Emily Neville
Emily Neville
As students attending a public university and investing our dollars into classes, housing, books, professors and yes, administrative figures, we must demand that our opinions on major university decisions be taken into account with the utmost regard and consideration.
In late September of this year, our Student Senate approved partial funding for several requested fee increases, including Student Health. SR 38: Student Health Services Fee Act was passed by two-thirds of the body to increase the Student Health fee by $12.50. The requested fee increase was $15. The Tuition and Fees Committee Report completed prior to bringing the bill to the Senate floor favored a $10 increase.
The process of a fees resolution is a long one, and the decision of our Student Senate is only the beginning. After our Student Senate voted to partially fund the Student Health Services fee increase, it was sent to the Student Fee Review Committee, comprised of NC State faculty and students. They voted to fund the increase in full. From here it goes to the Chancellor, then the Board of Trustees, and then on to the Board of Governors. It’s about a year-long process.
“We’re [Student Senate] definitely an integral part in some of the decision making, particularly in student-led departments like UAB and Student Media, but our recommendation holds less weight in other departments and facilities like Talley or Witherspoon,” said Chris Poteat, Chair of the Tuition and Fees Committee.
At any point in the process, students’ recommendations to our administration can be changed. $10-15 may seem like an insignificant amount, but $15 would have pushed the total Student Health Services fee to $407 per student.
Not to mention, Student Health wasn’t the only department that requested a fee increase. SR 40: Transit Operations Fee approved a $12 increase, totaling the total transit fee per student to $205. Transit received a $12 increase in 2014-15, $11 increase in 2015-16 and a fee increase of $8 in 2016-17.
It’s hard to even tell what was requested by departments or approved by the Student Senate in previous years, just as it’s difficult to know where the fee increases are in their processes right now. According to the Office of the Vice Chancellor and Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, there was a Board of Trustees meeting on Nov. 16 where it was supposed to have been discussed.
In an age of increasing college tuition and the rise of universities that seem to more closely resemble miniature resorts, our university cannot take students’ voices into account only when it’s convenient or fitting to their prior plans. When our views or the views of our Student Senate do not align with department planning, they can easily be swept to the side with little consequence.
It’s happened in the past and there’s nothing to say it won’t continue. In October 2009, NC State students voted against the expansion of Talley Student Center if it meant raising student fees to cover the cost; however, construction began and fees were increased. Campus Enterprises in 2011 sought to explain why the university decided to move forward with the decision: “Some students were put off by the decision to move forward with the project when students voting in the referendum did not support the necessary increase in student fees, however, a majority agreed the project needed to be done. And while the vote was considered by student leaders, the Chancellor, the Board of Trustees and the UNC Board of Governors, these other issues were also taken into consideration…”
The administration did not consult the student body when it made the move to require first-year living on campus this past year. Had they done so, they might have been met with resistance from upperclassmen who understand the full weight of paying for on-campus living and the required meal plan in addition to tuition — and ever-increasing student fees.
Poteat said that “the trend is that fees will likely increase each year.” While there is a five percent cap overall for fee increases, according to a four-year plan released from the Board of Governors that only plans till 2018-19, “a few departments are exempt from the requirement,” said Poteat.
There is a need for greater transparency in the overall fee process. While tuition rates seem to be fixed with greater consistency, student fees are an area where our university adds dollar by dollar to annual costs to make up an actually quite large sum.
With little that the Student Senate can do to stop fee increases with their resolutions and little that the student body can do in student-wide polling from the university — especially when no polls or discussions are held — there appears to be, from the university’s perspective, very little need for student input aside from keeping up appearances.
We, as students, must demand more than an appearance. We not only must be heard, but listened to as the past, present and future of this university. Students at this university ten years from now should not be paying astronomical amounts in fees (or tuition, for that matter). Think it won’t happen? Watch as the dollars add up.