Student fees to face stricter standards, analysis by committee

Administrators and student leaders will apply an extra level of scrutiny to student fee hikes this year, due to students’ frustration with consistently rising tuition in a weak economy.

The student fee advisory subcommittee, a group of student leaders and administrators, determined Friday that fee increase requests would be considered on a more case-by-case basis, said Student Body President Mary Cooper, who is a member of the committee.

“This year we’re taking extra steps because we noticed a need for more auditing,” Cooper said. “In an economy where money is tight, this is the opportunity to ask questions.”

The subcommittee plans to expand its understanding of student costs by sending unfamiliar fees to the smaller student committee, the student fee audit committee, for investigation, she said.

“We’re basically adding in another level of auditing, and giving (the student committee) more responsibilities,” Cooper said.

She said that the committee will have greater responsibility this year in determining what the student fees do and if the fee increases are necessary.

The subcommittee will provide the student committee with the list of fees that require further investigation, members said.

The subcommittee will also tighten its standards regarding how much is an acceptable fee increase.

In the past, the subcommittee has approved small fee requests that were increased solely to adjust for inflation, the rate of which is determined by the Higher Education Price Index.

Cooper said last year the subcommittee automatically approved requests that were raised by the inflation rate. Now, all fees will be reviewed individually so that no unnecessary increase is approved, she said.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp said the new policy will also ensure uniformity in the fee request process, and that each fee increase will be looked at separately rather than being approved across the board.

Zach Dexter, student body treasurer and co-chairman of the subcommittee, said the student committee already has a few fees lined up for investigation, and that this method will weed out the fees that aren’t being used efficiently.

“We need to check on fees we’re not familiar with and make sure that they are on track,” Dexter said.

Dexter said fee increases that the committee is confident are administered efficiently or are very small will not be sent to the student committee.

Despite a more thorough review, there will still be a few fees that will cause longer debates during meetings this year, said Dwayne Pinkney, associate provost for finance and academic planning and co-chairman of the subcommittee.

“We have six meetings and approximately 16 fees we have to review,” he said.

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