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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
Paying the bills
Obama, USF help students navigate loan repayments By Alex Rosenthal E D I T O R
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According to a recent report from the White House, an increasing number of students are relying on student loans to pay for tuition at public universities, which has more than tripled in the past three decades. Roughly 71 percent of the country’s students graduate with debt that averages about $29,400, and on Monday, President Barack Obama ordered more action be done to assist students in repaying their loans. While student debt at USF is significantly lower, with only 59 percent of students graduating with debt, directors at USF said only about 11 percent of students are aware of all their repayment options. “I think there is a feeling
that there isn’t much awareness among students,” Director of the USF Office of Financial Aid Billie Jo Hamilton said. “For some students this may be their first experience with credit … Learning how to know what is the best thing for you is hard to do.” Knakeera Bason, a senior majoring in finance and business advertising, said she is just one of many students worrying about paying off student loans. “All my friends say to stay in school as long as possible, and many are now going to grad school after graduation because they are afraid and they want to put off paying back the loans as long as possible,” Bason said. “I’m all smiles, but it’s worrying.” Bason said she will graduate USF this fall and she doesn’t worry about getting a job that
will eventually pay off her more than $31,000 in loans, but she is concerned about the question of when she can pay back her loans. “I’m worried that if I miss a payment, I’m going to get calls harassing me when I’m trying to do something positive and get my education,” she said. While Bason said she is unaware of the different options to repay her loans, the White House is making new efforts to assist students in repaying loans. In a Presidential Memorandum, Obama directed the Secretary of Education to allow nearly 5 million more borrowers be added to the president’s existing Pay As You Earn (PAYE) repayment plan, which caps federal loan payments at 10 percent of a student’s income. These added students, who
would be able to start the option after it takes effect at the end of 2015, include more than 1.3 million in Florida. Currently, there are over 2.3 million students who account for roughly $61.7 million in student loan debt in the state, according to a report from the White House. Nationally, student loans account for $1.1 trillion in debt — more than the combined total of mortgages or credit cards throughout the country. In addition to expanding the PAYE plan, Obama urged more strategies be implemented to promote awareness of various repayment options for students. Similarly, USF began educating students on their options of repaying their loans through the Bull2Bull program, which was started last year to educate stu-
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New dean to bring Honors College into ‘global century’ By Roberto Roldan M A N A G I N G
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In recent years, USF has attempted to make classrooms more globally oriented and Charles Adams, the newly appointed dean of the Honors College, said he wants to bring that focus to the Honors College. On Wednesday, university officials announced Adams would replace the former dean of the college, Stuart Silverman, who held the position for nearly 27 years. Adams is currently the director of international education and an English professor at the University of Arkansas. Even at a young age, Adams said he was always thinking of the world in a larger context. His father worked for a large Charles Adam will become the corporation and Adams spent new dean of the Honors College in much of his time traveling August. ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU
with him and living all over the world. The longest he ever stayed in one place as a child was when he spent six years in London. “Living in foreign places and doing international travel was in my blood by the time I got to college,” Adams said. “So when I went into literary studies I was interested all along in figures that helped to span international gaps.” Throughout his life, Adams learned to speak French and Spanish and picked up German as a Fulbright professor of American Studies in Germany. Adams began his career as an administrator when he moved from professor to head of the English department at UA. From there, he became an associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and oversaw a number of international programs, including the university’s International
Education and the Asian Studies Program. “Dr. Adams is uniquely qualified to enhance USF’s global reach and help our students excel academically,” USF President Judy Genshaft said. “His innovative spirit and passion for learning will have a significant impact on our students and our institution.” For some, his transition from English professor to administrator of international programs might seem odd, but Adams said it was something his personal experiences and studies had prepared him for. “I have no academic credentials in that area, but I was asked to take on those programs for administrative reasons,” he said. “They suited me because I’m interested in international studies in general. There has been a theme all the way through my career of international interests.”
