Add it to the list of things you thought you'd never have to pay for in college: a new technology fee.
If approved by the Florida Senate and Gov. Charlie Crist, we could be paying a fee costing another 5 percent per credit hour. We're gonna be gutsy and bet that it will pass. It would go into effect fall 2009.
Here's the kicker: Bright Futures won't cover it, even though Bright Futures was designed to cover either 75 or 100 percent of your tuition and fees, depending on your award.
Bright Futures just ain't what it used to be. But that's an editorial for another day.
For now, we know UF needs as much money as it can get its hands on. If you've been to the CIRCA lab in the Computer Science and Engineering building, you know it needs new monitors, because the ones in there are so big, the keyboards can barely fit on the desks. The computers in Library West still don't have Office 2007. Many classrooms need new projectors.
We could go on and on about the improvements UF could apply the proposed fee to.
If it's implemented, each university will decide how the money should be spent. So UF must ask students what the money should go toward - especially since it will be paid out of our pockets - and not just Student Government officials, who more often than not seem to be bobble-head dolls for the administration.
Technology isn't cheap. Neither is an education. We hope students can accept that, because we don't seem to have a choice about these fees and tuition increases.
