AS OKs referendum for health fee increase proposal

By CHHUN SUN

Associated Students voted Thursday to pass a referendum for the health center fee increase proposal from $65 per semester to $85, which would go into effect Fall 2005. And after the initial increase, $4 will be added each year for the next six years.

The Health Services Advisory Committee, which unanimously approved the proposed increase early this year, said that the fee increase would pay for more medical services for students and the salaries of health center employees.

AS vice president Brent Hansen said now AS has plans to educate students about the proposal, because “our goal is educate the university,” he said.

“We want the campus to know about the fee increase,” Hansen said. “We want to better educate the students where their money is going. There are positives and there are also negatives, and the students need to know.

“But if the fee increase doesn’t pass, it would be very deteriorating because the health center wouldn’t function correctly.”

According to a memorandum by the Health Services Advisory Committee, the health fee was initiated in the fall of 1993 at $35 per semester. The fee increased each semester from 1993 to 1996. In 1998, the fee went to $65 and has remained the same since.