As the new dean of the Honors College, Adams said he wants to bring his passion for international studies to the students. He said he has three main goals he hopes to pursue in the coming years: student success, community engagement and a global education. In addition to ensuring students graduate on time, Adams said he wants honors college students to be successful in the fast-paced, global world they will become a part of after graduation. “The world is changing in a hurry,” Adams said. “In the past 15 years we’ve seen enormous changes in the way we get information and the way we communicate. We have no idea where this is going or what the world will look like in another 15 years, but we do know the basic talents, skills
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and abilities … that will last long beyond just what’s happening in a physics class or an English class here on campus.” One way Adams hopes to prepare honors students is by ensuring they have a more globally oriented education, both through their classes and by offering more study abroad opportunities. “I want to get honors students to mingle more with international students and to understand what it means to communicate across cultural barriers and the kinds of challenges and opportunities that lie there,” he said. “This is the global century and students must be prepared ... in how to live in a global society.” Adams said he also plans to create more internships and service learning programs to get honors students out into the community. “It’s important for students to understand and feel how higher education can contrib-
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ute to their society, to their city, to their region,” he said. At the end of the summer semester, when he officially begins at USF on Aug. 4, Adams will make the move to Tampa with his wife, Rhonda. Though he admits he has never had the responsibility of calling out thousands of names at a graduation, Adams said he is excited to be a part of such a large honors program and expand upon the role of Silverman. “Dean Silverman has done a wonderful job building the foundation here,” Adams said. “In some administrative jobs, when you bring someone in from the outside, it might be because something’s broken and needs fixing. That’s not what we have here. The foundation is strong and what I have is the opportunity to build on that foundation.” USF will have a reception for students and staff to meet Adams today at 3:30 p.m. in the Hall of Fame room of the Lee Roy Selmon Athletics Center.
Interested in working for The Oracle? Applications are now available. Contact Alex Rosenthal at 813-974-1888 or oracleeditor@gmail.com
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dents about financial literacy. Each semester, the program offers exit counseling seminars to seniors who apply for graduation, and shows them the loan repayment options before they have to start making payments. While the USF Office of Financial Aid attempts to minimize the amount of loans students take out, it also aims to educate students on the various repayment plans. Though most students go for the standard plan of repaying the principal loan amount plus interest over 10 years, there are other options to help those who can’t afford the standard payments. These plans include the PAYE plan and the Income Contingent and Income-Based Repayment plans, which can provide payments of only 15 percent of a student’s adjusted gross income after graduation over 20 years. While counselors at Bull2Bull said these plans can be easier for students to pay, they can require repayment over 20 years and essentially cost more as interest continues to accrue.
Not making payments and defaulting on the loan is easily avoidable, advisers said, and students should be encouraged to “speak up” to their loan providers. There are ways to structure payments, they said, and default only occurs after not communicating with a loan servicer and missing payments for 270 days. “The overall message we would like to get across is to build that relationship with your servicer,” Bull2Bull Assistant Director Matine Kone said. “It’s not a scary thing, it’s actually a beneficial thing for you to call them and tell them your situation — there is more than the standard repayment plan for students.” According to Kone, servicers are willing to help borrowers adjust payments if situations such as losing a job, getting sick or even just struggling to make ends meet becomes a problem. “We just try to show all the options rather than just say ‘default,’” she said. Bason said she was aware of being able to possibly consolidate her payments, but didn’t know about income-based plans and more education about them would “put her worry to rest.”
