Daily up Troian
Volume LXXI, Number 17
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Friday, March 4, 1977
JUST LIKE HOME — While many students choose the serenity of one of the libraries on campus, Valencia Fletcher finds satisfaction in the noisy atmosphere of the
Student Activities Center recreation room. "I can't stand the library, it's too quiet," she said. DT photo by Denis Wolcott.
Tuition and expenses are bigger ballgame in professional schools
By Valerie Nelson
Assistant City Editor
To many students, an education at the university costs enough — but to dental, medical and law students, it costs more.
They pay from $160 to $750 more per year than students enrolled in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. And with next year’s tuition increases, the gap widens to as much as a $1,308 difference — as it will be in the School of Dentistry*
Why is tuition higher at these schools than at others here?
The high cost of professional schooling, a decrease in federal funding and inflation were the main reasons given by spokesmen from the three schools.
A loss in grants and a cutback in federal support will cause tuition to be increased 18% to 20% for the 1977-78 academic year, said Nic Molatar, director of administrative affairs at the dental school.
Dental school tuition has been set at $5,148 for the year, which includes three trimesters. Tuition thisyearwas $4,290, Molatar said.
Grants are given for a certain length of time. After the money is depleted in two or three years, money from another source must be allocated to let the programs established by the grants continue, Molatar said.
“A total of$900,000 was lost in government support, which is given to encourage education. During the Ford administration, the amount of support was $1.2 million, which helped to keep tuition down. The support is now $542,000.” he said.
Medical students paid $3,910 for their education this year, or $360 more than most students. The cost of a medical education has caused the overall higher tuition at the school, said Edmund F. Ackell, vice-president of health affairs.
“An increase in tuition forthe medical school has not been cal* culated yet. but it may be a few hundred dollars over the
university’s 8.47% increase,” Ackell said.
The cost of a medical education is presently being compared with other schools, but tuition here is somewhat lower in comparison to schools on the East Coast, he said.
Both Molatar and Ackell stressed that although tuition is increasing at the schools, it is increasing at a lesser rate than at other private medical or dental schools.
Tuition at the School of Law was set some years ago by the trustees and the administration, who adopted a policy that it is more costly to educate law students, said Jerry Wiley, associate dean of the school.
“Law students have a greater earning opportunity and consequently their tuition is greater,” he said. Law students paid $3,700 this year, or $143 a unit.
Tuition at the Law Center wiil increase to $4,040 next year.
Operating expenses at the dental school had to be met when the various funds were reduced. “The university has helped us since 1975, but said we must meet our own expenses for the 1977-78 year,” Molatar said.
An instrument management system, which allows students to rent equipment instead of buying it, has helped them cut down on some expenses. Equipment costs used to run up to $4,000 for all four years and the money the student saves here should help balance tuition, Molatar said.
Additional costs in running the dental clinic have added to the increase in tuition, running the dental clinic costs near $7,000 or $8,000 a year, he said.
To meet the high cost of attending the dental school, almost all the students receive some sort of financial aid, Molatar said. Another dental spokesman placed the figure at 80% ofthe school’s student body.
Work-study using only half of available funds
By Gary Maloney
Staff Writer
Less than one-half of the funds available for College Work-Study grants here have been utilized, the office of Student Administrative Services reported Thursday.	,
Only $1.05 million of the $2.98 million allocated USC students for 1976-77 had been used for financial aid as of Feb. 23. said Linda Berkshire, resource manager for Student Administrative Services.
Ray Penalber, the Career Resource Center's work-study coordinator, placed the allocated amount at $2.09 million for summer and fall, 1976-77.
College Work-Study Grants are occasionally included as part of a student’s financial aid package and allow for the student to earn a certain amount of his tuition.
The government pays 80% of the salary for the job. and only nonprofit firms — including the government, publicly owned companies and universities — may employ work-study recipients.
Over the last year, Penalber. said, there has been a 58^ increase in the number of students working within the program, directed by the Career Resource Center. The center employs three full-time employees and 18 work-study students and is in the process of moving from Bruce Hall to the University Village.
