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The Brown and White Vol. 130 No. 21 Friday, April 29, 2016 ‘All the Lehigh News First’ Applications increase despite fall in rank By MEG KELLY Assistant News Editor April is not an easy month for the Lehigh’s Office of Admissions. Beginning in late March, the halls of the Alumni Memorial building are flooded with high school students clutching plastic bags with “Lehigh” stamped on the front, a clear give-away that its owner is a visitor to campus. Between hosting Lehigh Life Day events for accepted students, answering the flood of emails from those who were placed on the wait-list and assisting high school juniors who are just beginning their college search, the Director of Admissions Bruce Bunnick has a lot on his mind. Something that doesn’t keep Bunnick awake at night, however, is the university’s ranking. In the 2016 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges list, Lehigh was ranked No. 47 in the National Universities category, fall-ing seven spots from 2015. Despite this drop in rankings, Bunnick said it has had little effect on Lehigh’s admissions for this past year. “I really take the whole notion of rankings with a grain of salt,” Bunnick said. “I don’t know that we need to be ranked to prove the work the students are doing, or the impact they leave behind on the world.” In the last year, the applicant pool for the class of 2020 increased by 4.5 percent, with Lehigh seeing its highest number of applications to date. With 13,408 students apply-ing, the acceptance rate also fell below the previous year. Only 25.5 percent of students were accepted this year, compared to 30.4 in 2015. Given these increases, Bunnick said he isn’t fazed by the change in rank-ings. “It’s simply one small factor among many,” Bunnick said. “What the university offers prospective stu-dents appeals to them more than just them opening a ranking list and seeing where a school falls.” Neil Martin, a high school junior, echoed these ideas following a tour of the university Tuesday afternoon. Although he said he did check U.S. News and World Report’s rankings, See RANKING Page 2 Minimum wage bill contested in PA congress By JAKE INGRASSIA B&W Staff The minimum wage in Pennsylvania reflects the federally required level — $7.25 per hour — but state policy lags behind 29 states and the District of Columbia that have raised it even higher. A single parent with one child in Lehigh County needs to earn about $22 per hour to cover the basic costs of living, according to the Living Wage Calculator, a tool developed by a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that esti-mates the lowest income a family can live off of. This calculation accounts for most essential expenses including food, childcare, medical and trans-portation costs and taxes. The Self-Sufficiency Standard developed by PathWays PA, a non-profit advocacy organization, states a Lehigh County family of the same size requires an annual income between $40,000 and $45,000 to sup-port itself without public or private assistance — equivalent to about $20 per hour at a full-time job. By either of these standards, a min-imum wage position in Pennsylvania accounts for only a fraction of fami-lies’ basic living expenses. A full-time employee making $7.25 per hour earns just $15,000 per year. Mark Price, a labor economist at the Keystone Research Center, said the primary problem for low wage workers is the diminishing purchas-ing power of minimum wage. As pric-es rise by about 3 percent each year, wages remains stagnant. It had been 10 years since the legislature voted to increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage. “The things we take for grant-ed, those of us that have higher incomes, are much harder for folks who are earning close to poverty wages,” Price said. “That ends up resulting in people having to rely on public assistance — going to local food banks, or relying on charities to meet very basic needs.” Paul Lynch, the director of Second Harvest Food Bank in Nazareth, said government support programs help low wage workers make up the difference to an extent, but the cur-rent minimum wage simply does not provide enough to get by on. “Somehow our society has decided that there will always be a seg-ment of our community that’s poor, and the charities and churches and some weak government programs will be the way that we give them sustenance — just barely surviving ability,” Lynch said. “(The minimum wage) is not a real reflection of what it costs to live.” Alan Jennings, the executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, esti-mates up to half of the people relying on food banks to feed their families are employed to some degree. “There’s something desperately wrong with a marketplace where See WAGE Page 4 By JAKE INGRASSIA B&W Staff For Amanda Rivera, a 