts Building.
The one-act play will be directed by Mesquite
senior John Lisi.
“‘WASP’ is an absurd comedy that presents Steve
Martin’s view of the traditional culture of White
Anglo-Saxon Protestants,” Lisi said.
The student cast features Nacogdoches junior
Bailey Wier, Amarillo sophomore Mary Collie, San
Antonio junior Jordan Boyd, Spring Branch ju-nior
Allison Day, Rota, Spain, sophomore Michael
Spencer and Longview junior Valarie McLeckie.
The production team includes Austin Holt,
Weatherford junior, as stage manager; Antonio
Dibernardo, Mesquite sophomore, as scenic design-er;
Megan Thomas, Houston senior, as costume de-signer;
Kaitlyn Turney, Jacksonville senior, as light-ing
designer; Amanda Warren, Nacogdoches sopho-more,
as sound designer; and Virginia Arteaga,
Houston senior, as properties manager.
A senior acting major, Lisi’s previous directing
credits include “Sure Thing” by David Ives. He has
appeared on stage in “Art,” “She Stoops to Conquer”
and “Old Saybrook.”
“WASP” is recommended for mature audiences.
Tickets are $3. For tickets or more information, call
the Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407.
SFA theatre
presents Steve
Martin’s ‘WASP’
Military
veterans
face losing
tuition
assistance
More college grads equals
faster economic growth
College, page 2
SFA Public Affairs
SFA’s Thomas J. Rusk Building