Another Battle in the Student Fees War

Clarion Call ^ | December 5, 2007 | Jenna Ashley Robinson

[bs9021]

Since Southworth, student fees have remained a contentious issue. A new Pope Center study originated in an effort to find out whether student fees are fairly distributed between conservative and liberal campus organizations at UNC campuses.

What the study found is that student governments at UNC schools seem to allocate funds fairly among political groups. Where fees are used for political groups, the distribution seems to reflect the preferences of the student body. Student government at UNC-Chapel Hill distributed $66,412 to liberal students groups in 2006-2007, and $45,993 to conservative groups. At N.C. State, during the first 2006-2007 semester, conservative groups received $632 and liberal groups, $350. (N.C. State has strict limits on funding student groups).

Although we don’t appear to have a Southworth problem in the UNC system, the study found something that should be equally troubling. Only a small percentage of student activity fees at UNC system universities are actually distributed to student campus organizations.

The majority of student activity fees are allocated by university administrators for purposes having little or nothing to do with student groups and activities. These purposes range from paying for repairs at a student center to the funding of an undergraduate teaching award.

[sportutegrl]

http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/nov06/endowmentgrowth111606.htm

UNC’s endowment is worth over 1.5 billion. WSJ had an article a while back about these colleges piling up huge endowments worth billions and just sitting on them while student tuition and fees goes up and up.

[heartwood]

Does any one know what the legality is of charging fees never mentionned in any information given to the students before enrollment? I am fighting my university right now on that.

What about the fees specific to one program, nursing in my case, with the students never informed until they are billed?

The universities are becoming the company store now - one state university in NJ is making all students buy cell phones from them - Ka-CHING! Supposedly for emergency notification - are they going to have cell phones checked and charged before you go into class?

[bpjam]

The real scam is that UNC and most all other public institutions charge students to go there and then get paid by the State as well. And then, on top of that all, they get private donations which are often directed to student scholarships. And nobody ever sues to get access to the records to find out what the REAL cost of the students education is. They only get the billion dollar annual ‘budget’ to look through which contains mostly things which have nothing to do with a classroom.

Right across the road from UNC is Duke University. They have a budget of over $2B a year!!!! But they only have 8500 undergrads. And tuition is in the high $30,000s. So obviously the tuition from students (even if they all paid full price in cash each year) doesn’t come anywhere close to the amount of money the school received and spends each year. The rest of the money? Not paying teachers or updating school books.

[MikeD]

UNC spends $46K on Conservative groups? Since when? That figure was more like $0 when I was there (I know — I was a member of a few that tried to get money). Maybe things have improved in the last ten years.

[A_Former_Democrat]

Fees should not be used for any political purposes, period.

Colleges and universities should not be involved in politics, period.