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Group looks for next big thing
The group charged with marketing the 13-county region surrounding Research Triangle Park to prospective employers has identified eight technologies it believes will bring new and well -paying jobs to the area over the next quarter-century.
College
costs continue to soar
The cost of attending the nation's public universities rose 14.1 percent last
year, the biggest one-year jump in tuition and fees since the 1960s.
Tuition
leaps nationwide, less in N.C.
Tuition and fees at public universities jumped an average of 14 percent nationwide
this year, as states cut their budgets to deal with the economic downturn.
Homeowner
Chips Away At Resolving Peeling Problem
Paint-Like Stain Peeling Off House
It's
your camera calling
Phone companies hope that U.S. consumers will pick up on the appeal of the
new devices
Group looks for next big thing
Oct. 22, 2003
The News & Observer
By Karin Rives, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.
The group charged with marketing the 13-county region surrounding Research Triangle Park to prospective employers has identified eight technologies it believes will bring new and well -paying jobs to the area over the next quarter-century.
The Research Triangle Regional Partnership won't be releasing its final report until early next year. But the group says it has laid the groundwork for an ambitious plan to boost the region's economy.
The idea is to build a "cluster" of emerging and often related technologies that draw heavily on local university research and already existing business expertise to seize new opportunities in areas such as homeland security, nanoscale engineering and disease control.
Today's anemic venture-capital market, tight state budget and lackluster business climate hasn't dampened the group's resolve. Nor has stiff competition from other regions that bank on some of the same industries for future economic growth.
"It's the most exciting thing that I've seen in my years of economic development," said Charles Hayes, RTRP's president and chief executive director. "I really feel we have the research in place to focus our efforts on making this region competitive on a global basis."
For the past nine months, leaders from the business world, academic institutions and the economic development community have been plotting a new strategy for the region.
Their efforts grew out of a 2002 report led by Harvard University Professor Michael Porter that looked at five regions around the country to determine how industries develop within communities. Porter's study concluded that the Triangle needed to consider itself a larger area that includes Warren County to the north, Sampson County to the south, Edgecombe County to the east and Lee County to the west. He also said that the Triangle must diversify its industries and collaborate more across city and county borders to sustain growth.
RTRP commissioned Research Triangle Institute, a nonprofit research organization, to conduct an inventory of the technologies and capabilities that the region already has, and to identify areas where the Triangle could become a future leader. RTI came back with eight suggestions: pharmaceuticals, biological agents and infectious diseases, advanced medical care, analytical instruments, pervasive computing, nanoscale technologies, informatics and agricultural biotechnology.
The continued emphasis on high-tech industry makes sense given the Triangle's make-up, said Michael L. Walden, an economist at N.C. State University.
"Local areas usually have characteristics that pop out and become the known feature of that area," he said. "They will attract certain kinds of firms and industry and build a critical mass. Although diversification is a worthy goal, we have to be realistic."
"I think we're moving in the right direction, absolutely," said Molly Broad, president of the University of North Carolina system, one of several local leaders who invited Porter to include the Triangle in his study.
Among other things, she said, the final plan will include a proposal to set up a bio-safety laboratory that would be available to the public and private sectors for the study of infectious diseases and vaccine research.
A potential source of funding could be federal dollars earmarked for homeland defense, she said.
Challenges facing the economic development effort will include institutional barriers that start-up companies in North Carolina continue to face.
A state tax credit available for investors who buy into startup companies, for example, should be made permanent, said Jeff Reid, executive director for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Business at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a participant in the study. Currently, the tax credit must be renewed annually. Cumbersome university regulations, meanwhile, can slow efforts to transfer technology, he said.
The RTRP plan will also look at ways to improve worker training to prepare the region's labor force for new jobs, some of which are projected to land in rural counties. If a new vaccine is developed in conjunction with the bio-safety laboratory, for example, it will have to be manufactured somewhere, Broad said.
"You think of this as concentric circles," she said. "We need community colleges to train workers to run that plant, to produce the compound. Then you have the packaging and distribution systems, the necessary support systems. It's entirely doable."
Staff writer Karin Rives can be reached at 829-4521.
