The Miami Student Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826
TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2013
VOLUME 140 NO. 44
MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY In 1990, The Miami Student reported that the director of liberal education, Karen Schilling, said the first courses of the newly developed Miami Plan would be offered in the following semester. Schilling was quoted saying the plan would “require a full university commitment to the program...”
RedHawks advance to CCHA Semifinals BY JOE GIERINGER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The No. 3 Miami University hockey team might have been one of nine squads nationwide that needed a third game to clinch its respective league tournament quarterfinal, but for the fourth year in a row it will be headed to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Semifinals in Detroit, Mich. As the top-seeded RedHawks (24-10-5) left the Goggin Ice Arena Friday night, there was a palpable dejection. The 3-0 loss to 11-seed Michigan State University (14-26-3) was fresh and the Brotherhood was suddenly on its heels in this best-of-3 series. “They outplayed us from the beginning,” Head Coach Enrico Blasi said Friday night. “They won a lot of key battles and they got a couple goals up. They did a good job blocking shots and weren’t giving us second opportunities. [Freshman Jake] Hildebrand played well [in goal]. They did a great job.” With renewed focus, the Red and White returned to action Saturday, and despite allowing a power play goal just 28 seconds into the contest, rallied with four straight goals to cruise to a 4-1 victory. Sophomore forward Austin Czarnik tallied the game winner and the final strike with his first of the night coming on the penalty kill, propelling him to a NCAA-leading four shorthand goals. Classmates Jimmy Mullin and Cody Murphy added one a piece as well. Freshmen forward Riley Barber and defenseman Matthew Caito picked up two assists each and senior defenseman Joe Hartman tallied a single assist, as did Murphy. “We did a good job of attacking the net,” Czarnik said Saturday. “We got pucks to the net and won battles in front of the net. That was our key focus for today and we were successful with it.” With the series on the line, the RedHawks came out with a purpose in Sunday’s Game Three, in the final CCHA game ever played at Steve Cady Arena. Miami jumped on the board first when Hildebrand mishandled the puck behind his net, serving up freshman forward Kevin Morris at the 15:03 of the first period,
giving Miami its eighth shorthanded goal on the season, second best in the nation. “Luckily the goalie kind of served up a pizza for me,” Morris said. “But first goals are huge in games like this, and luckily we were able to pop one.” Freshman forward Sean Kuraly found his stride as the game continued, recording his first multi-goal game of the season when it mattered most. His first strike came in the closing minutes of the first frame as he edged the defenseman down the righthand boards and used his long reach to beat the goaltender to the far side. But the Spartans would not go quietly, as Miami accrued four penalties in the span of four minutes in the second period. Going down 5-on-3 two separate times, the RedHawks killed all but one of the infractions to maintain a 2-1 lead heading into the third. Feeding off of the fervent crowd reaction, Kuraly struck once more, corralling his own rebound and burying his second goal of the night. Czarnik put the icing on the cake with an empty net goal in the final seconds to make the final score 4-1. “We’ve been in the right mindset all season,” Morris said. “It’s been a process and we’ve stuck to that process.” The past two contests were ‘win or go home’ for the RedHawks, and Blasi noted it might have pushed to play some of their best hockey. “I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason,” Blasi said of his team’s early series loss. “As I said Friday night on my way out of here, ‘this happened for a reason.’ Sometimes you’re not privileged to those reasons. But it turned out that it helped us intensify our commitment to the team, to each other, to the type of game that we want to play and from here on in it’s a one game shot.” Miami will face the University of Michigan in the CCHA Semifinals 4:35 p.m., March 23. Michigan stands at 17-18-3, but they might very well be the hottest team in the country right now. They’ve gone 7-0-1 in their last eight games, which will prove a mighty test for a young RedHawk squad.
BLAKE WILSON THE MIAMI STUDENT
Miami University sophomore forward Jimmy Mullin celebrates with freshman defenseman Chris Joyaux and senior defenseman Joe Hartmann after a goal.
National student loan debt triples, Miami average fifth highest in Ohio BY EMILY GLASER
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Miami University students who are worried about loan debt after college are not alone: the national student loan debt has tripled over the last eight years, according to a recent report from the New York Federal Reserve. Approximately 54 percent of Miami students are borrowing loans, with an average indebtedness of $27,200 per student according to Brent Shock, director of financial assistance at Miami. The trend is seen throughout the nation, including Ohio. According to Shock, Miami’s average debt owed is fifth in Ohio, behind other four-year public schools like Bowling Green State University, Kent State University, the University of Toledo and the University of Cincinnati. Bowling Green University students owe an average of $32,000 upon graduation, according to Shock.
