Daily Toreador The
FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2013 VOLUME 87 ■ ISSUE 159
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Serving the Texas Tech University community since 1925
USPS eyes alcohol deliveries WASHINGTON (AP) — Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has a wish list for raising cash for his financially ailing agency. High on it is delivery of beer, wine and spirits. In an interview with The Associated Press, Donahoe also endorsed ending most door-to-door and Saturday mail deliveries as cost-saving measures. Donahoe says delivering alcohol has the potential to raise as much as $50 million a year. The Postal Service says mailing alcoholic beverages is currently restricted by law. Customers are even told to cover any logos or labels if they use alcoholic beverage boxes for shipments. The agency lost $16 billion last year and is working toward restructuring its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. A House committee has passed legislation that would cut letter deliveries to five days and phase out door-to-door deliveries.
Texas prison system running out of execution drug HUNTSVILLE (AP) — The nation’s most active death penalty state is running out of its execution drug. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Thursday that its remaining supply of pentobarbital expires in September and that no alternatives have been found. It wasn’t immediately clear whether two executions scheduled for next month would be delayed. The state has already executed 11 death-row inmates this year, and at least seven more have execution dates in coming months. “We will be unable to use our current supply of pentobarbital after it expires,” agency spokesman Jason Clark said. “We are exploring all options at this time.”
Texas lawmakers again tackle road funding AUSTIN (AP) — An unusual eighth month of the Texas Legislature is starting with weary lawmakers still searching for compromise on new transportation funding. A House committee Thursday once again considered plans to roughly spend an extra $900 million annually on crumbling and congested Texas highways. Earlier prospects of passage were derailed, in part, by a clock-busting filibuster over abortion and nearly two dozen House members missing a key vote. Some lawmakers are hopeful that this third special session — the first since 2006 — won’t last beyond next week. The Senate has already passed a funding plan. Some House members have said they could vote soon as Monday.
SGA addresses Electric Utility Board By CARSON WILSON Staff Writer
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The Lubbock Power and Light Electric Utility Board unanimously voted to recommend that the City Council remove the $30 fee that is charged to hundreds of customers who use a customer service representative to make a payment arrangement for three months. The recommendation will be forwarded to City Council for deliberation in a future council meeting. Gladys Smith, reverend of the Crown of Eternal Life church and Lubbock resident, also was at the meeting to express her concerns about how the Council has handled the situation. “I haven’t seen anything that is producing results,” she said. “I’m not happy.” The meeting included a closed executive session, an open regular session and a set time allotted to citizens to make public comments.
PEYTON CRAIG, STUDENT Government Association external vice president and a junior political science major from Houston, speaks on behalf of Texas Tech students at the Lubbock Power and Light Electric Utility Board meeting Wednesday.
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Museum hosts Fairy Tale, Adventure camp By ASHLYN TUBBS Photo editor
The Museum of Texas Tech became mystical to some this week. Children ages 9 to 12 gathered in the museum from July 30 to August 1 and tapped into their imaginations as part of the Fairy Tale and Adventure Stories Camp. “Normally, every summer we host a camp for children of various ages and we had found a book that was crafts related to fairy tales,” said Cynthia Buster, a heritage management graduate student from Ft. Worth, “and that’s when we came up with the idea.” This is the first year the museum has hosted a camp like this, she said, and the initial camp idea underwent some changes. “We had originally thought the camp would just be for fairy tales, but then we thought we would just get a lot of girls,” Buster said, “and we wanted to include boys, so we included adventure.” The camp had an attendance of about 10 participants. Some of the activities the children completed included making crafts, learning about stories including different fairy tales, adventures, knights and the Medieval and Middle Ages. CAMP continued on Page 2 ➤➤
Honors College adviser leaves to teach in LISD
CYNTHIA BUSTER, A heritage managment graduate student, from Wichita, Kan., and Amanda Brown, a museum science graduate student from San Antonio, show students an example of a sea creature they made on Thursday afternoon.
Study shows parents pay less for college tuition Managing editor
A desire to get into the classroom is driving Thomas Reynolds to say farewell to the Texas Tech Honors College. Monday, on Facebook, the Honors College released an announcement made by the adviser stating he would be departing from the college. Many students commented on the post with sad well wishes. “I feel lucky to have been a part of this community and to have served my own small part in placing Honors in a great position to move forward over the coming years,” Reynolds said in his announcement. Originally from Midland, Reynolds graduated summa cum laude from Tech with a Bachelor of Arts degree in German and history with an emphasis in religions, according to the Honors College website. LISD continued on Page 2 ➤➤
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PHOTO BY ASHLYN TUBBSThe Daily Toreador
By EMILY GARDNER
By CARSON WILSON Staff Writer
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Tuition, loans, rent, groceries and textbook costs. College students and parents are starting to understand post-recession college costs, a Sallie Mae study determined. Parents’ out-of-pocket costs continued to be reduced as scholarships, grants and student borrowing increasingly helped pay for college, according to theHow America Pays for College 2013 study released July 23. The largest contributor to college payments, grants and scholarships, according to the study, pay on average, 30 percent of an American family’s college costs. Student borrowing contributes to 18 percent and student income and savings contributes to 11 percent, according to the study. Parent income and savings contributes to 27 percent of a family’s expenses, with parent borrowing at 9 percent. Relatives and friends’ contributions constitute 5 percent of total cost. The study focused on undergraduate
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students ranging from ages 18 to 24. About half of Texas Tech’s Red to Black program’s clients are financially independent, Red to Black graduate assistant Paulina Veloz said, while the other half is financially dependent. “A lot of people will come in and they talk about, you know, how do I budget my financial aid award?’” she said, “and then sometimes they’ll say ‘Oh, how do I budget with my financial aid award, and then I have scholarships coming in, but then my parents also pay for something.’ So, it just really depends on the client.” The number of Tech undergraduate students who received financial aid, for 2012-2013, was 23,211, and the number of scholarship applications received was 9,516, according to an email sent by Senior Managing Director for Student Financial Aid Becky Wilson. The average costs for college during the 2012-2013 year was $21,178, according to the study. However, Texas Tech’s tuition and fees costs were $18,906 for 30 credit hours
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that same year, according to Wilson’s email. One of the reasons Veloz said she believes there is an increase in the number of students paying for college themselves is because of a gap in the older generation where savings was important, and Red to Black Coordinator Nadia Marquez agreed. “They weren’t aware of it growing up,” Marquez said. “Their parents didn’t have college funds set up for them.” According to the study, six out of 10 families do not have an advanced financial plan in how to pay for college, and a result of the recession and the country’s economic recovery is the parent’s’ out-of-pocket spending from 2010 to 2013 decreased by 35 percent. Marquez said the recession was a wakeup call, which Veloz said she agreed with. Veloz said she believes students’ spending and reaction to the recession stems from their parents and their first thoughts about money.
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