Harvard-Yale game delayed by student protest; 20-30 arrested

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Protesters wearing the colors of both Harvard and Yale staged a sit-in at midfield of Yale Bowl during halftime of the 136th edition of the annual football rivalry known as The Game. Most walked off after about an hour with a police escort; about 20-30 who remained were arrested.

A few dozen protesters initially trickled onto the field as the Yale band finished performing its halftime routine, some holding a banner asking the schools’ presidents to divest from the fossil fuel industry. Other signs referred to Puerto Rican debt and the treatment of the Uighurs.


Yale officials said in a statement handed to reporters in the press box during the fourth quarter that the school “stands firmly for the right to free expression.”

“It is regrettable,” a statement attributed to the Ivy League said, “that the orchestrated protest came during a time when fellow students were participating in a collegiate career-defining contest and an annual tradition when thousands gather from around the world to enjoy and celebrate the storied traditions of both football programs and universities.”

Between 20 and 30 people were arrested, released and given a court date, protest organizers said. Rachel Sadoff, a junior at Harvard, said about 150 students from the two universities planned to participate and about 100 more who had been sitting in the stands joined in.

“Our goal was to spread the word,” Sadoff said. “If more people speak up, our colleges will have to listen.”

Largely of college age but with a few older protesters mixed in, the group chanted: “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Fossil fuels have got to go!” One banner read “This is an emergency.” Mostly they sat or milled around near midfield, with some taking selfies; a vape pen and a crushed can of beer were left behind.

Police in yellow vests lined up alongside the sit-in but did not intervene. When the 15-minute halftime expired and the protest continued, hundreds more fans streamed onto the field to join in. Fans remaining in the stands began to boo, but only briefly.

The public address announcer implored the group to leave, repeating, “As a courtesy to both teams, the game must resume.” Protesters responded by chanting, “OK, boomer.”

Players tried to remain warm on the sideline in mid-40 temperatures, but then returned to their locker rooms. Harvard coach Tim Murphy was given an update from the game officials and public safety officers as the protest continued.

Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins spoke to the protesters over a megaphone, trying to convince them that they had made their point, but it would be lost if the situation escalated.


After about an hour, police formed a line and moved forward, from the Yale sideline toward the Harvard sideline. A protest leader encouraged all “internationals” to leave. An agreement was reached to escort the remainders off, with one police officer to every two protesters.

Those who did not leave then were informed by Higgins that they would be arrested. Asked how many people were taken into custody, Higgins referred questions to the police public information officer. Messages left with Yale and New Haven police were not immediately returned.

Yale coach Tony Reno said the team reverted to its plans for when a game is interrupted by lightning. The Bulldogs rallied from a 17-point, fourth-quarter deficit, winning 50-43 in double overtime in darkness in the unlit, century-old Yale Bowl to clinch the Ivy League championship and conclude one of the strangest editions in the rivalry’s 144-year history.

“It’s what makes Yale Yale,” Reno said. “Our group, I’m sure if you asked them and the Harvard guys what makes it special, it’s not only the game of football. It’s the passions.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Don’t forget to secure your health insurance as you go to college

Are you among the 400,000 freshmen in California — or 2.9 million nationwide — who have just started college, or are about to? As you buy your books, ponder the best meal plan or wonder whether you will get along with your roommate, don’t forget about health insurance.

Whether you’re an undergrad or graduate student, your options will depend on where you go to college, if you already have coverage through a family or individual health plan, and how much money you make.

It might surprise you to know you could qualify for no-cost Medicaid, the public health insurance program for people with low incomes.

“The good news is there are a few good options,” says Paul Rooney, vice president of carrier relations at eHealth, an online health insurance broker based in Santa Clara, Calif.

Since health plans vary from region to region and state to state, your first call might be to an insurance agent in the market where your college is located to discuss your options. The help is free. In California, you can find certified insurance agents on the “Find Help” tab of the website of California’s Obamacare marketplace, Covered California: www.coveredca.com


Sometimes, staying on your family’s plan is the best option — and you can do so up to age 26.SIGN UP

If you are on your family’s plan, or you have your own insurance, call the customer service number on your insurance card to ask about the level of coverage, if any, it will provide if you attend college in another region or state.

If your family health plan is a preferred provider organization (PPO) with a national insurance company — Cigna, Aetna or UnitedHealthcare, for example — you often can get full medical services at in-network prices in other regions of the country where your insurer operates.

But it also has to work financially. Parents, ask your employer or your insurer if taking your child off the family PPO will lower your premium. If the answer is no, and he will have full network coverage while away at college, it makes sense to keep him on the plan.

If the answer is yes, do the math.

Keith Wakeman, CEO of a Chicago-based mental health app startup called SuperBetter, learned he would save $1,900 this year by taking his son Jack off the family’s Blue Cross PPO and buying him the student plan offered by Purdue University, where he is a freshman.

“The plan is much better for Jack in terms of deductibles and copays — and also includes vision and dental,” Wakeman says. “It was a no-brainer for us.”

It probably also makes sense to take your student off the family plan if it is a health maintenance organization (HMO) or an exclusive provider organization, both of which restrict their networks more than PPOs.

There are exceptions: Some insurers allow HMO enrollees to get full medical services at no extra cost in other regions or states where they operate. Ask your health plan if that’s possible.

