In 2018, 67% of Fresno State student voters approved the construction of the Resnick Student Union (RSU) along with a student fee increase to cover facility costs.
These students were told that student fees would not go into effect until the building’s opening.
Five years later, Fresno State students will see the fee increase this spring, most of whom were not at the university when the fee referendum was first approved.
In total, students will pay $384 in student union fees in the spring. This includes a prorated amount of $114 for a fall 2022 RSU fee, the $149 spring RSU fee and the $121 student union fee.
“What we’re going to see happening now is that students are going to be charged a fee that they themselves had no say in implementing in the first place… In other words, the students who are going to have to pay now had no voice in deciding whether they would have to repay the student union,” said Thomas Holyoke, Fresno State political science professor.
An RSU fee of $149 per semester with an annual 3% increase will be added to the 2022-23 student union fee of $121 per semester.
This increase will be permanent, according to Debbie Adishian-Astone, vice president for administration and chief financial officer.
After the 30-year construction bond is paid off, fees will continue to be assessed in full. With the annual 3% increase applied to the RSU fee, by the 2051-52 academic year, student fees for the RSU will have reached $702.26.
Karen Carrillo, Associated Students Inc. (ASI) executive vice president, said she has noticed frustration from students, particularly from freshmen and sophomores who are new to the campus, regarding upcoming fee increases.
Carrillo said she empathizes with student frustrations, but noted that it is important for students to take advantage of the resources that will be available with the increased student fees.
“Nobody wants to pay more money than they have to. I understand that, which is why I always encourage all students to always be involved in the best way that you can be,” she said. “Whether it is just sitting in the new RSU and doing your homework, or renting out one of the rooms that are also available in the RSU.”
Student fee breakdown
Following the official opening of the RSU, the prorated fall 2022 fee will be included in the spring semester for a one-time addition.
For the 2023-24 academic year, the prorated fee will no longer be included. RSU fees will be approximately $153.47 per semester in addition to the preexisting student union fee of $121 per semester. In total, it will be $274.49 per semester in 2023-24.
In 2024-25, with the 3% annual inflation increase, the RSU fee will increase to $158.07 per semester. In 2025-26, it will increase to approximately $162.81 per semester. This 3% annual inflation increase will continue indefinitely.
For the 2021-2022 year, Fresno State had one of the lowest student union fees, at $120 per semester. One of the highest student union fees within the California State University (CSU) system for 2021-22 was at Sonoma State University at $446 per semester.
Ballot language
According to the ballot’s original language, the RSU fee will “fund and support new building services, additional staffing, building operations, additional programming, capital repairs and debt service for the new union.”
The 3% annual increase will “cover rising costs of maintaining and operating the facility.”
Holyoke, who was a member of the Student Fee Advisory Committee during the time of the fee referendum’s approval and the previous chair of the Academic Senate, said he was not a fan of the fee increase when it was being proposed and did “complain about the fees” at the time.
“I had some involvement with some of this stuff… But back then, President [Joseph] Castro wanted more than anything to build a new building, because that’s what university presidents like to do. They like to build big, new, shiny things,” he said.
In the original student union ballot language, the proposal for a new student union came about because the University Student Union (USU), which opened in 1968, was “inadequate for a campus of [Fresno State’s] size” and did not meet the needs of the campus, based on a 2015 external consultation study by the Association of College Unions International (ACUI).
“Maybe that’s true, but why should the students pay for it? Raise the money, or get the state of California to pay for it… I guess they raised the $10 million from the Resnicks, but still, students have to shoulder a large portion of this cost, and I think it’s a little unfair,” Holyoke said.
Rebecca Perez, ASI vice president of external affairs (VPEX), said she has gone back-and-forth on discussions surrounding the fee increase.
As a student, she said she understands the frustration regarding former students voting on a future increase, but also noted that her role in ASI gave her a glimpse of how the student fees will impact the campus.
“I see so much more of how a campus works and how universities work. I really — especially now that I’m here so often in this office or in this building — think it’s a really nice building, and I’m really happy to have this building here,” Perez said.
In the spring, Perez said she stopped by the USU and realized there should be more spaces for students.
“I walked in there even to get Juice It Up and I’m like, ‘We have outgrown this space. We don’t fit here,’” she said. “There needs to be another space for students to be able to congregate and more spaces available to us.”
