Solution for Lack of Student Housing free essay sample

Over the last few years, Texas State University-San Marcos has seen a significant increase in the number students applying and being admitted to the university. According to Hendricks (2010), from the fall of 2009 to the fall of 2010, the campus saw a 5. 9% increase in the number of students attending the university. In the fall of 2010, the campus reached a new record enrollment of 32,586 students; Out of those, 3,930 were incoming freshman. A vast majority of freshmen and sophomores experience their first two years of college life spread out among the university grounds in dormitories or apartments.In order for many incoming students to attend, they must live on-campus unless they meet the requirements as stated by university policy. Although this seems like a small number of incoming students to provide housing to, many prospective students, especially freshmen, are now experiencing problems when applying for on-campus living. Texas State University Residence Life (n. d. ) policy on student housing requires that in order for a student to be eligible to live off-campus they must have obtained 30 credited hours or be over the age of 20. Although campus living is a first year college experience that many enjoy, currently sophomores, juniors, and even some seniors are allowed to live in these facilities even though they meet the requirements for off-campus living. This is raising questions among the students of Texas State University on the current policy and its negative effects. There are only enough dorms to house 5,745 students and that does not account for Residential Assistants, returning freshmen, and returning upper-classmen. (Texas State University Residence Life, n. . 2) This has generated a waiting list for the students who do not meet the requirements to live off-campus. In previous years, the university has lessened the requirements pertaining to on-campus living; however, there is still not enough housing to provide adequate accommodations for Texas State University Residence Life. With the capacity of students on a steady rise, housing is a critical issue that must be dealt with in an appropriate order to benefit the university as well as incoming freshman that need proper accommodations on-campus.Thus, we must reduce the amount of Texas State Student housing is overdrawn by 20 percent, while still maintaining the educational mission of Texas State University. This includes convenient and safe living for new students that allow for an increased chance of campus involvement and academic assistance. Certain necessary actions are needed in order to reduce or even eliminate the waiting list for incoming and returning freshmen. Problem Description and Analysis Ten years ago, Texas State University had on average 17,000 students.Today, however, there are over 30,000 students attending the university, according to Megan Dupree (personal communication, June 21, 2011), Assistant Director of Housing and Resident Life. Of the 30,000 students, 4,047 are freshmen students here at Texas State University. Policy requires these 4,000 plus freshmen to live on campus if they have less than 30 credit hours and if they are under 19 years of age. This policy is enforced at Texas State University to provide freshmen with a â€Å"safe, comfortable and convenient living environment, while offering opportunities for increased campus involvement, social interaction and academic assistance. (Texas State University Residence Life, n. d. ) However, the policy has not improved Texas State University’s housing situation in the past, as it should. PSU’s general education program and residence life program joined to form â€Å"first-year living-learning communities for freshmen. † Evidence showed in 2009, freshmen that lived on campus had a retention rate of 67 percent. Also in 2009, evidence showed that freshman that joined â€Å"living-learning communities† had a retention rate of 73 percent, raising the retention rate from an average 69 percent. If Texas State’s retention rate is lowered because of the current policy limiting the amount of students gaining the benefits from university programs like â€Å"living-learning communities†, it can affect the school’s budget.Texas State’s reputation will affect how alumni’s degrees are perceived by the work force, as well as lessen the number of graduates. The most destructive cause of the problem is specifically supply and demand. With available living space of campus for 5,604 students, you would assume Texas State has enough room to acquire everyone’s needs. However, 3,790 of those spaces are the only available spaces for freshman because the difference are apartments and upperclassmen â€Å"super suites†. Also, a large percentage of the 5,604 s paces are reserved to athletes of all kinds. The athletics department reserves a specific amount of spaces per year for their athletes to live on-campus because of being under contract. Effects of this amount of space is continuing to kick out upperclassmen that want and need the benefits of on-campus living such as learning communities, residential colleges, etc. Texas State is growing fast and now experiencing limited space and money to expand on-campus living in order to accommodate incoming and returning students and adhere its mission for education policy.The negative effects of this problem are that a percentage of freshmen, as well as a large percentage of upperclassmen, are now not receiving the opportunities that living on-campus provides because there is no structure off-campus. For instance, SLAC is not mandatory, and neither are tutors. By living in the dorms, or on-campus apartments and suites, students have services readily available to them like residential colleges and learning communities. Residential colleges are â€Å"living-learning communities† where students live and go to class with people in the same major. In each room are students who have the same schedules. In each residential college, tutors are available, as well as study groups, and seeing as everyone in that building are taking the same tests at the same time this provides a strong academic community. Learning communities are specifically for a certain dorm or apartment on-campus. For instance, Blanco Hall is a history learning community, where it is available to study and