New education bill would modify loan program
Republican leaders will introduce a bill this week in the U.S. House of Representatives that ends students' ability to lock-in a fixed 30 year interest rate for student loans.
Ohio Republican John Boehner has said the money the government uses to fix interest rates would be better spent providing additional services to current students.
Democratic leaders have vowed to fight the proposal, arguing that the fixed rate loan is necessary for timely pay off of loans. They warned defaults from borrowers unable to pay back after graduation could increase if the change went into effect.
Other officials warned that John Kerry might take up the change as a campaign issue, using the rollback as a rallying call for middle class families that use the program, and will make a key constituency in November's elections.
The bill will be included in the renewal of the Higher Education Act, a law that provides guidelines for student loan programs. The bill would increase loans limits freshmen from $2,625 to $3,500, sophomores from $3,500 to $4,500.
English professor dismissed for illegal expenses
The University of South Florida decided a 65 inch television and 15 speakers were not acceptable uses of the school's English funds.
As part of an ongoing internal audit the school identified the graft by English professor Phillip Sipiora. The equipment was purchased with the professor's salary from teaching at the satellite campus. As a tenured professor at the University of South Florida, any money earned teaching at a satellite campus must benefit the English department.
Sipiora said that the expenses were school related as they were needed to prepare for a film course. "There isn't a piece of equipment in my home not directly related to my work," he told the St. Petersburg Times. Sipiorda has been forced to step down and the school is considering additional charges against him.
The audit committee also found that Sipiora had violated policy when he used a textbook for a freshman writing course from the same publisher that he was negotiating with for a book deal.
Virginia makes reparations to victims of segregation
Virginia Governor Mark Warner signed a bill Wednesday pledging $2 million to fund scholarships for students denied education when public schools across the state closed rather than integrate in the late 1950s.
Warner spokeswoman Ellen Qualls said about 250 to 350 former students, now middle-aged, could receive several thousand dollars each through the scholarship.
The money could be used toward a high school diploma, a GED certificate, career or technical training, or an undergraduate degree from a Virginia college.
The county in the south-central part of Virginia was the site of the longest school shutdown in the country to avoid racial integration from 1959-1964.
One victim of the school shutdown, John Hurt, was in first grade in 1959 when Prince Edward county closed the schools. He was banned for five years, returned for two years but was so far behind that he dropped out of school.
Hurt learned to read and write as an adult, and plans to use his scholarship to improve his skills so can advance at the Virginia Department of Transportation, where he currently works.
-- compiled by Patrick Gordon and Jon Schubin from the L.A. Times and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
