UCF has found more ways to charge students that goes beyond the realms of tuition hikes. Credit hour fees have been voted to be increased by the UCF Finance and Facility Committee.
UCF President John Hitt and SGA President Cortez Whatley met in Tallahassee with other leaders of the State University System a few weeks ago to propose a plan to Florida that aims to halt tuition increases. In spite of this commitment and plan of action, UCF has gone ahead with credit hour fee increases that total $2.59 per credit hour, along with the addition of a new $10 fee charged to students once every semester.
Cortez Whatley serves as a member on the Finance and Facilities Committee and was on conference call at the meeting. He voted in favor of every credit hour fee proposed by the committee despite his plan of action against raising tuition.
A Health fee credit hour increase of 59 cents moves the current fee from $10.30 per credit hour to $10.89 per credit hour. This money will be used to hire one advanced registered nurse practitioner psychiatrist, a part-time dietitian and four mental health specialists. Funds will also go towards more rapid HIV testing as well as health marketing campaigns.
The capital improvement fee has been raised another two dollars from $6.76 per credit hour to $8.76 per credit hour, which is the full amount allowed by law. Last year, Florida State Statues changed legislation to allow universities to increase this fee up to two dollars more than the previous year. Since this change, UCF has increased the amount both years. The increase in funds is planned to aid in the library renovation project that involves a new, automated book storage system.
“I think if anything, this ones going to be important, maybe not so now but looking ahead..but as far as now, this is something that is important from the student perspective,” Whatley said over the conference call.
A third vote raises the orientation program fee from $35 to $50 for all incoming first year students. This increase aims at increasing the stipend given to the orientation leaders, or O-teamers, as well as “supporting the [first year] advisors using these funds, even though no new advisors are being hired.
A new fee, however, has been proposed and approved by the committee that involves educational planning services, which aims to help map students through their time at UCF in order to increase graduation rates.
Marcos Marchena, a committee member, spoke out against the new fee, asking why UCF couldn’t provide some type of “phase in” program, in which the school takes on the brute cost of the program initially and, over time, releases that fee more onto the credit hours.
Responses from Board of Trustee members, including Executive Vice President Tony Waldrop, says that UCF does not have money in the budget or reserves to pay for this program out of its own pocket. According to Waldrop, commitments on UCF’s reserves exceeds its carry forward amount and on top of that, differed maintenance is “considerable” at $192 million in necessary work.
“We would burn through every bit of cash we had if we met the things we really need to do right now,” said William Merck, Vice President for Administration.
Olga Calvet, the committee chair, then spoke about offering a “mini retreat” for new Board of Trustee members which could help inform them further about operations within the budget and the reserves. This retreat is something that is currently being looked into by several board members.
The committee’s decision will be sent to the full Board of Trustees for final approval over the increases. The Board of Governors will then have approve three of the proposals – the increase to the orientation fee, the increase to the capital improvement fee and the new educational planning fee.
