Needs to fill nine openings
Student aid board beset by vacancies, ill chairman
By Kirsten D. Levingston
Staff Writer
The governing board of the Norman Topping Student Aid Fund is facing problems this semester following the graduation of several board members and the illness of its chairman.
The board, which consists of 12 students, 2 alumni, 3 faculty, and 3 staff members, is looking for 9 new student members to fill the vacancies left by graduates.
In addition to the shortage of student board members, the chairman of the governing board, Frank Cardenas, is out due to a bout with hepatitis.
James Lee, who is acting as board chairman in Cardenas' absence, said the current problems with the governing board could result in future problems with the fund itself.
"The board is responsible for all policy making” concerning the scholarship, Lee said. This includes deciding on criteria for scholarship recipients, interviewing applicants, and allocating funds.
Delays in policy development and lack of organization could cause a back-log in the work to be done when scholarship applications begin to arrive in February and March of next year.
The Norman Topping Student Aid Fund was established in the late 1960s to assist low-income students who live in or around the university area. Topping scholars have demonstrated high academic potential and are involved in community service, Lee said.
Many Topping Fund recipients come from "tough environments" and think they have no chance of ever attending the university, he added.
Lee said the fund is especially geared toward assisting minority students, some of whom view the university as a "great white tower."
Topping scholarships are the only scholarships in the country to be funded and administered by students, Lee said.
Each semester's fee bills include a $4 charge that goes to the fund. The fee has not increased since the fund's inception, even though tuition has steadily risen, Lee said.
On the average, Topping Fund recipients receive $2,300 in tuition credit. However the awards have ranged from $500 to $6,000, Lee added.
All students, except those who are Topping Fund recipients, are eligible to be governing board members.
(Continued on page 6)
University official takes part in meeting to discuss proposed federal tax overhaul
National Board to analyze bill’s effect on universities
Volume Cll, Number 7	University of Southern California	Wednesday, September 10, 1986
By Katherine Dyar
Assistant City Editor
Dennis Dougherty, vice president of finance, is meeting today in Pennsylvania with representatives of the Board of Council of Government Relations to discuss the impact the proposed federal tax bill could have on graduate student fellowships and university research.
Dougherty flew to Pennsly-vania yesterday to begin meetings with the board on the new tax revision bill being sponsored by Representative Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill., and Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore.
The bill, which is expected to be approved by Congress and F’resident Reagan this fall, has prompted strong reactions from private institutions and collegiate organizations, who warn that several of its provisions could seriously affect student scholarships and campus research.
Doughtery said that the board, which "interfaces with the federal community on behalf of universities, (will be discussing) issues related to research grants and contracts," as well as graduate students' tax situation.
"It's still just a crap shoot," Dougherty said during a phone interview just prior to
Dennis Dougherty
the meeting. "We'll have to wait and see what happens."
One provision to be discussed requires for the first time that students pay taxes on some scholarships and fel-
Joel Ordesky I Daily Troian
lowships they receive.
Although scholarships that cover tuition would still be exempt, other scholarships that go toward housing and fel-(Continued on page 8)
Seventy-Fifth Year of Publication
(sm% trojan
1912 — 1986
Students react to revised health plan
New limitations exist on benefits for psychiatric care
By Daisy Ridgway
Staff Writer
The Student Health Insurance Committee managed to reorganize the student health plan this year by providing only one type of health insurance coverage, but some students have found that the new program offers lower benefits for psychiatric care.
The new health insurance program offers almost complete
icy's new underwriters, Colonial Life and Accident, have a contract.
If a student wishes to see a counselor who is not with Holman Professional Counseling Center, he will be allowed no more than 20 visits a year, with the first two sessions at the student's expense. After the first two sessions, a student will be reimbursed $25 per individual session and $12.50 per group
Banilda Sandan ' Daity Troian
Changes in Health Center services result following the introduction of a new student insurance plan.
coverage for out-patient psychological counseling, provided students seek a counselor at Holman Professional Counseling Centers, with whom the pol-
session.
Last year's policy, which was underwritten by Lone Star Health Insurance, required students to first go to the Counsel-
ing Center on campus with no charge for the first five visits and $35 coverage for the next five, after which time students could be referred to a specialist.
The Lone Star plan paid 50 percent of covered expenses after the deductible, with a maximum benefit of $50 per visit. The student was allowed 50 visits per calendar year, including those provided by Counseling Services at the university.
"Lone Star had outrageously good benefits,” said Seth Knoepler, a graduate student at the School of Social Work.
Knoepler said she feels the benefits offered in the new health plan are inferior to those offered in last year's plan, considering the premium went from $188 per semester last year to $208 per semester this year.
Knoepler said if a student happens to be seeing a psychiatrist who charges $80 per hour, and had visits while covered under last year's policy, it will probably be difficult for the student to continue seeing the doctor unless additional coverage from another source is sought.
A spokesperson for Lone Star Health Insurance, which is headquartered in Irving, Texas, said the psychiatric care policy in the new student health plan probably changed to avoid a big raise in the premium.
As for the $20 price hike in this year's premium, the (Continued on page 6)
New coupon exchange starts for spirit section
By Bryon Okada
Staff Writer
The process for getting seats in the Trojan Pride Spirit Section at football games will now be on a first-come-first-serve basis instead of by means of a lottery. The result has been long lines of students waiting to exchange coupons from their student activity books for seats in the spirit section.
With the new system, tickets are given out to the students in direct exchange for their coupons instead of being given out three to four days after students turn in coupons, said Tom Johnson, associate director of Ticket Operations.
"Suffice it to say, it is still basically a lottery," because the tickets are put into envelopes and given out in a random fashion, said Thom Gaxiola, program consultant for Student Activities.
The difference is that now, as soon as students hand in their coupons, they'll know they have seats in the spirit section, he said.
Before, students turned in their coupons at either the ticket office or the kiosks near Tommy Trojan on the Monday or Tuesday prior to the game. They then returned on Friday to see if they'd be able to sit in the Trojan Pride section.
The change in format was designed to make the two-year-old spirit section a more attractive option to students, said Gaxiola.
Trojan Pride tickets are available at the kiosk in front of Tommy Trojan on the Monday and Tuesday of the week before a game from 8 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. Five hundred tickets are available at each of the four time slots and are on sale until the supply is gone.
However, this week the tickets are being given out at the kiosk in front of the Student Union because the other kiosk is being used to sell parking permits.
"When the 500 tickets are out, they're out," Johnson said.
The exception is the Notre Dame football game, which will be handled separately from the rest of the games.
Johnson said that the Trojan Pride section, which was started to offer spirited students the opportunity to have the best seats and to support the team vocally, is evolving a little bit each year, and that Trojan Pride board members came up with the new ticket distribution method.
The regular lottery will continue each week before games, Johnson said. On the day of the game, an exchange booth will be open for one hour so that students can exchange tickets they are dissatisfied with.
Students who do not enter the lottery must buy general admission tickets. Too many opportunities to buy other tickets have been presented to the students to warrant providing any more, Johnson said.