have tutors for history classes in that particular dormitory. Unfortunately, this problem is not one that presents itself immediately.Right now the problem can be ignored because it will be years before the effects on students will affect the university. However, ignoring the problem will only result in a larger problem for the university down the road. For instance, when PSU’s problem was ignored they gained the reputation for having a very low retention rate and had to find solutions to improve their situation quickly. Although there are methods to solve the housing problem, there are also limitations as to what can be done as a solution. No matter what, budget will always be a limitation.Time, space, implementation, staffing, and enforcement are also important things to think about when discussing the limitations on the university. Another important factor in limitation is the interest and needs of the involved students. One of the most important factors when it comes to identifying the problem is the research ability of the group. As a group, reading articles and finding statistics on the current and past housing policies is required. As well as being able to find information of the actual problem and what is currently being done to deal with that specific problem.A lot of what we need to have already available to us is not open for research. Most of our statistics have been calculated by hand to find what we need to prove the problem exists. Other limitations such as time available, location, lack of resources, concrete facts, and daily schedules within group members hinder the advancement of the group’s goal successfully. The outcome trying to be achieved is to create programs that will fill the void left by the ever-changing housing policy, and that will increase the current retention rate by an average of 3 percent without having to continue to limit the policy.Criteria for an Effective Solution The most important criteria for the situation is creating a program that will provide the student’s academic support and encourage relationship building, as wanted by the Mission for Education policy for Texas State University. It should be mandatory given few students will take advantage of a volunteer program, that it counteracts the effects of the overflow housing problem. The least important criterion is that of location, as long as students have the access to academically inclined programs off-campus that normally would be on-campus.Another less important criterion would be the student approval of the requirements for the program. They may dislike it at first, but it will build a fundamental foundation in their college experience. Solution In order to effectively solve the problem at hand, the most fitting solution would be that of University Purpose Networks. This solution is one that is now be implemented throughout universities around the world in order to improve the retention rate while still fulfilling the educational missions in place.There have been issues as to the difference between social networks and purpose networks. According to Troy, Jones, Lynch, and Tomassi (2009), a purpose network is different than a social network as in it helps create success through social and academic communities, which are key for success while attending a un iversity. Troy et al. defines a purpose network as â€Å"an online community intentionally designed to support critical student learning outcomes through peer-to-peer, peer-to-staff and staff-to-peer communication. (2009) To effectively implement this plan, there are guidelines that researchers have come up with in order to enhance the quality of a purpose network. First, the university should begin orientation earlier through a source of online communications so that students have an understanding of what’s going on before even coming to campus for initial orientation. Second, a university should initiate learning communities online that provide platforms for groups so that students known the common goals of academic organizations beforehand.Third, by creating online mentoring system, it will increase the student’s feeling of belongingness to the university. Finally, expand academic intrusive advising so that it requires students to meet with advisors and reach their educatio nal goals rather than falling behind. This new system is the most effective for Texas State University because it allows us to solve a problem without creating another and by overcoming the obstacles in order to find the best solution.Preliminary results from Education Dynamic throughout 20 schools showed that students that were involved in purpose networks showed a 9 percent increase in retention as where students who were not involved, the university showed a 13 percent increase in retention. (Troy et al. , 2009) Implementing the purpose network at Texas State University would solve the problem at hand. In order to put the plan into action, the first step would be to create the host website that the purpose network would run from as well as create the new policy for this program.This would require the university to gather resources such as web designers and administrators to set up the initial website and policy. Once the website is set up, it would then require the university to contact students to let them know of t he new procedure and requirement for purpose networking. This would allow students to become familiar with the system and allow them to give feedback on how it is affecting them. After students have access to the newly built website, it would just be a matter of keeping the site updated and making sure that students are meeting there new requirements.Future problem-solvers that encounter campus housing policy and university missions as a problem should focus on a purpose network to integrate with the campus to solve their problem. They have proven to be effective throughout universities around the world and if integrated into a university system it can promote the mission for education while essentially increasing the retention rate. One obstacle that might stand in the way of some universities is the access to the Internet. With Texas State University this was never an obstacle seeing as how there are plenty of places of for students on campus to access the Internet.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems and its use.

