JANUARY 31, 2007

THE CADRE *7

NWO L YET!

Martha MacIntyre

Reporter

To say that you go to UPE] and are under the age of 19 is not uncommon. In fact, of the current 915 first-year stu- dents, about 700 of them are under 19.

Starting University is supposed to be a joy in a person’s life. It is a big step to- wards the adult world, “the real world,” that most of us have always wondered about.

For many first year students, starting university is also the first time that they leave theit parents’ home.

First-year student Katrina Abou-Risk says university is a time to be social.

“University is where you meet some new people and make some new friends.”

However, she says it is very hard not being able to go out “and get a drink” with a new “friendly face.”

For first year students, it seems that we can’t avoid the power of a “bar”. Whether we walk by The Wave and see the Deal or No Deal signs, or we get one of those messages in our UPEI email accounts saying come to Piazza Joe’s and you can have half price drinks until one in the morning.

This leaves half of us thinking “will I ever turn 19?”

AWWWWW University life! It hap-

Awards, scholarships and other ways to finance your education

Financing a university education can

be an expensive proposition. Students typically will use one or more of sev- eral strategies to make ends meet, and although nobody would intentionally look for ways to go deeper into debt, the teality for most students is just this. Last Fall, the Student Union ran a Debt Counter on their web site and with responses from over 350 students hit a total debt of more than $5.25 million

~ this works out on average to $15,000 of debt per student and most likely is a Conservative estimate.

Financing strategies typically will in- clude summer employment, a part time job during the school year, contributions from parents, reducing expenses by taking a reduced course load, awards and Scholarships and of course the Student Loan. Loans are great, but they eventu- - ally need to be repaid (and we’ve recently been informed that debt repayment Tegulations are being tightened and will become i increasing difficult to avoid).

A generous array of awards and schol-

pens everyday - Guy meets Girl, Guy likes Girl, Guy asks girl out on a date (however guy is twenty but girl is only 18 so guy can not take girl out to a bar). Do Guy and Girl stay together? Maybe, Maybe not!

Let’s look at the good, and “smart side” of starting University and being underage.

First-year student Natalie Toombs says a lot of students spend too much time worrying about turning 19.

“University is a new adventure, and if you are not nineteen then you are not nineteen. Instead of taking the year to count the days until you turn nineteen, why not focus on your studies!”

First-year student Maggie Johnston has been doing just that.

“University has been so busy that I have not really had-time to think about the bars,” she said.

(Well hey, she is one of the lucky ones who turns19 in February........... UN- LIKE SOME PEOPLE)

According to all students who were interviewed, it is great that UPEI knows that there is about 700 students who attend UPEI who are underage. So the University has Wet/Dry activities.

Good job Shawn Younis!

So if you ate like me and started Uni- versity “underage,” don’t worry about it!

I will see you all at the Wave in No- vember!

a CGA

arships are administered by the Univer- sity www.upei.ca/registrarsoffice and numerous other externally administered opportunities exist www.upei.ca/awards. One often overlooked and very valu- able resource for access to hundreds of external awards is the Studentswards. com website www.studentawards.com. A simple registration procedure lets you create your own “profile” and the site automatically identifies awards for which you qualify. And this search for awards is on-going - as new Ones come up, an email is sent to alert you to new possi- bilities! It doesn’t get much easier.

The saddest part of student debt is that significant dollars may not be award-

ed because nobody applies. While there oN ate no guarantees you will receive an pial award if you apply, I.can absolutely guar- Y antee you won't receive one if you don’t ¢ ¢

apply. So do yourself a favour, check the offerings at UPEI, and take a minute to register for Studentawards.com.

Good luck

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