Student government leaders successfully lobbied the administration to slash the college readership fee in half, from $5 to $2.50.

The readership fee pays for the distribution of The Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret Morning News, New York Times and USA Today on campus.

When the program was instituted two years ago, student government leaders overestimated the cost just to be safe, said John Poelman, vice president of the Associated Student of the University of Utah.

In addition to lowering the fee, The Wall Street Journal will be added as one of the daily papers available to faculty and students.

“Many of our students are required to use The Wall Street Journal for classes,” said Martha Eining, executive associate dean of the School of Business. “Having the ?publication available to all students would be a great asset to our students and faculty. We would support this initiative.”

ASUU leaders also lobbied to maintain the current student government fee, which typically rises with inflation.

“We felt that it didn’t need to be raised because we still have a large surplus in the general reserve,” Poelman said.