For those of you students looking to get your hands on some federal dollars (which should really be everyone), you have less than a week about a month and a half to get your FAFSA in!


And word is that some of the agony of filling out these forms will be removed by so-called “skip logic,” which should keep you from writing the same old personal information in year after year. But, according to the average filler-out-er, it’ll still have the potential to be a less than pleasant process.

“It’s a little easier this year, but it’s still daunting,” says Fuentes-Michel, who recently helped her 17-year-old daughter fill out the form.

Ah, reform.


Regardless, money is money. And for your best shot at it, get your FAFSA in by March 2 April 15. And by that I mean hit up the ‘rents by aforementioned date.


(Personal note: Thanks mommy!)

Following up on earlier research, Onward State has examined the latest NACUBO College Endowment Study and updated our findings. Nothing groundbreaking here. The economy was poor, and in fiscal year 2009, the Big Ten endowments continued their decline from fiscal year 2008.


Penn State’s endowment lost nearly 21% of its value, which is in fact a middle-of-the-road figure relative to the rest of the Big Ten. Northwestern University experienced the largest decrease in endowment value by percent, almost 25%. Purdue escaped 2009 with less damage to its endowment than any other Big Ten university, suffering only a 16% loss.


The news isn’t all bad however. The Collegian reported that Penn State, along with many other universities, has experienced an increase in its endowment since the NACUBO numbers were complied.


From a low of $1.26 billion, the university’s endowment has risen to $1.46 billion, a 16% increase. Onward State recently solicited the other schools in the Big Ten for their endowment figures from the end of calendar year 2009 to see how Penn State stacked up.

Did you know that there are over 4,000 international students currently enrolled at Penn State? Amazingly, there are also about 200,400 international students currently enrolled in universities across America today. These students play a major roll in today’s economy.
Annually, NAFSA: Association of International Educators calculates the economic impact of international students and their dependents on the U.S. economy. During the 2008-2009 academic year, NAFSA estimates that they contributed approximately $17.6 billion to the U.S. economy.
Pennsylvania received a total of $820,341,000 from foreign students and their families.
Where does PSU fall into this? In total, international students and their families have contributed $100,607,600  …

What: In an effort to simultaneously raise awareness about and contribute to the reduction of material waste within the State College community, a group of concerned students and citizens will be bringing in bike-loads of donated goods ranging from rice to bikes that will be available for free (i.e. sharing).
When: Friday September 4 from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm.
Where: Pattee Mall, near the Willard Building.
Cost: Free!

In 2009, international admits to graduate schools have declined, a first in five years, according to a Businessweek article published earlier this week.
Though the report found a 4% increase in international applications, the total number of international applications received this year is still below 2003 application levels at many of the 253 schools that responded to the survey.
The findings come a time when international students are increasingly getting cold feet about coming to study in U.S. graduate schools. Many are worried about their job prospects and the daunting challenges associated with obtaining an H-1B visa to work in the U.S. …

We’ll be picking up the pace in the next couple of weeks as fall term nears. The only organization more excited than Onward State for the return of school is Anheuser-Busch INBev, proud producers of Penn State students’ choicest diet supplement. Stimulus package, much?
The Inquirer asked Joe Paterno five questions. Best quote: “That phone rings on Sunday morning and I shake.” Stay out of trouble, boys! [Philly.com]
Jay Paterno described the pre-game ritual on his blog. [The HD Journal]
CATA had a record-breaking year in ridership. The highest single day was State Patty’s Day. [The Daily Collegian]
Penn State saw a slight …

All in, the average underclassman will see a $1,040 increase in his final bill this year. This is about at 4.8% increase in total cost from last year.
But, if you recall one of our earlier posts, Penn State reported a “record number of donations in fiscal 2008-09.”
The increase might not be as impressive as they’d like you to think, but at least it’s all going to the right place: student scholarships.
The press release had this to say about the current campaign,
The campaign’s top priority is scholarship support for students. About $150 million of total campaign commitments has been secured for …

Penn State students have followed with varying degrees of interest this summer’s budget battles: one between the Democrats and Republicans within Pennsylvania’s state government and another between Governor Ed Rendell and Graham Spanier. The former was over the state’s budget and the latter an argument about the very identity of Penn State: are we public or private?
We don’t have a good answer for you– we’re not even sure what we are– but over the past few months many students and parents were unaware of this tussle. Now, however, they are seeing its effects first hand as bills begin to call for attention. …

Joe Scarborough had Governor Rendell on Morning Joe this morning to talk about the annual budget impasse… but first, c0-host Willie Geist asked Rendell about yesterday’s top story: Penn State being recognized as the country’s #1 party school by the Princeton Review.
Rendell’s comment, delivered with a school boy’s smirk, was:
“You know, some are opposed to the liquor drink tax for the state, so given that statistic, maybe we have to take a hard look at that… only kidding guys, only kidding.”
You can find the full clip here. The question about Penn State comes just 30 seconds into the video.

An interesting thing to come out of this month’s Board of Trustees meeting, other than the proposed tuition hikes, is the news that Penn State received the second highest amount of donations ever for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
Penn State received over 300,000 separate gifts from over 77,000 alumni, totaling $180 million in donations, reported Peter Tombros, volunteer chair  of the University’s capital campaign. The $180 million received was surpassed only by the $190.3 million donated in the 2006-2007 fiscal year.
The University’s capital campaign, known as For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students, has raised over $750 million since …

Gary Schultz retired this week after having served for 14 years as the university’s senior vice president for finance and business. Al Horvath, the current vice president for finance and business, will be taking his position effective today.
In his position, Schultz was responsible for managing the 5,000 person workforce associated with “business operations, finance, and technology.” Oddly enough, he was also the designated executive for the Office of the Physical Plant and University Police.
Schultz will also be leaving a profound legacy from one of his other duties, serving as the chairman of the Penn State Investment Council, the organization tasked …

The Centre Daily Times announced on Thursday that it would be eliminating three positions and reducing all salaries over $25,000 by 2.5 percent to 5 percent.
The CDT reported on its own troubles:
Other cost reductions are planned, including reducing the width of the newspages by one inch, and reducing the number of comic strips in the daily newspaper.
McClatchy, the CDT’s parent company, is feeling the effects of Depression 2.0 in full force. In March, McClatchy announced that it would be eliminating a total of 1,500 jobs from its 30 newspaper properties.
[HT: Veblen]

On Tuesday, Governor Ed Rendell met with a group of student leaders to discuss Penn State, its tuition, and the extent to which it benefits from the tuition relief act. We predicted that the meeting would be largely symbolic.
UPUA President Gavin Keirans talked to us about the event via email:
The Governor’s meeting went quite well, he was surprisingly candid in everything he said. He expressed a great deal of concern with how our administration run its operations, and use its funds. While early on it seemed dead set that he would not think of the state related schools in this …

We’re beginning to hear just how President Hope’s stimulus package is going to get State College going. C0ngressman Glenn Thompson is trying to brand the projects as his own, but Veblen pointed out a little inconsistency with that: Thompson actually voted against the omnibus bill.
Centre County will benefit from upgrades to Routes 26 and 64. There are two $2 million bundles of stimulus that is specifically targeted to State College.
The first will be used to start a number of shovel-ready projects; according to the Collegian, they are:

Upgrading the emergency response system
Refurbishing Fraser Road
Upgrading the Philipsburg sewer system
Establishing a mobile dental …