The Price Tag of Aggie Life.
It's student fee season.
Cue much grumbling.
A lot of people talk about how expensive it is to go to school. We pay all this tuition, and then on top of that we have to pay fees, too? Well, yes, we do.
I may not agree with every fee or how much every fee is, but ultimately the things we love about Utah State wouldn't happen without student fees. The clubs we belong to? They get funding from student fees. The HOWL? Homecoming Week activities? Poetry and a Beverage? Financed by student fees. We pay a building fee so that we can have buildings to actually go to school in that are safe and clean. Those Aggie Football and Basketball games that we get into for "free?" Nope, we pay for that. And we pay into the salaries that keep a good staff coaching all of our teams so that we'll win. That convenient Aggie Shuttle that brings you up the hill to campus or from the west side to the east side? Yep, our fees pay for that.
Those convenient computer labs that you can run into to print something off before class so you don't have to waste your own printer ink? Or that you can crash at when the internet at your place is on the fritz? Yeah, that's your computer lab fee.
The library we hunker down in the last weeks of each semester? It doesn't just fund itself.
Aggie Bikes, Music & Theater, Campus Recreation, and Health Services? Those are things our student fees pay for as well.
Breakdown of Tuition and Fees for 2011-12. Scroll to the fourth page to get the details about fees.
Student fees aren't random, and they certainly don't exist without a purpose. Every year the student fee board meets, and they don't just look at new fees or fee increases - they also review how each of the existing fees are being spent by those with the stewardship for the fees.
Would I rather have more money in my pocket as a poor, struggling college student? Absolutely. Obviously. Of course.
But before you just hate on student fees because they're an expenditure, take a look at what they provide you with. Our two largest fees are the Athletics and Building fees. Aggie Basketball is something so many Aggies love. A lot of Aggies got to experience one of the best seasons of Aggie Football in many years, and it ended with a visit to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Now, whether or not you've been to a game, our athletics program IS important to the university. The better we perform, the more notoriety we gain, and the more valuable your degree becomes because your future employer has heard of Utah State University. You may think that's unrealistic, but it's not so much.
Now, I don't love every one of the fees we pay or how much we pay into them, and I'm certainly no expert, but I do have at least a small understanding of why they're a necessary evil. Trying to stop them is, as a friend of mine put it, like trying "to lower inflation and the cost of goods." Of course everyone would love that, but is it going to happen? Let's be real here: no.
And if we didn't have student fees, or if they were lowered, we would definitely see the effects. Maybe in some cases a lowering of a fee would be good. Maybe it would spark more creativity and innovation. Departments might recognize things they could do without and make what they have left even better used.
Should we hold people accountable for how they use our fees? Absolutely! If they misuse fees, should there be an appropriate adjustment? Yeah.
There are new fees being proposed this year to the fee board, too. Before you just click yes or no, make sure you know what you're voting for or against. Make sure you evaluate whether or not it will benefit our student body.
The bottom line is that tuition pays for your classes, your student fees fund some of the perks.
If you don't want any perks, maybe you should just go to an online school?
And one more thing:
You're paying student fees? TAKE ADVANTAGE OF WHAT YOU'RE PAYING FOR! Use every chance you get to reap the benefits of your investment every semester.
Cue much grumbling.
A lot of people talk about how expensive it is to go to school. We pay all this tuition, and then on top of that we have to pay fees, too? Well, yes, we do.
I may not agree with every fee or how much every fee is, but ultimately the things we love about Utah State wouldn't happen without student fees. The clubs we belong to? They get funding from student fees. The HOWL? Homecoming Week activities? Poetry and a Beverage? Financed by student fees. We pay a building fee so that we can have buildings to actually go to school in that are safe and clean. Those Aggie Football and Basketball games that we get into for "free?" Nope, we pay for that. And we pay into the salaries that keep a good staff coaching all of our teams so that we'll win. That convenient Aggie Shuttle that brings you up the hill to campus or from the west side to the east side? Yep, our fees pay for that.
Those convenient computer labs that you can run into to print something off before class so you don't have to waste your own printer ink? Or that you can crash at when the internet at your place is on the fritz? Yeah, that's your computer lab fee.
The library we hunker down in the last weeks of each semester? It doesn't just fund itself.
Aggie Bikes, Music & Theater, Campus Recreation, and Health Services? Those are things our student fees pay for as well.
Breakdown of Tuition and Fees for 2011-12. Scroll to the fourth page to get the details about fees.
Student fees aren't random, and they certainly don't exist without a purpose. Every year the student fee board meets, and they don't just look at new fees or fee increases - they also review how each of the existing fees are being spent by those with the stewardship for the fees.
Would I rather have more money in my pocket as a poor, struggling college student? Absolutely. Obviously. Of course.
But before you just hate on student fees because they're an expenditure, take a look at what they provide you with. Our two largest fees are the Athletics and Building fees. Aggie Basketball is something so many Aggies love. A lot of Aggies got to experience one of the best seasons of Aggie Football in many years, and it ended with a visit to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Now, whether or not you've been to a game, our athletics program IS important to the university. The better we perform, the more notoriety we gain, and the more valuable your degree becomes because your future employer has heard of Utah State University. You may think that's unrealistic, but it's not so much.
Now, I don't love every one of the fees we pay or how much we pay into them, and I'm certainly no expert, but I do have at least a small understanding of why they're a necessary evil. Trying to stop them is, as a friend of mine put it, like trying "to lower inflation and the cost of goods." Of course everyone would love that, but is it going to happen? Let's be real here: no.
And if we didn't have student fees, or if they were lowered, we would definitely see the effects. Maybe in some cases a lowering of a fee would be good. Maybe it would spark more creativity and innovation. Departments might recognize things they could do without and make what they have left even better used.
Should we hold people accountable for how they use our fees? Absolutely! If they misuse fees, should there be an appropriate adjustment? Yeah.
There are new fees being proposed this year to the fee board, too. Before you just click yes or no, make sure you know what you're voting for or against. Make sure you evaluate whether or not it will benefit our student body.
The bottom line is that tuition pays for your classes, your student fees fund some of the perks.
If you don't want any perks, maybe you should just go to an online school?
And one more thing:
You're paying student fees? TAKE ADVANTAGE OF WHAT YOU'RE PAYING FOR! Use every chance you get to reap the benefits of your investment every semester.