The Drinking Age Should Be Lowered From 21 - 950 Words

We do not hand teenagers car keys without teaching them how to drive first, so why do we expect 21-year-olds to know how to drink responsibly for the first time. Law passed by congress in 1984 leaves America to being one of four countries left in the world with its drinking age at 21, while the rest of the country s drinking ages are 16 or 17 or has no age limit at all. As a part of turning 18 you are now considered a legal adult and are allowed to make the decision to vote, marry, buy tobacco products, buy guns and join the military. With all the freedom you gain all at 18 year olds, you are cut short of being able to make the decision to drink an alcoholic beverage. So are you really a legal adult? With many American citizens’ starting to change their views on the drinking age there has become more positive views than negative. With these opportunities given to us it is believed that the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18. There is so much controversy on whether o r not the drinking age should be lowered. This idea of lowering the drinking ages really comes when into play when kids turn 18 and are now seen as a legal adult in society. At the beginning of their adulthood, the first real taste of being an adult starts when they pack up all their things and move away from the family for the first time and start to get a glimpse of what life is going to be like living on your own. This comes with making your own decisions because no matter how close mom and dadShow MoreRelatedThe Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered From The Age Of 21 Essay980 Words   |  4 Pagesconsidered â€Å"adults† cannot even make their own decisions? The drinking age on alcohol is a controversial social and cultural issue in today’s society; all fifty states have a minimum drinking age of 21. The legal drinking age should be lowered from the age of 21 to 18 allowing young adults to be granted the right to drink in restaurants, bars, at social events, in th e comfort of their own home, and so on. If anything, lowering the legal drinking age would have a positive impact on the United Sates economyRead MoreLowering Legal Drinking Age Essay1417 Words   |  6 PagesLowering the Drinking Age Half the United States population starts drinking at the age of 14.When you are 18 you have privileges like joining the army. (Mitch Adams Lowering the drinking age page 1) You can go to war and die for your country but you still can not enjoy an ice cold beer. (Mitch Adams Lowering the drinking age page 1) How is being 21 different from being 18? How does three more years of not drinking make you mature enough to drink? The longer you drink the more you start toRead MoreControversial Analysis: Drinking Age1278 Words   |  6 PagesCarolina Quiroga April 02, 2012 Leslie Jones English 102 The Drinking Age and Young Adults. Because underage drinking is a major problem for young adults, the drinking age has become a very controversial issue. In the 1990s, the drinking age was 18, but it was changed to 21 in 1984. The Federal Government informed states to choose between raising the drinking age to 21 or foregoing highway funding. This decision obviously affected 18 to 20 year olds who could no longer buy alcoholic beveragesRead MoreThe Minimum Drinking Age Act1700 Words   |  7 PagesMinimum Drinking Age Act made all 50 states raise the legal drinking age to 21(Dejong). The debate is on whether the age should be lowered or not. Statistically, having the age at 21 has been very helpful in keeping the nation safe. If there is not an issue with age now, would it make sense to lower the age and create unnecessary problems? In this case, the negative effects outweigh the positive. Simply because there is no good in lowering the age. The legal drinking age has been set at 21 for 30Read MoreShould The Drinki ng Age Be Lowered?995 Words   |  4 Pages Should the legal drinking age be lowered to age 18? Recently people have been debating whether If the drinking age should be lowered to 18. Some people think 18 is a better age but others think it’s outrageous to lower the drinking age to 18. After much reading and observing, I myself think the drinking age should be kept at 21 years old,because young adults who drink while they re underage make poor decisions and majority of the young adults are in college lacking in classes. The legal drinkingRead MoreLegalizing the Drinking Age to 181624 Words   |  7 PagesLegalizing the Drinking Age to 18 When people turn to the age of eighteen, they are finally considered an adult. They can join the army, have the right to vote, buy cigarettes or tobacco products, get a tattoo and even die for our country, but they aren’t allowed to buy alcohol? A person can be responsible enough to live on his or her own, make money, pay bills, and yet they are not old enough to purchase or consume any type of alcohol. Underage drinking has been a major controversial issue forRead MoreShould the Drinking Age Be Lowered to 18? Essay1236 Words   |  5 Pagesargument amongst Americans is determining that the current legal drinking age which is 21 should be lowered to eighteen or not. Researching the following propaganda made me understand the dangers to the youth and people in America if the drinking age were to lower. Therefore i will argue with whoever disagrees with me that the drinking age should be lowered. Id like to explain six reasons to why the drinking age should not be lowered beginning with the strongest reasons. First reason being is thatRead MoreMinimum Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered1253 Words   |  6 Pages