The modern world has engineered one of the most advanced technologies in aeronautics, as sometimes there is a dire need for Unmanned Aircraft Systems or UAV–Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles. Moreover, it can be used for several things, including geospatial data gathering (Barnhart et al., 2012).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Unmanned Aircraft Systems and its use. specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This gives a chance to take a closer look at the environment and allows an option in better controlling natural and human made disasters. With relatively few problems, the benefits of using UAS have many advantages over the traditional piloted technology. Primarily, there are several types of UAVs. Some of them have an automatic control while others are remotely controlled â€Å"drones†. There are several important criteria that play a role in the purpose of the UAV. Parameters like mass, time, distance of flig ht and height, are all determinants in the design and function of the vehicle. One of the uses is for the monitoring of disasters, combined with a low deployment cost. The sensors on the UAVs provide important information that can be used in prediction of a cataclysm. The data is stored and analyzed which results in a mapping of the objective and effective response. There are also two types of takeoff—one is vertical (VTOL), the other is conventional (CTOL) (Barnhart et al., 2012). VTOL is more maneuverable which gives it an advantage with the change in atmospheric and other physical conditions. Because they are easy to deploy, the number is rather high, giving a chance to cover large areas and analyze greater amounts of information. The sensors on UAVs have several uses, from video recording, to scanning of radiation levels and infrared rays. In the end, the types of sensors that are going to be used need to be in working balance with the mass of the UAV. Not only there is a n ability to record and store information, a person can watch a live feed from the camera’s mounted on the UAV. One of most valued functions of the UAVs is that it has become one of the widely used defense systems and has proven to be very effective. It creates many possibilities of control and lowers the risk of an attack. The United States have focused on the development of strategic advances that could deliver maximum field effectiveness and safety for the army personnel.Advertising Looking for report on aviation? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The characteristics of flight also differentiate types of controls used in defense or combat. The navigation system itself gives a unique use to each UAV, not to mention the propelling forces and several other parameters (Rasmussen, 2009). The link to the satellite makes the UAV very useful in receiving data from several sources and quick manipulation and adjustments to the f light and destination characteristics. The fact that all equipment is digital, allows for precise and reliable identification of the needed data. The United States is one of the recognized leaders in UAVs and their use in all sorts of missions. The primary concern is the safety of the country, so more than half of all air force consists of UAVs (Austin, 2011). The lower costs when bought in bulk, as well as an impressive length of flight make it a perfect possession to the army, not to mention the safety of the operators. The following chart outlines the use of UAVs: (Red, 2009). A quickly developing use of a civil UAV is making its way into the scientific world. It gives a chance to study the environment, and to show how it interacts with different systems on the Earth and what effects they have on the humanity. Mostly, they are used for governmental reasons, but a great number is functioning as rescue and prevention vehicle. The ability to scan the area and provide precise and ap plicable mapping, clearly illustrates the benefit of having such technology. For natural disasters, which also can make use of optical sensor, it calculates the trajectory of flight to the target. This sort of navigation is widely used in any weather conditions and time of day (Savla, K2007).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Unmanned Aircraft Systems and its use. specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Although, there is a disadvantage in maneuvering and visual locating system, other qualities make up for it. Radio beam and laser beam guidance systems are commonly used with a focused beam of a signal or laser pointer. The pilot holds the object of target in line, the tracer of a UAV and the sights. Radio beam targeting is sometimes called a method of three points targeting. Laser targeting uses a laser beam that is set up by the source local or distant. Thermal and movement guiding are very common, as they use heat and movement tracing of the target, which makes them very effective in fire rescue situations (Rosenberg, 2009). One of the most recent examples where UAVs would be able to do a lot of rescue and preventative work is the tsunami in Japan. The prevention and disaster response are a great determinant in how many people and property are saved. As the water was coming in very quickly and in great amounts, there was little time for people to take proper safety positions (Takeuchi, 2012). If there are several â€Å"drones† that are patrolling the area, their speed and ability to transmit messages, videos and predictive data, would give people more time to evacuate. Also, the amount of damage would be visible, so the government would be able to see how serious the force is. The ability to take an overview look means a lot when it must be known which direction the water is heading. The recovery efforts would be much better organized, as it would be faster to organize and allow for more efficient extraction. As a result, the response time would be much lower and proper equipment and measures can be provided. It is difficult to say if the use of UAVs would save people from exposure to harmful elements or environmental factors because if there is no ability to evacuate people, little can be done. Of course, it would be possible to deliver some equipment to the site of the disaster, but it is an option that could be qualified even without UAVs (Fahlstrom, 2012). One guarantee is that the leaders would have better understanding of the environment and conditions if there was a system of constant monitoring. In some cases, it would create a possibility of preventing casualties, but when looking at complete prevention of a disaster, it would be difficult to guarantee 100%. So far, the technology has proven very beneficial for all sorts of uses in data analysis, prevention and monitoring. Overall, the UAS is beneficial and has many applications in the safety of any nation. Advertising Looking for report on aviation? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More References Austin, R. (2011). Unmanned Aircraft Systems: UAVS Design, Development and Deployment. West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley Sons. Barnhart, R., Hottman, S., Marshall, M. E., Shapee. (2012). Introduction to unmanned aircraft systems. Boca, Raton, FL: Taylor Francis Group. Fahlstrom, P. (2012). Introduction to UAV Systems. West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley Sons. Rasmussen, S. (2009). UAV Cooperative Decision and Control: Challenges and Practical Approaches. Philadelphia, PA: SIAM. Red, C. (2009). The Outlook for Unmanned Aircraft. Composites World. Web. Rosenberg, A. (2009). An Evaluation of a UAV Guidance System with Consumer Grade GPS Receivers. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest. Savla, K. (2007). Multi UAV Systems with Motion and Communication Constraints. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest. Takeuchi, Y. (2012). East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Singapore: Research Publishing Service. This report on Unmanned Aircraft Systems and its use. was written and submitted by user Man-Thing to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Using The Law To Witness Essays - Christian Soteriology,