21-year-old single mother in Reading, Pennsylvania, $20 is a few packs of meat and some rice. Half of her cellphone bill. Could be a couple of infant outfits from the Goodwill, or enough baby formu-la for four — maybe five — days. She earns $8.25 per hour mak-ing calls for a technology research center, a wage that forces her to live paycheck to paycheck to sup-port herself and her 10-month-old son, Leonardo Alexander. Money is the biggest stress in Rivera’s life, she said, and a boost in the state’s minimum wage to the proposed $10.10 per hour would help lessen her bur-den. “If they raise (the minimum wage), it would take a little bit of weight off people’s shoulders,” Rivera said. “I’d have more to look forward to instead of bust-ing my butt working the 40 hours a week and then seeing only $200-something in my account. I’m like, ‘Wow, I worked so hard for next to nothing.’” In a week, Rivera earns $330 — but after deducting state and federal payroll taxes such as income, Social Security and Medicare, she is left with less than $250 to cover her basic liv-ing expenses such as rent, food and childcare. Her one bedroom apartment costs $600 per month to rent, but she said her landlord works with her situation, allowing her to pay as she can. Sometimes it is each week. On one occasion, she owed three months’ rent at once. “I get my checks and make sure I put a certain part away for the rent, and that’s the biggest thing,” Rivera said. “As long as I had my rent paid, I was OK.” She is on the hunt for a new apartment in Bethlehem, but other landlords are not as accom-modating, and she does not have the cash to put down a security deposit and pay the first month’s rent up front. She turns to public assistance to help pay for her son’s daycare, which can cost nearly $1,000 per month, according to a U.S. aver-age calculated by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. Rivera pays a copay of just $40 per month — roughly the cost of only one day of daycare at the regular rate. She considers herself lucky to See RIVERA Page 4 How far does $20 stretch? Samantha Tomaszewski/B&W Staff
Object Description
Title | Brown and White Vol. 130 no. 21 |
Date | 2016-04-29 |
Month | 04 |
Day | 29 |
Year | 2016 |
Volume | 130 |
Issue | 21 |
Type | Newspaper |
Source Repository | Lehigh University |
Coverage | United States, Pennsylvania, Lehigh, South Bethlehem |
LCCN | 7019854 |
Source Repository Code | LYU |
Digital Responsible Institution | Lehigh University |
Digital Responsible Institution Code | LYU |
Issue/Edition Pattern | Semiweekly |
Title Essay | Published twice a week during the college year by the students of Lehigh University |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Date | 2016-04-29 |
FullText | The Brown and White Vol. 130 No. 21 Friday, April 29, 2016 ‘All the Lehigh News First’ Applications increase despite fall in rank By MEG KELLY Assistant News Editor April is not an easy month for the Lehigh’s Office of Admissions. Beginning in late March, the halls of the Alumni Memorial building are flooded with high school students clutching plastic bags with “Lehigh” stamped on the front, a clear give-away that its owner is a visitor to campus. Between hosting Lehigh Life Day events for accepted students, answering the flood of emails from those who were placed on the wait-list and assisting high school juniors who are just beginning their college search, the Director of Admissions Bruce Bunnick has a lot on his mind. Something that doesn’t keep Bunnick awake at night, however, is the university’s ranking. In the 2016 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges list, Lehigh was ranked No. 47 in the National Universities category, fall-ing seven spots from 2015. Despite this drop in rankings, Bunnick said it has had little effect on Lehigh’s admissions for this past year. “I really take the whole notion of rankings with a grain of salt,” Bunnick said. “I don’t know that we need to be ranked to prove the work the students are doing, or the impact they leave behind on the world.” In the last year, the applicant pool for the class of 2020 increased by 4.5 percent, with Lehigh seeing its highest number of applications to date. With 13,408 students apply-ing, the acceptance rate also fell below the previous year. Only 25.5 percent of students were accepted this year, compared to 30.4 in 2015. Given these increases, Bunnick said he isn’t fazed by the change in rank-ings. “It’s simply one small factor among many,” Bunnick said. “What the university offers prospective stu-dents appeals to them more than just them opening a ranking list and seeing where a school falls.” Neil Martin, a high school junior, echoed these ideas following a tour of the university Tuesday afternoon. Although he said he did check U.S. News and World Report’s rankings, See RANKING Page 2 Minimum wage bill