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
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Summer supplies new novels for book lovers
“The Secret Diary of Lizzy Bennet” Bernie Su and Kate Rorick June 24
“Midnight in Europe” Alan Furst June 3
“Mr. Mercedes” Stephen King June 3
The king of horror is back with a good oldfashioned detective tale. An unsolved case is suddenly resurrected when retired detective Bill Hodges receives a letter from the Mercedes Killer, a murderer who ran down eight people and injured 15 others before disappearing into the fog. In line with King’s chilling classics such as “The Shining,” “Pet Cemetery” and, more recently, “Under the Dome,” his new book is set to be a whole new kind of bloodcurdling. — Commentary by Courtney Combs
In 1938, unrest sweeps throughout Paris and the rest of Europe as war approaches. Cristián Ferrar, a Spanish émigré and lawyer at a prestigious international law firm, has been approached by the embassy of the Spanish Republic and asked to put his life at risk in the battle against fascism. Ferrar’s mission leads him from shady Parisian nightclubs to brothels in Istanbul and gets him mixed up with idealists, gangsters, arms traders, aristocrats and, of course, spies. Alan Furst has been hailed as the master of modern day espionage, known for writing the critically acclaimed novel “The Spies of Warsaw.” — Commentary by Courtney Combs
“The Silkworm” Robert Galbraith June 19
When novelist Owen Quine disappears, Detective Cormoran Strike and his young assistant Robin Ellacottis pick up the case. Quine had just completed a potentially life-ruining manuscript featuring slanderous secrets about everyone he knows, meaning there are a lot of suspects. When Quine is found murdered, Strike must work against the clock to hunt down a killer unlike any he has seen before. The second novel of the Cormoran Strike series, written under J. K. Rowling’s pseudonym, brings the hero of “The Cuckoo’s Calling” back into action for what is sure to be another must-read for murder mystery fans. — Commentary by Courtney Combs
From the Emmy Award-winning YouTube series “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” comes “The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet.” Bernie Su, the series’ executive producer, joins Kate Rorick to bring Lizzie’s world to life. The series is a modern take on “Pride and Prejudice,” introducing Lizzie as a graduate student who starts a web series for her thesis project, turning her and her sisters into Internet celebrities. When the handsome Bing Lee and his conceited friend William Darcy arrive in town, things start to get interesting. “The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet” takes fans past the confines of the camera, expanding the previously seen world of Lizzie as she struggles with family and life after graduate school. — Commentary by Caitlin Lochner
“The Jedi Doth Return” Ian Doescher July 1
“Written in My Own Heart’s Blood” Diana Gabaldon June 10
Diana Gabaldon is back with the eighth installment of the Outlander series, “Written in my Own Heart’s Blood.” The series follows Claire Randall, a nurse in the 20th century, as she time travels to 18th century Scotland and meets the dashing Jamie Fraser. Written in a mix of historical fiction, romance and adventure, “Outlander” won the Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award for Best Romance of 1991. — Commentary by Caitlin Lochner
The bard is strong with this one. Ian Doescher caused quite the stir among film fans and literature lovers alike when he released “Verily a New Hope,” or what would have happened if William Shakespeare had written “Star Wars: Episode IV.” Now return to a star-crossed galaxy far, far away for the final installment of the trilogy. Following the events of “The Empire Striketh Back,” the boy of Tatooine must bring his father, the evil Sith lord, back to the light side of the force and save the universe — all in flawless iambic pentameter. — Commentary by Courtney Combs
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
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EDITORIAL
Sallie Mae preys on students after co-signer’s death a clause in the promissory note about auto-defaults will deter students and co-signers from seeking a way to afford school. The Institute for College Access and Success reported that almost 1.4 million undergraduates borrowed private loans in the 201112 school year. Also, 90 percent of private loans borrowed have co-signers, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Given the amount of students relying on private loans, these auto-defaults could impact many students borrowing from private lenders such as Sallie Mae. According to personal experiences sent to the Huffington Post, some borrowers who made regular payments sought to simply remove co-signers after their deaths, an action the loan contract claims is permitted if the borrower has made payments on time for a long period. Yet, those with good payment records are being harassed to immediately pay a large sum, if not the entire amount. One instance of unfair demands is that of Tony Muzzatti, reported by the Huffington Post. In spite of making loan payments on time for six years, Muzzatti was asked to pay $10,000 of his $60,000 loan after the death of his grand-
