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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