College costs continue to soar
Oct. 22, 2003
The Greensboro News & Record
By John Newsom, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The Greensboro News & Record.
The cost of attending the nation's public universities rose 14.1 percent last year, the biggest one-year jump in tuition and fees since the 1960s.
The annual report released Tuesday by the College Board, which produces the SAT, also showed that undergraduate costs at four-year public colleges jumped 47 percent in the past decade to $4,694 this year.
The cost of private colleges rose nearly 6 percent last year to $19,710. In the past 10 years, private school costs have jumped 42 percent.
But there is some good news despite the sticker shock, the College Board said.
Colleges and federal and state governments are providing more financial aid, so what students pay for college has not gone up quite as fast. In many cases, the report noted, the actual cost is far less than the advertised price. On average, students paid $7,256 for tuition, fees, room and board at public colleges after grants were factored in.
Still, many in higher education are worried that declining state support of public colleges will push prices even higher - and out of the reach of many Americans.
"We are in the middle of a very difficult period in financing higher education," said David Ward, president of the American Council on Education. "I remain greatly concerned about the long-term viability of the social compact that has served students and families so well for more than 50 years."
The report came out as soaring college prices have raised national concerns and compassion. Earlier this month, a senior member of the U.S. House's education committee introduced a bill that would withhold federal money from universities that hike tuition faster than inflation.
UNC-Chapel Hill made national headlines this month when it became the nation's first public university to ensure that qualified low-income students could graduate without going into debt.
A new federal survey found that parents overestimate the cost of college by several thousand dollars, a factor that might scare off some students from even considering higher education.
The report blamed the recent bump in tuition on declining state support. From 1997 to 2001, the report said, states raised higher education spending by less each year than the year before. Public colleges responded by raising tuition on average by 10.5 percent last year and 14.1 percent this year.
"Public institutions take a big hit when revenues go down," said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board. "That's a real problem when you're trying to stay best in the world."
Among the report's other findings:
At four-year public institutions, tuition, fees, room and board increased 9.8
percent this year to $10,636. At private schools, the total cost of attending
rose 5.7 percent to $26,854.
Southern colleges continue to remain a relative bargain. On average, four-year public colleges in the South cost $3,758, roughly the same as those in the West and Southwest. In the region that includes New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, public colleges charged average tuition and fees of $6,350.
Community colleges largely bucked the higher tuition trend. In inflation-adjusted dollars, their tuition and fees have declined by nearly $600 in the past decade.
The net price - tuition, fees, room and board minus grants -- of both public and private four-year colleges rose about 25 percent in the past decade.
In 2002-03, students got a record $105 billion in financial aid, or $13 billion more than the year before. The average student's financial aid package was $9,100, with about 40 percent coming in grants that do not have to be repaid.
In North Carolina, tuition rose 5 percent at public universities this year, a rate far less than the national average. But the colleges have permission to ask the UNC Board of Governors for higher tuition for next year. N.C. A&T has not yet decided whether it will ask for an increase. A UNCG official did not return two telephone calls to his office.
Among private colleges, Wake Forest University announced earlier this month that it will raise undergraduate tuition 6.5 percent next year to $28,210. The increase will help offset expected increases in health and property insurance and make up for declining revenues from the university's endowment, said John Anderson, Wake Forest's chief financial officer.
As Wake Forest's price has gone up, its commitment to financial aid has remained strong. Last year, two-thirds of its undergraduates received financial aid, and the average award was $17,717. Needier students got financial aid packages averaging $23,785.
At Greensboro College, another private school, 98 percent of this year's freshmen got help from the college or from state and federal grants and loans. The average award was $13,350, which meant most first-year students paid an average of $9,200 to attend. That is slightly less than the full cost of UNC-CH and N.C. State and only just more than A&T and UNCG.
"We want to be within shooting distance of what it would cost to go to the UNC system schools," spokesman Mike Clark said. "Our cost will always be more, but we want to have a package for our students to have, at a little bit more, what we offer."
Contact John Newsom at 373-7312.
Tuition leaps nationwide, less in N.C.
Oct. 22, 2003
The News & Observer
By Jane Stancill, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.