Minimum Legal Drinking Age Should the drinking age be lowered from 21 to a younger age? Ever since the end of prohibition in 1933 the United States government has placed the issue of minimum legal drinking age sensitively in the hands of the states, letting each decide for itself what the minimum age should be. At that time all agreed that the minimum legal drinking age should be 21, where it remained for all states until 1970Read MoreLowering The Minimum Drinking Age1380 Words   |  6 PagesOnce a person reaches the age of 18, they are allowed to tattoo their bodies, smoke tobacco, gamble and even enlist if they wanted to! As an adult, they want to be treated as one but how can they feel like an adult if hanging around with their friends and drinking beer while watching TV is illegal? Of course, that does not stop them, though. The United States is one of the few countries in which still have such a high minimum drinking age. Although most people think young adults (18-year olds) areRead MoreBang! A Soldier Just Got Shot, And Most Likely P Never1676 Words   |  7 Pagesfreedom of drinking? The drinking age was moved to the age of 21 in 1984 due to many drunk drivers. Now I think everyone gets the point not to drink and drive due to the serious consequences. If we lowered the drinking age underage drinking wouldn’t be as big. More money for our government will be made, therefore we can buy and reproduce more goods. The drinking age should be lowered, because it will stop binge drinking, you are considered an adult at age 18, and it helps colleges. Binge Drinking is when

Shylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice Essay

Shylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice I am a Jew a famous saying from Shylock in Merchant of Venice that clarifies the merchant brotherhood of a wealthy city. Merchant of Venice contains rascals and heroes. The audiences will soon realise that Shylock, the Jewish money lender, is shown as a villain within the wealthy city. Is this really what Shakespeare had intended? This testimony given proposes that Shylock is more of a deceitful character than what the Christian colony wants us to comprehend. In my essay I intend to explore if Shylock is really a villain or a victim of his society. Shylock is a Jew, which is why the Christians of Venice dislike him. This is shown†¦show more content†¦This is going to bring shame on Shylock in front of everyone. This is shown by Jessica saying Our house is hell (Act 2 Scene 3 Line 2) and Shylock saying She is damnd for this (Act 3 Scene 1 line 29). These quotations tell you that Jessica thinks that the rivalry of Jews and Christians is tedious. While Shylock is telling Salanio and Salarino that if Jessica runs away with Lorenzo, a Christian trader, it will bring shame on the Jewish people. The reason for this is because Shylock believes in his Jewish roots that Jews will be Jews and Christians will be Christians. A further reason why Shylock is shown as a villain is because he is intending on revenge against Antonio. The reason for this is because of the loan Shylock gave Antonio. I know that Shylock wants revenge by saying The pound of flesh which I demand of him (Act 4 Scene 1 line 99) and Ill have my bondà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Act 3 Scene 3 line 4). I choose these quotations because it shows you that Shylock set a three-month deadline to pay back three thousand ducats, and then he could have a pound of flesh from Antonio if he did not pay it back. The reason for taking Antonios bond its to do with the ill-treated manner Shylock had received from the Christians. This had made Shylock become bitter towards Christians of Venice, but instead Shylock decided toShow MoreRelatedShylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice1401 Words   |  6 PagesShylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice The play begins in Venice where the wealthy merchant Antonio is talking to his young friends about the reasons for the depression. Antonio claims not to understand himself his sad nature. Bassanio arrives with the news that he wishes to court a wealthy, beautiful heiress named Portia. In order to present himself to Portia he wants to borrow 3000 ducats. Bassanio is in terrible debt and he sees marriage to PortiaRead MoreShylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice1694 Words   |  7 PagesShylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice Introduction One of the most interesting and dramatic characters in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is the rich, despised money-lending Jew Shylock. It is impossible to judge Shylock’s character by our own modern Standards, simple because Shakespeare wrote this play for play goers in Elizabethan times. This was very different to modern times for two reasons. Firstly, people watching the play would not find itRead MoreShylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice1385 Words   |  6 PagesShylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice Through time there have been many successful individuals in literature writers, poets, and play writers. But many would argue that one individuals work and character has stood out from the rest and this special illustrious person being William Shakespeare. In the many dramatic pieces of theatrical production written and the diverse individuality he ahs been able to write about many characters created through greatRead MoreEssay Shylock of William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice781 Words   |  4 PagesShylock of William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice Shylock is one of the main characters