(iBoyd)

The Penn State Student Facilities Fee

By Boyd, May 30, 2008 8:17 am

In case you missed it, Penn State’s board of Trustees approved a new Student Facilities Fee two weeks ago. This fee will be in addition to other fees, including the Information Technology Fee and Student Activity Fee. The fee is designed to be used to fund student-centered facilities since Penn State needs more student facilities across all of its locations. However, I believe this fee and how it was brought about are a perfect example of how University Administrators have once again failed to address student concerns and have been unwilling to negotiate with students in order to reach an appropriate solution.

Lacking Receptiveness to Student Input

Despite claiming to be student-centered, administrators really failed to listen to student leaders and work with them to address concerns. While Student Affairs was very willing to market the fee and woo students with beautiful facilities that other Universities have, they apparently had no genuine concern for student opinion. When the University Park Undergraduate Association chose not to support the implementation of this fee both Student Affairs and the President moved forward with it anyway.

Misleading Information

One of the key problems with the way University Administrators handled this fee is how compared the fees we pay with that of other Universities. Administrators argued that non-tuition fees are much lower than other Universities. However, they “forgot” to mention that many of these state Universities have much lower tuition rates. In addition to bias in facts and statistics, Administrators were very vague about how the fee would be controlled and how building projects would be determined. If students are paying a fee that directly impacts them, they ought to be included in the decision-making process.

Uncertain Future

Now that certain University Administrators have pushed their agenda forward, it is unclear how this fee will be implemented, governed, and used. My advice is that students continue to fight for a voice on this fee. My biggest fear is that this will become an under-examined fee much like the Information Technology Fee. Administrators should be held accountable for how money is spent to ensure it gets used in the best ways possible while meeting the needs of those it is intended for. After all, it is obvious that the rates of both tuition and student fees will only continue to balloon in the future.