Junior Taylor Vaughn is among one of many Miami students who takes out loans, and said she expects to owe approximately $27,000 after she completes her undergraduate studies at Miami. “I’m most worried about how much is going to accumulate after grad school, and since I don’t have a clear career path being a Psych major, I’m not 100 percent certain what I want to do yet,” Vaughn said. Shock listed some potential reasons for the national loan debt increase. “The personal wealth of many families has shrunk,” he said. “Many use equity in home to help finance college cost and the equity is based on the value of the home. All across the country, home values have declined in the last four or five years, which means that resource has dried up for some families.” Shock also said the increasing debt could be because more
people are in college. Thomas Hall, professor of economics at Miami, agreed with Shock. “More people want to attend college, and the cost of college has gone up enormously,” he said. Hall said he is concerned about the economic impact of the increasing amounts of loan debt. “The concern I have with it is how it’s going to impact students who are running up debt now, later,” he said. “It will delay their purchases of homes, they might not buy as expensive of an automobile as they would have otherwise. It’s going to be a burden that they will have wrapped around their neck for the next couple of years.” Shock said Miami is taking new initiatives next year to help prevent students from accumulating debt.
DEBT,
SEE PAGE 5
‘Monopoly money’ myth affects students’ on-campus spending habits BY ADRIENNE MONCRIEF FOR THE MIAMI STUDENT
Miami University meal plans may cause students to spend more than they would with cash. According to students, simply tapping or swiping their IDs to pay for food, makes them feel as though they are not spending real money, which impacts their spending habits. Some referred to meal plans as “Monopoly money.” With this fake money spending mentality, students said they spend more than they would with tangible money, and many said they would spend little to no money on campus if they had to pay with cash rather than their ID. With the Diplomat meal plan, students receive discounts on food items in the dining halls and the markets on campus. Diplomat meal plans save students 60 percent at buffet-style dining halls, 40 percent at togo windows and 30 percent at a la carte locations. The discount entices students
to buy more, said first-year Warren Barker. “Because you’re getting the discount, you feel like you’re getting a great deal,” Barker said. “Even though in reality it’s probably more expensive than some places uptown.” Prices are higher without the Diplomat discount, which deters people without meal plans from buying food on campus. For example, certain fine dining locations on campus such as La Mia, Panache and One Eight 09 cost more than the typical dining halls. Without the discount, Sunday brunch at One Eight 09 costs around $15. “If I had to pull out $15 every time I went to One Eight 09, I would come here a lot less,” said first-year Michael Jackson. The discount enables students to buy food at locations on campus that they could not afford otherwise, according Jackson. Senior LaNay Riley, an employee at the register at Ovations, said she rarely sees customers pay with cash or credit cards. If they do, they
mostly consist of older adults and graduate students. “Credit cards are used for a small amount of spending such as a smoothie or a pretzel,” Riley said. “But if I had to spend money here, I would never spend five bucks on a pretzel.” Typically, more underclassmen have meal plans because they live on campus. Although buying food from a la carte locations costs more than eating at buffet-style dining halls, many students with meal plans said they do not care about price. First-year Amanda Cheng said she never checks how much money she has left in her account. “It doesn’t feel like real money, so I feel like it’s never going to run out,” Cheng said. Sophomore Nomsa Mzozoyana, register worker at Market Street, noticed this trend. “One girl came in and spent almost $150 on food,” Mzozoyana said. “People buy steak and things that you wouldn’t buy with cash but you would with a meal plan. They have all this
money on their card, so they’ll spend it on food at the market or buy things for their friends without meal plans.” Junior Morgan Feeney confirmed this observation; she said she buys food for her friends at Market Street with her Miami Express meal plan, a smaller meal plan for students who live off campus. “During [sorority] recruitment, I was paying for everyone at the market with my meal plan,” Feeney said. “I’d rather spend Monopoly money at the market with my meal plan than spend real money at the grocery store.” Although Feeney lives off campus, she has a small amount on her card because of the convenience. “Just in case you’re ever on campus all day and you don’t have enough time to go back to your house in between classes, it’s more convenient to have a small meal plan,” Feeney said. “Because of the fake money aspect, it’s so nice. I can grab a Starbucks before class and not
have to pay cash for it.” According to Cheng, she does not think that her meal plan spending habits will carry over after college. “My parents are the one paying for my meal plan,” Cheng said. “When I use my own money, I’m much more cautious with what I spend. I don’t think my spending habits would be the same because I’d actually be paying for my own credit card bill.” First-year Jill Runser said she pays for her meal plan with her own money. She does not consider the meal plan to be like Monopoly money. She is very cautious of spending and the amounts in her debit card and meal plan accounts. “With all the money we spend, I always try to choose the lowest amount possible on meal plans and MUULA because I realize it’s real money,” Runser said. “However, during the school year, it’s sometimes difficult to remind myself of that and I don’t worry about my balance until I get low. Then I watch every dollar.”