On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, Barack Obama signed a bill which, unbeknownst to many, will benefit numerous students nationwide; democrats, libertarians, and republicans alike. Along with the Health Care and Education Reconcilliation Act of 2010, our government has granted us landmark student aid reform.
To quote the Delaware Democratic Party, “Over the next decade these reforms will save taxpayers $68 billion by ending wasteful subsidies given to banks and middlemen who handle student loans. The money this program saves will expand and strengthen the federal Pell Grant program and make college more affordable for millions of middle class Americans.”
The act passed by the House and Senate is a huge step forward for students and the American Economy. This isn’t just one of your ordinary bills, passed by Democrats, which fit like a puzzle piece into their agenda. This act will affect numerous students, easing the stress of their financial burdens, and even aiding in beginning to ease our nation’s financial deficit.
Years ago, the United States had the highest concentration of graduates in the world, however, in the past decade, we have begun to lose ground, and are now ranked ninth or tenth in the world. With a greater number of well-educated people, America will be more skilled as a whole, and this will allow us to better compete in the 21st century. President Obama has set a goal to regain our top spot by 2020, and with this new bill, that goal is made even more feasible.
It gets harder every year for students who rely on federal loans and aid to make ends meet, and when students can’t afford higher education, the entire nation’s economy suffers. These subsidies which are being taken from private bankers will be redirected to Pell Grants… Pell Grants that will make college more affordable, and ease the stress on students who must attempt to balance full-time jobs and college courses just to stay afloat.
According to the Governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, this is the single largest investment in higher education in US history. For those of you who are just entering the financial aid scene, here’s a recap on what’s going to be changing.
According to CNN, for the 2009-2010 school year, the maximum Pell Grant awarded to students was $5,350. Without this reform, that would have been more than cut in half per student, and would have been $2,150 per student. With this, the grant will grow to $5,975 by 2017.
Community college students will see a lot of the benefits from this as more money will be allocated for competitive grant programs, and they also will see the benefits of the Pell Grant increase.
For those of you who have already taken out loans in the past, you’re also affected.
The monthly payments will be capped at 10% of your discretionary income, allowing you to get a more stable base beneath you, and maybe even save up more for your future. Something else that you may see appearing is the decrease of interest rates for student loans, with the switch over to completely direct lending.
I’m sure, though, that some of you are still unconvinced.
As Katie Naranjo, president of the College Democrats of America said, “We’re lucky to have a president and congress who listen to young people and our issues. Today, many students will have the opportunity to receive a better education, and the next generation of young professionals now have a manageable stystem to pay back their loans.”
What about easing the concerns of the Republicans who are understandably leery of increasing government spending at a time when our economy is faltering? The deficit and spending are being reduced through this bill! It’s going to save taxpayers $68 billion from the subsidies that were going to be paid to financial institutions, and $10 billion will be paid towards our deficit.
“I didn’t stand with the banks and the financial industries in this fight – that’s not why I came to Washington – and neither did any of the members of Congress who are here today,” President Barack Obama said to a supportive crowd at Northern Virginia Community College, the location of the signing. “We stood with you. We stood with America’s students.” I would say that it’s a great feeling to know that our future is indeed important to our government.

