The Megaphone (Georgetown, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 12, 1988 Page: 4 of 12
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4.
NEWS/MISC
Beyond S.U.... -
Reagan to Propose Way to Use
Savings Bonds for College
(CPS)--Seizing what has be-
come a trendy idea, the Reagan
administration is expected to pro-
pose giving federal tax breaks to
parents who buy savings bonds for
their children's college tuitions.
Administration officials hope
the tax breaks will encourage par-
ents to save money for collegd,
lessening their needs for federal
loans and grants.
The President is expected to
announce details of the plan when
he makes his formal federal budget
proposal soon, and college offi-
cials—while expressing reserva-
tions-seem to approve.
"The higher education commu-
nity supports the idea, but if it
competes with funding of need-
based aid, we can’t support it," said
Charles Saunders of the American
Council on Education (ACE). "If
it’s designed to complement need-
based aid, we support it."
"It's a modest proposal, and if
it encourages savings, that’s good,"
said Art Hauptman, an ACE con-
sultant. "But I wouldn’t fund it
over basic student aid:"
The Reagan plan-also proposed
by Vice President George Bush in
his presidential campaign- will be
included in the fiscal 1989 budget
the administration will soon send
to Congress.
The government now taxes the
interest people earn on savings
bonds, and people have to pay the
taxes when they cash in the bonds.
Under the President’s proposal,
the government would not tax the
interest if it’s used to pay for edu-
cation.
The idea "has political appeal,"
said Hauptman.
The idea, in fact, isn’t new.
Illinois and North Carolina
have state "education bond" pro-
grams designed to encourage par-
ents to start college tuition nest
eggs. Last week, Kentucky and
Nebraska legislators were debating
starting similar plans in their
states.
More than half the nation’s
state legislatures considered them
in 1987.
Six states now have "pre-paid"
tuition plans in which parents pay
a flat fee to cover future—and pre-
sumably higher- tuition costs at
the school of their choice.
Several private companies, in-
cluding Boston's Fidelity Invest-
ments and New Jersey's College
Savings Bank, now offer college
savings plans.
In early January, Illinois fami-
lies snatched up $93 million worth
of College Savings Bonds in just
days.
The concept’s popularity
doesn't mean it's foolproof, Jen-
nifer Afton of the Education
Commission for the States warned.
Illinois anc! other states that have
adopted similar plans may have
been "hasty," she said.
"There are risks to parents and
the state," Afton said.
"There’s a danger that people
will assume if they take one action
at one time, they think they're
fixed," said Kathleen Brouder, a
spokesman for the College Schol-
arship Service of the College
Board. "Like any investment, this
is the kind of thing you have to
watch closely."
Pre-paid tuition plans are par-
ticularly risky, Afton noted, be-
cause they require parents to select
a school for their child long before
the student is reidy to go to
school. A school's quality also
can deteriorate, leaving parents
buying lass education than they’d
thought.
The Illinois bonds, Afton said,
address those issues, and the Rea-
gan administration should work
along the same lines. "If the fed-
eral government does get involved,
a bond is the way to go. Futures
are not where it's at."
Still, said Saunders, the Reagan
proposal is really a "side show
compared to the real problems"
because while it addresses the needs
of the middle-class, it doesn’t do
anything for parents without the
resources to purchase bonds.
"We have some serious prob-
lems with the scope of the plan
The administration should really
provide for those without re-
sources, not provide another break
for people who can afford to save
ahead for their children's tuition."
"The administration is showing
its priorities by assisting the mid-
dle class” and ignoring the poor,
said Hauptman.
"The focus-developing national
solutions for rising tuition costs—
is a useful one. It's focused a lot
of attention on the need for college
savings," said Brouder. "But I
don't know that one single plan
will work for all families."
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Prof Wants to Zap Dirty Jokes
From Computer Bulletin Board
SEATTLE, WASH. (CPS)-A
professor is trying to start a cam-
paign to push off-color jokes and
messages off the University of
Washington’s campus-wide com-
puter bulletin board.
"Jokes of sexual, personal and
racial violence have no place in a
university, and I intend to stop it,"
associate Prof. David Hodge
warned.
While campus officials refused
to zap the messages immediately,
UW Vice Provost for Computing,
Helmut Golde, said, "I'm planning
to follow up on it. I don't condone
that kind of thing."
The offending messages are in a
computer file called CAN, which
was designed for "uninhibited"
messages and jokes and "exchanges
of software ideas," Academic
Computing Services Acting
Director Steve Hallstrom ex-
plained.
Students at 5 More Campuses
Rally Against Israel
(CPS)—Students at five more
American campuses protested Is-
rael's violent response to Pales-
tinian uprisings on the West Bank
of the Jordan River and in the Gaza
Strip.
Initiated by Arab organizations
like the General Union of Pales-
tinian Students, groups ranging in
size from 12 to 150 people staged
rallies at the universities of Idaho,
Washington and Arizona and at
Washington State and Western
Michigan universities the last
week of January.
They called for the establish-
ment of a Palestinian state and an
end to U.S. "financing of terror-
ism," a reference to American
military aid to Israel.
To quell the rioting on the
West Bank and in the Gaza Strip,
which Israel has occupied since
1967, Israeli troops periodically
have used live ammunition, killing
more than 45 people.
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The Megaphone (Georgetown, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 12, 1988, newspaper, February 12, 1988; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth634173/m1/4/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Southwestern University.