Students at Monday’s Student Fee Review Board town-hall meeting chatted with board members about how they want their fees allocated.
SFRB member Heidi Overton said rising student fees are a cause for concern.
“Student fees have been rising for the past eight years,” she said. “Do we want student fees to always be increasing? As cuts are coming to the University, the SFRB is being requested more and more and more.”
The board will hold a meeting to draft student fee recommendations Thursday. The meeting will run from 5-10 p.m. at the Domenici Center room 310. The board will submit its recommendations to UNM President David Schmidly on March 1.
Students also discussed the
consolidation and collaboration of resource centers at the meeting.
Overton said one applicant suggested African-American Student Services, American Indian Student Services, El Centro de la Raza, LGBTQ Resource Center and Women’s Resource Center should be combined into one center, which would receive one sum of student fees.
A consolidated center might not meet students’ needs effectively, said Alma Rosa Silva-Bañuelos, the LGBTQ Resource Center program coordinator.
“We need to be cautious when we start to merge ethnic centers together,” she said. “We become a melting pot, which starts to change representation. There are unique aspects. And for the LGBTQ Resource center, we’re everywhere. Our constituency is part of all three ethnic centers and the Women’s Resource Center. That’s why
collaborating really works, but making sure that we all are sustained.”
Parking and Transportation Services needs money to offer students free bus passes and requested student fees for the first time.
Student Luc Mouchet, who attended the town hall meeting, said he is worried about having to buy his own bus pass. He said the University should increase student fees rather than have PATS cut the bus program. Mouchet said his federal scholarship pays for his student fees, and he rides the bus to school daily.
“If that was funded through student fees, it would still save me a huge amount of money because that’s my primary source of transportation,” he said.
GPSA President Lissa Knudsen said free bus pass funding should come from other revenue sources.
“The GPSA council voted to have parking permit costs increased rather than to have student fees increased for every student to cover the cost of the free bus pass program,” she said. “It would act as a sin tax. If you drive a car, you would have to pay more, and it would promote people getting out of their cars and on to the busses.”
GPSA Grants Committee Chair Katie Richardson said SFRB members want student input on what fees should cover.
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“What does it take to maintain the academic mission of this University?” she said. “Is that something fees should support or is that something tuition should take?”
Overton said that for some students, paying more than $500 for student fees might mean they can’t attend UNM.
“Are the things that we’re funding through student fees worth people not being able to pay the increase?” she said. “As a UNM community do we say, ‘They’re valuable. That’s what UNM is about, and we have to support them, and that’s what makes UNM, UNM?’ Or do we say we’d rather have people coming here and getting an education?”
