The budget cuts for USNH that the state senate approved last year are beginning to take a toll on the UNH campus. Roughly $33 million from UNH's budget was slashed and already dozens of UNH employees have been laid off, labs are on the brink of being shut down and many more fear for their future.
UNH has been looking at ways to help raise more money, especially since the cuts arrived while trying to build a new $50 million business school with barely half the money raised and other buildings remain in poor conditions.
Students have been asked to help out in even the smallest ways. Dorms are implementing new "lights out" policy that requires students to shut of all the lights and electrical devices by 11PM. This will help save on the school's energy bill and will force students to study more during the daylight, which should take away from their free time when illegal activities may occur.
UNH dormitories have also officially adopted the slogan "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" in hopes to keep the water bill down.
All parking ticket fines will be doubled as of Monday, April 9th and those funds will go directly into all the athletic coaches' raises.
In order to save on the internet bill, UNH will also be blocking all adult websites, including pornography and Reddit, because that is estimated to reduce internet usage by approximately 78% campus wide.
Lastly, all tuition (and other various payments) made online to UNH will now have a $25 "convenience charge," because fuck you.
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Thursday, June 16, 2011
UNH: Fourth in the Nation
Update: Saturday June 18
According to an article on Seacoast online, UNH faces a 13% tuition hike for the next school year. At this rate, when does the tuition costs exceed the true value of a public state university? Let's face it, UNH is just a public state university, soon (if it hasn't already happened) the costs will surpass the value and that could be detrimental to UNH's future. It is not efficient and President Huddleston's wishful UNH 2020 Plan is becoming even less realistic. With the impending budget cuts, deteriorating campus, under funded construction (cough Peter T Paul Business School) when will our administration, alumni and state wake up? Raising tuition is a short term answer for a long term problem.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Thoughts on Impending Budget Cuts
In 1970 the free speech and anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman stood on stage at UNH's Lundholm gymnasium before an audience of about 4,500 UNH students with an additional 3,000 outside listening to the sound being projected through speakers. On that May evening Hoffman said "What has taken you so long? Dinosaurs have been running this fuckin' state for too Goddamn long... bunch of dinosaurs make all the political decisions in this state. A bunch of senile dinosaurs make all the educational decisions, all economic decisions. How come you haven't buried the fuckin' dinosaurs yourselves?"
Sadly, over 40 years later Hoffman's statement is still dead on. New Hampshire, primarily the state senate is made up of too many people focused on immediate action and not the long term consequences. Earlier this week the New Hampshire state senate passed a 50% cut to funding for the University System of NH, which is an additional $3 million to what UNH expected to be the worst-case scenario. New Hampshire is already 50 out of 50 for state funding for state universities and that is before the cuts!
On Twitter President Huddleston had this to say (to TNH Executive Editor @ChadGraff) "Budget is looking bad. Fight not over yet, though. Still time for people to contact their state reps to press case for UNH."
On top of these budget cuts, the timing only makes it worse. UNH is in dire need of construction and building improvements. The faculty wants raises and we're still many millions short on the new business school project.
Here's my take on this whole situation. It sucks. Real bad. I'm now a senior and it probably won't affect me too much, if at all. But as a life long NH resident I know this is not good for the state. As I said on Twitter, UNH does more for New Hampshire than any state representative ever will. They are a bunch of money grubbing whores.
Currently, around 60% of UNH's enrollment are New Hampshire natives, which would probably be higher, but since out of state tuition is higher than instate, more non-NH students have been accepted recently.
From the previously linked article: "College students at schools in the University System of New Hampshire face almost certain tuition hikes after the committee not only left in place deep cuts made by the House but took another $3 million in aid designated for the system." If tuition continues to rise, and UNH is already one of the higher costing state universities in the country, you can probably expect more students to look elsewhere for college.
Over 44,000 of New Hampshire's population are UNH graduates. More and more UNH students are graduating every year in search of jobs, many right here in this state. The better education and opportunities these students receive at UNH, more accomplished workers and professionals will be entering the New Hampshire work force. Do you want to better our state? Then help better our education system. Personally, it seems pretty simple, but our good ole' senate is too focused on budget cuts to realize what it could do for our future.
You want to cut the budget and cut taxes? Sounds great! But wait... then who will pay for public education? Who will pay for our libraries, hospitals and to pave our roads and repair our bridges? Any ideas?
This is something that UNH students and NH residents should care about and be very concerned about. New Hampshire was recently named the most "livable state" for the 6th year in a row. With the direction of our state's government, I don't see that streak lasting too much longer. The future of UNH is kind of frightening, President Huddleston's "2020 Plan" is looking more and more bleak and this might be the one thing that makes me happy I only have a year left here.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
Sadly, over 40 years later Hoffman's statement is still dead on. New Hampshire, primarily the state senate is made up of too many people focused on immediate action and not the long term consequences. Earlier this week the New Hampshire state senate passed a 50% cut to funding for the University System of NH, which is an additional $3 million to what UNH expected to be the worst-case scenario. New Hampshire is already 50 out of 50 for state funding for state universities and that is before the cuts!
