The Carolinian [February 2, 1999]

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£N Carolinian The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Tuesday Phone: (336) 334-5752 Fax: (336) 334-3518 Issue 26,
February 2,1999 Online: http://carolinian.uncg.edu Volume 78
V'~''
Education Tax credits
now available to students
Staff Report
The Taxpayer Relief Aet of
1997(TRA97) contains provi-sions
for two new education
tax credits, the Hope Scholar-ship
and the Lifetime Learn-ing
Credit. The intent of these
tax credits is to enhance edu-cational
opportunities by mak-ing
higher education more af-fordable
through tax benefits.
The Hope Scholarship ap-plies
to the first two years of
college (or other eligible post-secondary
training). Taxpayers
will be eligible for a tax credit
of $ I,MM). The credit will be
available on a per-student ba-sis
for net tuition and fees paid
for college enrollment after
December 31. 1997. the credit
will be phased out for joint fil-ers
hetween $8().()()() and
$I(M).(MM) of income, and for
single filers between $4().()()()
and $50,000. The credit can be
claimed in two taxable years
with respect to any individual
enrolled on at least a half-time
basis for any portion of the
year.
The Lifetime Learning
Credit picks up where the
Hope Scholarship leaves off.
For those beyond the first two
years of college, or taking
classes part-time to improve or
upgrade their job skills, the
family will receive a 209f tax
credit for the first $5.(KX) of
tuition and fees through 2(X)2,
and for the first $10.(XK) there-after.
The credit is available for
net tuition and fees paid for
post-secondary enrollment af-ter
June 30. 1998. The credit
is available on a per-taxpaycr
(family) basis, and is phased
out at the same income levels
as the Hope Scholarship.
The following are some of
the frequently asked questions
about the Hope Scholarship
and the Lifetime Learning tax
credits.
What is Form 1098-T (Tu-ition
Payments Statement)?
Form 1098-T (Tuition Pay-ments
Statement) will be sent
to students at UNCG who paid,
or for whom a third party paid
on their behalf, tuition and fees
during the period of January 1.
1998 through December 31,
1998. This is the year in which
the Internal Revenue Service
had required that Form 1098-
T (Tuition Payments State-ment)
be furnished to you.
Who prepared Form 1098-
See Tax Credit, Pg 2
Let's take a break
(.i-ofTnv (.artmrmiK ( VROI.INIAN
A couple students take a much needed break in the atrium. The
atrium provides a lot of students with a break from thier hectic
schedules. Not only can you grab a bite to eat or socialize, you
can now check yor e-mail or surf on the computers that are in
the old smoking section of the atrium.
NASA invites mathamatics
professor to consult
Stall Report
Dr. David
A. Ludwig.
an associate
professor of
mathematical
sciences at
The Univer-sity
of North
Carolina at Greensboro, was
among KM) scientists recently
invited by NASA to serve as
consultants on artificial grav-ity.
Ludwig. a statistician, and
the other scientists attended a
workshop Jan. 14 and 15 in
League City. Texas, near
Johnson Space Center. The in-ternational
group of consult-ants,
who came from a variety
of fields, reviewed current
knowledge of artificial gravity
and discussed what questions
still need to be answered.
They also worked on a re-search
and technology devel-opment
plan for investigating
the use of artificial gravity to
counteract the possible effects
of long-term space flight on
humans.
NASA convened the scien-tists
because the knowledge is
necessary for any future mis-sion
to Mars. Ludwig said.
Such a mission would require
three years of round-trip travel.
"The human body is accus-tomed
to Earths gravity.
Ludwig said. When the body
is subjected to micro-gravity,
commonly called weightless-ness,
it attempts to adapt. In
adapting, the body's various
systems become decondi-tioned
to gravity, he said.
When a person re-enters a
gravitational field, as would
happen when traveling from
space to the surface of Mars.
it is unknown how the body
will function. Ludwig said. On
Mars, which has about 1/3 of
Earth's gravity, the astronauts
may not be able to function
well enough to conduct their
research.
"Then when they come
home, have they decondi-tioned
so much that they can't
recover?" Ludwig asked.
During the workshop in
Texas, the scientists discussed
techniques that astronauts
could use during spaceflight to
offset the effects of weightless-ness.
