Students voiceless on fee decisions
By Perry Swanson
The Metropolitan
A proposed plan for assessing student fees at Metro will soon include more student involvement, but it wonât ask students to authorize new fees or change old ones.
Metro President Sheila Kaplan sent a revised fee plan Dec. 23 to the Board of Trustees for the State Colleges in Colorado, Metroâs governing board.
Coloradoâs public colleges were required by law last year to revise their plans for student fees and spell out how much influence students have over the fees.
The plans explain procedures for setting new fees and increasing old ones.
Metroâs new plan will supersede the old one, which has been in effect since March. The trustees, who oversee Metro and three other colleges, could approve the plan at a February meeting in Grand Junction.
The new plan will take effect as soon as it is approved by the trustees.
Kaplan also sent the board a statement from the Metro Student Government Assembly, which asked for more student control over fees. Student government members worked with Bruce Williams, the director of Metroâs Budget Office, to develop the plan Kaplan submitted.
Jessie Bullock, the assemblyâs vice president of Student Fees, led a drive to assure that fees couldnât be changed without student approval.
ãSince the purpose of student fees is to provide activities and services that benefit students, we should have a large role in determining the fees we pay,ä the student government statement to the trustees said.
Kaplan, however, said she couldnât support a plan that gave legal authority to the students, and her proposal to the trustees lacks any such provision.
Student fees pay for programs such as Campus Recreation and Womenâs Services.
They can account for as much as 22 percent of the total bill for attending Metroâs downtown campus.
Fees can bump the bill much higher for students at Metroâs three other campuses outside of the metro area, to the tune of $23 per credit hour.
ãThe board canât legally delegate authority to the students to set fees, and some of the students want that authorization,ä said Jim Heffernan, vice president of Administration and Finance for the Board of Trustees.
Still, the state colleges want to include student opinion on fees, even if itâs not legally binding, Heffernan said.
One of the newest requirements of the law is that colleges itemize fees on studentsâ bills. Metro complied with that law for the first time this semester, and college officials say the policy has precipitated an increase in questions about the fees.
The most common question is why some fees are mandatory, said Christina Nguyen, supervisor of the Cashiering department.
Bullock also said sheâs seen an increase in the number of questions about fees and speculated that it was ãa direct resultä of Banner, a new computer system that students can use to register for classes.
ãYou can look at your fees right there,ä said Bullock, who gets studentsâ phone calls about fees. ãWhat most of them want is a refund, (but) thereâs not going to be any refund. The CoPIRG fee and (health) insurance are the
only two possibilities that they can get a refund on.ä
Bullock worked with the Office of Student Publications last semester to produce a brochure that will be mailed to students early this semester. Student Fees: What Are We Paying For? explains how Metro spends the millions of dollars it receives in fees each semester and what the money pays for. It also lists student committees that can influence how the money is spent. The bus pass fee, which is subject to a student vote, increased by $5.20 since the fall semester to $16.70. The health insurance, which can be waived if students show they have similar coverage, increased by $19.80 over the fall semester. The fee cost now totals $298.30 and applies to students taking 10 or more credits. The four departments funded by student fees that are asking for more money are Student Life, Athletics, InfoTech and the Student Health Center. The increases would take effect as early as this summer.
