THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF PENNSYLVANIA
online at thedp.com
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014
Univ. budget sees highest financial aid to date $197 million will go toward undergraduate financial aid in the 2015 fiscal year BY KRISTEN GRABARZ News Editor Penn’s budget for the 2015 fiscal year includes the largest financial aid budget in the University’s history. Allocating $197 million toward undergraduate financial aid, the recently enacted budget — which took effect July 1 and will terminate with the fiscal year on June 30, 2015 — saw a 4.5 percent increase in undergraduate financial aid.
“The overall financial aid budget has increased by 4 percent to $444 million,” Vice President of Budget and Management Analysis Bonnie Gibson said, adding that the $197 million allocated to undergraduate financial aid is a 4.5 percent increase compared to the 2014 fiscal year and a 150 percent increase since 2004. According to the budget overview released by the Of f ice of Budget and Management Analysis, Penn is “one of fewer than 50 private institutions in the United States maintaining a need-blind admissions policy while upholding its commitment to meet full demonstrated need with the all-grant, no-loan packages.”
Increase in Penn’s Affordability and Accessibility
Penn has seen a marked increase in financial need, with the number of grant-aided undergraduates growing by 30 percent since the 2008 fiscal year. The graduate and professional financial aid budget for this fiscal year totals $155 million, with an additional $92 million budgeted as stipend support. Tuition and fees are budgeted to increase by 3.9 percent to $47,668. This is the sixth consecutive year that the increase has been below 4 percent. According to the budget overview, peer institutions report tuition and fee increases ranging from 2.9 percent to 4.3 SEE BUDGET PAGE 5
How much have costs changed? tuition and fees
$50,000
undergrad aid
$40,000
overall expenditures
$30,000
1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6%
$20,000
Tuition and fees are budgeted to increase by 3.9% in FY2015
$10,000 $0 ‘05
‘06
‘07
‘08
‘09
‘10
‘11
‘12
‘13
The undergraduate aid budget has grown by 4.5% this year
‘14
Total Undergraduate Cost of Attendance at Penn in Constant (2005) Dollars
Overall expenditures will increase by 6.6%
Average Net Cost for Aided Freshmen in Constant (2005) Dollars SOURCE: University of Pennsylvania’s 2015 Budget Report
Fire in Chestnut Hall Apartments
Graphic by Sophia Lee and Luke Chen
Luke Chen/Editor-in-Chief
Evacuated residents of Chestnut Hall Apartments stood outside Sunday night while the Philadelphia fire department extinguished the blaze.
DPS reported that the blaze was caused by cooking BY KRISTEN GRABARZ News Editor At 8:26 p.m. on Sunday, Philadelphia Police and Fire Department and Penn Police responded to a fire at the Chestnut Hall Apartments on 39th and Sansom streets, according to the Division of Public Safety. The building was evacuated while the fire — which appeared to have been caused by cooking — was contained.
The fire was extinguished and residents were allowed re-entry at approximately 9:45 p.m. No injuries were reported. Rising College sophomore Mallor y K irby, a resident of Hamilton Court Apartments across the street from the Chestnut Hall complex, was walking home at the time of the fire and said that the scene seemed surprisingly calm. “None of the fire was visible from the street — at least from my perspective,” Kirby said. “They evacuated the whole building and there was a large police and fire department presence, but no one was panicking on the street.”
Pennsylvanians vote Penn State most respected Penn received only 17 percent of the votes BY FOLA ONIFADE Deputy News Editor In a statewide poll of Pennsylvania, Harper Polling has released survey results that found Pennsylvania State University to be the most respected school in the state. In its “Our Commonwealth Poll”, 24 percent of participants chose Penn State over Bucknell University, Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pitts-
burgh, and Villanova University. Penn and Carnegie Mellon were tied for second with 17 percent each. The survey, conducted between June 25 an June 26, also found that schools received higher percentages in their respective regions. In the Philadelphia and Southwest regions, Penn and Temple claimed about 60 percent of the votes together. “It doesn’t tell us a whole lot about anything,” economics professor Francis DiTraglia said. “It’s a light hearted poll and it doesn’t say a lot about the universities involved.” He went on to list the different criteria people might use to determine respect. “A school like Penn State
has a lot more students than Penn. There are a lot more graduates and there’s a tendency for people to refer to what they know,” he said. DiTraglia used the polling results to do some further digging of his own and noted some of the disproportionality in the results. Penn’s class of 2017 had about 2400 students with about 16 percent coming from the state of Pennsylvania. Penn State, on the other hand, had 8400 freshmen at University Park alone, with more than 60 percent in-state students. W har ton professor Abraham Wyner was not impressed. “A surSEE PENN STATE PAGE 5
THE FOURTH IN PHILLY
MOST RESPECTED UNIVERSITIES Harper Polling asked IN PENNSYLVANIA each region of 45.1% PENN STATE
52.5% CARNEGIE MELLON
37.5% PENN STATE
GRAPHIC BY LUKE CHEN
ARIEL SMITH Staff Writer
Osama Ahmed/Staff Photographer
The Philadelphia Museum of Art was illuminated by an explosive firework display on July 4, following the free Wawa Welcome America concert. Many Penn students made their way to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to see Ed Sheeran and Nicki Minaj perform.
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30.2% PENN
Penn to lead research project to restore memory loss The University will receive $22.5 million in research funding over four years
SEE INDEPENDENCE PAGE 2
37.1% PENN STATE
Pennsylvania which university it respected most. Here are the universities most respected universities by each region, with the percentage of respondents who chose them.
Penn and the University of California, Los Angeles are the two schools initially chosen by the federal government to develop and test implantable devices to facilitate memory recovery after brain injury. Penn will receive up to $22.5 million in funding over four years for its role in the research. T he Defense A d v a nced R e search Projects Agency (DARPA) announced the launch of the Restoring Active Memor y ( R A M )
program yesterday. R A M is only one of DA RPA’s programs supporting President Obama’s Brain Research through A d v a nc i ng I n nov at ive Neu r o technolog ies — or the BR A I N Initiative. It is “part of a new Presidential focus aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain,” according to the National Institutes of Health. The BRAIN Initiative seeks to create a “revolutionar y new dy namic picture of the brain” that will “fill major gaps in our current knowledge” of the human mind. The RAM program ultimately seeks to create implantable neuroprosthetics — artificial extensions to the body that restore SEE DARPA PAGE 5
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