La Jolla beaches earn A’s on annual report card

Eight La Jolla beaches received high marks on the Annual Beach Report Card issued by Heal the Bay, a Southern California environmental group.

Six of the area’s beaches studied by the organization earned A grades for low measurements of fecal-indicator bacteria in dry weather, which the group obtained from local water regulatory agencies. In addition, the organization gave one of the La Jolla Shores beaches located on El Paseo Grande and two other shores in the area A+ grades.

Pacific Beach Point in Pacific Beach earned the lowest grade in the county, and the group placed it on a state list of “Beach Bummers,” representing the 10 worst California beaches based on dry-weather water quality.

Overall, the group called water quality in the county “very good” and 89 percent of the 100 San Diego monitoring stations were awarded “good-to-excellent” marks. The remaining 11 percent received grades of C or lower.

Heal the Bay reported in its 14th annual analysis that beach quality increased throughout California compared to the previous four years, with Southern California coastlines coming in 6 percent above the state average.

Of the 373 California beaches studied, 72 percent received A grades and 16 percent earned a grade of C or below.

The organization named Doheny State Beach in Orange County the worst in California.

A copy of the full report is available at http://www.healthebay.org.

Cal Grants help students stay in school, study finds

Students who receive Cal Grants are “much more likely to re-enroll in college for second and subsequent years” than those who don’t, according to a two-year study released by the California Student Aid Commission.

The commission found that almost 97 percent of students who received the Cal Grant A award came back to college for a second year and that 93 percent of Cal Grant B recipients, who come from “very disadvantaged backgrounds,” re-enrolled.

In addition, the report noted that 88 percent of all financial aid applicants returned after their first year, which was higher than the commission predicted.

The findings indicate that state aid is a statistically significant indicator for student retention. However, the report found that the measure was less important than whether students come from higher income families, are not the first in their families to go to college, and start out in four-year universities instead of transferring from community colleges, all of which make it more likely that students will stay in school.

Interest rates on federal student loans fall

Interest rates on federal student loans have fallen for a fourth straight year to their lowest levels in almost 35 years, according to U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige.

The new rates are likely to save student borrowers millions of dollars over the lifetime of their loans, Paige said.

Interest on the federal Stafford loan issued since 1998 fell to 3.37 percent, down 0.05 percent compared to the previous year. For students still in school or meeting several other criteria, the rate was set at 2.77 percent. For Parent PLUS loans, the new rate was set at 4.17 percent.

The interest on most student loans is determined by a formula defined by law. It sets different rates for borrowers who are still in school, for those who are repaying or deferring their debt and during grace periods.

Students who borrow $10,000 in credit at the current rate will save more than $1,500 in interest on a 10-year loan compared to those who took out loans three years ago, the education department estimated.

More than seven million students and families take out $52 billion in new loans each year, according to the department.

Angelides, Huffington to rally against education cuts

State Treasurer Phil Angelides and former gubernatorial candidate Arianna Huffington will attend a June 1 rally at UCSD in protest of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal.

The two will also be joined by “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson and Lawrence Bender, the producer of “Kill Bill” and “Pulp Fiction.”

Scheduled to take place at the same time as a joint meeting by the state Assembly and Senate to work on the governor’s planned budget, the protest will criticize proposed cuts to higher education and higher student fees.

The event will begin at 10 a.m. at Price Center and is open to the public.