University administrators want to increase the fees and fines students pay for hundreds of courses and services in order to cover rising expenses, according to a notice issued Tuesday by the Secretary of State’s office.
Scores of fees and some fines would be introduced, deleted or decreased if the proposal garners approval. The proposed fees and fines will offset increases in annual, existing costs of University services, such as ink for laser printers or repair of parking lots.
“It’s not a process used to compensate for declining revenue elsewhere,” associate vice president for resource management Francis Dyke said — including decreasing state revenues for higher education.
Some of the fees directly add to the price of the class because some courses require expensive materials or resources, which the University must purchase, senior vice president and provost John Moseley said.
“An example would be an art course with art supplies — those sorts of things,” he said. Lab materials for Architecture 461 will increase from $5 to $10 if the proposal is approved.
Dyke said departments can legally adjust fees annually and often do. The adjustments must comply with Oregon law and must be approved by a supervising vice president, the Oregon University System chancellor’s office and the secretary of state before they are implemented. Public input is considered by Vice President for Administration Dan Williams. Student advocacy also can review some fees and suggest changes. A public hearing on the changes begins at 3 p.m. March 12 in the EMU Board Room.
The increases also affect the price of parking permits and speeding fines. Students stopped by the Department of Public Safety for speeding or ticketed for blocking a fire hydrant with their car would pay an extra $10 next year under the proposal.
Rand Stamm, parking and transportation manager for public safety, said the department wants to raise some fines to deter complacent or reckless drivers from endangering lives.
“We have quite a bit of speeding on campus,” he said. “People riding bicycles or walking could get seriously hurt. If that concern won’t persuade you, the cost will. That’s why we have fines.”
Stamm said the department also will increase parking-permit costs about 3 percent to cover the rising annual price of enforcement and parking lot improvements. The price of a 12-month student parking permit would increase from $85 to $88 in 2002-03, and a yearlong faculty parking permit would increase from $150 to $155.
DPS also plans to implement a $5 bicycle permit fee for all riders on campus.
If the fee and fine adjustments are adopted, not every student will foot the increases. Williams said the user fees are designed, in principle, to tax specific groups of students. After all, it doesn’t make sense to charge students for printing costs if they’re not using a computer lab, he said.
“Students who don’t choose or need these activities or services should not be subsidizing them,” he said. “Some are troubled by the fact that the fees have grown over the years. There is discussion going on now that some fees should be folded into tuition costs.”
Student advocates closely examine fees levied at students because tuition has become so expensive, director for student advocacy
Hilary Berkman said. She said the bicycle permit fee is a prime example of a cost students shouldn’t be forced to bear. She said student
advocacy would object to the fee because it dissuades students from riding their bikes to class.
“It doesn’t look like a lot of money, but it’s definitely a fee we object to because it doesn’t further the strong policy of keeping cars off campus,” she said. “I think it’s important that students don’t have cumulative fees they don’t notice until they register. If a particular fee disproportionately affects students, we might look at that also.”