Would you like to have a daily crossword puzzle available to you, along with an occasional interesting opinion column and a humorous police blotter, all for the low cost of $15 per semester? How about the opportunity to use the latest in computer programs and software 24/7 at a cost of $354 a semester? Or what about paying $114 a semester to get a ride to and from campus everyday?
The question isn’t whether you would like to pay the proposed amounts for these services. You already are. The question is are you getting your money’s worth?
The Student Publications Fee, Education and Technology Fee and the Transit System Fee, respectively, are all part of your tuition and fees package. If my math is correct (a stretch, I know), these fees, along with more than a dozen others, total $678.50 for full-time undergraduate students for the spring 2008 semester.
That’s a huge chunk of change to spend if you’re not getting a sufficient return.
I’ve decided this will not be the case with me.
First, I’ll get my $15 worth of the Student Publications Fee by picking up a Technician everyday for the crossword puzzle and occasional articles. I’ll get extras to line my birdcage with and stock up on Bruegger’s coupons. For $15, I may even read a Nubian Message now and then.
Next, I’ll pay my $126.50 and sit on the lower level at every Wolfpack home football game and cheer as our guys endure another horrible loss. I’ll go to volleyball games, wrestling matches and maybe even a swim meet. Since I’m already paying $114 for it, I’ll take the Wolfline to the games and save on parking.
I’m going to run at the gym every day, play on an intramural curling team, get tested for strep throat, eat free pizza in the Brickyard, build a Web site, vote on Student Government referendums and get out of an RIAA lawsuit for downloading “Crank That (Soulja Boy).”
I’ll get a job at the career fair; catch a movie at the Campus Cinema; join four clubs, two unions and one cult; study in the new East Wing; watch Thompson Theatre get fixed up; and attend the Union Activities Board All-Night Bash on Friday.
I’m planning on uploading, downloading and freeloading everything from anyone from every corner of this University until they finally kick me out in May. If you aren’t planning on doing the same, then you’re throwing away money!
The embarrassingly low voter turnout for Student Government’s fee referendum earlier this month indicates many students don’t know or care about where their fee monies are going. The truth is, if you aren’t absorbing the college experience every day, taking and getting as much as you can from these fleeting years before the “real world,” then you’re wasting time, money and some of the best memories you will ever have.
But if you’re one of those students who just goes through the motions every day, paying your tuition bill without a thought of where your money is heading and what you’re missing out on, I won’t complain.
That just means I’ll get better seats for basketball season.
Tell A.J. how you’ll spend your money at [email protected].