in Shakespeares play The Merchant of Venice, he starts in the play as an outcast of society because he is Jewish. Shylock has been forced to become a banker in his life as an inhabitant of Venice, for the fact that his religion is seen as wrong. Although Shylock is forced to become a banker he plays a vital role in the city of Venice, without Shylock the city would struggleRead MoreEssay on Shylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice1877 Words   |  8 PagesShylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice, a tragic- comedy written in the late 16th century by the greatest known English author, William Shakespeare. This is a tale set in the heart of Venice, amongst the Venetian Christians and Jews. The history of the Jews is marked by terrible hardship and atrocities; Jewish people kept up their customs and religion formed tight knit communities and became known for their intelligent hard workRead MoreCharacterizing Shylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice1893 Words   |  8 PagesCharacterizing Shylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice The ‘Merchant of Venice’ was written at a time when there was great prejudice towards the Jewish race. They were known for their intelligence, hard work and business acumen, which later led them to be mistreated and resented. They were made to wear distinctive clothing in order to be identified, and citizens of Venice could treat Jews in any way they wished. The Christian church also taught that JewsRead MoreShylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice Essay1158 Words   |  5 PagesShylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice A key feature of the play The Merchant Of Venice is the issue of whether Shylock is a victim or a villain. This issue is raised at many crucial points most of which can be separated into the categories victim or villain. Act 1 Scene 3 displays Shylock as a sensible business man. This is our first introduction of Shylock and therefore produces our first impressions. The first point where Shylocks character isRead MoreEssay Shylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice2094 Words   |  9 PagesShylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice By the end of Act 4 scene 1, my view of Shylock is a man who wishes to get revenge at society by trying to take the flesh of a Venetian merchant because of the prejudices that are thrown at him. Shylock is a rich Jewish moneylender and a widow whose daughter has eloped with a Christian, Lancelot. Shylock is treated with the lowest kind of integrity and respect in Venice this was normal for Jews in the VictorianRead MoreSympathizing with Shylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice1596 Words   |  7 PagesSympathizing with Shylock in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice In the Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare creates an atmosphere throughout the play, which causes the audience to sympathize with Shylock. Shakespeare uses key events, and dialogue to influence the audience. At the time Shakespeare wrote his plays, and they were performed, the contemporary audience would have mainly consisted of Christians. Jews were often persecuted, as they were the minority.Read MoreShylock as the Villain in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice1948 Words   |  8 PagesShylock as the Villain in William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice in about 1597. It was first performed by The Chamberlains Men at the Theatre Shoreditch. The Merchant of Venice was in the repertory of Shakespeares company before they took up residence at the Globe in 1599. The play was written as a comedy, but has become a serious drama. In order to answer the question it is vital to look at the pervading

Obesity Falls Essay Example For Students

Obesity Falls Essay A growing epidemic is sweeping through the developed world, threatening millions with disability and death: obesity. Epidemic may sound exaggerated, but the facts speak for themselves: 154 million people worldwide are obeseor more than 20% are over their ideal body weightincluding more than 50% of all Americans. More disturbing is the prevalence of childhood obesity, which has jumped dramatically over the past 20 years and now accounts for a doubling in the incidence of diabetes, a 5-fold increase in sleep apnoea and a 3-fold increase in gall bladder disease. The World Health Organization and the US Surgeon General have already warned that obesity is a serious, life-threatening disease. Indeed, as a major risk factor for hypertension, stroke, heart disease, diabetes and possibly certain forms of cancer, obesity exacts a greater toll on health and healthcare costs than either smoking or drinking. In the USA alone, the direct medical costs of obesity-related diseases account for 6% of the nations entire healthcare budget. Obesity is, in short, a great deal more than a lifestyle or cosmetic problem. This has not been lost on the pharmaceutical industry. Companies know that the worldwide market for an effective treatment for obesity is gargantuan: analysts estimate that an effective and safe drug could generate as much as US$26 billion per year in the USA alone. It is probably the largest pharmaceutical market ever, and carries with it 27-30 dangerous co-morbidities, said Louis Tartaglia, Vice President of metabolic diseases at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA), who estimates the current annual worldwide market conservatively at US$10-15 billion. If one adds the patients who are obese and diabetic, the number soars even higher, as obesity and diabetes are linked