UCF students will have to pay just a little bit more in fees if the school’s Board of Trustees decision gets approved by the state’s Board of Governors.
On Thursday, the University of Central Florida’s Board of Trustees met to discuss, among other things, raising student credit hour fees to support programs in areas such as health and advising.
A $15.00 increase to the student orientation program was approved by the Board, which aims itself at increasing the the wages of the Orientation team leaders as well as improving the overall quality of the orientation program. This fee, which has not been increased since 2003, is a one time fee payed by new students and moves the cost from $35 to $50.
The Capital Capital Improvement Trust Fund Fee, which will charge students $2.00 per credit hour was approved unanimously and will go towards the renovation of the library (incorporating a 24-hour aspect) and to support other student driven projects.
A new $10.00 fee per semester for an Education Planning Fee was highly debated by the Board, ending in a split vote that allowed the proposal to pass. The fee is said to be for undergraduate students that will support the implementation of an enhanced advising system designed to keep students on track with their academic plan and decrease the amount of time students take to complete their degree.
Many of the Trustees felt that burdening students with yet another fee was counter-productive and instead, the university should try and raise funds internally. Trustee member Harris Rosen stated that he is firmly against raising costs for students, however, this fee would save students money in the long run and, therefore, would be the last time he votes for an increase.
“This is a fee that I believe will be helpful,” Trustee Rosen said. “The problem is that it’s a fee…I suspect that I will support it, much to my surprise, but it’s the last time I will support any increase in fees or tuition.”
SGA President Cortez Whatley had a lot to debate regarding the proposals and voted to approve two of the three proposals, while effectively tabling another. Whatley voted against the Education Planning Fee, stating that it came at a bad economic time for students.
We spoke to students of the Student Labor Action Project, SLAP, who attended the meeting in protest of the fee increases.
“The only fee increase that the students vehemently supported was the one that they tabled and the rest the voted unanimously on so it just shows the disconnect between the administration and the students,” one of the student said.
When asked whether they thought Whately did enough to support the student voice, the students were filled with mixed emotions, being unsure with the actions he took.
“I guess in some aspects it was positive that he wanted to reduce the fee for the health increase but at the same time students don’t want increases period so its sort of like placating to make us feel better but its really not the main, huge problem,” one student said.
