College Credit Crunch
A Word to the Wise Extra Credit.. lame duck：an elected official or group that holds office between an election and the inauguration of a successor
Congress is holding a lame-duck session this week to consider a proposal to help out U.S. automakers. As we mentioned on Friday, the industry has been hit hard by the financial crisis. When we mention this issue, the struggling economy that might be what you think of: industries in trouble, people losing their jobs. But as Kate Bolduan explains, many college students, especially ones counting on student loans, are feeling the heat, as well.
In August, Frostburg State University in Maryland was unexpectedly hit by the country's economic crisis. We received notification that one of our lenders was not going to have money available for our students; they were not going to be dispersing. Not dispersing the financial aid 200 Frostburg students were expecting the very next day. We decided that we could do book vouchers for students who need to receive books. We wrote letters to landlords letting them know this was in no way the students' fault. Students like junior Sarah Massie were left
scrambling to make up the difference. If I didn't get approved for this outside loan, I wouldn't be able to come back to school. Unfortunately, Massie and Frostburg State aren't alone. Colleges, both public and private, across the country are finding their balance sheets in limbo amid the credit freeze and the economic downturn. It's sort of a ripple effect that eventually trickled down to students, to students like me. States from coast to coast are facing serious budget shortfalls. At least 17 have already slashed funding for public colleges and universities, according to the American Council on Education. Cutbacks are the order of the day in most state capitals, so many public colleges and universities are going to be having less money for operating support from the state government than they did a year ago. New York Governor David Paterson recently proposed a $600 annual tuition increase for the state's public universities to help repair a $1.5 billion deficit. And while private schools don't rely on government dollars, they're feeling the pinch through a drop in alumni donations and philanthropic support. The hard times facing students and schools have meant perhaps an understandable jump in people lining up for federal financial aid. The Department of Education reports as of the end of July, 800,000 more students had applied for the well-known Pell Grant than the same time last year.
lame duck 投机者，无用者
session 开庭;学年
notification 通知书
dispersing 传播的
vouchers 凭证
scrambling 不规则性
balance sheets 资产负债表
limbo 无着落，悬而未决
ripple 波痕
trickled 滴，流
slashed 削减；挥砍
tuition 学费
deficit 赤字
pinch 偷窃
alumni 男毕业生
philanthropic 博爱的
( by Tree, Christian, Summer, Connie, Rachel, Shirley, Tina, Phyllis, Sarah, Sunny, Janey and Monica )