diseases. The sudden rise in obesity is mainly a result of lifestyle changes, particularly the ready availability of calorie-laden, refined food and a decrease in physical activity. Genes have not changed in the past 50 years, but our eating and exercising habits have, said George Yancopoulos, Chief Scientific Officer and President of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Tarrytown, NY), one of many companies working on drugs to treat obesity. But it cannot be lifestyle alone. Certain ethnic groups have a higher prevalence of obesity, and the discovery of a number of genes that regulate fat storage point to an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Indeed, research on fat metabolism has made large strides forward over the last decade and has challenged some established views. One of the most important advances in obesity research is the realisation that fat is an endocrine tissue, said Barbara Kahn, Professor of Endocrinology at Harvard Universitys School of Medicine. Another step forward was the discovery of a number of peptides that function as central regulators of food intake and energy homeostasis. These findings point to a complex involvement of the neuroendocrine system, where the central nervous system and fat interact through hormones and neurotransmitters, and affect other organs, most notably the liver and the pancreas. Given the complexity of this system, it is no surprise that most treatments have been relatively ineffective or fraught with serious health risks, such as addiction to amphetamine diet pills, heart valve damage and hypertension. Furthermore, only a few drugs have reached the market recently. Xenical (Orlistat), a pancreatic lipase inhibitor developed by Hoffmann-LaRoche (Geneva, Switzerland), works by blocking the absorption of fat in the intestine, but can cause uncomfortable side-effects and has been linked to an increased incidence of cancer. Meridia (known as Reductil in the UK), originally developed by Knoll AG (Ludwidgshafen, Germany), is a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor that is thought to act on the appetite centre of the hypothalamus. However, it often causes elevated blood pressure, and its produ cer, Abbott Labs (Abbott Park, IL) admitted in March that 34 patients in the USA have died after taking the drug. Italy suspended sales of the drug after receiving 50 reports of adverse reactions, including two deaths. The anti-depressant Wellbutrin (GlaxoWellcome, Research Triangle Park, NC) acts in the same way as Meridia but has only a very mild weight-reduction effect. But recent findings on fat metabolism open new avenues for developing effective drugs. Body weight is regulated through a series of feedback systems that provide targets for effective drug treatment and strategies for drug development, Peter Kopelman from Queen Marys School of Medicine ; Dentistry at the University of London (UK) said. Food intake can be reduced either by amplifying anorexigenic (anti-appetite) signals or blocking orexigenic (pro-appetite) factors. Other strategies aim at increasing energy expenditure by uncoupling fuel metabolism from the generation of ATP. It is also possible to modulate fat met abolism by regulating fat synthesis or lipolysis or by moderating the fixed internal reference point maintained by the central controller of body weight. An effective anti-obesity treatment must target a number of these regulatory points. New drugs must ultimately affect both energy intake and energy expenditure, to have a significant and long-lasting impact on body weight, according to Kopelman. Drugs that work purely on one side of the energy balancethat is, energy intake or expenditureare unlikely to achieve long-term efficacy because of compensatory adjustments ensuring the maintenance of body fat homeostasis. Thus, the major leap in the development of more effective drugs has come through a better understanding of fat metabolism. In particular, the discovery and cloning of the adipocyte-derived hormone leptin and its receptor proved to be major breakthroughs. Leptin is essential for normal body weight regulation and scientists had thought that the obese need leptin in a similar way to diabetic patients who need insulin to process glucose. However, they soon discovered that like most diabetics who are actually insulin-resistant, most obese patients produce plenty of endogenous leptin, but are, in fact, leptin-resistant. Recent research has also begun to uncover the mechanisms of insulin- and leptin-resistance, and the link between obesity and diabetes. And the pipeline for new drugs is bulging. The most promising, now in phase III clinical trials, is Regenerons Axokine, an engineered version of ciliary neurotrophic factor, originally developed to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Serendipitously, Regeneron discovered that it led to unexpected and substantial weight loss in patients. The ALS patients given the factor were not getting weaker because they were losing fat, not muscle, Yancopoulos said. In April 2002, his group demonstrated in mice that the drug reduces fat by activating the leptin pathway and does not cause rebound weight gain even in a leptin-resistant model of obesity. Axokine mimics the ability of leptin to generate fat loss by enabling the patient to be satisfied with less food. The problem with dieting is that the body compensates by slowing down its metabolism and sending strong messages to the dieter to eat; the weight is regained because the body preserves its fat reserves and tells one to eat more, Yancopolous noted. Axokine sidesteps these mechanisms. It also works in diet-induced