GRAND VALLEY
GV SOPHOMORE FILLS CRUCIAL ROLE FOR LAKER OFFENSE
ST U D E N T- R U N P U B L I C A T I O N S // P R I N T . O N L I N E . M O B I L E // L A N T H O R N . C O M A L L E N D A L E & G R A N D R A P I DS , M I C H I G A N
SEE A7 VO L . 5 0
N O. 9
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
NEWS
Paying the price for honors college classes Students in the Frederik Meijer Honors College pay an additional $20 more per credit hour to cover additional costs, programs SEE A3
INTRODUCING THE
CLASS OF 2019 Smaller than last year, still not very diverse
.3% OTHER
A&E
Eyes Wide Open club raises awareness
.9% NON-RESIDENTIAL INTERNATIONAL 2.2% ASIAN
Student organization focuses on educating fellow Lakers about the realities, statistics of sexual assault on college campuses
4% TWO OR MORE RACES
TOTAL NUMBER
5% HISPANIC
SEE A6
SPORTS
OF FRESHMEN
5.5% AFRICAN AMERICAN
Sophomore pair leads in women’s tennis
82.1% WHITE
4,155
MALES 37.8%
FEMALES 62.2%
No. 1 doubles team Aimee Moccia and Rachel Sumner take charge in surprise GLIAC frontrunner team with 4-2 record SEE A7
ONLINE
Scholarship to honor T. Haas’ 10 years at GV To recognize GVSU President Thomas Haas’ first decade with the university, an endowment has been created in his name SEE LANTHORN.COM
GVL | JORDINN WEST
BY HANNAH LENTZ NEWS@LANTHORN.COM
his year’s freshman class may be 71 students smaller this year, but with students coming from over 50 counties across Michigan, word seems to be getting out about Grand Valley State University. This year, a total of 4,155 students enrolled at GVSU. Though the university has seen larger enrollment numbers on average these last couple of years, the academic details for the freshman classes seem to be staying consistent. The median high school GPA average was
T
slightly lower than last year coming in at 3.56 compared to last year’s score of 3.57. ACT composite scores stayed the same with a median score of 23. While academics stayed mostly the same, a value that increased this year was the number of unique college attendees including first generation college students at GVSU. For the fall semester, 1,528 students were the first of their immediate family to attend college compared to 1,496 students last fall. Additionally, there was an increase of eight veteran students in the class of 2019. “I think there’s a student-centeredness of really wanting to help our students be successful and when you have that kind of an atmosphere and
TUITION
Where the money goes
a lot of support for students when they need assistance to the extent that students take advantage and are motivated to be successful, they tend to be,” said Bart Merkle, dean of students. Of these 4,155 first year students attending GVSU, 3,608 of them are living in on-campus housing and 509 of them are living in off-campus locations. Last year, 3,591 students lived on-campus and 608 students lived off-campus. This means more freshmen are living on campus this year. To accommodate for the increase in students, The SEE FRESHMEN | A2
DIVERSITY
Keeping tabs on inclusion Bias incident reports hold students accountable BY MEGHAN MCBRADY MMBRADY@LANTHORN.COM
tity to pay for the cost of service. Restricted funds’ terms are set by the donor, usually to use the money granted or gifted in a certain way, like in scholarship form or only for a specific project. The general fund puts money from tuition into all areas of GVSU. “It really is our intention that (it) be as transparent as possible,” Bachmeier said. “You guys are paying a lot of money. You have every reason and right to wonder ‘where does it go?’” The rate of tuition depends on the student’s year, number of credits and where the student is from. For a lower division, full-time student, in-state tuition is $11,078 and out-of-state is $15,744 for the entire year. For a full-time upper division student, in-state tuition is $11,648 and out-of-state is $16,344. These numbers mean that the average student at GVSU is paying about 41 cents per minute per class. That means for every hour of class skipped, a student is losing $24.60.
n order to prevent and resolve any prejudice that may occur at Grand Valley State University, the Dean of Student’s office has created an open forum for the community to report bias incidents. For the last few years, the online file has been used as a reporting system so that GVSU can protect and help students, staff and faculty find a resolution to campus issues. Bart Merkle, the dean of students, said that the online report will ultimately help foster communication in ending negativity and hatred on campus. “The university’s values are such that we want to be in an inclusive place and create courtesy and civility,” Merkle said. “However, we do at the same time have such a strong commitment to the freedom of expression and the first amendment, then problems really do occur.” Merkle said most cases reported were not necessarily a policy violation or against the law, but he did display to his office that there are problems that need to be ratified and addressed at GVSU. He said that if somebody has said something particularly awful – most bias incidents are usually issues over race, gender, sexual orientation and religion – Merkle and his office will then have the opportunity to follow up with the victim in order to provide campus resources, like the Counseling Center. “This gives us the opportunity to - if we know who the individual is that has expressed some hateful kind of thing - to sit down and explore that and probe a little bit in terms of trying to understand if that is what they intended and understand if they really want to be hateful,” Merkle said. “Because we are trying to help them understand how a person can be hurt by what they said.” As there are no particular set ways in processing bias incident reports, it is mostly about work-
SEE TUITION | A2
SEE BIAS | A2
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GV students pay 41¢ per minute of class COLLEGE COSTS: Jim Bachmeier, vice president of finance, updates the Board of Trustees on the tuition increase. In July, the board passed a motion requiring that students pay $163 more per semester. Tuition revenue makes up more than 80 percent of the general fund revenue. GVL | KEVIN SIELAFF BY MADDIE FORSHEE LAKERLIFE@LANTHORN.COM
t Grand Valley State University, it is common to hear students complaining about things that the university does that they say they are paying for - a prime example is “watering the sidewalks.” Students want to know where their money goes. “The short answer is that tuition revenue provides more than 80 percent of the university’s general fund revenue,” said Matt McLogan, vice president for university relations. “Tuition is part of nearly every university activity.” Tuition goes many different places, and the breakdown of tuition is much different than students may think. The setting of tuition and where students money goes is controlled by the finance and administration office. Jim Bachmeier, the vice president of finance and administration, said that even with inflation, the cost to attend college actually hasn’t
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changed much over the years, but it’s rather a shift in state aid to public colleges. “The cost to run a class hasn’t changed much at all over 30 years,” he said. “It’s who’s paying it.” Between 2008 and 2012 alone, Michigan cut education funding by a third, causing tuition rates to rise substantially. Education funding has been the biggest change in effecting tuition rates over the years. GVSU received $65 million in state appropriations this year, which is directed toward financial aid, debt service and utilities. Money coming into GVSU goes into different places depending on where it’s coming from. Tuition goes directly into the general fund. Any grants or gifts given to the university go into restricted funds. Money spent on campus, like at the bookstore, goes into an auxiliary fund. The three funds are completely separate from each other. Auxiliary funds come from any type of campus entity that provides a service for students, and that money goes back into the en-
Housing Guide Coming Soon September 28th