Editorial: Increase in Fees

Next year, students will see two new fees as well as a $110 increase in the Student Activity Fee. A Health Service Fee of $150 and a Technology Fee of $350 will be applied to all students’ bills.

On top of these new costs, tuition is set to increase by four percent and room and board will see a 1.8 percent increase. Although raising tuition prices is understandable, the University needs to communicate with students as to why there are new fees and increases in fees.

This overwhelming influx in extra costs is the largest to date with no sight of relief in the future.

Administrators need to prove that these increases are absolutely necessary, especially when some students don’t even use the Health Center or attend the extra events on campus. Rather than make generalities about what the money will be going towards like diversity programs and the quality and quantity of programs, the school needs to provide specifics. Merely making an estimate of costs is not enough. Administrators and the SUPB need to make sure that every dollar they are asking for is going directly towards a cause.

Additionally, the majority of students yearly family incomes fall in the range of the $0-$49,000, making it very difficult to afford college tuition as it is.
Increasing fees forces students to have to push their dollar further. And when it is unclear as to why they are doing so, it seems likes exploitation.
The University needs to find better ways of informing students like sending an all-student e-mail that alerts students of the significant changes in fees and why they are necessary.