Using The Law To Witness Today I am going to share with you something that I have found to be the most important part of how we witness to other people. In the late 1970s, a man named Ray Comfort began to explore Church growth records. He found that 80 to 90 percent of those making a decision for Christ are falling away from the faith. A major denomination in the United States reported to have 11,500 churches in the U.S. This same denomination reported to have obtained 294,000 decisions for Christ in 1991. This same church could only find 14,000 of those people in fellowship today. Modern evangelism is preaching the benefits of salvation, with out using the law to show the sinner why they are lost with out God. These statistics are the normal results of modern evangelism. The way that we present the Gospel determines the kind of response the person will make. We need to present the Gospel with the law in mind. Here is an illustration that Ray Comfort uses in his Book, Hells best kept secret: Two men are seated in a plane. A stewardess gives the first man a parachute and tells him that it will improve his flight. The passenger is a little skeptical, but after hearing the persuasion of the stewardess, he decides that what she says is true. After he puts it on, he notices the uncomfortable weight of the parachute, and that it makes it uncomfortable to sit with it on. Eventually other people in the plane start laughing at him. The passenger decides that it isnt worth it to wear the parachute anymore and he takes it off. He feels that he has been lied to. Another stewardess gives the second man a parachute. She tells him to put it on because at any moment he will be jumping out of the plane. The second passenger gratefully straps the parachute on. He doesn't notice its weight upon his shoulders. All he can think about is that he would die without the parachute. When other passengers laugh at him, he thinks, You won't be laughing when you're falling to the ground! The first person was promised that the parachute would only improve his flight, but he wasnt told why. But the second man was promised that the parachute would save him from would otherwise be the death to come. We can now see that when someone is promised love joy and peace and they do not receive it, they feel like they were lied to. So how can we prevent this from happening. We must use the law when we witness to the unsaved. Psalm 19:7 says The law of the Lord is perfect for converting the soul. You must show each man or woman that they have broken Gods law. Everyone at some time has stolen something, and many people who are not saved use Gods name in vain. Show them that stealing is breaking the ten commandments, and that using Gods name in vain is blasphemy. Therefore, we have all broken the entire Law of the Lord. We must present the consequences of breaking the law. Explain to them that we will all be judged for the sins we have committed. In Romans 7: 7 Paul says I did not know what sin was until the law told me. In Romans 3:19 we see that God says the law will stop the mouth of the sinner. It will stop the sinner from justifying his sin. We have all heard the argument that I am not that bad, or there are plenty of people who are worse than me. When people use these arguments you must show them that we have all broken Gods law, and because of that we are in need of his grace. If you approach a sinner and say Jesus loves you and he died on the cross for your sins, it will offensive because he doesnt think he is a sinner. But if you show him that he has offended God by breaking his law, he will realize that he is a sinner and want to avoid Gods wrath. A great verse to use here is Romans 6:23. Once you have established

