Student Fees

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It's election season here at Utah State, which means the topic of student fee increases comes up. ASUSU created a Facebook group to disseminate information and collect feedback about student fees. Most of the comments are uninformed and extreme. 
This rebuttal comment from Landon Pope is one of the most reasonable arguments I've ever heard. 

"USU is Utah's Land, Water and Space Grant institution. The Morrill Land Grant Act which was vetoed in 1859 was first passed in 1862 under Abraham Lincoln. Under this Act, the United States moved away from a system of private schools that taught only men that could pay for their education into a system that would 'educate the masses'. As a land grant institution, Utah State University still has the same charge to teach all people in spite of socio-economic background.

Fee increases are inevitable. Some people will benefit from some fees more than others, but to tell the individual to pay for the services that they use and forget the university's communal well-being is not the answer. The Aggie Blue Bike fee is in part to hire a new coordinator. A rental fee for this small part of the university would not cover the costs, because the bicycle inventory is not large enough as of yet. Many foreign students would lose the opportunity to rent bikes, parking passes would increase, and as a result, apartments closer to campus increase their rent due to a higher demand. Maybe rent wouldn't increase by much, perhaps two dollars per year??? Many programs that need funding that would only receive it on a pay-per-use type of system would be completely unsustainable without the whole organization working together for mutual benefits.

These things should all be taken care of by the student fee board. Students simply do not and should not have the time to discuss them. We give ASUSU reps. a stipend to take care of these things, to examine the statistical data to determine whether a 1 dollar fee increase will create a higher return on the investment or a lower one." Source

  • Library ($10)
  • Aggie Blue Bikes ($2.20)
  • Campus Recreation ($2)
  • Student Health and Wellness ($3)
  • Athletics ($6.16)
  • Aggie Radio ($.75)
  • Information Technology ($4)
  • Aggie Recreation Center ($31.50, $75 when ARC is completed)
Total requested increase: $59.61 ($103.11 when the ARC is built)

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