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Category: Campus life

Campus Connection: Do Aussies have student loans figured out?

Capital Times

Inside Higher Ed posted an interesting opinion piece outlining how the United States could go about changing its student loan system. A growing number of college grads are facing mountains of debt upon graduation, are struggling to make payments and are confused about their legal options.

Bruce Chapman, a professor of economics at Australian National University, and Yael Shavit, who will be starting Yale Law School in September, write that “this predicament was addressed and solved in Australia in 1989 — through income-contingent repayment systems that go beyond anything in the United States. The system has been effectively copied in many other countries. The U.S. system remains fraught with problems even though the solution has been transparent for over 20 years.”

Doug Moe: Ald. Sanborn buys Buckâ??s Pizza, but wonâ??t mess with success

Wisconsin State Journal

When Madison Ald. Jed Sanborn bought the Buck’s Pizza rrestaurants — thereâ??s a West Side location on University Avenue — from Bill Buchholz, he had to agree not to sell or even divulge the sauce recipe. â??Heâ??s pretty protective of it,â? Sanborn said. Buckâ??s Pizza got its name from founder George â??Buckâ? Backus, who opened the Cottage Grove location in 1960 after coming to Madison from Racine, where he managed the Meadowbrook Country Club. Backus later added a West Side location, on Midvale Boulevard, and Buckâ??s continued at those two locations until a couple of years ago, when the Midvale restaurant relocated to University Avenue. Backus did more than run the pizza restaurants. In March 1962, he was hired to manage concessions for the â??Wâ? Club. Backus stayed there for 22 years and turned it into a major money-maker for UW athletics. Sanborn, 38, enjoys the history associated with Buckâ??s. He came to Madison from the Twin Cities area for college and in 1995 got a degree from UW-Madison in political science and international relations.

Campus Connection: Is UW’s 5.5 percent tuition hike â??reasonable?’

Capital Times

In recent years, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly has stressed the need to keep tuition increases “reasonable and predictable.”

On Thursday, the Board of Regents is expected to approve a 5.5 percent tuition hike for state students attending one of the UW Systemâ??s four-year institutions during 2010-11. This proposed increase is part of the systemâ??s 2010-11 operating budget, which is to be voted on during regents meetings hosted by UW-Milwaukee.

Reilly is proposing yet another tuition freeze at the systemâ??s 13 two-year colleges — keeping tuition at $4,268, the same as in 2006. The freeze is an attempt to keep the UW Colleges as an affordable entry point to the UW System.

College students have less empathy than past generations

USA Today

College students today show less empathy toward others compared with college students in decades before, a study from the University of Michigan says. Students are less likely to agree with statements such as “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me” and “I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective.”

UW System plan would boost tuition by 5.5 percent

Madison.com

Tuition rates would go up 5.5 percent on most University of Wisconsin campuses next school year under a proposal released Monday.If approved by the Board of Regents on Thursday, it will mark the fourth straight year that base tuition has increased 5.5 percent at the systemâ??s 13 four-year universities. The plan would also freeze tuition for 13,000 students enrolled at the 13 UW two-year colleges for the fourth straight year. The increases would be the sharpest on two campuses – the flagship UW-Madison and UW-Eau Claire – where regents have already approved tuition surcharges being phased in over four years to pay for more professors and services.Rates would jump by $638, or about 8.7 percent, for UW-Madison undergraduates as the campus enters the second year of its plan to raise tuition by an extra $1,000.

UW System proposes 5.5 percent tuition increase for 2010-2011 school year

Wisconsin State Journal

Calling it “reasonable and predictable,” University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly is recommending a 5.5 percent tuition increase for the stateâ??s 13 four-year universities for 2010-11. The UW Board of Regents will vote on the increase at a meeting in Milwaukee on Thursday as part of the UW Systemâ??s operating budget, which is expected to exceed $5 billion next year for the first time. This is the fourth consecutive year that Reilly has recommended a 5.5 percent tuition hike. It will mean tuition will rise $638 at UW-Madison, for an annual cost of $7,933. That rate increase â?? 8.7 percent â?? is because UW-Madison is in the midst of implementing a surcharge called the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates to pay for more professors and services. UW-Madisonâ??s tuition will still be the second lowest in the Big Ten conference, according to UW System documents.

