The Student Council has unanimously passed their proposal for student fees which will increase student fees by $7.
Voting on Feb. 10, the council passed the student drafted proposal for student fees during the 2022-2023 academic year. The proposal approves a $7 increase overall for students, the second-largest increase in the last five years.
The proposal didn’t see many changes from what departments had asked from the council originally, as documents given to The Review show. Student Health Services had raised their proposal to even out the fee proposal, as well as to account for the cost of living adjustment. These funds, which will raise around $29,700, are being used to raise the wage for psychiatric positions more competitive. This would make the wage of $70 an hour.
As mentioned in a previous piece, student fees had originally been expected to decrease by 82 cents for students; however, with the projected increase of 7% of COLA by The Office of Legislative Affairs, all departments had to change their proposals to accommodate this. It should be pointed out, however, that the previous proposal would have seen an increase in fees without Athletics $6.50 decrease in their fee.
“Staffing is the primary concern because without staff, the ability to run a program is limited,” said Marissa King, director for student leadership and involvement, about how Student Life will use the new funds. “We want to make sure students have the support they need and if we aren’t able to pay employees at a reasonable rate then we won’t be able to do that.”
As mentioned previously in past pieces, student programs have wanted to expand and keep their COVID-era programs such as Care Hub, along with the Map the System program that is run by the Center for Social Impact.
Members voted unanimously in favor of the proposal, and brought officially an end to the student fee hearings. The proposal now will be sent to the President’s Council, who will also have to approve it. If they don’t, it would come back to the student council to revise and make changes before sending it back to the Presidential Council.
“Nothing is final until [Utah Board of Higher Education] approves the student fees. I encourage students to visit the UVU Student Fee website,” said Karen Magana-Aguado, UVUSA student body president.
The student proposal wasn’t released to the general student population prior to the vote as had been previously said, and as of this writing has not been released on the UVUSA’s student fee website.
Actions in the state legislature have affected many of the actions the university has taken when it comes to fees and tuition. In the coming weeks, Truth In Tuition, presented by President Astrid Tuminez and Vice President Linda Makin, will be hosted by UVUSA to help students understand how tuition is being spent, and proposals on whether to raise it or not.
In a notice provided by UVU, it has stated that tuition might see an increase in tuition by 2.3% to 5%. Truth in Tuition will be hosted Feb. 17, and will be conducted in the student council chamber at 1 p.m. and be available to view over Microsoft Teams. For more information on fees and tuition, visit here.
