DePaulia
The
2017 Pacemaker Award Winner/Best Weekly College Newspaper-SPJ
Volume #102 | Issue #14 | Feb. 5, 2018 | depauliaonline.com
TYGER WATCH Campbell disappoints by prolonging commitment announcement See back page
BISS AT DEPAUL Democratic candidate for governor holds town hall By Benjamin Conboy News Editor
Democratic candidate for governor Daniel Biss held a town hall-style event on Saturday, Feb. 3, where he discussed his positions on campaign finance reform, reproductive health and the niceties of negotiating a state budget. Biss seemed at home back in a classroom on the fourth floor of the Levan Center in front of a chalkboard, a place he had spent a great deal of time as a mathematics professor at the University of Chicago. “There’s chalk and a chalkboard,” he said. “So watch out.” The first question was about his position on marijuana. Biss, a vocal proponent of legalizing recreational marijuana, took a comic pause to retrieve a campaign sign that was propped up behind him that said “CannaBiss.” Biss cosponsored a bill in the Illinois General Assembly that would legalize recreational marijuana, but said that he would commute the sentences of those convicted of marijuana crimes. He addressed ways to curb Illinois’ declining population. “I will not build a wall,” he said. He said that the Illinois population crisis has punished higher education institutions in the state. “I tell people that Bruce Rauner has been a horrible governor for the state of Illinois, but one of the best governors the University of Wisconsin has ever had,” Biss said.
See BISS, page 6 PHOTO COURTESY OF SEAN RAJU
Mark Cuban invests $250,o00 for 25 percent of student’s app By Benjamin Conboy News Editor
When Nick Skrzyniarzc was fresh out of college, he said he was drowning in student debt. One day he thought to himself, “Something needs to change.” That little idea, he said, was what inspired the idea for the app he developed with his brother Dan Stelmach, called ChangEd. It takes debit purchases, rounds them up to the nearest dollar, deposits them in an FDIC insured account, and once the user’s wallet reaches $100, it automatically sends a payment toward their student loans. Currently, there is $1.3 trillion owed in student debt around the country, and ChangEd aims to help student tackle the seemingly-insurmountable debt with mere pennies. So far, they have already sent out more than $100,000 in student loan payments, and now they are looking to make that number much higher. “We all know college is an experience you’ll never forget,” Stelmach told the
group of investors. “And you won’t, especially if you have to pay for it 10 to 25 years after graduating. It’s going to delay any goals you have.” “We have a saying here at ChangEd,” Skyrzyniarzc said. “‘Mom isn’t going to write you a $10,000 check, but she will give you the spare change from her morning cup of coffee.’” Their small startup found its way onto ABC’s “Shark Tank,” where they had the opportunity to court high-profile investors. When they gave their pitch on “Shark Tank,” the investors were initially skeptical of their high valuation and their ability to create revenue. However, the brothers’ lively pitch piqued the attention of technology and sports investor Mark Cuban. “Student debt is really one of the biggest problems facing our country right now,” Cuban said on the show. “It takes away from the economy and it prevents people from moving up and getting a better job.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF ABC
Brothers Dan Stelmach and Nick Skrzyniarzc pitched their idea for ChangEd to the sharks on an episode of “Shark Tank” that appeared on ABC on Sunday, Jan. 28.
Their pitch first enraptured investor Robert Herjavec. But he thought they had overinflated their valuation and offered them $250,000 – but for a 48 percent
stake in the company, much less than they had hoped. Cuban ended up being so impressed with the See CHANGED, page 8