Dirt trail leads to treenappers

Wisconsin Radio Network

Two UW-Madison students are paying hefty fines of about $700 apiece, for stealing a 20 foot maple tree from a downtown street. Police spokesman Joel DeSpain says it appears some late night hijinks were involved.

Know Your Madisonian: Transplanted farmer Robin Mittenthal helps students grow

Wisconsin State Journal

Robin Mittenthal is chairman of the board that oversees Eagle Heights Community Gardens, which has 537 plots tended by about 1,500 gardeners near the family housing area at UW-Madison. He is a former Minnesota organic farmer and is now a graduate student in entomology who is studying the effects of organic fertilizer on insect pests. Mittenthal, 36, said the huge collection of plots has a 30 percent turnover each year and a small waiting list. Because Eagle Heights has a large contingent of foreign student families, the contents of some plots can be unusual.

Regents consider steps to hold down textbook costs

Madison.com

University of Wisconsin System campuses will be directed to take steps to help students save money on the cost of their textbooks. The Board of Regents is expected to adopt a policy Friday recommending campuses give students more time to shop around for best prices, publish estimated cost of books in course materials and use the same books as long as possible.

On Campus: New rules will help students manage textbook costs

Wisconsin State Journal

In an effort to help college students manage burdensome book bills, a federal law that takes effect in July will require colleges to give students information about textbook prices in course listings. A proposal before the UW Board of Regents next week would change the University of Wisconsin System policies on textbooks to comply with the new federal law. The idea is that students can use the cost information to help them decide which courses to take. For the past year, the UW System has been working under interim guidelines to help students manage costs.

Scooters turn into pricier ride

Wisconsin State Journal

Scooting around town just got more expensive for some of Madisonâ??s most cash-strapped motorists â?? or maybe their parents. Wisconsin this week officially became the 49th state to require auto insurance for its drivers, leaving New Hampshire as the only state sticking to a live-free-or-die philosophy on its roads. But the law also requires scooters or mopeds to carry the same level of insurance as any other vehicle, according to officials with the state Commissioner of Insurance and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau: a minimum liability of $50,000 per person, $100,000 per crash and $15,000 for property damage. That means hundreds of college students will have to pony up for what has long been an inexpensive ride, something state Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, contends was never the Legislatureâ??s intent.

Badger Days: Being Bucky not all that bad (Sheboygan Press)

Joe, Jen and Nate Lescher were pretty excited to see Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez, basketball coach Bo Ryan and football coach Bret Bielema among the many coaches and personalities at Wednesdayâ??s Badger Days event at The Shops at Woodlake in Kohler. But they saved most of their gushing for another celebrity in the house.

Blind ambition: Tim Cordes one of the few sightless doctors in the country

Capital Times

Itâ??s not uncommon for co-workers to stumble upon Tim Cordes sitting in the dark.

â??I couldnâ??t function in the dark, but he â??sees,â??” says Dr. Nancy Barklage, who recalls entering a room prior to a UW Health staff meeting, turning on the lights and finding Cordes quietly working on his laptop while waiting for others to arrive. â??Iâ??ve experienced this a number of times now and it still kind of puts you into his reality.â?

Cordes is blind….Heâ??s now a 34-year-old trailblazing physician who is wrapping up the third year of a four-year residency program with UW-Madisonâ??s department of psychiatry.

â??He has overcome challenges that most of us have just never been faced with,â? says Barklage, an associate professor of psychiatry who has supervised Cordesâ?? work at UW Healthâ??s Psychiatric Institute and Clinic the past three years.