Tuition and fees at public universities jumped an average of 14 percent nationwide this year, as states cut their budgets to deal with the economic downturn.
Students' pocketbooks fared better in North Carolina, as the legislature held tuition increases to 5 percent at public campuses .
other unc campuses
Undergraduate in-state tuition and fees have jumped at all UNC campuses in recent
years. Here's how those outside the Triangle climbed:
Appalachian State University
$1,832 in 1999-2000
$2,810 in 2003-2004
East Carolina University
$1,957 in 1999-2000
$3,051 in 2003-2004
Elizabeth City State University
$1,631 in 1999-2000
$2,175 in 2003-2004
Fayetteville State University
$1,542 in 1999-2000
$2,236 in 2003-2004
N.C. A&T State University
$1,869 in 1999-2000
$2,722 in 2003-2004
N.C. School of the Arts
$2,427 in 1999-2000
$3,600 in 2003-2004
UNC-Asheville
$1,889 in 1999-2000
$3,029 in 2003-2004
UNC-Charlotte
$1,916 in 1999-2000
$3,064 in 2003-2004
UNC-Greensboro
$2,136 in 1999-2000
$3,123 in 2003-2004
UNC-Pembroke
$1,706 in 1999-2000
$2,494 in 2003-2004
UNC-Wilmington
$2,054 in 1999-2000
$3,311 in 2003-2004
Western Carolina University
$1,930 in 1999-2000
$2,798 in 2003-2004
Winston-Salem State University
$1,664 in 1999-2000
$2,373 in 2003-2004
But North Carolina families aren't likely to be so fortunate next year. A task force at UNC-Chapel Hill last week recommended that the campus raise in-state tuition $300 a year for the next three years. Other UNC campuses are likely to follow suit .
"It's serious," said UNC-CH student body president Matt Tepper, who helped lead the tuition task force. "This can be a watershed year for tuition increases in our state."
Public university tuition is lower in North Carolina than in many states, according to a national survey of college costs released Tuesday by the College Board, the company that produces the SAT.
In the past year, tuition and fees rose 14.1 percent nationwide to an average of $4,694 at public four-year campuses. By comparison, tuition and fees at N.C. State University are $3,889 this year for North Carolina residents. That does not include other costs, such as housing and books.
Nationally, four-year private schools raised tuition and fees 6 percent to an average of $19,710. At two-year public institutions, the bill rose 13.8 percent to an average of $1,905.
The figures show that higher- education costs continue to climb faster than inflation. In the past decade, average tuition and fees jumped 47 percent at public universities and 42 percent at private colleges. The percentages are based on figures adjusted for inflation.
State funding dwindles
College Board President Gaston Caperton attributed rising public university tuition to shrinking state appropriations.
"Education leaders must be able to make persuasive cases to governors and legislators on the importance of reasonable and predictable levels of state support," Caperton said in a statement. "Levels of state funding have dipped to a dangerously low point in recent years."
Although North Carolina's tuition costs are lower than the national average, they have soared since 2000, when the UNC Board of Governors allowed campuses to raise rates and keep the revenue for faculty salaries, libraries, financial aid and other priorities.
In the past five years, tuition and fees have climbed 74 percent at UNC-CH, 65 percent at NCSU and 48 percent at N.C. Central University. Last year, the system board recommended a tuition freeze because of the recent sharp increases and North Carolina's struggling economy.
"The last three years were tremendously difficult," said Jonathan Ducote, an NCSU student who serves on the board.
If anything, North Carolina families need a tuition freeze now more than ever, Ducote added. "The economy is not any better this year."
Tepper, the UNC-CH student body president, said he would have preferred a $250 increase each year for three years over the $300 level recommended. He is supporting the increase, though he thinks an increase of $900 over three years is the maximum that students can afford.
UNC-CH would reap $22 million, of which 45 percent would be devoted to faculty salaries, 40 percent to financial aid, 9 percent to graduate student teaching assistants and 6 percent to staff salaries.
Washington notices
The national tuition escalation is grabbing attention in Washington, where a Republican congressman from California last week introduced legislation that would hold universities accountable for their costs. Under the proposed "Affordability in Higher Education Act," the federal government could withhold money from institutions with track records of unreasonable tuition increases.