Last Thursday, March 25, over 400 students from ten of Michigan’s public universities traveled to Lansing to protest the loss of many of the state’s funding programs for students of higher education. The rally was organized by the Student Association of Michigan, which is a group of student government representatives from public universities from across the state. Twenty-five Michigan Tech students (who traveled over 500 miles) were in attendance.
After arriving in the city, the group of students congregated at the Lansing Center before marching down Michigan Avenue toward the capitol building with their schools’ flags in-hand. The crowd blocked traffic attempting to cross downtown streets as the mass of students marched towards the capitol. While the group marched, chants of “No cuts. No fees. Education should be free!” were shouted by protestors.
“Walking down the street at the beginning of the march and just seeing all the universities’ flags streaming behind us was really great,” said Griffin Roblyer, a second-year Michigan Tech student who participated in the rally. “It let everyone know that it’s not just one university. It’s all of us.”
Once at the steps of the capitol building, students listened to short speeches by members of student government from universities across the state as well as a few Michigan lawmakers who were coaxed out of the capitol building by the crowd’s chants.
Many students voiced concern over the loss of the Michigan Promise scholarship last year, which provided students up to $4,000 towards higher education. Other programs that were recently cut include the Michigan Work-Study Program, the Part-Time Independent Student Program and state nursing scholarships. A bill that passed in the state Senate last week would result in a 3.1 percent cut in funding to Michigan’s public universities for 2011. Attendees were also worried about Michigan’s average tuition, which has risen faster than the national average.
“Until education is your number one priority, trust me, you will hear our voices,” yelled University of Michigan-Dearborn student Moneer Al-Nabolsi.
Among those who spoke at the rally were state representatives Joan Bauer, Rebekah Warren, and Alma Wheeler Smith, and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero. Each speaker urged the group of students to continue to ask lawmakers to fund higher education and to look at the voting records of each party before voting next Nov.
After an hour-long rally, students were split into two groups; one group was moved into the gallery above the state House of Representatives and the second group to the gallery above the state Senate. Students were also asked to meet with representatives from their respective districts.
“I think it spoke a great deal when I tried to talk to a lawmaker and he wouldn’t even look me in the eye,” said Roblyer. “He looked away and ignored me completely when I tried to say ‘hi.’ I think he was ashamed that [students] had to go to this length just to be heard.”
Lawmakers in both the House and Senate reminded students that they should continue to voice their concerns and to be politically active in order to achieve their goals.
“I think the rally was a huge success,” Roblyer stated. “I think that we really highlighted the importance of higher education and how it’s in peril in the state of Michigan.”

A collaboration of MTU students across a variety of disciplines met to celebrate last Thursday, November 12. They met in the hallways of Fischer, they presented and discussed in the Memorial Union Ballrooms, and they posted their work on the J.R. Van Holt Library walls. They want us to know about their work in the field of usability.
The event those students celebrated last Thursday was World Usability Day; the theme was “Designing for a sustainable world.” Events included a paper prototype exhibition that demonstrated its’ effectiveness in Fischer, presentations by usability and sustainability experts, and a showcase of usability posters submitted by Michigan Tech students for consideration in the poster design contest.
“Today’s society wants products that have more than one use and that are sustainable,” says Jeremiah Baumann, a student on the committee for organizing World Usability Day at Michigan Tech. “This is where usability comes into play for someone like myself in the Technical Communications field. As a Creative Designer, if my designs aren’t usable, then they are not successful and don’t see the light of day.”
World Usability Day is an international event sponsored by the Usability Professionals’ Association. A group dedicated to using their expertise in usability testing to “humanize technology.” Their website states “your cell phone should be as easy to use as a door knob.” Some of the international highlights of the event included a DesignIT! Conference in Japan, a celebration for the opening of a new testing facility (the iQ Studio) in Dublin, and students performing usability testing for companies in Finland.
Usability itself is a growing field of interest for not only designers and creators but for any students of higher education looking to create products of the highest quality. Usability refers to the quality of a product as well as to the process of testing how real users interact with the product.
The impact of World Usability Day was clear at the Michigan Tech Campus. Jeremiah states “The presentations this year, including the poster sessions, show how usability and sustainability are directly related, allowing for students to reflect about how they can achieve a better world. Michigan Tech students from all disciplines had the chance to learn about sustainability from local experts.”
Those experts included Rick Donovan, the Operations Manager, Senior Engineer and Research Scientist at Sustainable Futures Institute who talked about high performance computing, artificial intelligence computing, computational materials science, and systems modeling for sustainability. Rick Loduha, an Associate Professor of Art and Design (Interdisciplinary Design) at Finlandia University in Hancock talked about design and creative problem solving. And, Christopher Plummer, Associate Professor of Theater in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Michigan Tech talked about sustainability in sound design and soundscapes.
Joshua Kaufman, a writer for the Digital Web Magazine, writes “usability testing breaks down the wall between the designer and user, and allows us to see how real users do real tasks in the real world.” And things were real for Michigan Tech Students last Thursday.
See the World Usability Day Upper Peninsula (WUD U.P.) website at hdmz.hu.mtu.edu for more details about World Usability Day 2009 and for a countdown till next years’ celebration.

Governor Granholm signed the final six bills for the fiscal year 2010 budget early this morning. The state has been on a continuation budget since the fiscal year began on Oct. 1, and it was nearing its next deadline, Oct. 31. While the budget is officially signed, Granholm is far from pleased with it.

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