Starsky and Hutch essays

Starsky and Hutch essays This movie is about two policemen who are constantly getting into trouble with their captain. Their captain soon puts them together as partners and they team up to ruin many opportunities for themselves trying to capture criminals and making fools of themselves. Things get tense between them and they get in a fight. Soon after they get back together and finally capture the criminal red handed. The movies subject is comedy and the theme that I took from it was perseverance in life will reap good benefits. The movie communicates the values that crime is ok and goes unpunished. Also, Starsky and Hutch communicates that sex outside of marriage is an ok thing and happens on regular terms. I could see these values from parts where the good police men would commit small crimes and go unpunished. There is also a scene that you do not see anything, but it is implied that the main character had premarital sex with two girls. The two main characters were Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Ben Stiller played the part of David Starsky and Owen Wilson played Ken Hutchinson. I thought they were very suitable characters for the part because this movie being a comedy fit them very well as humorous people. Ben Stiller has been in Zoolander, Meet the Parents, and a few others. He is a very prominent comedy star in Hollywood. Owen Wilson, also a famous comedy star has also played in Zoolander, Shanghai Knights, and other movies. I enjoyed the movie very much and I would suggest it for those wanting to see an enjoyable, fairly clean comedy. This movie is rated PG-13 for mild violence and swearing, drug reference, partial nudity, and sexual innuendoes. ...

UNIT 4 DISCUSSION BOARD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

UNIT 4 DISCUSSION BOARD - Essay Example Though Medicare and Medicaid are federally operated programs, they rely on private providers that are regulated and financed through a variety of different agencies and corporations. In contrast, the VA and military are health care systems that are run directly by the government. This difference has allowed the VA to concentrate on quality rather than quantity of services. In addition, the VA manages the system to hold regional and area managers directly responsible for the performance of the system. The private sector providers have little incentive to invest in quality such as the VAs commitment to, "purchases of health IT to track adherence to clinical guidelines or spending on education and training to improve compliance with safety protocols" (Veterans Administration, 2007, p.14). In addition, the VA has implemented the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) system to monitor resources and assure that they are being adequately distributed. This has developed into a highly refined system of patient classification, regional cost analysis, and produces a level of care that the private sector could benefit from to control costs while assuring quality care (National Defense Research Institute, 2005, p.3). The US Department of Defense (DoD) operates the largest health system in the US and provides medical care for active military, retirees, and civilian employees. A key difference between the DoD and the private sector is the ability to enact policies that affect their participants health while saving money. The military is able to vaccinate their members in greater numbers for diseases such as polio, measles, mumps, influenza, and varicella (Kruzel). The military policy views this as a health maintenance (and cost saving) measure, while the private sector sees this as a cost. Because the DoD operates on a fixed budget from year to year, they are forced to control costs, while the private sector is often prompted to accelerate costs to

Anselm's ontological argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Anselm's ontological argument - Essay Example Whereas ancient Greek philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, hinted at the existence of a God, Anselm’s ontological argument offered one of the first expressly rational proofs for the Judeo-Christian God. In this paper, the author examines the ontological argument of St. Anselm by taking a look at the argument itself, and analyzing both the value and criticisms against it. Further, the discussion examines the influence of the ontological argument on modern thought, particularly Rene Descartes’ revival of the said proof. The ontological argument derives its name from â€Å"ontos†, meaning â€Å"being†. The term â€Å"ontological† signifies an emphasis on the â€Å"being† or â€Å"nature† of an entity. An ontological argument, therefore, derives its strength from the nature itself of what is argued for. In the case of the ontological argument of Anselm, it is referred to as such because it seeks to prove the existence of God by appealing to the nature of this Supreme Being, or perhaps more correctly, to the definition of the latter. He argues that to have an understanding of God as that than which nothing greater can be conceived, entails the acceptance of God’s existence since such a conception necessitates existence. He states: Therefore, if that than which nothing greater can be conceived, exists in the understanding alone, the very being than which nothing greater can be conceived, is one than which a greater can be conceived. But obviously, this is impossible. Hence, there is no doubt that there exists a being than which nothing greater can be conceived, and it exists both in the understanding and in reality (Fremantle 89). It can be seen that such a proposal allows for a proof that is â€Å"built in† the term, so to speak. For if God is such a being, then it is of necessity that he must exist, since not to exist would mean that there is another being that is greater still, namely, one that exists. Thus, Anselm quotes Psalm 14:1

Lao Tzu (traditional china) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lao Tzu (traditional china) - Essay Example This is because the latter comprises of numerous Chinese to the extent of referred as China proper. Northern region is a lowland terrain compared to the South, which is high comprising of two key river systems mostly in that area depended for agriculture. It is irrefutable China’s populace for long compared to other people residing in other global states is extremely diverse. This is especially in terms of culture, language and other varied aspects that render unique as well as unified despite significance differences that characterize it. Outstanding aspects that make it diverse embrace religions ranging from Taoism, Buddhism, and Islam to Christianity besides others. In addition, Chinese also reside in diverse significant regions characterized by unique dialects though they comprise one general state having a capacity of approximately 500 Million. Comprising this capacity, there are key minorities that constitutes 6.7% of the entire populace