Although only four students spoke at Monday’s Student Success Fee Forum, some concerns were raised as the Feb. 29 vote on the proposed fee draws closer.
If the fee is approved, students would pay $160 in Fall 2012, with the amount increasing each quarter until it reached $260. In the end, the Student Success Fee could net the university approximately $14 million if passed, although associate vice provost Kimi Ikeda said she is hesitant to say exactly what the funds could be used for. The possible uses for the money include increasing the number of classes offered every quarter, raises for faculty and staff and increased funding for promoting diversity on campus.
Check out the gallery below for more on students’ concerns.
Why are we not getting to the root of the problem : State funding???
I am very surprised no one has brought up this point. I think we can all agree that continued state school funding cuts are a negative thing, and so shouldn’t students agree, irregardless of political leaning, that fixing the funding sources at the state level is what is truly needed?
Instead of forums on whether or not we should implement a fee for the 40th time since I started at Cal Poly, why don’t we have some political action in contacting our state representatives to get off their asses and pass some real budgets… maybe that is too much to ask for.
This year I am studying abroad in Denmark, and students here actually get PAID to go to school! Looking back to the states in the news and getting these Cal Poly emails, as we continue to argue about how to raise funds, it is shocking to see such disregard for our future generations in the lack of high education funding.
After we get some state funding reinstated, then we can start talking about raising more fees for additional income. We should have hammered the legislature years ago, right when the budget was being hacked away.
That said, I guess I would support the fee, but only since we seem unable of going after the real source of the problem.
I will not be supporting the fee until there is a clear outline to where the money will be going raising $14 Million and not having a plan or guidelines sounds ridiculous to me. As an engineer I will vote NO and spend another quarter here until they make this more clear.
The Student “Success” Fee is simply an easy way for Cal Poly to get a little extra money in the short term. However, every time our school implements an additional fee into our tuition, our state funding actually decreases. We do NOT want to decrease state funding! This sort of lazy and short term problem solving is unacceptable and should not be pressed upon our students.
Also, not many people have considered the devastating effects of the fee on students who pay for their own schooling. This fee will actually prevent some students from returning to the school, ruining their academic careers and leaving them with mountains of debt. Increased financial aid will not apply to these students, since they were not eligible for financial aid in the first place, due to their parents making too much money yet not supporting them (because of very large families). These are some of the most motivated and hard-working students on campus. They have risked a lot to pay for their schooling, and it’s because they understand the value of education. Kicking them out will detract from the value of Cal Poly as a whole, and it is not fair to these students who are already struggling to pay increases in tuition.
Another important issue: Cal Poly is working extremely hard to increase cultural diversity. The Student Success Fee will make our school financially more difficult to attend, deterring students of lower socioeconomic status (who are often of minority races). This will have a backward effect on all our goals concerning diversity.
There are other solutions. Admit more out of state students. Start fund-raising. Even make the fee optional—students who choose to pay it can have their money donated directly to their colleges. However, forcing this burdensome fee on our student body is not the answer and it is not acceptable.