On Twitter President Huddleston had this to say (to TNH Executive Editor @ChadGraff) "Budget is looking bad. Fight not over yet, though. Still time for people to contact their state reps to press case for UNH."
On top of these budget cuts, the timing only makes it worse. UNH is in dire need of construction and building improvements. The faculty wants raises and we're still many millions short on the new business school project.
Here's my take on this whole situation. It sucks. Real bad. I'm now a senior and it probably won't affect me too much, if at all. But as a life long NH resident I know this is not good for the state. As I said on Twitter, UNH does more for New Hampshire than any state representative ever will. They are a bunch of money grubbing whores.
Currently, around 60% of UNH's enrollment are New Hampshire natives, which would probably be higher, but since out of state tuition is higher than instate, more non-NH students have been accepted recently.
From the previously linked article: "College students at schools in the University System of New Hampshire face almost certain tuition hikes after the committee not only left in place deep cuts made by the House but took another $3 million in aid designated for the system." If tuition continues to rise, and UNH is already one of the higher costing state universities in the country, you can probably expect more students to look elsewhere for college.
Over 44,000 of New Hampshire's population are UNH graduates. More and more UNH students are graduating every year in search of jobs, many right here in this state. The better education and opportunities these students receive at UNH, more accomplished workers and professionals will be entering the New Hampshire work force. Do you want to better our state? Then help better our education system. Personally, it seems pretty simple, but our good ole' senate is too focused on budget cuts to realize what it could do for our future.
You want to cut the budget and cut taxes? Sounds great! But wait... then who will pay for public education? Who will pay for our libraries, hospitals and to pave our roads and repair our bridges? Any ideas?
This is something that UNH students and NH residents should care about and be very concerned about. New Hampshire was recently named the most "livable state" for the 6th year in a row. With the direction of our state's government, I don't see that streak lasting too much longer. The future of UNH is kind of frightening, President Huddleston's "2020 Plan" is looking more and more bleak and this might be the one thing that makes me happy I only have a year left here.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Like a Pro: Living Cheap
Please note, (I am not trying to make excuses but...) I had to basically rewrite this thing during class the morning of my newspaper deadline because my flash-drive decided that it was a corrupt file. Not the best way to start off a Monday morning. Luckily, my English paper was fine or I would have been royally F'd in the A.
Like most students here at UNH, I work over the summer, but I don’t exactly have the time to work during the school year. Well, actually as a liberal arts major, I have a lot of free time. It is not that I am lazy; I just don’t want to jeopardize my grades for a crappy job that would only lead to a few extra spending dollars. Or at least that is the excuse I give to my parents. In reality, I have fallen into the vicious cycle of college. The vicious cycle of college includes –but not in any particular order – sleeping, eating, classes, napping, playing video games, studying, procrastinating in general, relaxing, recreational activities, and partying. As you can see my schedule is far too clustered to have a job, especially if I want to keep my health.
I mean I already drink coffee in the morning, four Red Bulls at lunch and three more for dinner. I need all that caffeine so I can stay up late at night in order to finish my homework because I spent too much time during the day napping, writing on the blog or enjoying the outdoors. If you can’t tell, I really have my priorities in line. After having all that caffeine during the day it can be tough to fall asleep - if I haven’t crashed yet - so I need to down half a bottle of Nyquil in order to fall asleep by 3:30 a.m. As you could tell, having a job on top of that would simply add too much stress. I have come to realize that the college diet includes energy drinks, alcohol, greasy pizza and Nyquil, no wonder why Americans are unhealthy. If only there was a KFC on campus so I could grab a Double Down between classes.
Since I haven’t had a job at UNH, I have had to pick up on a few tactics in order to save a little extra money now and again. As a blogger and columnist I feel obligated to share these very simple, yet useful strategies.
The first major category is food. Living on campus we have access to unlimited meal plans, or at the very least a certain amount of swipes at the dining halls. The major problem with the dining halls – trying not to hurt anyone’s feelings here – is that they close pretty early, considering how late the average college student stays up, especially on the weekends, when even Philbrook closes early. Also, apart from a piece of fruit or dessert, we aren’t allowed to take food out, so this means that we must look other places for a late-night snack. My recommendation is to stock up ahead of time and at all costs to avoid the vending machines. While they are very convenient, they are way over priced for the amount of food you get. I first realized I had a vending machine problem when the one in my dorm was only sold out of three items, and they were the only three things I buy. The moral of that story is that vending machines add up and are overpriced. Seriously, vending machines are like the MUB Bookstore of foods.
