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Cougars return home to take on No. 21 Baylor in mid-week match
March 27, 2012
Frontier Fiesta showcases UH diversity
Issue 94, Volume 77
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
RAs told to return financial aid to UH Miscalculation in allocations lead to recall of funds for residential assistants; some must pay as much as $5000 back to University Max Gardner
THE DAILY COUGAR Around 30 UH residential assistants were caught off guard at a staff meeting on Feb. 29 when they were told they owed money back to the university because they were over-awarded financial aid. Sophomore Journalism major Kathleen Murrill, a residential assistant in Cougar Village, was shocked to learn that she owed the university more than $5,000 after she had already paid off her account. “I had paid my tuition bill in full in January with the help of scholarships, loans and the compensation from being a RA,” said Murrill. “When I saw that I now owed back over $5,000, I was surprised and scared because I had no idea how I would be able to pay that.” Several RAs are facing similar charges and many are not ready to simply pay without trying to fight the charges. As the issue has not yet been resolved, none are willing
to go on record at this time. “The RAs affected are understandably upset. There has been some organization with the creation of a Facebook page and emails to each other,” said Murrill. “I think they just want to know why this wasn’t fully explained to us before we took the position and why we have to pay for this mistake.” UH assigns each student an expected cost of attendance when they enroll based on multiple factors, said Executive Director of Student Financial Aid Sal Loria Jr. Students can receive up to that amount in scholarships and grants that are awarded based on financial need. “We started hearing concern from some staff members that their financial aid packages were being readjusted,” said Executive Director of Residential Life & Housing Don Yackley. “Their aid was being adjusted down based on how much need they qualified for.” Residential assistants receive waivers to cover the costs of room and board rather than monetary compensation, Yackley
said. “The RA waivers are truly waiving their fees,” said Loria. “If you’re not an RA, you would have to pay completely out-of-pocket for those charges. So it is counted as a resource.” Counting the waiver as a resource that impacts the student’s cost of attendance because it is considered needs-based. This amount is factored into the overall amount of aid a student is receiving and counts towards the university’s set budget. “It was really the timing of when we received the (list of RAs) and how we posted those funds to their account,” Loria said. “It happened after students got refunds and that’s what caused the charge back. Some students had been over-awarded.” Once the financial aid office realized these students had been given more aid than their budget allowed, they had to inform them and reclaim the excess amount in compliance with federal law. “Here’s a cup of water and this is how much aid you are eligible for. Financial
ALUMNI
aid filled the cup based on your individual situation,” said Yackley. “Later, housing poured in the amount of what RA compensation is and it made the water spill over. Now we have to clean up the water and return it.” The amounts owed back range from $100 to $7,000 according to Loria, but financial aid is working with each student individually to try and reduce the inconvenience of the costs as much as possible. Loria says he hopes they can lower the number of students affected to about 20. “For any student that is left with an outstanding balance, it will of course be held at no interest,” said Loria. “We’ve paid back the feds so the institution will hold that debt as a zero, no interest loan.” Murrill said she has found the financial aid office helpful in the month it has taken to get her account back to normal, but she is still struggling with the fact that the problem occurred at all. “The situation continues to be RAs continues on page 3
FACULTY
UH Professor wins grant to work in bacteria detection
Student inventor competes
Wins first Houston area NSF biometrics CAREER award Bethany Redd
John Loner
THE DAILY COUGAR
THE DAILY COUGAR A recent graduate of the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture at the University of Houston is competing for one of the three winning spots, decided by popular vote, in Walmart’s “Get on the Shelf” competition. If Verdin Jerome makes it to the top three, his product will be sold in Walmart’s online store and be given free marketing support. The grand-prize winner could also possibly see their product carried in Walmart’s stores. Jerome said he found the competition when a friend posted a link about it on LinkedIn. The Company Jerome cofounder, Vaeren, is submitting the Vaeren Ausion Surround Sound Floor Lamp.
Walmart will allow three winners space in their online store, and one winner will be given retail space in some Walmart stores. | Courtesy of Verdin Jerome The featured lamp has an adjustable speaker stand built in that conceals standard sized speakers underneath the lampshade; the speakers cannot be seen, even with lamp’s light on. “It’s a regular floor lamp, but I redesigned the inside so there is space for standard speakers,” Jerome said. “It’s not made for large speakers.” Jerome said the concealment of surround sound speakers was inspired by a friend’s need for more space. “I have a friend graduate
from NYU film school and he always playing around with his surround sound speakers, due to space,” he said. “He could put two speakers on either side of his sofa, to take up less space.” Walmart has not said if they will control the rights to the winning entry or not. The first round of voting began March 7 and will end Tuesday, when the top ten will move on to the second round of voting. news@thedailycougar.com
University of Houston’s assistant professor Wei-Chuan Shih has won a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the first from the NSF’s Biophotonics Program granted in the greater Houston area. Shih was awarded a five-year, $400,000 grant to develop a new method to identify, count and profile bacteria more efficiently. “You can use very laboratoryintensive techniques to detect bacteria but that is very expensive and requires a lot of sample preparation,” Shih said. Shih’s research combines two different methods of Raman microspectroscopy coupled with computational image analysis to produce fast and accurate results. “A commercial Raman microspectroscopy system is
very slow,” Shih said. “We are building a new instrument that allows us to get the same kind of data but in a fraction of the time by using statistical analysis to mine and recognize patterns, which is more accurate than visual inspection of data.” The research Shih is conducting is useful in medical diagnostics, where bacteria cell culture experiments can take days to yield results. “There is a concern globally for abuse in antibiotic treatment, and part of the reason is that technology cannot help to get a quicker diagnosis,” Shih said. “This technology provides much faster confirmation whether bacteria is present, so doctors can then make a better decision whether to prescribe antibiotics or not.” AWARD continues on page 3