Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Continuos Competition for Aid
With an uncertain economy, the Ole Miss Office of Financial Aid has noticed an increase in applicants and more competition for funds. “There has been a huge change in the amount of students applying for aid, said Dewey Knight, advising director for Financial Aid. “the economy is worse and more families need support for their students.”
The 2009-2010 year ended with 13,912 students receiving aid that totaled $158.7 million. Looking into the past years, the 2007-2008 school year had 11,034 students who received aid. Although totals for this school year will not be available until June, Knight has no doubt there will be another increase. There are a record 15,500 students on the Oxford campus this year. Robert Givens, also an advising director in the office said there’s another dimension. “We are aware that more students are in need of aid and although the requirements basically remain the same as previous years, due to the increased number of applicants the awarding process was much more competitive.” he said.
For some students, the availability of financial aid is what is making their dreams of higher education become reality. One of them is, Bryn Davis, a sophomore Hospitality Management major, who completed the Free Federal Application for Student Aid, the first step in seeking financial assistance. Davis said she was able to receive $5,500 in a Pell Grant and up to $1,200 in work-study compensation because Davis works on campus a maximum of 12 hours per week. Not every student can get a campus job. “For students who have federal aid, one of the hardest things for them to get is work-study because we only get an alloted amount of money and when it runs out there is no more to get.” Knight said.
Along with federal aid students each year are able to apply for scholarships. Unlike the federal aid, this money comes from alumni and other donors at the university. “We are very successful in reaching out to alumni who are very generous, said Knight. “That being said once we receive this money we invest it and since the financial markets have not been successful, less scholarship money has been able to be awarded because we have had less return on our endowment.”For students who are trying to receive aid this is where the competitive circumstances come in. They must apply for scholarships that are based on grade point average, service, and leadership. “With more students applying for the different scholarships offered it is much harder to give students as much aid as it was in previous years and that is where the competitiveness to receive aid comes into play”, Givens said.
Students interested in applying for financial aid can go to their website, http://www.olemiss.edu/finaid/index.html, for more information.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Interview with Professor Eagles on the Lillian Smith Award and The Price of Defiance
It is no secret that the University of Mississippi has a very rich southern heritage. Professor Charles W. Eagles sheds some light on the University’s history in a book about James Meredith, the first African-American to attend Ole Miss.
Professor Eagles’ book, The Price of Defiance, focuses on three major components. He wanted to explain why the riot occurred at the University in 1962, he wanted to write a book that would show James Meredith as a person and focus on his background, and finally he wanted to allow readers to follow James Meredith for his year at Ole Miss.
By writing The Price of Defiance Professor Eagles earned numerous awards and received many commendations. Among his awards he received is the Lillian Smith Award which he received in Atlanta this September. His previous book received the award in 1993 so do date Eagles is the only scholar to have won the award twice.
The book was used immediately in a journalism class at Florida State University and Dr. Namorato has used the book in his Mississippi history classes here at the University. Professor Eagles says that the one important thing that the book does for college aged students is explains what segregation really was. Professor Eagles says, “We all kind of know the almost clichés of segregated water fountains and separate schools for blacks and whites.” He goes on to explain that segregation affected all aspects of life here at Ole Miss. His goal was to give readers a good understanding of how segregation worked as a system and giving concrete examples.
Professor Eagles makes a point of saying how the chapter specifically on James Meredith’s life gets very little attention. He also says that reviews for the book have not mentioned the last chapter of the book. He told me that if I do not read the book I should make a point of reading the last ten pages.
http://southernchanges.blogspot.com/2010/09/charles-eagles-accepts-2010-lillian.html
Mississippi Teacher Corps
After a student has completed both parts to the Praxis exam and has now become certified he or she can apply to the Mississippi Teacher Corps. The program has many benefits, such as a full scholarship while you are getting your master’s degree. If accepted the graduate student will then be placed in an area in Mississippi that has it hard finding teachers for their school. Moreover, it is beneficial to the school as well as the person in the program. The graduate student will be getting a hands on experience of what it is like being a certified teacher in an actual classroom.
It is good to know about the Mississippi Teacher Corps and also to go ahead and get your application in if you know you are interested. There is a limited amount of teachers needed so do not wait until it is too late and let this great opportunity pass you by. If it does happen to then there are other programs as well. Find them, they are very beneficial.Then there are certain students who may not have been informed about this program until it was too late. I spoke to a graduate student, Robin Goolsby, who did not know about the program but really wished she did. However, she was not totally disappointed because she received the Lucky Day Scholarship from Ole Miss.