On Campus: Long wait for Go Big Read book

Wisconsin State Journal

If you are hoping to pick up “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” at the Madison Public Library, get in line. The book by Rebecca Skloot – which was chosen for UW-Madisonâ??s common book reading program – has a hold list of 558 requests. The fact that it was chosen for UW-Madisonâ??s Go Big Read most certainly lengthened the waiting list, said Carla Di Iorio, collection development coordinator.

Image : Lakeside_cinema08_3986

Students and community members take part in a Wisconsin Union Lakeside Cinema event featuring a screening of the 1971 movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” at the Memorial Union Terrace at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on June 23, 2008. Lakeside Cinema is a summer-long program that features contemporary and classic cinema favorites each Monday evening.

Jessica Pharm: A working class grad (The Capital City Hues)

Jessica Pharm did not come to the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her father is a truck driver and her mom was a stay-at-home mom until recently when she went to work at Potawatomi. While they would have done so, Pharm was determined not to get support from her parents and become a financial burden to them.

Rising star in the world of medical physics

Madison Times

Some of the happiest people to see Rachel McKinsey walk down the aisle to receive her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a major in medical physics were her parents who came all the way up from Louisiana to be with their daughter on her special day. And it wasnâ??t just because of their great parental pride.

UW sailing club a national leader

Wisconsin State Journal

Which organization boasts of possessing the largest nonmilitary fleet in the nation? The UW Sailing Club, which owns 120 boats and sailboards. That group is hosting an event that is as large in magnitude as the club is in stature — the Intercollegiate Sailing Associationâ??s national championship, a 10-day affair that kicked off Tuesday on Lake Mendota.

With a bleak job market awaiting, college grads turn to internships, volunteering

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As the number of college graduates entering the labor market increases in coming weeks, many will ride out the tough job market with a short-term or part-time internship in the hopes that it will lead to long-term work. The popularity of internships for recent grads and employers continues to grow as the slow economy has forced businesses to be more discerning about the costs of a full-time workforce.

Wisconsin Life: Graduation

Wisconsin Public Radio

Itâ??s graduation time for students across Wisconsin. For some, itâ??s the end of a long roadâ??for others, a door to a new life. Today, producer Cynthia Woodland brings us the voices of some of this yearâ??s graduates of the UW Odyssey Projectâ??students for whom graduation is the fulfillment of a dreamâ?¦(Audio.)

Biz Beat: Rooms without a view

Capital Times

Real estate developers have long yearned to create rooms with a view. Penthouse units or those with the best vista typically command top dollar. But some of the swanky new high-rise apartments replacing the aging rental units on campus offer no view. In fact, many of the bedrooms donâ??t even have windows.

“A certain percentage of people like dark bedrooms,” says Jim Stopple, president of Madison Property Management. “I guess you could say they are evening people.”To that end, nearly one-third of the 234 bedrooms in the proposed “Humbucker Apartments” at 1208 Spring St. have no windows.

In-debt grads with no jobs can sidestep student loan trouble

USA Today

Interest and fees will inflate the amount you owe. If you default, the government could garnish your wages and withhold your tax refund.These dire consequences are avoidable, at least as far as your federal student loans are concerned. The key is to understand your options and take action before you fall behind on payments.

Students find food scraps to be mutually beneficial

Wisconsin State Journal

This growing season, a group of UW-Madison students is bringing new meaning to the phrase â??food chain.â? Members of the F.H. King Students for Sustainable Agriculture haul food scraps by bicycle from Fresh Madison Market to turn it into compost for their garden off Lake Mendota Drive, north of University Hospital.

Job Prospects Improve Slightly for Graduates

New York Times

Noted: Roberto McQuade, who majored in communications arts and political science at the University of Wisconsin, has applied for 20 office jobs with pharmaceutical companies and architecture and real estate concerns.

Once struggling to learn English, student now heads for Harvard med

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

When he moved to Milwaukee from a tiny town in Mexico, Carlos Torres couldnâ??t speak a word of English. Not even hello or goodbye.

