University of North Alabama - Diorama Yearbook (Florence, AL)

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Spending Habits Mixing Dollars and Sense With the rising cost of tuition, dorm rooms, meal tickets and books, students found that their budgets had to be stretched just a little bit thinner as prices continued to rise for a college education. The Board of Trustees approved numerous hikes for the school term. An increase of $35 per semester for tuition changed the fee from $340 to $375. Room rent for residence halls went from $280 per semester to $315. Inflation also hit the cafeteria, raising meal tickets for campus dining halls by approximately 10 percent. Textbook prices increased from $1 to $6, depending on the individual publisher ' s prices. Rather than living on campus and paying the higher prices for room and board, many elected to share the rent of an apartment close by campus and some women students took advantage of the new off-campus dormitory for women that was opened in the old Starkey Residential Hotel building. Other students decided that commuting was the answer, despite high gasoline prices. This made the parking stiuation disastrous as the extra population of cars battled over the already limited parking spaces. Many wrote home to Mom and Dad for extra money to tide them over, while other industrious students found parttime jobs with the work-study programs on campus or at local businesses downtown and at the malls. Students also took advantage of discounts given by area merchants to ID card holders that helped them through the inflation crunch. (Photos by Lee Puckett) Tony Mapes, a senior commercial arts major working parttime at a department store in the mall, tries to persuade Jeff Hornbuckle into buying a new wardrobe. Lisa Cunningham helps a student satisfy her sweet tooth ' s craving with cookies from a Home Economics club bake sale in the SUB. Different organizations hold bake sales almost weekly in the SUB, providing students with an excellent opportunity to purchase bakery goods at a low price. At a downtown department store ' s jewelry counter, Melissa Smith and Beth Nease admire the different styles of earrings offered for sale. student life 19

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The campus being within walking distance of downtown Florence, Carol Brewer and Connie Harper window shop and save gasoline by riding their bicycles. Breakfast in Towers Dining Hall is served between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. daily. Cindy Jones and Kim Beach try to decide between fresh fruit or donuts for a quick meal before an 8 o ' clock class. Lynn White and Karen Long take advantage of a fast and complete meal at a local restaurant ' s salad bar. Being reasonably priced, the meal can fit into any student ' s budget. The restaurant staff says they go through 48 heads of lettuce every week day.

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Energy Crunch Working Together It is no news that our country is and has been facing an energy crunch for the past few years. Whatever the causes may be, the effects are felt by everyone. College students and colleges are certainly no exceptions. The implications of higher energy costs are not always clear or readily defined. One message does come through with undeniable clarity, however; we must find ways to adapt our lifestyles to meet this challenge if we are to maintain a high quality of life in our world today. Some evidences of how students and administrative officials at UNA are dealing with the energy crunch are obvious. One visible step towards energy conservation is the new windows in Bibb Craves Hall. Administrative efforts to curb energy use by the University have not ended with just placing energy efficient windows in one building, however. Another noteworthy effort at conservation was an energy audit performed during the first six months of 1980 by TVA in conjunction with Energy Management Consultants, Inc., a privately owned firm in Birmingham. This study was performed to identify areas where energy is being wasted and opportunities for using less energy where feasible. In this study, buildings were checked for cracks around doors and windows which can cause significant energy losses. Many buildings were also checked to determine if any large areas, such as the pool, were being heated or cooled during long periods of the day and at night when there is little or no use. A thermostatically controlled system coupled to a time clock is a suggested means of heating and cooling many buildings only while they are actually occupied. Other recommendations were to lower unnecessarily high lighting levels in buildings, such as Collier Library, and to replace all existing lights with newer, energy efficient bulbs. Further suggestions were to lower heating thermostats in the winter, install new shower nozzles which could cut hot water consumption up to 15 per cent, and to lower the thermostats on water heaters from 140 degrees F to about 1 05 degrees F. It was estimated that all costs involved in making UNA more energy e fficient would be more than recouped in energy savings within the first year after implementation. The effects of these changes, if instituted, will probably be minimal to most people who attend the University. Students may be a bit chillier in the pool during the winter months, may need to wear warmer clothes to class, and may want to get a shower early on Homecoming night just to be sure there ' s still some hot water left. Dr. Eddie Keith, Director of the Counseling Center, does his part for energy conservation by riding his bicycle to school. During the summer months central air conditioning, new windows and fire exits were installed in Bibb Graves Hall to make it more functional and decrease maintenance costs. I. galtman