OPINION
FEATURES
SPORTS
VALENTINES...JUST
ANOTHER DAY?
Students share differing views
on their definition of the *
upcoming holiday
тг
LANCERS FINISH OFF
TURBULENT WEEK
Baseball team goes 1-2 as coach
Tom Cano and his young ^
squad head into new season
О
• 20 CAMPUS CLUBS SUBMIT PROPOSALS FOR FUNDING
ICC to distribute $10,000 for campus clubs
SURVIVE ALIVE
GABINO MENDOZA
/
THE COURIER
Theater and the real world collide in the campus police's “Survive
Alive" program. Cadets act out real life “street situations" in order
to see how ordinary people would react. See story on Page 5.
• NO MAJOR SUMMER IN FEBRUARY
DAMAGES REPORTED
Mishap
causes
fire in II-
building
By RACHEL URANGA
Courier Staff Writer
PCC clubs are awaiting a $ 10,000
grant from the Associated Students.
Competing for limited funds, 20 clubs
submitted fund proposals to the In¬
ter-Club Council with requests rang-
ingfrom$500to$6363. Moneywill
be distributed after the ICC and the
AS both approve an allocation plan.
The ICC finance committee will
meet Thursday to decide how much
each club will get. Their recommen¬
dations will be forwarded
to the AS board for final
approval which is expected
in three weeks. Funds will
be distributed through the
AS board.
The AS makes funding
accessible to all active
clubs on the premise that
Kim
clubs serve the student body by spon¬
soring special events and confer¬
ences. Supporting student organi¬
zations enables them to provide ser¬
vices for the students, said Rebecca
Cobb, student affairs ad¬
viser. She emphasized the
grants are not intended to
completely fund clubs.
A club’s size, its needs,
and its initiative to raise
funds will be the determin¬
ing criteria for AS approval.
Smoot The AS Funding guidelines
give clubs money to cover up to 70
percent of the cost, no more than two
special events or conferences will be
funded. Money will not cover the
operational cost of a club.
Dana Club requested $5100 for
camping equipment that would be
made available to students for geol¬
ogy class field trips. Tsunami asked
for the most funding, $6363 . Funds
would be used for a lobby trip and a
banquet. The median average for
the 20 club proposals is $1350.
The finance committee will look
at a club’s previous use and amount
of funding to determine its recom¬
mendations. Onfy chartered clubs
that had the correct paperwork in on
Please see CLUBS, Page 4
• ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM OFFERS AN INSIDE LOOK AT OUR NATION'S GOVERNMENT
Student Affairs to sponsor trip to capitol hill
By ARDA HAMALIAN
Courier Staff Writer
What’s better than spending
spring break in Lake Havasu? What
about spending it in Washington
D.C.?
The Office of Student Affairs will
be sponsoring a trip to the nation’s
capital, allowing selected students
seeking a more challenging spring
break to attend a government sympo¬
sium being held from March 14-17.
“Congress, the Presidency and
Issues ’96” is the 27th annual sympo¬
sium organized by the Center for the
Study of the Presidency.
“This center is dedicated to pro¬
viding an experience for students
from all over the nation to have some
direct experiencein the nation’s capi¬
tal,” said Stephen Johnson, dean of
student affairs.
The selected students willbe given
the opportunity to directly communi¬
cate with leaders from local, state
and national governments. The sym¬
posium will include a tour of the
White House, a question and answer
session with Congress and some
workshops.
The forum will consist of partici¬
pants raging from Ivy League schools
to community colleges representing
all 50 states.
Applications are currently being
accepted from PCC students for
grants covering most of the trips’
expenses, amounting to approxi¬
mately $1,000. Two students will
receive grants.
In order to apply, PCC students
are required to have completed at
least 30 units at PCC and have a
grade point average of 3.3 or above.
All applicants must be currently en¬
rolled in a minimum of 12 units and
they cannot have previously partici¬
pated in the program. In addition,
applicants must present a faculty rec¬
ommendation, a summary of college
and community activities, and a para¬
graph discussing their motivations
and interests for attending the forum.