To avoid facing financial ruin, it seems students taking out private loans are now supposed to gauge which family member will live longest. Several borrowers of Sallie Mae student loans have spoken out about being automatically defaulted on their loans when reporting their co-signer had passed away. Some borrowers even faced defaults despite having made their payments on time for years. While borrowers may be mourning the death of the cosigner who usually is a parent or grandparent, they are also stuck with the choice of paying Sallie Mae thousands of dollars in a matter of days or defaulting on their loans. It is unfair and unreasonable to financially punish these former students since they could not have anticipated the death of their co-signer. When the default is reported to credit bureaus, the borrower’s credit score is lowered and can result in difficulties for future plans, such as finding a job and buying a home or car. It’s equally unreasonable for Sallie Mae to force borrowers to bet their loved one will be alive for another 20 years, the average amount of time it takes a borrower to repay his loans, according to a report by the Urban Institute. It shouldn’t be expected that
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mother, who co-signed his loan. In the case of Christopher Kibler, which was reported in the Huffington Post, Sallie Mae threatened to seize part of his father’s life insurance policy if his mother could not repay his $22,000 loan. Kibler had to file complaints with the CFPB and attorney general to try to resolve the issue. One conclusion gathered from situations such as these is even when borrowers make regular payments, the death of a co-signer provides an opportunity for Sallie Mae to recuperate money through the deceased’s estates or insurance policies. This is sickening and shows how a company takes advantage of borrowers who simply wished to attend school and the co-signers who wanted to offer security for school costs. In an effort to resolve the complaints about auto-defaults reported to the CFPB, the consumer bureau is trying to push lenders toward allowing borrowers to find new co-signers rather than default. The death of another person should not result in the autodefaults Sallie Mae has been issuing. Until Sallie Mae and other lenders end this practice, it seems students must either find alternatives to pay for school or just hope co-signers live long enough to see the loan paid in full.
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Study of college value overlooks setbacks after graduation Isabelle Cavazos COLU M N I ST
Every now and then, college students are reminded why a degree is still worth the trouble and cost. It could be out of fear that some college students fantasize about leaving school to become a highlypaid success story or pursue the Thiel Fellowship, which awards $100,000 to people under age 20 who leave school for two years to become an entrepreneur. Still, most college students have some sort of goal in mind when making the time and financial commitment to go to school. Studies continue to be conducted to figure out the value of attending college to assure students their efforts will be promising. Out of the most recent attempts to do so, a study published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco takes the cake for being the most overly exaggerated. According to the study, after considering the cost of tuition and the approximate four years of earnings lost as one gets his degree, the average college graduate in the U.S. will have earned at least $800,000 more than the average high school graduate by retirement. It also found that students who pay $21,200 in tuition per year will make up the amount by age 38 and that 90 percent of students at public colleges pay less than that. In the long term, the study actually paints a decent picture of the rewards a college graduate will eventually make within the relatively short amount of time they went through college. But in the short term, many college students face immediate setbacks that show the rewards of a degree might not come to fruition until much later in life. For instance, a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that about 44 percent of recent graduates, or those between the ages 22 to 27 with a bachelor’s or above, are in jobs that
don’t require a bachelor’s degree. The article indicates this number has not changed much since the 1990s, but most of the jobs these graduates are overqualified for pay less than before, with salaries under $45,000. Additionally, a report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) stated the unemployment rate for college graduates between age 21 and 24 is about 8.5 percent, a startling amount for many who are just getting on their feet after graduation. While the San Francisco study accounted for the expense of college by calculating the time it takes to make back the cost of tuition, not student loan debt, certain life choices a graduate makes are still affected by having to pay for college, as discussed in a recent New York Times article. For example, the article mentions fewer adults between the ages of 27 and 30 with student loans have mortgages than those who don’t have student loans. Student loan debt also reduces the chances of one seeking a lowpaying public-interest job such as teaching, according to a study conducted by faculty and staff members at the University of California, Berkeley and Princeton. Of course, studies such as the San Francisco Fed’s and data from the EPI, such as the finding that those with four-year degrees, on average, make 98 percent more per hour than those without a degree, do illustrate the monetary value of college to students and graduates. Though they may help college students sleep better in light of the immediate economic climate and impact of student debt, these realities should not be forgotten when considering college’s rewards. Isabelle Cavazos is a junior majoring in English and Spanish.
