Eric Becker @ericbecker__

The University Health Services building is located on 13th Avenue in Eugene, Ore. (Eric Becker/Emerald)

Everyone knows the common costs that come with being a student: tuition, textbooks and course materials, but many mandatory fees come with being a student as well. At UO, these include the Building Fee, Health Service Fee, Recreation Center Fee, Student Union Fee, Technology Fee and Incidental Fee.

Some of these fees are reasonably mandatory; for instance, if a student didn’t realize how great the Student Recreation Center was until midway through the term, they don’t have to worry about missing an application fee because it comes included with term charges. Some fees should be optional; for instance, for students who don’t use the Student Recreation Center shouldn’t have to pay $144 per term ($560 annually) for that service. For some students, $560 may be a more convenient option than a typical Planet Fitness membership; some students prefer an off-campus gym because of the overcrowding of students at the rec center and are forced to pay for two gym memberships while only using one.

Megan Sanford, a junior planning and public policy major at UO said, “I think it should be optional or a tier system, like students can go a certain number of times a week, like the point system, and pay less. I use the Student Rec Center for classes, which I also have to pay for, so I wish one of the costs would cover the other instead of being charged twice.”

University Health Services also come as a mandatory fee for students. While there is a fee for the campus health clinic, it doesn’t cover all of your clinic bills. The purpose of this fee is to provide access to University Health Services, reducing the cost of services and making going to the health service clinic more affordable for students. This price doesn’t cover any of the actual expenses that come with the check-up; it only covers the ability to use their services.

Although this service provides access to on-campus medical care, if students prefer going to urgent care or their own private doctor, they should be able to opt out of University Health Services fees. 

Paloma Encarnacion, a junior music history major at UO, said, “As someone who doesn’t have my own health insurance, I can’t afford the school’s health insurance, so I had to pay out of pocket to see the doctors at the health clinic. I feel like since there’s a mandatory service clinic fee, they shouldn’t be charging me $300 for a check-up when I’ve already paid the mandatory service fee.” 

When asked about student fees at UO, many students weren’t aware of the mandatory Technology Fee. This fee is meant to help the university make “important investments to maintain and improve the core infrastructure our technology relies on, and to stay abreast of rapidly changing technological advances.” Along with the university’s Incidental Fee (the purpose is to help support activities that provide for the social, cultural, educational and physical development of students), when you look closely at the purpose of these fees, they sound like taxes that should be included in tuition or optional. 

I think the best solution for students to get the full value of their investment at UO is for them to make these costs optional based on students’ wants and needs.