With tuition creeping upwards every year, student fees can seem like an unnecessary blow to already suffering bank accounts.
Outside of tuition costs, which fluctuate depending on credit hours, students pay $290.88 in student fees on average. Each student fee increases per credit hour, but some baselines include an ASUU fee of $23.12, an athletics fee of $84.01 and a building fee, which goes toward maintaining classrooms and other campus structures, at $57.36 per credit hour. Other fees are applied to over 10 departments around the U, according to the Office of Budget and Institutional Analysis.
While some fee increases are part of a larger jump in tuition prices, Steffany Forrest, an assistant manager for Income Accounting, said tuition only jumped 4 percent last year. Any proposed increase in fees must be vetted by both the Board of Regents and the Utah Legislature.
“The increase in tuition and paying for student fees can impact students from coming to school. However, these fees are figured into activities that are available for every student attending the U,” Forrest says.
Student body vice president Sara Seastrand said the ASUU fee is to fund the organization’s goals, like representing students on campus and providing entertainment for students. While acknowledging that tuition can be difficult for most students as work intersects with school, Seastrand added student fees are an expected part of the overall cost of an education to provide a wider array of services to students outside of the classroom.
“We want to have activities and programs available to students that make them want to come to school to have fun, study and work towards their academic endeavors,” Seastrand says.
Seastrand says 25 percent of the ASUU fee goes to the campus events board, which organizes events like Redfest and the Grand Kerfluffle. According to the budget on ASUU’s website, the campus events board had an operational budget of $442,500 last year.
ASUU also allocates funding to over 500 student groups on campus through its legislative process in the Assembly and Senate. The student fees also go toward ASUU’s executive branch, which oversees 16 boards, including Government Relations, which lobbies for students at the Utah Legislature; the Diversity Board; the Presenter’s Office, which coordinates Redfest, the Grand Kerfuffle and other events; and others. The executive branch also contains the Elections Registrar, which coordinates ASUU elections, and the 40-student-strong Freshman Council.
London Holmgren, a sophomore in architecture, pays for college through scholarships, grants, student loans and from his own pocket. After looking at the student fee breakdown online, Holmgren had his doubts about the cost of going to the U.
“Tuition is reasonable compared to other schools. However, housing and meal plans are outrageously expensive in comparison to other schools,” Holmgren says.
Both Forrest and Seastrand said the U is committed to keep tuition and student fees as low as possible.