Letter to the editor

Pierce is a vast 426 acre campus with peripheral parking lots and a spread out central core. We are so large that we have two metro stops and lots of off campus, on street parking. These facts lead to the need to use bikes, scooters, and skateboards to get to the campus core and to transition it. If you have a class in the Village and then need to get to the art building, you know what I mean.

CSUN has much the same geogravphy and it is a bike and skateboard friendly campus. Sadly Pierce is not.

There are many of us faculty, staff and administrators who believe we need to rethink our bike policy and entertain the idea of bike paths both on the campus streets and the mall.

There is a great opportunity for the ASO to exercise their leadership to organize and rally the students to help formulate a workable policy to the benefit of all.

Professor Joseph Perret

nice, shaded smoking area away from high traffic?

We can’t just throw all of our problems into the parking lot; they’re a big enough problem as it is already. For those who don’t ride or smoke, it seems a petty issue. Consider a student living off sandwiches and saltines. A skateboard isn’t just necessary, it is one of the easiest decisions they will make.

The people that made this pointless policy do not ride skateboards. They drive their automobiles, and park in their special parking spots.

We let cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, bicycles, mopeds, scooters onto the campus every day. Skateboarders deserve the same consideration.

This isn’t an invitation to turn the campus into a giant skate park. It is an appeal to our policy makers to allow our skaters to skate.

And perhaps reopening a few designated smoking areas could help keep our campus from looking like a giant ashtray.

Give them back their smoking areas, and let them smoke in the shade.

Clearly the bans aren’t working. As they have shown through a sort of civil disobedience, these two groups already own the campus.

With the sheriff’s having no cadets, low personnel and 20,000 or so students to tend to, it’s likely to remain low on the priority list.

You can make any rule you like, but ultimately people will do what they believe is necessary.

Repeal the ban on skateboards; amend the ban on smoking.

It took a president to make this happen, and a president could undo it. Lift the ban on skateboards and give smokers a place to smoke.

With a swipe of her hand, Kathleen Burke-Kelly could make some wellneeded adjustments to these two policies.

The Associated Students Organization represents the students, and it would be nice to see this brought up at the next Academic Senate meeting; student skaters and smokers deserve the consideration.

Nick McNamara nmcnamara.roundupnews@gmail.com

up to $12,192 a year, California State University recipients can receive up to $5,970 a year, and recipients from “independent colleges” can receive up to $9,223 a year according to the California Student Aid Commission.

The careful reader will have noticed one thing and have a question on their mind.

What about community college students?

For those who were awarded the Cal Grant A and attending a California Community College will have their fees and tuitions covered by the grant, and the full sum will be awaiting them when they transfer according to the California Student Aid Commission.

For those unaware, a grant is money awarded by the government to those who meet the qualifications, to be used for education and living expenses.

This money does not need to be paid back. Yes, you read correctly.

Government grants for education do not need to be paid back, as opposed to loans which do need to be paid back and might even incur interest fees.

If you are considering taking out loans over grants, then you are making a serious mistake.

Free money from the government is exactly what students need in this time of economic crisis.

The Federal Pell Grant awards up to $5,550 a year according to www.studentaid.ed.gov. But there is more.

Cal Grants, which comes from (you guessed it) the California government, offers out even large potential sums to college students in need.

Cal Grant A recipients attending a University of California can receive and federal court decisions, these materials are free from prior restraint by the virtue of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. Accordingly, materials published herein, including any opinions expressed, should not be interpreted as the position of the L.A. Community College District, the college or any officer or employee thereof.

Cal Grant B recipients can receive a $1,473 payment, and Cal Grant C recipients can receive $547 for technical schools or up to $2,462 for tuition and fees for those attending a school for a vocational education, except at California Community Colleges, as fees are waived for Cal Grant recipients, all according to the California Student Aid Commission.

All this money. All of it at no cost to you, and all you have to do is meet their requirements to receive it.

Does it sound too good to be true? Well, it really is not.

If you can qualify for the grants, there is absolutely no reason for you not to take them.

Like they say, the best things in life are free and when it comes to free money I don’t see why anyone would pass that up.

They are a much better deal than becoming another cog of the growing student debt in the United States.

For more information, check out www.csac.ed.gov and www.fafsa. ed.gov to check your eligibility and apply for grants.