In order to increase funding for student services and resources, the UC Denver Student Government Association passed a proposal that will gradually double the amount of money paid in student fees over a five-year span.
If the student government’s proposal goes into effect, future full-time students will be paying $225.12 (with calculated interest) in fees. Students who signed up for 12 credit hours during the current semester paid $79.80.
“This has the potential to be the most important document that the SGA has released in the past 40 years,” said public relations committee chair Oliver Keating.
As reported earlier this month, the student government confronted CU President Bruce Benson on the issue of ill-funded student services when he visited campus on Feb. 5. During the meeting, Benson suggested that the student government draft a five-year plan that would deal with the disparity in funding.
Since the beginning of the semester, the student government has been discussing how the current state of student services highlights the need for a fee increase. “We’re talking about two people who support 14,000 students. When we talk about a lack of funding, we aren’t indicting them,” said finance committee chair Josh Diller. “We’re just saying that they need more.”
Diller and student body president Jack Kroll drafted the student fees increase proposal before last week’s executive council meeting. While the voting members unanimously passed the adjustment, the proposal was submitted to Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment and Student Engagement Dr. Frank Sanchez prior to the meeting.
If the proposal is implemented, then the student government’s recommendations could lead to an increase of fees by next fall.
“We were thinking, when drafting this document, whether to start this in 2011 or 2012,” said Diller. “And then I said, ‘Why wait a year?’”
Affirming Diller’s opinion on the matter, Kroll said that this proposal was “something we shouldn’t be waiting on.”
Diller also said that any proposal that recommends a fee similar to what UC Boulder students pay was off the table, emphasizing UCD’s commitment to affordable higher education. The proposal, according to Diller and Kroll, only accounts for what is needed for the students.
“If we go too much higher, it’s unethical and immoral from a social justice point of view,” said Director of Student Life Dr. Khushnur Dadabhoy.
Although the recommendation has yet to be approved by university administration, the student government collectively showed confidence in the proposal. But as Kroll mentioned before he met with President Benson in February, previous recommendations to increase student fees by more than 10 percent have been rejected.
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