Dear UF students,
For every credit hour you take this semester, you will pay $46.21 in local fees.[1] These fees help provide many services: student health care services, student organizations, transportation, athletic events and more. They include a transportation fee, athletic fee, services and activities fee and a health fee. While tuition fees are fixed, local fees are set by a committee each year. They have become a major source of funding for school administration and Student Government agencies.
As student senators, we are entrusted with being your representatives in Student Government. While we understand how important these fees are for the success of our great university, we also believe you deserve to pay a fair share of the cost no more, no less. However, every year the fees have grown larger and larger as administration and SG asked for more and more money (see graph).[2] In the past, when SG agencies and administration asked for increasing amounts of money, the local fee committee – made up of your SG representatives and faculty – granted their requests. While most of the expense was necessary, some of it was excessive (SG officer salaries, for example).
This past year, when the University Athletics Administration asked for more money to increase the athletic fee by 40 percent, the committee unanimously voted to deny their request. After reviewing UAA’s proposal, it was determined that UAA’s budgeting practices enabled them to continue operating without raising fees on every student. The success of UF’s football season will no doubt raise the revenue they needed, thus they did not warrant an increase in fees.
The UAA increased the cost of football ticket prices by $5 per game. Although the increased price of football tickets is not an intended consequence of the committee’s decision, it gives students a choice. Students can pay an increased ticket price voluntarily, rather than be forced to pay for a fee increase — something that affects all students, regardless of whether they attend football games.
Please know at the end of the day, this is less about a particular party and more about a trend of increasing fees. It is important that your education is as affordable as possible, and you are allowed to make the decision about where to spend your money. We hope this letter helps you better understand our efforts to help you do so.
Sources
[1] “Tuition and Fees (2015-2016).” Finance and Accounting. University of Florida, 7 Aug 2015. Web. 29 Dec 2015.
[2] “Local Fees Breakdown” document that was used by the Local Fee Committee.
Sincerely,
Amanda Nelson (Access Party Senator), Nardin Derias (Access Party Minority Party Leader), Praveen Varanasi (Access Party Senator), Chizoba Ezenwa (Access Party Senator) and Jasmine Haddaway (Access Party Senator)