He was a frightened kid, plunked into fifth grade at a south side Milwaukee school. His family – heâ??s the youngest of 10 children – rented a place near 14th and Lincoln. Now, a mere dozen years later, Carlos is a standout graduate of Marquette High School and, as of last weekend, the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Faced with an enviable choice among four medical schools that accepted him, he has chosen Harvard on a full-tuition scholarship. Heâ??s the first member of his family to graduate from college.

County 911 director Dejung is finalist for Minnesota job

Wisconsin State Journal

911 director John Dejung, on the verge of his one-year anniversary in Dane County, is a finalist for a 911 director job in Dakota County, Minn., just southeast of the Twin Cities. Dejung inherited a difficult task after the previous director Joe Norwick resigned amid the controversy surrounding a mishandled call from a murdered UW-Madison studentâ??s cell phone.

Disc jocks dominate Ultimate Frisbee

Wisconsin State Journal

This sport is the Ultimate – really – and its national college championships are coming to Madison on Memorial Day weekend. Backyard Frisbee has got nothing on the Ultimate Players Association College Championships, set for Friday through next Monday, May 31, at Reddan Soccer Park in Verona and at Middletonâ??s Breitenbach Stadium. Fans who come out for the UPA College Championships are sure to see the highest level of Ultimate anywhere, said Matt Young, captain of the UW-Madison club Ultimate team, the Hodags.

Catching Up: Trial date set for man accused in deadly hit-and-run crash

Wisconsin State Journal

A Kenosha man charged in a Dec. 31 crash that killed 21-year-old Shanica Adkins is scheduled to stand trial June 1. Johnny Jerome Jones, 32, was speeding away from a squad car that had tried to pull him over on Dec. 31 in Milwaukee because his Mercury Mountaineer did not have a front license plate, and he ran a red light just before colliding with the Geo Prism in which Adkins was a passenger, the complaint said. Adkins, 21, was active in organizations on campus at UW-Madison and was set to graduate this month with a double major in social work and sociology.

Former UW student claims Verveer acted improperly

WKOW-TV 27

In an account eerily similar to previous claims of prosecutorial excess by former Assistant Dane County District Attorney Mike Verveer, a former UW-Madison student claimed to WKOW 27 News Verveer made an unsolicited telephone call to him when the man was a criminal defendant, and may have tainted a prosecution.

Lucas: Ex-Badger Johnson finds another degree of success

Madison.com

As a University of Wisconsin athlete, Lawrence Johnson knew what it took to get to the finish line. And he usually got there before anyone else. He still has the third-fastest time in the 200-meter run in school history.

As a UW student, though, Johnson had trouble finishing what he started. Over 30 years ago, he left school without his degree. And there was little or no commitment at the time to come back for it.

…Given this backdrop, you can better understand what it felt like for Johnson to finally cross the finish line during last weekendâ??s UW commencement exercises at the Kohl Center.

Legally stoned: Synthetic pot hits Wisconsin; regulators already on it

Capital Times

Ben Masel strolls down a downtown street on a cool spring day, takes a hit on a joint, holds it in, then puffs out an aromatic cloud.

â??Iâ??m certainly feeling something,â? he says.

Masel, a longtime marijuana legalization advocate who has provided expert testimony in court on marijuana issues, is aware that he could be approached at any time by a cop. But heâ??s not worried. Heâ??s not breaking any laws.

Web-based delivery company faces large fines for alleged alcohol sales to minors

Wisconsin State Journal

The party appears to be over for a Madison company that allegedly sold alcohol online and delivered the booze primarily to Downtown UW-Madison students. The owners of the now closed Campusdrank.com could face up to $400,000 in fines for not having a liquor license and selling to underage customers, according to a 575-count complaint filed by the city in Madison Municipal Court against Danny Haber, the owner of Campusdrank.com, and Matthew Siegel, his business partner. Haber, 21, was a UW-Madison student studying business when he started the website as a juice and soda delivery service in November. He began selling alcohol in December, he said.