If it’s not, the health plan offered by your college could be a good option.

Student health plans have improved in recent years, in part because they almost always comply with the Affordable Care Act’s coverage requirements. That means most offer a comprehensive range of medical services at a high level of coverage, says Stephen Beckley, a senior partner with Fort Collins, Colo.-based Hodgkins Beckley Consulting, which works with colleges on student health programs.

The University of California system’s health plan is “exceptional,” Beckley says, “because of its highly favorable cost and the addition of vision and dental benefits.”

Nationally, costs vary widely from college to college, and some are very high, Beckley says.

The cost of this year’s UC undergraduate student health insurance plan, which includes all campuses except Berkeley, ranges from $1,773 to $3,537 for 12 months of coverage, according to Zina Slaughter, the plan’s director. Stanford University, by contrast, charges $5,592 for undergraduate and graduate students.

Beware: Many universities, the UC system and Stanford included, will enroll you in their health plan automatically, and you must obtain a waiver — by proving you have other acceptable coverage — to avoid the charges.

“We tell people that you should make sure you’re not being opted into services you won’t use,” says Erin Hemlin, director of health and policy advocacy for Young Invincibles, which promotes the interests of young adults.

If your family plan doesn’t work for you anymore and your college plan is too expensive, check to see if you qualify for no-cost Medicaid, which goes by the name Medi-Cal in California and insures one-third of the state’s residents.

This goes for students at private universities and public schools, including the 481,000 students at the 23 campuses of the California State University system and the 2 million-plus who attend one of the state’s 115 community colleges.

In the more than 30 states that have expanded Medicaid, including California, individuals who make up to about $17,200 annually are eligible for the program. It helps if your parents do not claim you as a dependent on their tax returns; otherwise, you must report their income.

Check with the health department in your county to see if you qualify. Find a list of California county offices at www.dhcs.ca.gov.

If your income is too high for Medicaid, you might still qualify for a subsidy to buy a health plan through your state’s Obamacare insurance exchange. In California, log onto the Covered California website or call 800-300-1506 to research options.

Enrollment in 2020 Obamacare exchange plans starts Oct. 15 for Covered California and Nov. 1 in most of the rest of the country.

Experts say a viable option for some students who are on their family’s plan is to stay on it, getting emergency care at a local hospital if necessary and basic primary care at the on-campus clinic (access is often included in student fees). They can wait to get physical checkups and other non-urgent care until they visit home.

Giorgia Winters, a resident of Long Beach, Calif., says that’s the decision she and her husband made for their son Matthew, 18, who just entered Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz. They don’t worry about his health: He had to pass a Federal Aviation Administration fitness test to pursue his pilot’s license at the school.

“He’ll come fairly often, because Prescott is an hour or so away by airplane,” Winters says. “I don’t know how much better it is financially, but it was more comfortable for us.

source: usa.inquirer.net

College Tuition Increases Slow Down; Students Take On Less Debt

The past year’s published increase in tuition and fees across all kinds of U.S. colleges and universities rose at a slower rate than the average for the past five, 10 and 30 years. And today’s students are going into less debt to pursue their degrees.

Those are the key findings of a report released late last week by the College Board.

The College Board is a private association that includes more than 6,000 colleges, universities and schools. It creates and administers standardized tests, including the SATs, and provides services and support to students and their parents as they consider college.

The rate of tuition increase has declined in each of the past three years, according to the College Board.

Students also are borrowing less money for college, the report said, in part due to the federal government increasing Pell Grants, tuition help for veterans and other assistance.

The report says a rebound from the economic downturn of the past few years was a factor. In contrast to the private sector, higher education costs tend to increase during tough economic times, as out-of-work adults seek new degrees and students who could opt to enter the job market choose to stay in school instead.

But even if recent trends are promising, a longer look at college costs shows that paying for higher education remains daunting for many families. While increases are slowing, they continue to climb higher than the rate of inflation.

Over the past decade, the average published tuition and fees at public, four-year schools have risen a whopping 42%, adjusted for inflation, according to the College Board.

“It is encouraging that published prices are rising more slowly than in the past and that annual education borrowing has continued to decline,” Sandy Baum, the report’s co-author and a professor of education policy at George Washington University, said in a written release.

“However, the reports also document dramatic increases in published tuition and fees over time that outstrip growth in grant aid for many students, as well as rising levels of cumulative debt among graduates.”

And, as the Chronicle of Higher Education notes, those figures don’t take into account other costs, like rent and groceries, which continue to rise.

According to the Chronicle, average room and board charges for four-year students now amount to more than $9,800.

Between the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years, tuition and fees for full-time, in-state students at public four-year colleges and universities increased 2.9%, from $8,885 to $9,139.

The cost for out-of-state students at those schools rose 3.3%, from $22,223 to $22,958 during the same period, and tuition and fees at private, nonprofit four-year institutions jumped 3.7%, from $30,131 to $31,231.

Tuition and fees at public two-year schools also went up 3.3% on average, from $3,241 to $3,347.

Actual net prices tend to be much lower than published prices, the Board said, because many students receive grants from state and federal governments, or from the colleges and universities themselves. Education tax credits and deductions also help chip away at those numbers.

source: nerdwallet.com