The most dangerous part of the increased cost of attendance at UF is coming from fees that are carelessly foisted on the Student Body and even more carelessly spent on our behalf. There is talk that our fees should go to a renovated and expanded Reitz Union. This talk must end before it begins again.
Student Body Treasurer T.J. Villamil recently spoke out in favor of a larger Reitz Union. Buried within his description of the financing of the project is the reality of the huge cost. He said the UF Local Fee committee raised student fees by 5 percent this year, which is a practice he expects will continue. Students now pay about $54 of the $188 per credit hour toward fees, which works out to about $1,620 a year, assuming they take two 15-credit-hour semesters.
Villamil expects the expansion can be paid for with leftover student fee money and outside funding. This characterization is disingenuous. Renovating the Reitz could easily be a $100-million project, which will require 5-percent fee increases in perpetuity.
The best part about the higher education spending binge is that the interest groups behind projects ensure that ideas continue to get brought up when it is clear they are not favored. In the spring 2010 Student Government election, about 56 percent of students voted against a fee increase to pay for an expanded Reitz Union. This vote happened in a Greek and SG organization-dominated election, meaning a significant portion of the constituency calling for a bigger Reitz originally wanted nothing to do with it. If all students were polled and provided a description of the cost, I wouldn't be shocked to learn that 80 percent of students are opposed to seeing an enhanced Reitz Union.
Students don't need more study space. There are already countless buildings open around campus after 5 p.m. Matherly, Little and Griffin-Floyd halls are essentially empty in the late afternoon. If you are so desperate for more study room, go to a fully equipped classroom to work. The same goes for student organizations. Not every group has to meet in the Reitz Union at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday. We should take advantage of the fantastic meeting space all around campus that is severely underutilized. The increased cost to the university from doing this is essentially zero. The air conditioners and heaters are already on in these buildings, yet nobody uses them. The party line about not having enough meeting and study space is simply not true.
As for the charge that the air-conditioning unit at the Reitz could fail at any time, the managers of the Reitz should act responsibly and set up an emergency account with money from the building's budget each year instead of expecting students to bail them out.
With continual 5-percent increases in fees, the approximately $1,620 we pay today in fees yearly would be $6,480 in only 30 years, which most of us might have to pay ourselves if we have kids who decide to go to UF. Who among us chose UF because it was the best financial decision for our families? I certainly did.
The best students in the state couldn't care less if we have a fancy student union.
If we don't stand up and fight back against the jealous, green-eyed monster of student fee increases, our degrees will become less valuable as students with options choose other universities that know how to keep costs under control.
If I have to pay more money for my college education, I want it to fund professors, not a new monument for Student Government.
Travis Hornsby is a statistics and economics senior at UF. His column appears on Mondays.