contested in PA congress By JAKE INGRASSIA B&W Staff The minimum wage in Pennsylvania reflects the federally required level — $7.25 per hour — but state policy lags behind 29 states and the District of Columbia that have raised it even higher. A single parent with one child in Lehigh County needs to earn about $22 per hour to cover the basic costs of living, according to the Living Wage Calculator, a tool developed by a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that esti-mates the lowest income a family can live off of. This calculation accounts for most essential expenses including food, childcare, medical and trans-portation costs and taxes. The Self-Sufficiency Standard developed by PathWays PA, a non-profit advocacy organization, states a Lehigh County family of the same size requires an annual income between $40,000 and $45,000 to sup-port itself without public or private assistance — equivalent to about $20 per hour at a full-time job. By either of these standards, a min-imum wage position in Pennsylvania accounts for only a fraction of fami-lies’ basic living expenses. A full-time employee making $7.25 per hour earns just $15,000 per year. Mark Price, a labor economist at the Keystone Research Center, said the primary problem for low wage workers is the diminishing purchas-ing power of minimum wage. As pric-es rise by about 3 percent each year, wages remains stagnant. It had been 10 years since the legislature voted to increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage. “The things we take for grant-ed, those of us that have higher incomes, are much harder for folks who are earning close to poverty wages,” Price said. “That ends up resulting in people having to rely on public assistance — going to local food banks, or relying on charities to meet very basic needs.” Paul Lynch, the director of Second Harvest Food Bank in Nazareth, said government support programs help low wage workers make up the difference to an extent, but the cur-rent minimum wage simply does not provide enough to get by on. “Somehow our society has decided that there will always be a seg-ment of our community that’s poor, and the charities and churches and some weak government programs will be the way that we give them sustenance — just barely surviving ability,” Lynch said. “(The minimum wage) is not a real reflection of what it costs to live.” Alan Jennings, the executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, esti-mates up to half of the people relying on food banks to feed their families are employed to some degree. “There’s something desperately wrong with a marketplace where See WAGE Page 4 By JAKE INGRASSIA B&W Staff For Amanda Rivera, a 21-year-old single mother in Reading, Pennsylvania, $20 is a few packs of meat and some rice. Half of her cellphone bill. Could be a couple of infant outfits from the Goodwill, or enough baby formu-la for four — maybe five — days. She earns $8.25 per hour mak-ing calls for a technology research center, a wage that forces her to live paycheck to paycheck to sup-port herself and her 10-month-old son, Leonardo Alexander. Money is the biggest stress in Rivera’s life, she said, and a boost in the state’s minimum wage to the proposed $10.10 per hour would help lessen her bur-den. “If they raise (the minimum wage), it would take a little bit of weight off people’s shoulders,” Rivera said. “I’d have more to look forward to instead of bust-ing my butt working the 40 hours a week and then seeing only $200-something in my account. I’m like, ‘Wow, I worked so hard for next to nothing.’” In a week, Rivera earns $330 — but after deducting state and federal payroll taxes such as income, Social Security and Medicare, she is left with less than $250 to cover her basic liv-ing expenses such as rent, food and childcare. Her one bedroom apartment costs $600 per month to rent, but she said her landlord works with her situation, allowing her to pay as she can. Sometimes it is each week. On one occasion, she owed three months’ rent at once. “I get my checks and make sure I put a certain part away for the rent, and that’s the biggest thing,” Rivera said. “As long as I had my rent paid, I was OK.” She is on the hunt for a new apartment in Bethlehem, but other landlords are not as accom-modating, and she does not have the cash to put down a security deposit and pay the first month’s rent up front. She turns to public assistance to help pay for her son’s daycare, which can cost nearly $1,000 per month, according to a U.S. aver-age calculated by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. Rivera pays a copay of just $40 per month — roughly the cost of only one day of daycare at the regular rate. She considers herself lucky to See RIVERA Page 4 How far does $20 stretch? Samantha Tomaszewski/B&W Staff |
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