Despite the recent increases, not enough students with eligibility are getting employed. Penalber said.
“We have the jobs — there are simply not enough students using their work-study grants," said Penalber, who was responsible for the Resource Center-sponsored Job Faire held during the last two weeks.
“We’ve found that students generally don’t know what the grant really means. There is no real orientation regarding it when they receive the grant in their financial aid letter.”
“Many of the jobs in the past have been meaningless as well,” said Carl Herringer, director ofthe Career Resource Center. “Menial jobs in the past that have little or nothing to do with a student’s career and degree objectives have given work-study a bad name. Students will then forego the grant, perhaps finding a better-paying nonwork-study job that’s more career-related.
“We have been concerned with getting more student participation. A student who came in during the fall and was dissatisfied should come back to the center now and find the higher-paying jobs.”
Black student group again loses bid for concert funds
The Campus Activities Allocation Board denied another request from the Black Student Union to receive funding for the rescheduling of a cancelled concert.
Board members voted 7-2 to deny the union's request because Black History Week has ended. Confusion over the original contract agreements was also cited by the board. The $2,000 funding was returned to the general account.
More than $3,700 remains in the board’s general account
PROF UPSET ABOUT TREND
Social Security ID use questioned
Irate over the increasing use of Social Security numbers as identification numbers, a Faculty Senate member is forming a subcommittee to examine the situation.
“The Social Security number has been creeping into our popular usage as an identification number,” said Walter Wolf, director of the radiopharmacy program, in a letter to the president of the senate.
“I would like to fight to resist that trend, and I would hope that the faculty shares my feelings that we should not do anything that would favor our being submerged and categorized into one giant computer system.
“I want to retain my identity and not be known by a nine-digit number. I realize it isa convenience for the bureaucrats, but we are not here to make life easier for the bureaucrats.”
The letter was referred to Donald Yett, chairman of the faculty environment committee, who authorized the formation of a subcommittee.
In addition to the threatened loss of identity, Wolf questioned the legality of the policy.
Carl Franklin, vice-president for legal affairs,
said the use ofthe numbers for identification is not illegal to his knowledge.
“The university needs some sort of numbering system and our computer programs are built onthe Social Security numbersystem,” said William Hall, registrar. “We adopted the present system in 1967 and it has proved to be very successful.”
The actual Social Security card says, “for Social Security and tax purposes — not for identification.”
A spokesman forthe Social Security Office said a person is not required by law to give his number to agencies other than for tax or Social Security reasons, but that it is not illegal for them to ask for it.
“You don't have to give it to them, but by the same token, they can refuse to serve you. You're caught between hell and high water,” he said.
On campus, Social Security numbers are found on ID cards, library cards, fee bills, parking permit forms and registration materials. Off campus the numbers are even more common — they are requested for bank loans, driver's licenses, passports, union cards and medical group cards, among others.
after Wednesday night's allocations of more than $7,800.
The recipients of the two largest allocations were the Jewish Cultural League, which was granted $3,411, and the Gay Student Union, which was allocated $2,741.
The Jewish Cultural League plans to use its funds to finance a festival April 18-21. There will be concerts, displays, art shows, films, speakers and a dance troupe performance.
The Gay Student Union will use its allocation to fund Gay Celebration Week, slated for May 9-13. The group will sponsor several events, including speeches by Rita Mae Brown, a feminist and lesbian author. Christopher Isherwood, an author. and Leonard Matlovich. a former Air Force sergeant who is pressing a case against the United States Defense Department because he was denied a chance to serve in the Air Force after he announced his homosexuality.
In addition to these allocations. the board gave $613 to the GraduatesofLibrary Science for publicity, speakers and film costs; £216 to the campus nutrition club for Nutrition Day: $486 to the Chicanos for Creative Medicine; and $371 to the funding of three premedical and medical school newsletters.
The board tabled four proposals — the Interfraternity Council, Chicanos for Progressive Education, the Consumer Action Group and the Psychobiology Honors Assn. — until 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Student Activities Center.