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THE
Tennessee Tech University | Cookeville, TN | 38505
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Volume 95 | Issue 1 | Free in single copy | September 16, 2011
Tech Village unveils multi-million dollar makeover By LOGAN NICKELSON Staff Writer Tech Village prepares to open the doors of its newly renovated apartments to students this week as the first phase of the residential construction project nears completion. The long-term plan, however, includes building more than student housing. “Community is the most important thing to me,” Richard Barns, TTU associate director of Residential Life, said. “We have a strong community here now, but we really feel that the upgrades along with some of the program ideas that we have will enhance that.” Barn’s vision is to transform the Tech Village Commons into a full-service facility performing social, educational, and administrative functions.
Part of this vision includes taking the learning and living village concept— already in practice at a number of residence halls— and implementing it at Tech Village. “For years you’ve heard people say, ‘we don’t call them dormitories, we call them residence halls,’” Barns said. “With the villages concept, we’re really making that distinction. Once you begin teaching courses in a residential facility, they’re no longer dormitories; they’re residence halls and it’s a community where you live, work, and play.” Barns says he expects this more holistic approach to remodeling the complex to have several positive effects at Tech, the least of which being an increase in the student retention rate. The construction project, which began last October, was initially prompted by concerns expressed by the
Fire Marshal. As a result, the new costefficient one- and two-bedroom apartment suites, ranging in price from $650 to $900 per month, feature various fire safety improvements in addition to general upgrades such as enhanced lighting of the property, larger water heaters, more kitchen space, and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Other amenities include Wi-Fi internet access, basic cable, telephone capabilities, and full-size kitchen appliances. Residents also have free access to a computer lab, laundry mat, patio and community center space and utilities, basketball and volleyball courts, and CATS transportation services. Barns said he expects that more apartments and an expanded community center will be ready for residents in
Logan Nickelson
Construction crewmember Brad Mckee walks past a renovated Tech Village apartment. Tech Village apartments are going to open soon with a rental price of $650 to $900. the coming months. The projected total cost for renovation of the 304 units and additional facilities
is between $22 million and $25 million. For more information, contact Tech Village Reserva-
tionist Maggie Hooks at (931) 372-3271 or visit www.tntech. edu/reslife/techvillage.
President Bell advises Tech students least likely to default on loans patience for successor By ELLIE BOLES Staff Writer
By EMILY WEINZETL Staff Writer After 36 years of service to Tech, President Bob Bell has announced his plan to retire next July. The announcement was made July 8, in a formal letter to faculty and staff. “I’m sad to go,” said Bell. “I wake up every day and I’m glad I made the decision, but I’m also going to miss it a lot.” Bell began his career at Tech in 1976 as the chairman of the department of management and marketing, and he was named dean and professor of management in what was then the College of Business Administration in 1991. “After 10 years of being the dean of the college of business here, I started thinking I’d probably added most of the value I was going to add,” Bell said. “I started thinking about either going back to being a professor or finding some other administrative role.” Bell originally applied for a presidential role for a university in Alabama. The presidential position opening at Tech and Bell’s nomination came later. “I remember going home to my wife and saying, ‘Do we really want to run at this?’” Bell said. “She said yes, and that got it started. There was a lot of support in the community partly because of the orga-
Bell nizations I’ve been in.” Bell described the transition to the presidency as one of ease, having known and worked under president Angelo Volpe who presided for 11 years. “I would just walk across the campus and president Volpe and I would sit in his office and talk about what July 1, 2000 would look like,” Bell said. Eleven years later Bell sits in the same office reflecting on what he considers the highlights of his presidential career. “The interaction with the alumni and students are the most fun parts of the job,” Bell said. “I’ll miss the students, but I may get to spend more time with them now. I love to go out and represent the University, so I’ll miss fundraising, too.” See “Bell” page 2
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As the national student debt rises steadily higher, Tech graduates are managing to avoid the burden of massive student loans. CNBC recently reported that America’s student loan debt is growing at a rate of $2,853.88 per second. At this pace, it will surpass $1 trillion in 2012. According to an online report from Mark Kantrowitz, founder of financial aid Web sites Finaid.org and Fastweb.com, the average 2011 graduate entered the job market with $27,000 of debt. “The debt load is so crushing, many of today’s graduates will likely still be paying of their student loans when they drop their children off at their college dorm rooms,” Kantrowitz said. In a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, changes made in the Higher Education Act that increased loan limits for undergraduates made borrowing large amounts of money much easier than before. Now, regardless of their actual need for assistance, students can borrow up to $10,500 annually during their junior and senior years of college. Crossville native Emily Corbin attended Tulane University in Louisiana, and is now facing what she describes as an insurmountable debt. “It will be a miracle if I can pay them off,” Corbin said. “My house is worth
less than I owe in student loans.” Today’s job market offers little relief to those students with burdening debt. Right now, there are roughly the same number of jobs in America as there were in 2000—but there are 30 million more people in the country. The unemployment rate for college graduates one year after graduation is nearly 15 percent. While the future may be uncertain for many of this country’s recent graduates, Director of Financial Aid Lester McKenzie said Tech graduates aren’t feeling the effects of increasing national student debt as severely as those at other universities. The average student debt of a graduating undergraduate student at Tech is $9,510—less than half the national average. “In college, you don’t need to live the same lifestyle you lived at home,” McKenzie said. “If you‘re borrowing money to go out to eat every night, then that’s a problem. We always preach to students to borrow only what they need.” Tech’s default rate is well below the 7.5 percent national average. Only 48 out of 1,800 borrowers defaulted on their loans last year— that’s 2.6 percent. East Tennessee State University, a school with similar tuition rates to Tech, had a 9.3 percent default rate. “Not only are our students borrowing less than their counterparts at other
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schools,” McKenzie said, “but they’re paying their loans back at a higher rate.” McKenzie said that a big reason for the low default rate is the amount of money Tech’s new graduates are making. “Our graduates typically have high starting salaries,” said McKenzie. “Not just our engineers, either, but our teachers and accountants, and many others.”
According to Payscale. com, Tech has the second highest starting median salary of Tennessee public universities at $42,500. “Our students leave here and make money,” said McKenzie. “They’re paying off their student loans, which are normally low to begin with, and they’re succeeding.”
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