Bees!
Zack has fond, childhood memories of helping to rob honey from the bees his grandfather kept. Later, Zack and his father kept a few bees as well. So for years, Zack has talked of having our own bees here at the ranch. There have always been bees in various trees here. But we’ve never “cultivated and managed” them. I rather hoped he’d only talk of this and never actually do it. But oh no, not Zack. When he plans a thing, it happens.
Early this year, Zack started ordering supplies. His father delivered the supplies he still had, passed down now to the third generation (like the wine-making supplies he gifted us with a few years ago). For weeks, we had a pile (including two hives and “supers”, several smokers, hats, veils, and other equipment) growing in our living room. In April our bees arrived (thanks to someone locally who picked up his own bees — over a hundred miles away. He very kindly offered to pick ours up, too).
We donned our safety gear, prepared sugar water to calm the bees (keeps them busy eating), and readied the hives. Zack was excited. I was terrified. But when we started the procedure, I didn’t even think about all those potential stingers buzzing around us. The bees weren’t aggressive, and we were as protected as possible. No one was stung.
We prepared the hives and frames, and opened the two “traveling boxes” (not so easy) that contained our two complete sets of bees, each with a queen. We “poured” them into the new hives (interesting to say the least), placed the queens, inserted the frames, provided sugar water for them to eat until they found their own food, and left them alone. They seemed to like their new digs, and as far as we know, they’re just fine. We see plenty of bees visiting various flowers all around the ranch. Zack checks the hives periodically (without all his gear now), and we hope to have honey in a year!
About a month after our bees arrived, a neighbor called to ask if we could clear a water meter box where bees had taken up residence. (Small town, news travels fast). Zack, always optimistic, readily agreed and ordered a third hive. While we awaited its arrival, spring rains flooded the meter box. By the time the hive arrived, the bees had deserted for higher ground. I was secretly relieved, but Zack was terribly disappointed. He’d been looking forward to yet another new experience — and a third batch of bees to add to his growing little apiary.
A couple of days ago, there was another call. A different friend asked if we’d like to remove bees that had invaded his pump house. None of his ranch hands wanted to go into the building. This time Zack was ready. (I was again terrified). So today, in the heat of the summer, we packed up crowbars, smokers, buckets, hats, veils, etc., donned all the protective gear and dove into our next adventure. We located the bees within a wall of the small structure, turned off the electricity, and (with great difficulty) pried loose several boards. This did NOT please the bees. We set a rag on fire in a smoker (which has a small bellows-type device on one end) and calmed the bees somewhat with smoke. (The sugar water only works if they’re hungry. These bees had an established honeycomb and plenty of summer flowers to visit).
It was difficult, hot work in the little building, and by the time we had pried enough boards away to uncover the honeycomb (and several hundred bees), Zack was starting to cramp up badly. We robbed some honeycomb and decided to return another day to finish the job. Several bottles of Gatorade later, we squeezed the comb through cheesecloth and enjoyed some honey for our day’s efforts. I’ll let you know later if we’re able to capture the queen!
Non-U.S. Citizens Benefit From High Texas Tuition Costs
In 2003, the Texas Legislature passed HB 3015 which deregulated tuition and required all public universities to set aside a certain percentage of every student’s tuition each semester to fund needs-based financial assistance programs for Texas residents.
HOUSTON – In 2003, the Texas Legislature passed HB 3015 which deregulated tuition and required all public universities to set aside a certain percentage of every student’s tuition each semester to fund needs-based financial assistance programs for Texas residents.
This means that a Texas student paying $2,500 per semester in tuition will have $500 of their tuition set aside each semester for financial assistance programs under HB 3015. Students are obligated to pay into the fund even if they themselves receive some kind of financial aid. Over four years, the student will pay $4,000 into this program – a substantial amount considering that many students pay for college through student loans, requiring interest payments. In fact, if the student financed all of their tuition they would owe an additional $550 in interest on the tuition that was set asides for another student.
Tuition deregulation created two parts to tuition: statutory and designated.
Statutory tuition is the rate that the state mandates colleges to charge, and is the same for all public higher education institutions. It is currently $50 per semester hour for in-state students and $327 for out-of-state students. 15% of graduate and undergraduate statutory tuition is set aside and reserved for the Texas Public Educational Grant and Emergency Tuition and Fee Loans.
Designated tuition is determined by each institution. According to the Texas Education Code, there is no limit on how much designated tuition can be charged. Universities are required to set aside 15% of graduate and undergraduate designated tuition that exceeds of $46 per semester credit hour, and finances needs-based financial assistance programs selected at the discretion of each university. In the 2008-09 term $100 million in tuition was set aside from students for this purpose.
An additional 5% is set aside from undergraduate designated tuition to fund the Texas B-On-Time Loan Program. Set asides collected for this program go to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which controls the program. Although the B-On-Time program awards loans to both private and public institutions, only public institutions are required to set aside students’ tuition. This forces students attending public institutions to payl for students attending private institutions.
Since 2003, tuition rates have increased 86%. As the costs associated with higher education have continued to rise, more students and families are struggling to pay for college and must find additional funding sources to meet the growing costs. Yet many of these same students are unaware that a significant portion of their tuition is used to provide financial assistance to other students.
Not all students benefiting from tuition set aside programs are legal Texas residents. In 2001 HB 1403 enacted a loophole for non-legal Texas residents allowing students seeking financial aid that are non-U.S. citizens, who are ineligible to apply for federal student aid, to meet the Texas state residency requirements and can complete the Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) in lieu of the FAFSA form. These students can then compete for state funds without being U.S. Citizens or legal U.S. residents and makes them eligible for financial aid programs including the Texas Public Education Grant, the Texas Grant, and Texas State Exemption Programs.
Students of Texas universities graduate with the 4th largest amount of average debt after obtaining a four-year degree in the country. Texas Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes says that the average Texas student graduates with about $20,000 in student loans- a figure he said has roughly doubled in the last decade.