Classifieds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
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Track and Field
Two Bulls head to NCAA Championships By Vinnie Portell S P O R T S
Senior Courtney Anderson, instructed by assistant coach Peter Herber (left), will need to improve on her season-best jump of 5-11.5 to become an All-American this weekend. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE
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For USF track and field athlete Courtney Anderson, this weekend is a final opportunity to win a national championship. Last year the senior nearly pulled off that feat, but finished as the national runner-up. Anderson’s jump of 6-1.25 last year was her personal best and a USF record. “Last year I was more of an underdog and I didn’t expect to get there,” Anderson said in a press release. “It helped me because I didn’t know what to expect and there wasn’t a lot of pressure. This year I did feel those pressures and now I’m so relieved to make it this far.” Anderson, who was an AllAmerican last season, will attempt to become the first back-to-back women’s outdoor All-American in USF history. In order for that to happen, she will have to clear the bar of six feet in at least one of her jumps. Anderson will compete in the high jump at 3:45 p.m. in Eugene, Oregon this Saturday. The other Bull going to
the NCAA Championships is Matthew O’Neal. The sophomore will compete in the triple jump event Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The AAC champion will also attempt to become an All-American for the second year in a row. O’Neal said he believes he will do much better this weekend than he did in the NCAA Preliminaries, where his triple jump was 52-10. He said the key to improving his performance is calming his nerves and visualizing success. “I need to envision myself doing well,” O’Neal said. “Thinking positively is something that really helps me mentally prepare for my races.” O’Neal, who spends at least two hours a day running and doing squats in the gym to keep up his conditioning, looks to finish higher than he did last year at this event. As a freshman, he placed ninth with a distance of 52-2. O’Neal’s qualifying jump of 52-10 this season would have earned him fourth in the 2013 Championships. The NCAA Championships will be broadcast Saturday on ESPNU from 5-7 p.m.
Soccer
U.S. Women’s National Team comes to USF By Chris Lemus C O R R E S P O N D E N T
USF women’s soccer sophomore midfielder Alexandra Myers has been to U.S. Women’s National Team matches and watched them practice on film, but she’s never gotten to see them prepare for an exhibition in-person. This week, she finally got her chance. “When I found out, I got excit-
ed, but I didn’t really believe it,” Myers said. Under the new direction of coach Jill Ellis, the U.S. Women’s National Team practiced this week at Corbett Soccer Stadium in preparation for their friendly international exhibition against the French Women’s National Team at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday. Both USF soccer players and young fans were enthusiastic about the visit by the women’s
national team. “A few of our (USF Junior) camp girls were staying to watch them practice,” Myers said. “They came and gave autographs and we got pictures with them and it was so exciting.” Rejoining the national team will be 2012 Olympic gold medalist Alex Morgan, who has been away since her October ankle injury. This match will be Morgan’s chance to help defend the 13-0-
1 all-time record against France, the fourth best team according to FIFA Women’s World Rankings. Myers, who struggled with a knee injury of her own last year during her first season with the Bulls, took the team’s preparation as an opportunity to see how the elite group of women’s soccer players conduct themselves during practice. “Their competitiveness was really high, so that was really neat to watch,” Myers said.
“Everything was so clean. They made few mistakes, which is good to watch because you know they are human and they make mistakes, too, but overall, their touches are clean.” “I’ve been on the bench a lot watching soccer,” she said. “That’s a completely different view being on the field. I’m excited to see how they play, move with the ball and their movement of the ball so hopefully I can learn and put it into my own game.”