The College Board report did provide one bright spot: Student financial aid also is growing, with a record $105 billion distributed in 2002-2003. The aid per full-time-equivalent student averages $9,100, with $3,600 of that in grants.
Still, the higher tuition trend has been notable in North Carolina, where the state constitution guarantees a college education as free as practicable.
Some who have been supportive of UNC-CH's increases say there is a limit to what families will tolerate. Undergraduate tuition levels should remain in the bottom quarter among peer universities, said Paul Fulton, a trustee and former dean of the Kenan-Flagler School of Business.
"I have a problem with trying to be too aggressive," he said . "I don't think we want to get carried away with tuition being the answer to our revenue issues."
Staff writer Jane Stancill can be reached at 956-2464.
Homeowner Chips Away At Resolving Peeling Problem
Oct. 21, 2003
WRAL.com
By Monica Laliberte, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 WRAL.
HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. -- Paint or stain can really spruce up the exterior of a home. Once the paint is on and it looks great, you are ready to move on.
A Wake County homeowner's problem is not with the work that was done, but how long it lasted.
Eric Steffenhagen said the paint-like stain that was put on his house 15 months ago is chipping, peeling and practically falling off the house.
Steffenhagen paid First Aid Painting of Cary almost $4,600 to do the job. Last spring, it started to peel.
Since First Aid offered a two-year warranty, Steffenhagen called the company.
Owner Brad Halferty sent stain samples to the manufacturer. Tests found "no evidence" that the stain or First Aid were "at fault." The report stated the wood is simply "separating from itself taking the stain with it."
"When you look at the back of the chips, you can see and feel that there's wood fibers on the back of the chips. The lab report also indicates that's what's happening," Halferty said.
The manufacturer still offered free stain to redo the house, but Halferty said since it is not "defective workmanship," the warranty does not apply. He only offered to provide labor at his cost.
Steffenhagen feels the $4,600 he already paid is enough.
"To think of spending more on top of that, to me is absolutely ridiculous," he said.
Halferty calls it a difficult situation.
"If I were in his shoes, I'd feel the same way," he said.
Halferty told Five On Your Side that if Steffenhagen got different test results, he would restain the house for free.
So Steffenhagen hired Dr. Larry Jahn, a wood products expert and former professor at North Carolina State University.
Jahn blames "inadequate surface preparation," saying First Aid should have first sanded the house to remove the old stain then primed it before staining.
"I think it was an opinion," Halferty said.
Since Jahn did not do a lab test, Halferty said he is not budging.
"I simply can't pay for something we're not responsible for," Halferty said.
Steffenhagen said since he hired Halferty as the professional, Halferty should back up his work.
"I just can't believe that in the amount of time that it took to go from beautiful to this, that the applicator will not accept responsibility for his problem," Steffenbhagen said.
Halferty said he has painted about 1,300 homes and this is the first time he has seen stain peel. He also said it is the first time he has disputed a warranty claim. Halferty suggested the best way to resolve this might be going to court.
Oct. 22, 2003
The News & Observer
By Jonathan B. Cox, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.
At a Chapel Hill club two
weeks ago, Sandi Shorter lamented that her new mobile phone would probably never
live up to its potential.
what's available
Here's a sampling of the camera phones sold by the nation's biggest mobile-phone
companies.
SPRINT PCS
MODEL: Samsung A600
SPECIFICATIONS: The phone, which allows subscribers to snap as many as 10 pictures in less than 2 seconds, has a built-in flash and a screen that swivels. It allows about three hours of talk time.
PRICE: $199 after a $150 mail-in rebate and a two-year contract.
CINGULAR WIRELESS
MODEL: Sony Ericsson T616
SPECIFICATIONS: The phone weighs 3.4 ounces and allows users to talk up to four hours. It has a standby time of 10 days.
PRICE: $99.99 after a $50 rebate and a two-year contract.
AT&T WIRELESS
MODEL: Nokia 3650
SPECIFICATIONS: The phone can store up to 1,000 standard photos and includes a video recorder to capture moving images. It weighs 4.59 ounces and allows users to talk for two to four hours.