One proposed technique
involves equipping spacecraft
with small centrifuges that as-tronauts
could use periodically
throughout their flight to ex-pose
their bodies to gravity.
There are many advantages
and disadvantages to such a
technique, and more research
is needed. Ludwig said. He is
advising NASA on the types of
experiments needed to answer
these research questions.
Ludwig said that a mission
to Mars is itself a long-term
prospect, because the interna-tional
space station is NASA's
current priority. The space sta-tion
may be useful as a test
platform for techniques to
counter micro-gravity, he said.
A UNCG faculty member
since 1984. Ludwig has been
studying the effects of micro-gravity
on human physiologi-cal
systems for 15 years. His
research has been funded by
grants from NASA and the Air
Force Office of Scientific Re-search.
He received his doctor-ate
from Iowa State University.
SGA meeting tonight
Christopher J. Bushnell
Staff Writer
The Student Government
will hold a meeting of the as-
I sembly tonight at 7pm on the
i third floor of the EUC in die
1 Claxton room. According to
SGA president Jonathan
Buford. all students are invited
to attend the meeting. Buford
said the SGA desires students
to attend the meeting, and to
express their thoughts on cur-rent
S<JA» proponatn. £»»
tonight's meeting, the SGA
will consider resolutions that:
seek to schedule the year 2000
spring break to fall in line with
other area schools; enhance the
student-advisor relationship;
and encourage greater student
uwurcneiHi mruS involvement in
elections.
Graduates told to be brave
it! tilliH
ummrrmiMra
What's inside?
News Pg 1-2
Opinions Pg 3
Features Pg 4
Sports Pg 5
Stuff Report*
New graduates of The Uni-
\eisity of North Carolina at
Greensboro were told during
commencement ceremonies
that they will need to be brave
! as they face their futures and
that their college education has
prepared them to do so.
"Your education asks you to
look beyond yourself." said
! commencement speaker Dr.
| Heph/ibah Roskelly. an asso-ciate
professor of English at
UNCG. "More than anything
else, now that you are not en-tering
freshmen or beginning
graduate students, but depart-ing
graduates, your diploma
should signal that you've
learned the most important les-son
an education can teach: to
be brave."
Roskelly was the principal
speaker at UNCG's December
commencement, which drew
an audience of approximately
5.000 at the Greensboro Coli-seum
on Friday. Dec. 18. A
highlight of the program was
the conferring of an honorary
Doctor of Laws degree upon
Charles A. Hayes, who is
chairman and chief executive
officer of Guilford Mills Inc.
in Greensboro.
Roskelly took her address,
titled "Lessons from the Cow-ardly
Lion," from the movie
"The Wizard of Oz." She gave
the graduates a method for
bravery in their own lives:
from it: learn from others and
understand their beliefs:
change your mind and change
your action when experience
dictates. "You may not ever,
we pray, stand down a tank, or
be spit on while you make your
way from the back of the bus
to the
front, or sit in prison to write
poems about freedom." she
said. "But your life — the
prospect of your own infinite
life, as Emerson says — will
teach others the lessons this
university experience has be-gun
to teach you. "Once you
know how to be brave, you
also know many other things:
how to be generous and toler-ant,
how to listen, how to love.
Being brave means, after all.
you've arrived to change the
world."
Roskelly spoke to approxi-mately
1.100 students who are
candidates to receive degrees
at UNCG during December's
commencement. The degree
candidates included over 700
undergraduates and approxi-mately
350 graduate students.
The latter figure included 31
students who were awarded
doctoral degrees. Actual diplo-mas
will be ma iled to degree
recipients in January.
Hayes, who received the
honorary Doctor of Laws de-gree,
is a former chair of the
UNCG Board of Trustees and
is a longtime supporter of the
Greensboro campus. He is
widely known for his civic
leadership through the Greens-boro
community. The honor
was conferred by UNCG
Chancellor Patricia A.
Sullivan.
As she opened her address.
Roskelly recalled reading an
article in the local paper five
years ago in which incoming
freshmen were reported as
having smaller, scaled-down
dreams for their future.
"Why would all those enter-ing
college students feel that
way? Why would their hopes
for the world be small rather
Weather
Today Wednesday
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