Editorial: Frivolous charges increases fees
What we’re experiencing
now as students has been happening for the last 10 years: fee increases.
What is troubling are the seemingly frivolous expenditures students have
no control over.
It is certain students can expect to pay exponentially more and more every
year.
This year the hike ballooned to 8 percent. Although it has been reported
that the money from increased student fees is an investment in the University
that will encourage more jobs, research and higher salaries, it seems
some of the activities warranting fees aren’t financially appropriate.
Since 2003, part-time student fees have increased by a minimum of $138.
Full-time student fees went up by more than $200.
The increases are similar for the post baccalaureate students, if not
more.
The three most frivolous fee increases are the instructionally-related
activities fee, the student academic service fee and the keycard fee.
Instructionally-related activities fees were established to reduce the
responsibility of Associated Students in providing financial support for
instructionally-related activities and the fee increase is paid by all
students.
These activities include radio and television, newspaper and magazine,
drama performances, concert and marching bands, intercollegiate athletics
and art exhibits.
If this fee is not constantly supervised, it has the potential for being
wasteful and more of a burden than a benefit to students.
The student academic services fee is a required fee covering childcare
services, funding financial aid needs and for supporting additional library
services.
This fee is unreasonable for students who do not have children and therefore
do not use any kind of services from the University daycare, or students
who do not receive financial aid.
The library has an adequate system for locating books and a proper studying
environment so ‘additional library services’ is a very vague
concept.
The most ridiculous fee is the keycard fee, set up to recover the cost
of making and issuing permanent campus ID cards.
Individuals who lose their ID cards, not the entire student body, should
be financially responsiblefor the card’s replacement.
Last year a majority of students received new ID cards with updated security
features.
For the protection of students’ identity, cards were encoded with
PeopleSoft ID numbers because of a federal law eliminating the use of
Social Security numbers on IDs.
With the new cards came a new keycard replacement fee. Why should all
students have to pay for a handful of students who lose their cards every
semester?
Ten years is a long time to have an unsettled amount of fees to pay. It
is understandable that fee changes must happen to adapt to the current
state of the economy but the most troubling issue is that students have
limited input as to what the money is spent on.
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