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MSU

Simon: 'We know that tuition is too high'

Olivia Dimmer
February 11, 2014

Despite years of funding cuts and difficult budgetary decisions, President Lou Anna K. Simon said she’s confident MSU’s situation isn’t going anywhere but up. During her annual State of the University speech, Simon addressed several accomplishments MSU made throughout the last year, including the football team’s monumental Rose Bowl win. But she didn’t hesitate to address one of the biggest issues currently facing students — a series of tuition increases approved by the Board of Trustees that university officials blame on decreased appropriations from the state. “We’ve been through one of the worst times in our history,” Simon said during her speech.

MICHIGAN

Bill could give interest-free loans to some college students

Derek Gartee
February 11, 2014

On Tuesday, Democratic state lawmakers announced a new bill that targets higher education and the increasing costs of attending college. If passed, the proposal would give 200 students per year an interest-free loan to pay for college, although it is unlikely to be approved by the Republican-controlled legislature. State Rep.

MSU

Morrill Plaza to commemorate MSU women

Juliana Moxley
February 11, 2014

A small group huddled together under a tent on Tuesday afternoon where Morrill Hall once stood, crowding around to hear MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and faculty members celebrate the grand opening of Morrill Plaza.

MSU

Student group protests recent tuition increases

Sierra Lay
February 11, 2014

On Tuesday afternoon, President Lou Anna K. Simon gave her annual State of the University address at Wharton Center, while members of MSU Students United gathered outside the building to protest many hot button issues set to be discussed in the speech, including rising tuition rates.

NEWS

Facing the consequences

Geoff Preston
February 10, 2014

For Spartan fans worldwide, December 2013 will be remembered as the time a 26-year drought was lifted as the Spartans marched into the Rose Bowl as outright Big Ten Champions. Unfortunately for 27 people, many of whom were students, it was the early morning of Dec.

MSU

MSU introduces site advocating for higher ed in political arena

Olivia Dimmer
February 10, 2014

MSU is taking a stand against rising tuition costs and other challenges facing the university by launching a website designed to allow Spartan proponents to convey the message that policymakers should support higher education. The website, called Spartan Advocate, aims to decrease tuition costs and make degrees more accessible and affordable. The need for Spartan Advocate spawned from a desire to educate new legislators and alumni on the importance of higher education in research and economic growth, said Monique Field, assistant vice president of strategic initiative in the office of governmental affairs at MSU. As Field visited with alumni clubs, she saw that not everyone understands how MSU is spending state dollars and how the cuts to those funds have impacted tuition. “As state appropriations went down, the difference was made up (in tuition) by parents who send their kids to school,” Field said.

MSU

A bug's life

Simon Schuster
February 10, 2014

Once a month, children and MSU students gather around the Department of Entomology’s collection manager Gary Parsons and listen to him describe the ins and outs of insects.

MSU

Murder ballad workshop introduces new perspective to

Michael Kransz
February 10, 2014

As Valentine’s Day approaches some are off penning lovers soft serenades and some others, murder ballads. On Monday, students and residents created and performed gruesome tunes at the Valentine’s Murder Ballad Workshop, held by the Center for Poetry of the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, or RCAH. The center hosts poetry workshops for the romantic holiday most every year, RCAH professor and center director Anita Skeen said.

MICHIGAN

Alumna returns to E.L. with White House reporting pool

Olivia Dimmer
February 9, 2014

Quickly rushing out of Air Force One as it landed in Lansing on Friday afternoon, Associated Press White House reporter Nedra Pickler hopped into a small bus headed straight to the Mary Anne McPhail Equine Performance Center. The MSU alumna was on her way to cover President Barack Obama’s speech and his signing of the farm bill. Pickler is a national White House reporter for the Associated Press and often travels with the president as he visits different parts of the U.S. “Air Force One has a cabin for the press, although it’s pretty small,” she said.

NEWS

Hello, Mr. President

Simon Schuster
February 9, 2014

Following an address that covered agriculture and the economy, President Barack Obama signed the farm bill into law Friday afternoon on MSU’s campus. MSU students, faculty and alumni rubbed shoulders with local elected officials and other dignitaries in the tightly-packed Mary Anne McPhail Equine Performance Center. Veterinary student Chelsea Render spent 15 months in Washington, D.C.