PHEAA grant to decrease

YOU SPEAK, WE LISTEN

PHEAA grant to decrease

ASHLEY COOK NEWS EDITOR

ACC722@CABRINI EDU

Cabrini students who receive the PHEAA grant may be faced with difficult choices as a result of the emerging student aid crisis due to the PHEAA grant loss of at least $40 million in PHEAA earnings next year.

Mary Maronic, Foundation and Government Relations Associate for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, urges students to get involved in student lobbying: “Make phone calls to hometown legislators and college legislators. They need to know how much this cutback is effecting the students.”

“With the worsening credit crunch, it may become more difficult for students to borrow money to make up for this loss. In the current year, 455 Cabrini students receive PHEAA grants based on financial need with an average award of $3,520, which represents over $1.5 million in grant funds,” Michael Colahan, director of financial aid, said.

As of April 8, 2008, student grants may be reduced by as much as $700 per recipient in 08-09, according to Mary Young, vice president of government relations for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania.

PHEAA is contributing $69 million of its earnings to help supplement the state’s $386 million appropriation, according to Young.

Due to changes in federal law and turmoil in financial markets caused by the national sub prime mortgage crisis, funding for PHEAA may not be available.

According to Young, Governor Rendell proposed a 3 percent increase, $11.6 million, for the State Grant Program. An insufficient amount to cover the reduction in student’s grants

Pope affirms value of Catholic education

President Iadarola witnesses papal visit

CHRISTINE GRAF ASST MANAGING EDITOR ACG724@CABRINI EDU

Although Catholic college and university presidents went into the meeting with the pope in Washington, D.C. unsure of what he would say to them, Cabrini’s president said his message was positive and reassuring.

Before becoming pope, Benedict XVI had been the Cardinal who often criticized American Catholic education for being too liberal. The college presidents worried that he would try to rein in American academic freedom.

Not so, according to Dr. Antoinette Iadarola, Cabrini’s president, who was present at the meeting on Thursday, April 17, in Washington.

“His message was one of gratitude. He was grateful for all of those who had participated in Catholic higher education,” Iadarola said.

“He believed that this was a wonderful mission and we [Catholic institutions] have contributed enormously to the development of an educated populous here in the United States.”

The pope did not criticize the quality of Catholic identity within Catholic universities in the United States. Instead he brought words of encouragement.

“He talked about academic freedom and his definition was perfectly fine. He was a scholar himself and scholars need to look at all the aspects of an issue in order to arrive at truth,” Iadarola said.

“I really think that he wanted to bring a message of hope in a world that sometimes we do not see hope.”

He mentioned issues to be addressed together as a world community so that we can work to solve these problems, Iadarola said.

Some of these issues were the Iraq war, global warming and the environment, the AIDS epidemic and concerns that the church does not abandon its commitment to the poor.

Iadarola reflected back on her time at Cabrini and expressed what she thought represented the Catholic identity at Cabrini College.

“There are all types of things we do here-- the social justice thrust, the outreach programs, liturgical celebrations, and even the way the students treat each other – all of that is part of a culture, a faith community, that we have developed here,” Iadarola said.

“There is a difference be-