Ohio State has officially announced the new “Student Union Facility Fee,” which will cost students up to $62 a quarter beginning Spring Quarter 2010. Administrators and student government have known about the plan for the fee for six years.
According to minutes from a June 2009 OSU Board of Trustees meeting, when the Union project was approved in 2004 it had been decided that a student fee would be needed for the project to proceed.
“This was agreed to at the time by all the stakeholders, including the administration, Board of Trustees and all three respective student governments,” according to the minutes.
The new fee is needed in order to defer some of the $118 million construction cost, as well as future maintenance, said Kurt Foriska, assistant director of the Union. The fee will start at $27, then rise to $62 by 2014. After that, “it would adjust based on inflation,” Foriska added.
“What we’re trying to do is think ahead,” Foriska said. “That money is there for when the building needs maintenance … we’re not out to make surplus money.”
The student governments agreed to the fee on the condition that students would be told about the fee ahead of time, said Undergraduate Student Government President Ben Anthony.
They wanted to make sure that “if there was going to be a fee, that it was not paid until students could use it,” Anthony said. However, “student government since 2004 [hasn’t] had much of a hand in the project.”
The Coca-Cola corporation has helped keep the fee down as well, giving enough money to lower the Union fee for the time being.
“We wanted to make sure there was a transition into the fee,” Foriska said. “It was all done with good intent.”
Foriska also said they have informed the last two freshman classes of the fee at freshman orientation.
“We are not trying to hide the fee at all,” Foriska said. “I’m open to talking to students if they need to talk.”
Check out a breakdown of the Union fee on www.thelantern.com.