PRICE: $49.99 online after a $250 instant rebate and a two-year contract.
VERIZON WIRELESS
MODEL: LG VX6000
SPECIFICATIONS: The phone has a zoom control and three resolution adjustments to provide control over image size. It has about 2.5 hours of talk time on a single battery charge and up to 4.5 days of standby time.
PRICE: $149.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year contract.
RESOURCE: COMPANY WEB SITES
After all, a cell phone with a built-in digital camera is "kind of silly," Shorter, 29, told a friend with her at The Cave on Franklin Street. There would never be a time when she needed it, like in the ads, to capture a special or bizarre moment.
She was wrong.
Later that night, rock band REM, in town for a concert at Alltel Pavilion, took the stage for a surprise performance. As the group jammed, she snapped photos .
"It was amazing," said Shorter, who works as an executive assistant at Eno River Capital, an investment firm in Durham . "You would never be just randomly carrying around a camera."
A novelty just a few months back, camera phones, with a big push from the wireless industry, are gaining acceptance. Parents are using them to grab pictures of their children, young adults to meet others and professionals to help productivity, inching the devices into the mainstream.
"Cameras are one of those things that's got an intuitive appeal," said Seamus McAteer, senior analyst with the Zelos Group, a San Francisco research firm.
With the rapid growth of digital cameras, finding one on mobile handsets is "not a big conceptual leap for consumers to make," he said.
But there are drawbacks that have hampered mass appeal in the Triangle and across the country. Picture quality is far inferior to that of a traditional film camera. The price, in general, is higher than that of a standard mobile phone.
And camera phones, because they make it easy to take pictures anywhere, raise some thorny privacy issues.
The devices look like regular cell phones, except they have small lenses on their cases. A menu or button on the phone activates the camera, allowing users to take shots that can be saved, sent to another phone or e-mailed to a computer. Cell-phone carriers charge extra for the capability to share.
The trend began in Asia, where a population enthralled with wireless technology quickly embraced the feature. It trickled into the United States last year.
It wasn't so much customer demand that brought them here, McAteer said. When analysts ask consumers what they
most want in a cell phone, for most the camera feature doesn't rank very high.
Mobile-phone service providers such as AT&T Wireless and Sprint PCS, however, do have an interest. The extra fees to send pictures -- as much as $20 a month -- boost their bottom lines. The companies have helped stoke demand by offering camera phones at discounted prices.
"Camera phones in and of themselves are not at all popular in the U.S.," said Avi Greengart, wireless analyst with Jupiter Research in New York. "That doesn't mean if you give someone one of these phones and make it easy for them to use ... they won't use it."
Worldwide, camera phones outsold digital still cameras for the first time ever in the first half of 2003, according to Strategy Analytics, a Boston consulting firm.
By 2008, about 77.5 million U.S. wireless subscribers could carry the gadgets, Zelos Group predicts, up from 6.9 million this year.
Kieran Piacenti, 28, got her first camera phone about five months ago and takes three or four pictures a week. A work-at-home mother in Raleigh, Piacenti has found it especially useful for sending pictures of her 2-year-old daughter to her husband at work.
"When we're at the park and my daughter does something cool, I send a picture to him," she said. "It's been a great way to keep in touch."
There also are more pragmatic uses. Real estate agents, construction workers, artists and others are finding the phones handy in their work lives.
"I bought it as a tool," said Susan LaBarre, 56, of Cary, who purchased her Sprint PCS camera phone in December.
Since being laid off last year from her job at NCR, a maker of cash registers and other retail equipment, LaBarre has been self-employed, doing such things as graphic design, Web development and interior design . The camera comes in handy when decorating a home, for example, because she can snap pictures of items to show clients.
"I wanted to be able to go into stores and take pictures of things without being noticed," she said.
It is just that surreptitious quality of camera phones that is drawing the ire of some privacy advocates. Because the devices look no different than a traditional mobile phone, users are finding they can sneak them into places where they shouldn't take pictures.
Gyms in cities such as New York and Los Angeles have created policies against the use of camera phones to keep patrons from taking shots in locker rooms. Concert venues, which often prohibit any kind of recording, also are keeping an eye out for them.
