Western Front - 1992 December 4

              The Western Front
December 4, 1992/Volume 85, Number 18 Western Washington University please recycle
Photo by Jonathan Burton
An environmental interpretation class organized a skit Wednesday which was performed in Red Square.
During the skit, a tape player repeated the chant: "People need paper. People buy virgin paper. Forests are
clear cut. Recycling is too inconvenient. Paper fills up our landfills." The skit went on to illustrate a solution
through the buying of recycled paper.
Aloha,
Mortimer
Scott Tompkins
staff reporter
Western President Kenneth Mortimer has ac­cepted
appointment as president of the University
of Hawaii.
According to a press release, Mortimer made
the following statement Nov. 25. "I have informed
Western Washington University Board of Trustees
that I have accepted appointment as president of
the University of Hawaii system and chancellor of
the University of Hawaii at Manoa, effective not
later than April 1,1993."
Mortimer became Western's eleventh presi­dent
in 1988, succeeding G. Robert Ross, who,
together with two vice presidents and the pilot, was
killed in a light plane crash in Whatcom County on
Nov. 4,1987.
In the release, Mortimer said the University of
Hawaii presidency represents a professional chal­lenge
he could not overlook.
"Lome and I came to Western because it was
Hawaii bound, continued on page 3
Loan qualification
status changes with
new financial aid forms
By Loretta Richardson
staff reporter
Ted Hasse, interim assistant
director of Western's financial
resources department, said many
changes have been made in the
1993-94 academic year's finan­cial-
aid rules and some will di­rectly
affect students.
Manystudentswhohavebeen
considered independent before
will not be next year. If a student
is not 24, has no dependents, is
nota veteran of active (notreserve)
military duty, and/oris unmarried
—the student will most likely be
considered dependent
If a student feels there are
unusual circumstances, a petition
process is available. There is no
guarantee the student's status will
be changed, though.
"Anotherexample (of change)
would be that people who were
previously ineligible, or maybe
not as eligible, especially people
wholistedparentinformation, will
now be eligible or become more
eligible," Hasse said.
Some changes are positive.
The new financial-aid application
is shorter, needs less information
from the students and will be free.
Students are also required to use a
dark ink pen when filling out the
form instead of a No. 2 pencil.
"I anticipate that it should be
a simpler process for students and
parents," Hasse said.
The new regulations do not
change the process as much as
they define more precisely the
requirements for those applying.
Many of these changes will
not be seen by students and are a
matter of how the financial-aid
offices at schools process stu­dents'
information.
One change that will affect
students is the independent/de­pendent
status rules. Hasse ex­plained
the regulations for this are
"tighter" and fewer students will
fall into the independent category.
Kathy Sahlhoff, Western's
financial resources interim direc­tor,
explained that everyone cur­rently
on financial aid affected by
this change will be contacted by
mail as soon as possible. The letter
will explain the changes and how
they affect the individual student.
"Congress has not authorized
and appropriated any additional
funds for work study or forgrants,"
Hasse explained. "What they have
done is open up more loan program
funds."
A new, unsubsidized loan that
students can take out (even if
considered dependent) will help
those whose parents aren'table or
willing to acquire an academic
loan for them.
The government doesn't sub­sidize
the interest for this type of
loan, but it could make a big dif­ference
for some students who
previously could hot meet their
financial needs. This may be the
only type of aid available to some
students whoonceweren'teligible
atall.
Hasse's advice to students
applying for financial aid next
year is to, "Meet the deadlines.
Do the form completely and
clearly. And never argue with a
federal form ... if you feel you
have unusual circumstances in
your life or your family situation
that the form doesn't ask for or
allow you to show, you could put
that in a letter, in writing, to the
financial aid office."
Alsorecommendediskeeping
copies of all information given to
the financial-aid office and a copy
of the actual financial-aid form
sent
Maintain a separate file and
have these records easily acces­sible.
This habit will be very help­ful
if some type of information is
misplaced or simply wasn't re-a-
class system
will cut long lines
By Stephen Duncan
staff reporter
The number of Western students waiting in line during advance
registration could be reduced to a trickle when Western begins testing a
touch-tone registration program in November 1993..
With the new system, students will be able to call in and register as
often as they want from home, and add or drop classes immediately.
"We want to make it (the touch tone registration program) open and
accessible as possible," said Joe St. Hilaire, Western's registrar.
St. Hilaire said the main advantages are the program's efficiency and
students won't have to miss classes because of registration appointment
conflicts.
An advisory committee of 15-20 students, staff and faculty members
was assembled to gather information on how the program would best fit
the university.
Van Johnson, University of Washington's associate registrar, said
problems with his school's 548-STAR telephone registration program
are minimal. He said some individual mainframes have gone down.
However, the main computer system that runs the program hasn't
faltered, yet. He said Western's current program of registering by line is
further along than the University of Washington's was before its touch-tone
program was implemented.
"It (the transition) should be less of a problem at Western to switch
from line registration to touch-tone than we had," Johnson said.
Advance registration appointment cards would still go out, but
students could only call at the assigned time and afterwards. One reason
for purchasing the program was to stop students from skipping during
registration.
St. Hilaire said software and program installations alone could cost
up to $100,000. He said Western is looking into 20-30 companies'
software and hardware programs to find one that fits the school's price
range and needs. He said the school needs money in advance for full
implementation of the touch-tone program by spring, 1994. Once
implemented, students will register only by phone.
Money for the program would come from sources such as registra­tion
operation fees, tuition fees or subletting the use of the program to
Aid, continued on page 4 Touch-tone, continued on page 6