Applications are available in the
Please see TRIP, Page 4
By REYNA GRANDE
Courier Staff Writer
The Nursing Department in the
U-building nearly turned into ashes
when a fire broke out late last Sun¬
day. According to campus police, a
laminating machine was left on in
U202, causing the machine to over¬
heat and burst into flames.
The fire alarm went off at ap¬
proximately 8:20 p.m., and Officer
Corrigan of the campus police im¬
mediately called the fire department .
There was no major damage done
to the building. The door contained
the fire in the room, activating the
fire sprinklers and extinguishing the
fire before it spread into the other
rooms. When the fire department
arrived, the fire was already out.
They just examined the area. There
was extensive water damage on the
first and second floors.
“Thank God it wasn’t any worse,”
said Lurelean B. Gaines, division
dean of the nursing department.
Gaines said she was in the build¬
ing Sunday afternoon, and she re¬
members turning off the machine
and closing the door to the room.
However, Gaines said she left around
6 p.m. and the fire started two hours
later. She is not sure about what
really happened. She feels that since
the machine was so old, it must have
shorted-out.
The campus police plans to inves¬
tigate the cause of the fire.
The fire burned down the cabinet
doors in the room that was above the
machine. Part of the wall was also
scorched, and all of the office sup¬
plies, paper and nursing certificates
Please see FIRE, Page 6
SAMUEL HERNANDEZ
/
THE COURIER
In contrast to last week’s wet weather, this week brought unseasonably warm temperatures.
By JOSH JACOBS , Courier Staff Writer
Offers of “free” financial aid lures thousands of
students, seeking scholarships each year. Yet what
many don’t realize until it is too late is that those offers
have price tags attached.
“Every year, tens of thousands of families fall prey to
fraudulent scholarship offers,” said Mark Kantrowitz,
who maintains the financial information page on the
World Wide Web. Karla Henderson, assistant dean of
the PCC office of scholarships and financial aid, warns,
“If you have to pay money to get money, be suspicious.”
So far this semester, only two PCC students have
reported that they were taken, but most victims don’t
report it, Henderson said. “That is very common. The
victims don’t want anyone to know that they have been
taken advantage of. ” The primary targets are high school
students, and those entering college.
“These companies don’t guarantee that you’ll get
money, but that they will find matches for you so you can
attempt to get money,” Henderson cautioned.
Kantrowitz, who also wrote a book about financial
aid, warned about applications with a fee, even ones as
low as $2 to $10. “They can pay out a scholarship or two
and still pocket a hefty- profit; that is, if they happen to
award any scholarships at all. Legitimate scholarship
programs do not require an application fee.”
“Scholarship sponsors do not hand out awards to
students simply for breathing,” Kantrowitz said. Schol¬
arships are based on merit, but for a full scholarship, the
primary criteria is how involved are you in your commu¬
nity, Henderson pointed out.
In one case, a student paid a company $600 to clear
a defaulted loan. The student went to the PCC financial
office for more aid, but couldn’t get it because his record
had not been cleared. Clearing the record is up to the
department of education or the person who gave the loan.
Another student heard of an offer of a $ 1 ,000 savings
bond if the company did not provide him with five
scholarship sources. The student was charged $100 and
told that the bond could be picked up in the financial aid
office. “That makes us look less credible because now
the student thinks we are trying to obstruct what he
thought he had coming to him,” Henderson said.
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” both
Henderson and Kantrowitz pointed out. “Your best bet
is to do athoroughsearchofthe company first,” Henderson
added. The best thing to do is set up an appointment to
Please see FRAUD, Page 3
Karla
Henderson,
assistant
dean of the
office of
scholarships
and financial
aid
companies
don’t guaran¬
tee that you’ll
get money,
but that they
will find
matches for
you so you
can attempt to
get money... If
it sounds too
good to be
true, it prob¬
ably is,”
‘‘These
WHAT HAS THE AS BOARD DONE
FOR YOU LATELY?
As the year academic year winds down,
students are wondering if their votes ^
mattered and if they will vote again in April 2.
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 81, NO. 18
THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 8, 1996
Since
1915
• IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU TOO
__ WATCH OUT for.
Financial Aid
Rip-Offs