obesity, where there is sufficient leptin but resistance to the hormonethis represents the lions share of cases of human obesity. Leptin was only intended to act as a satiety signal, not as a means to deal with too much body fat. Axokine works by super-activating the leptin pathway, including 5-10 neuropeptides, and turning on the satiety signal, Yancopoulos said. But there is more to leptin than just inducing satiety. Harvards Kahn demonstrated that it acts on another component of the metabolism. Leptin stimulates the oxidat ion of fatty acids and the uptake of glucose, and prevents the accumulation of lipids in non-adipose tissues, she said. Specifically, leptin inhibits the activity of acetyl co-enzyme A carboxylase (ACC), which stimulates the oxidation of fatty acids in skeletal muscle. ACC provides a pivotal step in fuel metabolism as it links fatty-acid and carbohydrate metabolism through the shared intermediate acetyl co-enzyme A, the researchers wrote. Kahn thus thinks that the ACC pathway might provide new drug targets. Millennium is working on a small molecule that will move more freely across the blood-brain barrier than leptin, and which super-stimulates the leptin receptor. It is also examining the little-understood downstream targets in the leptin-signalling pathway, which could help prevent leptin resistance. It is a hotly debated subject which is the best target, Tartaglia said. Discovering which proteins generate resistance to leptin and which activate the receptor could, taken together, prove to be the magic bullet for obesity, he thinks. Biovitrum in Stockholm, Sweden, is also aiming at the neurological component of obesity and testing a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, BVT.933, in phase II clinical trials. Rather than hitting on all 14 human serotonin receptors by increasing the serotonin levels, only one, the 2C receptor, gets activated by BVT.933, Johan Kordel, Senior Vice President of research, explained. Patients treated with BVT.933 achieved a statistically significant and clinically relevant weight reduction compared with placebo. Recent research points to another interesting target besides leptinPTP1B, a protein-tyrosine phosphatase. Barbara Kahn and her colleague Benjamin Neel, from Harvard Medical School together with Millenniums Tartaglia showed that PTP1B regulates leptin signal transduction. Transgenic, PTP1B-deficient mice have decreased leptin/body fat ratios and leptin hypersensitivity; in short, these mice were insulin-sensitive and lean. We also found that lowered levels of PTP1B increased energy expenditure, and conversely, elevated levels of PTP1B in both muscle and fat, which contributes to insulin resistance, Kahn said, calling PTP1B an outstanding drug target. Michel Tremblay of the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, who is also working on PTP1B, estimated that at least 20 companies are now pursuing this drug target, including Merck (Rahway, NJ), NovoNordisk (Bagsvard, Denmark), Ely Lilly (Indianapolis, IN) together with Ceptyr, a new Seattle-based company focusing on phosphatases, Akros (Princeton, NJ), the US arm of Japan Tobacco and Pharmacia (Peapack, NJ). The problem has been in designing a molecule that specifically inhibits PTP1B. Isis Pharmaceuticals (Carlsbad, CA) is confident that it has found one. Brett Monia, Isiss Vice President of antisense drug discovery and his colleagues have developed an antisense nucleotide to selectively block PTP1B gene expression. A year a go, it licensed the drug, Isis-113715 to Merck. The group also published a proof of principle paper in April 2002, in which they demonstrated that the antisense construct inhibited PTEN, another lipid phosphatase that is involved in the insulin signalling pathway. The antisense oligonucleotide normalised blood glucose concentrations in diabetic and obese mice and lowered serum triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations. Antisense technology has an advantage of being able to block the production of a protein, in this case, PTP1B, rather than just inhibiting it once it is produced, Frank Bennett, Isiss Vice President of antisense research, said. To date, no adverse effects have been seen with the use of Isiss antisense drugs in small and large animal models of diabetes and obesity, he added. Another target receiving serious attention is the enzyme fatty acid synthase. Daniel Lane from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and colleagues have shown that a specific inhibitor, dubb ed C75, reduces both food intake and body weight in mice, and interrupts fasting-induced hunger signals in lean mice. In obese mice, C75 suppresses food intake, reduces body weight, and normalises obesity-associated high blood sugar and high insulin levels. Johns Hopkins University, which holds the patent to C75, has licensed it to FASgen, a new company in Baltimore. Finally, older substances may yield new drugs as well: a small region of the human growth hormone appears to have a specific effect on fat without any effect on either growth or insulin resistance, according to Frank Ng of Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). With the support from Metabolic Pharmaceuticals, Ng has developed it into an orally administered drug, which is now in phase IIa testing. Basic research to uncover fat metabolism and applied research to find effective treatments against obesity have received a lot of attention over the last years both in terms of media coverage and funding. And even if the int erest in developing effective treatments against being overweight has a strong lifestyle component, it is increasingly crucial to public health. New treatments are needed to help those millions of people suffering from obesityespecially the dramatically rising number of overweight children who are at risk of lifelong diabetes and the accompanying risk of heart disease and disability. Michael Jackson Essay