So far, local gyms said they have had no problems and haven't imposed phone restrictions. Nor has the RBC Center, which hosts concerts and sporting events.
Alltel Pavilion, though, is contemplating a policy on camera phones for the 2004 season after seeing them at concerts this year. It's up to the performers at its shows whether photography is allowed.
"This year was really the first year of the camera phone, and you didn't know what to expect," said Betsy Brown, a spokeswoman for the concert venue. "It's to the point where they have to come up with a policy on it."
Cell-phone companies say they try to encourage customers to use their phones responsibly but add that there is little they can do to control subscribers' actions.
"I think there's a risk with technology, regardless of the medium," said Jane Hutson, who oversees Sprint PCS sales at stores such as Radio Shack and Best Buy throughout Tennessee and the Carolinas. "We hope that there are so many good ones that the inappropriate ones won't overshadow the good ones."
Analysts say such issues could weigh on the growth of camera phones. More likely, however, user concerns about photo quality, ease of use and cost could stifle their expansion.
Camera phones offer lackluster pictures suitable only for e-mail. They're inferior to those taken with many digital cameras that have about the same price tag.
They're getting easier to use, but camera phones can be challenging to operate. The gadgets can require users to navigate a series of menus to take a picture and send it to another user.
And technology restraints now prevent people from freely exchanging pictures between the networks of mobile-phone companies. That's a limitation analysts say could squelch interest.
"We don't really know in the United States if people will gravitate to these," said John Jackson, a wireless technology analyst with the Yankee Group in Boston.
Still, expect to see more camera-phone offerings in the coming months. As the holidays near, analysts say service providers will bolster product offerings and offer discounts to lure buyers.
That could have social benefits, as Christopher Craig, an N.C. State University junior, attests.
Strolling the campus last week, he came upon a group of women demonstrating fitness skills. With a flick and click of his month-old camera phone, he got their picture -- and their attention.
"It's a great way to meet people," he said with a smile.
Staff writer Jonathan B. Cox can be reached at 836-4948.
Randallstown evaluated for an urban makeover
Oct. 22, 2003
SunSpot.net
By Andrew A. Green, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 SunSpot.net.
A team of architects, urban
planners and landscapers from around the country will be touring Randallstown
and talking to residents today in hopes that they can find a way to transform
a community dominated by aging strip malls on traffic-snarled Liberty Road into
a more vibrant, attractive place.
The tour will begin the process that will culminate with the team's presentation
of a revitalization plan Monday.
The effort is Baltimore County's second attempt at employing an Urban Design Assistance Team to create a plan for reviving an aging suburban community. Because the process involves intensive public outreach, officials hope the teams will win more public support than the failed condemnation-for-revitalization plan that was rejected by voters in 2000.
Two years ago, a team visited Dundalk and crafted a plan to capitalize on that community's waterfront, industrial history and traditional village layout. To date, $335,000 in state money has been spent on various elements in the plan.
Those involved in the Randallstown effort see different challenges in turning a commercial corridor into a shopping and dining destination, not just a place to drive through.
"It's not so unusual - this has happened in other places in America," said Fernando Magallanes, a professor of landscape architecture from North Carolina State University who is heading the team. "So the designers we have on the team can begin to address this idea of this road corridor and some of the issues that happen along with it - the aesthetic, the real estate values - and bring in ... a different quality of development."
He said he and nine others will bring an outside perspective, but also listen to residents' wishes.
County Councilman Kenneth N. Oliver, a Democrat who represents the area, said he hopes the process will get developers interested.
"I hope ... we'll get some major department stores on these shopping centers on Liberty Road and an office complex so we can have an excellent lunch crowd of white-collar workers so we can have that restaurant that the community is saying we need," Oliver said.
The team will hold a public meeting tonight from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Randallstown High School, 4000 Offutt Road. Over the course of the week, the group will meet with community leaders and again with the public from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday at the library.
The team is scheduled to present its plan to the public from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday at the Randallstown library.
Randallstown has a rich history and a lot going for it, said Ella White Campbell, a community activist and member of the design steering committee. "It's almost as if Randallstown is a mini-American dream," she said.
The trick, she added, will be making the landscape impressive, too.