Senior athletes’ memories
PAGE178 PAGE
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Summer concert preview
Thursday, May 1, 2008
TIHE LOQUITUR YOU SPEAK, WE LISTEN
CABRINI COLLEGE
Radnor, Pa.
Vol XLIX, Issue 25
www.theloquitur.com
PHEAA grant to decrease
Pope affirms value of Catholic education President Iadarola witnesses papal visit CHRISTINE GRAF
ASHLEY COOK
ASST. MANAGING EDITOR
NEWS EDITOR
ACG724@CABRINI.EDU
ACC722@CABRINI.EDU
Cabrini students who receive the PHEAA grant may be faced with difficult choices as a result of the emerging student aid crisis due to the PHEAA grant loss of at least $40 million in PHEAA earnings next year. Mary Maronic, Foundation and Government Relations Associate for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, urges students to get involved in student lobbying: “Make phone calls to hometown legislators and college legislators. They need to know how much this cutback is effecting the students.” “With the worsening credit crunch, it may become more difficult for students to borrow money to make up for this loss. In the current year, 455 Cabrini students receive PHEAA grants based on financial need with an average award of $3,520, which represents over $1.5 million in grant funds,” Michael Colahan, director of financial aid, said. As of April 8, 2008, student grants may be reduced by as much as $700 per recipient in 08-09, according to Mary Young, vice president of government relations for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania. PHEAA is contributing $69 million of its earnings to help supplement the state’s $386 million appropriation, according to Young. Due to changes in federal law and turmoil in financial markets caused by the national sub prime mortgage crisis, funding for PHEAA may not be available. According to Young, Governor Rendell proposed a 3 percent increase, $11.6 million, for the State Grant Program. An insufficient amount to cover the reduction in student’s grants
GRANT, page 3
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TONY FIORINI/THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
Pope Benedict XVI addresses an audience at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
Although Catholic college and university presidents went into the meeting with the pope in Washington, D.C. unsure of what he would say to them, Cabrini’s president said his message was positive and reassuring. Before becoming pope, Benedict XVI had been the Cardinal who often criticized American Catholic education for being too liberal. The college presidents worried that he would try to rein in American academic freedom. Not so, according to Dr. Antoinette Iadarola, Cabrini’s president, who was present at the meeting on Thursday, April 17, in Washington. “His message was one of gratitude. He was grateful for all of those who had participated in Catholic higher education,” Iadarola said. “He believed that this was a wonderful mission and we [Catholic institutions] have contributed enormously to the development of an educated populous here in the United States.” The pope did not criticize the quality of Catholic identity within Catholic universities in the United States. Instead he
brought words of encouragement. “He talked about academic freedom and his definition was perfectly fine. He was a scholar himself and scholars need to look at all the aspects of an issue in order to arrive at truth,” Iadarola said. “I really think that he wanted to bring a message of hope in a world that sometimes we do not see hope.” He mentioned issues to be addressed together as a world community so that we can work to solve these problems, Iadarola said. Some of these issues were the Iraq war, global warming and the environment, the AIDS epidemic and concerns that the church does not abandon its commitment to the poor. Iadarola reflected back on her time at Cabrini and expressed what she thought represented the Catholic identity at Cabrini College. “There are all types of things we do here-- the social justice thrust, the outreach programs, liturgical celebrations, and even the way the students treat each other – all of that is part of a culture, a faith community, that we have developed here,” Iadarola said. “There is a difference be-
POPE, page 3
Inflation affects student budgets in time of recession LIZ GARRETT ASST. NEWS EDITOR EGG722@CABRINI.EDU CHRISTOPHER R. BLAKE ASST. NEWS EDITOR CRB724@CABRINI.EDU
Inflation has put a financial squeeze on some Cabrini students, as it has on many Americans in general. Cabrini students, however, say they have not yet felt the pinch. “I have just gotten used to having to work to pay for the things I need,” Renee Roff, junior elementary and special education major, said. Roff, 21, works four jobs. Tuesday and Thursday she works at Norristown Area High School from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., doing truancy duty and from 3 to 5 p.m. she mentors a 17-year-old high school student. Over the weekends she babysits and works for a catering company in Germantown. “Balancing school and work
is not hard because my work schedule is spread out through-
She comes from an upper-middle class family in Springfield,
“” “The inflation is a big deal because prices are going up but our incomes are not. We are getting less for the money we make.”
-Brett Butler ‘09
out the week with short hours during the week and longer ones during the weekend,” Roff said.
Pa., in which both her father and stepmother work, financing her education. However, money is
not always easy to come by with a long list of bills to pay, even for a student with a busy work schedule. “I used to not budget my money when I did not have a car payment or when I was not saving up for rent, but now I barely spend money on myself during the week other than essentials like gas,” Roff said. Roff plans on a career as a teacher and although she would like to take a year off after her graduation in 2009, she needs a job to pay off her college tuition loans. “Everything has gone up in price-gas, groceries, clothing-all things we need and it’s hard as a college student,” Brooke Young, a junior English and communication major, said. “I am living off campus and I am trying to work and go to class in order to make money so I can buy things I need, but the prices are ridiculous.” The Washington Post sug-
INFLATION, page 3