NEWS | November 11, 2003

Tuition and Fees
Add/drop fee spurs SC debate
Some senators say it may be needed but is not justifiable with other expected hikes.

By Chris Baggott
The Shorthorn staff

Some student leaders oppose the proposed $2-per-credit-hour add/drop fee administrators say will halt “abuses of the system.”

Rusty Ward, the interim vice president for business affairs and controller, said too many scheduling alterations cause major problems for the university. The fee, which administrators first presented at a Student Congress meeting Nov. 4, however, is the subject of debate.

Ward said there is a need to stop students from adding and dropping courses without some kind of penalty.

“There’s a number of people we have identified who play games with the system,” he said. “There are a whole lot of ways they can get around the rules.”

Ward said about 50 percent of students make changes to their schedules after the census date. On average, two or three people drop from each course section, he said. The add/drop fee is a way to cut this number down, he said.

“It’ll help some,” Ward said. “We’ll also take the money we get out of this and put it right back in registration services.”

The Fee Oversight Committee met Monday to discuss this and other proposed new fees and changes to existing ones. Kent Gardner, vice president for student affairs, said this was the second of three committee meetings. The final meeting is Dec. 1, after which the committee will submit its recommendations to interim President Charles Sorber.

The committee discussed a number of fees ranging from a $3-per-credit-hour fee for English 1301 to the library fee increase of $3 per credit hour to $15 per credit hour. The English 1301 fee would pay for classroom materials, such as handouts, Scantrons and paper. The library service fee would go toward purchasing new books and supporting library services, such as Sam’s Click Café and electronic databases.

Dr. Sorber included the library service and computer and information technology fee hikes in his final recommendation for tuition increases to the UT System last week.

SC President Josh Warren, a member of the committee, said members didn’t seem to oppose those ideas.

“I don’t know for sure what the committee will do,” he said. “But nobody seemed to have concerns over those two fees.”

Gardner said most of the proposed fees had already been reviewed. He said any course-specific increase affecting a specific student population must be reviewed by that college’s constituency council. Any increase affecting the student body must go through congress.

“The purpose of the committee is to have input from the students,” Gardner said. “Most of the fees were well discussed by their [constituency councils].”

Warren said he is particularly concerned about the add/drop fee. He said the reasoning for the fee is valid but doesn’t think all students should pay for the actions of some.

Engineering Senator Dennis Gjoni said he doesn’t see the need for the add/drop fee. He said he thinks it’s just a way to make up for funds cut from the administration’s original tuition proposal. Sorber cut more than a third from the administrative-backed proposal when he made his recommendation to the UT System.

“Yes, it is needed to prevent people from cheating the system,” Gjoni said. “But it’s not justified at this time.”

He said Ward spoke to congress last week about the add/drop fee. Gjoni said senators learned students were registering for multiple classes and holding spaces for their friends. Once the semester starts, they drop the course so their friends can register for it.

Warren said his main concern was the fee might hurt students who are not trying to cheat the system.

“It does seem like this fee is going to negatively impact students who are innocent bystanders,” he said. “I really don’t think those students should be penalized.”

Liberal Arts Senator Reagan Holmes said he understands the need for the fee. He said the university needs the funding and there isn’t really any way to get it.

“I know that UTA is a growing university, and we need money to support everything,” he said. “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

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