Fees might see slight decline

Mandatory student fees would decrease slightly next year under a plan submitted to the University Tuesday by a committee of students.\nThe Committee for Fee Review approved an 11-cent decrease in the total fees every undergraduate student would pay next year and called for ending the athletics fee, providing universal bus access and distributing free national newspapers. \nThe biggest change proposed in the committee report was the elimination of the $15-per-semester athletics fee. The committee's report said the athletics department's "budgetary disclosures were not sufficient to command a fee from all students."\nThe committee requested that the athletics department pursue alternatives to a student fee such as corporate sponsorships. It also suggested that interest from the department's "rapidly growing endowment" could help offset its deficit.\nThe other major change proposed by the committee was the adoption of a transportation plan granting universal access to all campus buses. The plan would cost all students an additional $19.40 per semester next year.\nWith the passage of universal busing, IU transportation has agreed to assume operation of the safety escort service from the IU Student Association. \nThe committee recommended that the $1 mandatory fee that funded safety escort be reallocated to a newspaper readership program. The program would bring free copies of The New York Times, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star to campus next year. IUSA President Tyson Chastain said The Indianapolis Star could be removed from the program.\nThe technology fee for undergraduates was reduced from $200 per semester to $186. Although graduate fees are not included in the final report, the graduate technology fee was raised from $150 to $186. \nThe board of trustees will vote on the plan at a meeting later this year. \nThe committee set the final mandatory fee total at $395.45 for undergraduates. The total is a 3.9 percent increase from the last time the committee met two years ago. The increase from two years ago is in line with the 4 percent fee cap imposed by the governor's office last year.\nIn most cases, the committee did not grant any organization its full funding request. Had it done so, total fees for next year would have been $426.29 with the athletics fee and $411.29 without it. \nOther recommendations in the committee's final report included:\n• Decreasing the fee supporting Union Board by 43 cents. Union Board had requested the elimination of the late-night initiative because of low student interest. The committee refused the request. It decreased the fee for late-night programming by 50 cents while raising the fees for concerts and lectures by 7 cents.\n• Increasing the fee for the Division of Recreational Sports by $2.08 to fund non-student salaries and a small increase for equipment repair. The committee said it was "disappointed by the clarity of the fee request from Recreational Sports" and asked for a "clearer and fuller disclosure" next year.\n• Increasing the fee to the Graduate and Professional Student Organization by 3 cents. The committee refused to approve the GPSO request of 23 cents to fund staff salaries because the committee said it does not believe in "funding salaried positions for students."\n• Increasing the fee for IU Student Television by 6 cents to purchase modern equipment. The committee refused IUSTV's 58-cent request because the money would have gone toward student salaries.\n• Increasing the fee to WIUS radio by 7 cents. The committee would not increase the fee to fund the move to an FM transistor, asking that the station possibly raise the money from alumni.\n• Increasing the health fee by $4.73 to fund non-student salary increases and psychiatric care.\n• Increasing the IU Auditorium fee by 11 cents to support student ticket discounts.\n• Increasing the child-care fee by 4 cents. The committee requested child care seek other sources of funding to help student parents so as not to place "any greater burden on students at large."\n• Increasing the fee for IU Outdoors by 9 cents to fund new equipment.\n• Increasing the fee for Student Legal Services by 28 cents for inflationary considerations on salary.\nThe seven-student committee deliberated for nearly a month and invited all groups requesting fees to submit their budgets during a public hearing.\nThe recommendations were based on a total student enrollment next year of 35,000. \nChastain, who chaired the committee but was not a voting member, said members spent 70 to 80 hours deliberating the fees.\n"It's a very difficult process when you're reviewing fees that go from dimes to a hundred dollars," he said. "The committee shows the support the administration and trustees give to the student voice regarding fees."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Adam VanOsdol at avanosdo@indiana.edu.