The online fee discussed at Thursday's UF Board of Trustees committee meetings is still up for negotiation after a meeting of the entire board Friday morning.
The fee was initially proposed as a ,2-per-credit-hour charge on any Web section of a class or any class that uses the e-Learning system.
Several trustees, including Student Body President Ryan Moseley, said the fee was unfair.
UF students will already be hit with a 5-percent-per-credit-hour technology fee next fall, Moseley said, and students often don't have a choice about taking online courses. It's not their fault large classes have been forced online, he said.
Trustees decided to renegotiate the fee and vote at a later time.
In an interview after the meeting, UF President Bernie Machen said Moseley's concerns had a lot to do with why the board held off on the fee.
"There are real costs now," Machen said, citing the technology fee and a 5 percent tuition increase starting in spring. "The board did the right thing."
Meanwhile, the board did approve a ,10 official transcript fee and an ambiguous equipment fee.
The equipment fee will be used for upkeep, and the amount will depend on what needs fixing.
Machen also said he's "on board" with UF's Cost Reduction and Efficiency Task Force.
The task force was created to trim ,34 million from UF's budget. Its most recent goals include the transcript fee, requiring non-Florida-resident graduate students to become residents and selling underused UF vehicles.
Machen also announced that a nearly 80,000-square foot UF life science laboratory would be built at the corner of Archer Road and Gale Lemerand Drive by the year 2010.
UF hired Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. to build the project, known as The Innovation Center, he said. Alexandria will own and operate the facility and has funded the project so far.
Machen said he would appeal to the state "unabashedly" for more funding.
The board also discussed the possibility of incorporating UF's fraternity and sorority houses into the campus Housing Department. Trustee Al Warrington, chairman of the board's Committee on Finance and Facilities, said the Greek houses would be treated like dorms.
UF is already handling billing for the Greek chapters, and the new plan would allow UF to oversee building maintenance as well.