Toughest test comes after graduation: Getting a job

USA Today

About 2.4 million students will graduate with bachelorâ??s and associates degrees as part of the Class of 2010, says the National Center for Education Statistics. Those job-seekers will go head-to-head not only with fellow classmates but also with laid-off workers, financially strapped retirees and still-unemployed 2009 and 2008 grads. There are more than five job seekers for every opening, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Online alcohol company facing fines

Madison.com

A Madison company that sold alcohol online and delivered it to University of Wisconsin-Madison students could face some hefty fines. The city has filed a complaint in municipal court against Danny Haber and Matthew Siegel, who operated Campusdrank.com. The store that provided the alcohol for delivery is also facing potential municipal citations.

Seen: Emotions take center stage on Graduation Day

Wisconsin State Journal

(Varsity, varsity….)
The pomp and ceremony of graduation day at UW-Madison brought thousands of graduates and many thousands more family and friends to the Kohl Center for five commencements last weekend.

(U-rah-rah, Wisconsin)
But, no matter how many people attended, graduation isnâ??t a group thing.

(Praise to thee, we sing)
Itâ??s a very personal event, as personal as anything you can ever go through. When your son or daughter walks across the stage, name announced, video screen high above the floor showing the brief, shining moment, the memories and tears start to flow.

Study: Google scrambling our perception of science reality

USA Today

Google search suggestions have shifted public perceptions about nanotechnology away from science to health worries, finds a science communications study. Search engine reliance on popularity rather than accuracy to steer people to information likely distorts societyâ??s view of science, politics and elsewhere, suggest the study authors.

Business Data Give Hope To Grads, Jobless

WISC-TV 3

New data from the University of Wisconsinâ??s business school is providing hope to recent graduates entering an already-crowded job market.Thousands of UW students are marching through graduation this spring and stepping closer toward new careers, but they face a tough economy and competitive conditions to land jobs.

Graduates galore!

WKOW-TV 27

From Superior to Kenosha, Green Bay to Madison, thousands of students marched to the strains of pomp and circumstance for this yearâ??s spring commencement.At the UW, more than 6,000 students received degrees over the weekend.U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gave the keynote address Saturday, urging students to remember lessons they learned while staying in the capitol city.

Caps and gowns galore this weekend

Capital Times

Let the commencements commence! The rite of passage from undergraduate to graduate will keep both the Kohl Center and the Coliseum at Alliant Energy Center busy from Friday night through Sunday afternoon, as thousands of students get their diplomas from UW-Madison, Edgewood College and Madison Area Technical College. UW-Madison kicks off the graduation ceremonies Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Kohl Center, with doctoral, professional and honorary degrees being awarded. That will be the first of five commencements for roughly 6,000 UW-Madison graduates.

Schwalenberg appointed to UW Board of Regents

Madison.com

Jessica Schwalenberg has been appointed to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. Gov. Jim Doyle announced the appointment Friday. Schwalenberg will replace Kevin Opgenorth as the nontraditional student representative. Her appointment is effective immediately and will expire May 1, 2012.

Caps and gowns galore this weekend

Capital Times

Let the commencements commence!

The rite of passage from undergraduate to graduate will keep both the Kohl Center and the Coliseum at Alliant Energy Center busy from Friday night through Sunday afternoon, as thousands of students get their diplomas from UW-Madison, Edgewood College and Madison Area Technical College.

UW-Madison kicks off the graduation ceremonies Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Kohl Center, with doctoral, professional and honorary degrees being awarded. That will be the first of five commencements for roughly 6,000 UW-Madison graduates.

UW track star Chavon Robinson knows what it takes to take giant leaps

Madison.com

Chavon Robinson has negotiated her share of learning curves since joining the University of Wisconsin womenâ??s track and field team four years ago. She came from Milwaukee in 2006 regarded as a decent talent in the long and triple jumps. Sheâ??s heading for the exit with two school records, having grown into what UW coach Jim Stintzi describes as an “elite, national-level athlete.” Robinson came from Rufus King High School with a passing knowledge of her craft. Sheâ??s since become such a student of her specialties that her tutor, UW assistant coach Nate Davis, came up to her after a practice session this season and, in complimentary fashion, said, “You donâ??t need me as much.”