Speaking of the MUB Bookstore, try to avoid buying your books there. The Durham Book Exchange is slightly cheaper, but if you are able to get a book list early enough, Amazon or other textbook websites are unbeatable
Another thing students spend way too much money on is clothing. Thanks to the student section t-shirt tosses and different organizations on campus, half of my shirts were free. I have seven t-shirts and a hat thanks to the Cat Pack and tables in the MUB. My best free-shirt story occurred a few weeks ago at D-Hop with a group of friends. The owner threw out a couple shirts and two young ladies in my group appeared to want one. So, I go up to the owner, chat with him for a bit and return with three shirts. When the girls asked how I pulled it off I reminded them I am The New Hampshirite and they couldn’t believe the owner of D-Hop read the blog. In actuality, my two older brothers worked at D-Hop and the owner always liked them, but my group of friends didn’t have to know that.
Another small tip is to use your debit or credit card and avoid getting cash from the ATMs unless it is one from your own bank. Otherwise it costs three dollars and that will definitely add up over the course of the school year. I hope these simple strategies will be helpful if you are looking to save a few dollars around campus.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
Like most students here at UNH, I work over the summer, but I don’t exactly have the time to work during the school year. Well, actually as a liberal arts major, I have a lot of free time. It is not that I am lazy; I just don’t want to jeopardize my grades for a crappy job that would only lead to a few extra spending dollars. Or at least that is the excuse I give to my parents. In reality, I have fallen into the vicious cycle of college. The vicious cycle of college includes –but not in any particular order – sleeping, eating, classes, napping, playing video games, studying, procrastinating in general, relaxing, recreational activities, and partying. As you can see my schedule is far too clustered to have a job, especially if I want to keep my health.
I mean I already drink coffee in the morning, four Red Bulls at lunch and three more for dinner. I need all that caffeine so I can stay up late at night in order to finish my homework because I spent too much time during the day napping, writing on the blog or enjoying the outdoors. If you can’t tell, I really have my priorities in line. After having all that caffeine during the day it can be tough to fall asleep - if I haven’t crashed yet - so I need to down half a bottle of Nyquil in order to fall asleep by 3:30 a.m. As you could tell, having a job on top of that would simply add too much stress. I have come to realize that the college diet includes energy drinks, alcohol, greasy pizza and Nyquil, no wonder why Americans are unhealthy. If only there was a KFC on campus so I could grab a Double Down between classes.
Since I haven’t had a job at UNH, I have had to pick up on a few tactics in order to save a little extra money now and again. As a blogger and columnist I feel obligated to share these very simple, yet useful strategies.
The first major category is food. Living on campus we have access to unlimited meal plans, or at the very least a certain amount of swipes at the dining halls. The major problem with the dining halls – trying not to hurt anyone’s feelings here – is that they close pretty early, considering how late the average college student stays up, especially on the weekends, when even Philbrook closes early. Also, apart from a piece of fruit or dessert, we aren’t allowed to take food out, so this means that we must look other places for a late-night snack. My recommendation is to stock up ahead of time and at all costs to avoid the vending machines. While they are very convenient, they are way over priced for the amount of food you get. I first realized I had a vending machine problem when the one in my dorm was only sold out of three items, and they were the only three things I buy. The moral of that story is that vending machines add up and are overpriced. Seriously, vending machines are like the MUB Bookstore of foods.
Speaking of the MUB Bookstore, try to avoid buying your books there. The Durham Book Exchange is slightly cheaper, but if you are able to get a book list early enough, Amazon or other textbook websites are unbeatable
Another thing students spend way too much money on is clothing. Thanks to the student section t-shirt tosses and different organizations on campus, half of my shirts were free. I have seven t-shirts and a hat thanks to the Cat Pack and tables in the MUB. My best free-shirt story occurred a few weeks ago at D-Hop with a group of friends. The owner threw out a couple shirts and two young ladies in my group appeared to want one. So, I go up to the owner, chat with him for a bit and return with three shirts. When the girls asked how I pulled it off I reminded them I am The New Hampshirite and they couldn’t believe the owner of D-Hop read the blog. In actuality, my two older brothers worked at D-Hop and the owner always liked them, but my group of friends didn’t have to know that.
Another small tip is to use your debit or credit card and avoid getting cash from the ATMs unless it is one from your own bank. Otherwise it costs three dollars and that will definitely add up over the course of the school year. I hope these simple strategies will be helpful if you are looking to save a few dollars around campus.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Cowell Stadium Renovations
There are high schools with better facilities.
On Saturday I attended the annual blue/white spring football game and I came away with two impressions. The first is that I truly believe this year's team will be making headlines in the fall. Over the past few seasons they have proven that they can score points on anyone, but it looks as if they may finally be able to play some solid defense. The second impression I came away with is that UNH needs a new football stadium; immediately. It really is an embarrassment to the university. UNH has the potential to compete for a national championship and they have to play at a field where ESPN once refused to cover a game because of the condition of the press box. There are talks of a 40 million dollar project that would include lights, a new stadium with luxury suites and press boxes; as well as repairs and upgrades to the Field House. This may seem like a lot of money, especially with the economic issues, but this is something that needs to be done. Take a look at some of the other stadiums in the Colonial Athletic Association.
James Madison
Massachusetts
One of the proposed renovations. New stadium with press boxes on visitor's side.
Expansion in visitors side. Beautiful, but I think we could go bigger.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
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