NEWS | November 5, 2003

Tuition and Fees
Administrators seek feedback from SC on 6 fee increases
A $2 add/drop fee would keep some from misusing the system, official says.

By Mindy Hutchison
Contributor to The Shorthorn

Administrators are asking for six fee increases for the fall semester, one of which stems from the Tuition Review Committee’s tuition increase recommendations.

The administrators sought input from Student Congress on Tuesday before taking their proposals to the fee committee on Monday. Most senators said half the fee increases are necessary. The Fee Oversight Committee will make recommendations to the interim president, who will decide whether to raise the fees.

Greg Bateson, Health Services substance abuse coordinator, asked senators for a 10 percent increase in the medical services fee beginning next fall. The fee is now $35 and would increase by $3.50.

Student Health Services needs the money to maintain its services, Bateson said. It took nearly two years to fulfill the center’s need for an additional nurse. A national nursing shortage forced the office to offer a higher salary than planned, and it took time to adjust the budget to compensate, he added.

Last year, nearly 40 percent of enrolled students used Student Health Services. That’s more than 9,000 students with 37,000 total visits, Bateson said.

The health center is not state funded and charges a little more for services than it costs to provide them, Bateson said.

Most students don’t mind paying fees they feel are beneficial, said SC President Josh Warren.

Rusty Ward, interim vice president for business affairs and controller, proposed two fee increases and adjustments to three others.

He proposed a $2-per-credit-hour add/drop fee because students abuse the system, he said.

Some senators at the meeting said they thought the fee was to wrangle more money out of students. Engineering senator Denis Gjoni, a computer science junior, opposes the add/drop fee.

“It’s needed but not justified,” Gjoni said.

Students’ initial reactions to fee increases are typically negative because they do not want to pay more, Warren said. The add/drop fee would discourage negative behavior and penalize innocent bystanders, he said.

An increase in the computing and information technology fee was part of the Tuition Review Committee’s proposal, Ward said.

If approved, the library fee would increase from $12 to $14 per credit hour. The computing and information technology fee would increase $3 per credit hour from $24 to $27. The information technology fees have a cap of $330 no matter how many hours a student takes, Ward said.

The library and information technology fees were part of interim President Charles Sorber’s final recommendation, which he submitted to the UT System on Monday, Warren said.

A delinquent accounts receivable fee penalizing students for late payments would increase from $10 per month to $25 per month.

The payment deadline fee, now $25, would increase to $2 per credit hour for students who don’t make minimum payments by their due dates.

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