Lee College free essay sample

An alternate for the Statement of Activites is the combination between the Statement of Unrestricted Revenues, Expenses and Other Changes in Unrestricted Net Assets and the Statement of Changes in Net Assets. These three statements are interchangable, in the fact that either one statement can be provided, or two statements can be provided instead. Although they are interchangable in a sense, they are prepared differently. The Statement of Activites includes all of the information the other two statements provide—it’s just in one place. Private colleges are required to report their net assets in three ways, unrestricted, temporarily restricted and permanetly restricted. Here we will discuss what these net asset categories mean, how it relates to Lee College and how the three interchangable statements are prepared. The Statement of Activites gives an overview of the unrestricted, temporarily restricted and permanently restricted revenues, gains and other support for Lee College. This statement allows you to compare each net asset cost to one another. We will write a custom essay sample on Lee College or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The revenues are specifically listed out between what type of revenue the item is, from scholarships, grants, contributions, sales and so on. Same with the expenses, these items are listed out as well, to show what type of expense and how much money is spent. Most of the revenues for Lee College are considered unrestricted, meaning the college can use these revenues at their discression and they do not have restrictions or guidelines that have to be followed to use the funds. There are both grants and contributions given to Lee College that are temporarily restricted. Funds and donations that are temporarily restricted have specificifications or restrictions that they have to be used under. The restrictions are given to the college by the donor and eventually be lifted after a period of time set by the donor. Under the permanently restricted column of the Statement of Activites, there are both contributions and gains on long term investments that are listed here. Permanently restricted revenues are intended for plant items to be maintained permanently. Lee College has contributions and long term investment gains that are permanently restricted. Also under the revenues, there are net assests released from restrictions. What happened in Lee College’s situation is that the program/use restrictions, plant acquistion restrictions and other expiration of time restrictions were lifted, adding these amounts to the unrestricted column, but they are taken out of the temporarily restricted column; because they are no longer considered temporarily restricted. Each column for revenues, gains and other support as well as the net assests released from restrictions are added to a total. Below them are the expenses for Lee College. Expenses are considered unrestricted, so there are not items in the temporarily or permanently restricted columns. The total expenses are then taken from the total revenues, gains and other support to calculate the change in net assets. This total is then added the beginning net asset amount. The total between the two is the net assets ending for December 12, 2012. The Statement of Unrestricted Revenues, Expenses and Other Changes in Unrestricted Net Assets only lists the unrestr icted revenues, net assets released from restrictions (because these have been transferred from temporarily restricted to unrestricted, as noted above), and expenses and losses. Rather than stating the net asset change in all three categories, this specifically shows the increase (or decrease) in the unrestricted net assets. After completing all of the statements required, if you take the first column, unrestricted assets, this would be your breakdown for the Statement of Unrestricted Revenues, Expenses and Other Changes in Unrestricted Net Assets because that is all this includes. Like the Statement of Activites, the revenues and expenses are listed out to identify where they came from and were spent. * The Statement of Changes in Net Assets includes everything that is in the Statement of Activites, but it is listed in a different way. Unlike the Statement of Activities, where the revenues and expenses are specifically listed out, these items are grouped together so the total amounts can be easily identified as well as determined. The net assets as of December 31, 2012 reflected here is the same as on the Statement of Activities. * Based on the Statement of Net Asset Changes, the net assets increased almost $5 million dollars. I think the main reason there was such an increase was because of the items that had been released from temporary restricted assets, to unrestricted, as well as the permanently restricted contributions to Lee College. Although these contributions are restricted, it still adds to the wealth of the college. There will come a time where these will come to use and will be avaliable as unrestricted funds. Although the expenses are very close to the revenues in 2012, there was still an increase in the net assets for unrestricted net assets of almost $1 million. * References * Copley, P. A. (2011). Essentials of Accounting for Governmental and Not-for-Profit Organizations. (10th ed. ). Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.