Helping: The Salvation Army
Chelsea Turner
Contributor
In light of hard economic times, the Salvation Army is committed to helping collect clothes, toys, and money for those in need across America. During the holiday season, bell ringers can be found outside thousands of stores across the nation.
In 2009, the Salvation Army reported spending more than $3 billion to serve almost 30 million people. They run money drives, volunteer programs, youth camps, elderly services, missing persons campaigns and aid veteran affairs, prisoner and substance abuse rehabilitation, disaster relief and engage in helping world issues including global poverty and human trafficking. This year, some stations have reported a 400 percent increase in servicing people in need over the last two years.
As it is the holiday season, the Salvation Army continues its signature bell ringing for donations, and that money is put to many uses. Those who ring the bells volunteer time to host dinners for the homeless, deliver gifts to hospital patients, spread the cheer of the season to nursing homes and provide the basics to families in need.
‘Tis the season to be thankful and offer hope to others. For every dollar spent by the Salvation Army, 82 cents goes to its charity work across the country. You can help too by giving just a few cents to the bell ringer in front of your local grocery store. It will make you feel good and help someone in need.
Not helping: CSU Board of Trustees
Renata Ahegbebu
Contributor
The CSU Board of Trustees approved by a 6-1 vote to a two-step, 15 percent increase in tuition over the next school year: 5 percent in the spring semester and the remaining 10 percent in the fall semester. According to the trustees, the hikes are necessary to help sustain the school system. On the other hand, there are many adverse effects on students. Tuition increases will put extra pressure and burden on students who are not eligible to receive financial aid.
According to the CSUN Financial Aid 2009/10 annual report, about 21,753 CSUN students received some form of aid. The aid is sufficient to cover fees and tuition, but are often inadequate to cover other school-related expenditures.
Furthermore, tuition hikes will decrease enrollment. In a 2001 report by Donald E. Helter titled “The effects of tuition prices and financial aid on enrollment in higher education,” he writes, “Higher education is like most goods and services in our economy.” People consume fewer goods and services when prices become higher. Subsequently, fewer people will aspire for higher education with increasing tuition.
Steven Hemelt and Dave Marcotte wrote a paper on a survey of “Rising tuition and Enrollment in Public Higher Education” conducted from 1997 to 2007 taking into account student population, credits taken and level of subject. They found for every “$100 increase in tuition and fees, enrollment will drop for little over 0.25 percent.” In a nutshell, increasing tuition has adverse effects on students whether they receive financial aid or not. Also, it affects enrollments, which results in fewer graduates in higher education and consequently impacts the economy in a negative way.
Renata Ahegbebu is a COMS-225 Argumentation student
