Thursday, January 12, 2012
Best Movies of 2011
The End of the World?
Top 10 flicks you MUST see
A look at the year to come
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RYAN SELEWICZ — THE SANTA CLARA
Freshman Connor Green and Ty Vanherwet stopped to take a picture of the relit Swig lights after they were left off the entire fall quarter. The overwhelming number of requests to turn the lights back was the main reason for their relighting. For many students the lighting atop Swig serves as a symbol of school spirit, and their populolairty has resurged. Students once again have a more colorful means in which to find their way home.
Swig Lights the Way Some Look to Graduate Early Lights back on due to popularity and school spirit Anayo Awuzie
The Santa Clara Lost Santa Clara students trying to find their way home during at night should have no fear as the LED lights at Swig were turned back on last Friday. The popularity is so high that when the lights went out halfway through last year, Watt received about 40 work orders to repair them. “Everyone likes it,” says Watt, “It’s funny, and it turned out to be true, I heard the students are using
it to find their way home at night. They’re using it as a beacon.” The lights, originally fluorescent, lit the perimeter of Swig for many years; however they were turned off during the 1980’s due to system failure, high replacement cost and difficulty of access to the lights, according to Chris Watt, director of Utilities and Contract Maintenance. Now, almost 35 years later, the lights are helping to build Santa Clara spirit in their own unique way once again. The decision to switch from fluorescent to LED was an easy one for administration. Watt, said that when they looked into relighting the roof, they wanted a fix for the problem of burn outs, which was the biggest issue. See STUDENT, Page 3
Tough Life on the Road Men’s basketball off to a rocky start SPORTS, PAGE 10
High costs serve as incentive for early graduation Kurt Wagner
The Santa Clara Santa Clara may be quick to point out it’s four-year graduation rates over state schools’ slower rates, but with tuition increasing 4.5 percent over last year, many students jump at the opportunity to graduate even earlier. A Santa Clara study conducted last fall found that roughly 20 percent of students from 2004-07 were graduating without completing a full 12 quarters, said Santa
Clara Assistant Provost L. Suzanne Dancer. At Santa Clara, graduating one quarter early saves over $13,000 in tuition alone. Students complete graduation requirements early in a number of ways. The study found that transferring units or bringing in AP units from high school were most common, said Dancer. Although on the quarter system, taking a full docket of classes consistently can also put students in position for early graduation. While the decision to graduate early may save student bank accounts, early graduates can negatively impact university budgets. “It was not good for our attempts to budget what our expenses were going to be at the university,” said Dancer. “(Tuition) is a basic building block of our budget.”
With the steep cost of higher education — and student loan debts cracking the $100 billion mark for the first time last year — Santa Clara Career Center Director Elspeth Rossetti doesn’t blame students for saving money when possible. “We really understand when (a student) says, ‘I can get out of here in December,’” said Rossetti. “More and more students are carrying student loans... it’s hard to graduate with a burden of many thousands of dollars.” Graduate Anna Callaghan, 21, ended college last month with the completion of her last final nearly six months before the majority of her fellow classmates. With loans quickly growing, the decision to finish early and save money for See BUDGET, Page 3