This past week, student congress has failed to pass a measure increasing student fees by $10.37 per student in order to provide child care services to students that are in need of such services. In response, student body president J.J. Raynor has begun collecting signatures to make an end run around student congress and hold a referendum to allow students to decide this issue.
However, we are not here to debate the merits of direct democracy. What we are here to oppose is the fee increase itself.
We already pay $1,691.74 in student fees on top of tuition. What is $10 more, you may ask? The cost of student fees increases every year, and $10 here and $10 there starts to add up. In the past five years, student fees have increased by $446.22. We have to draw a line in the sand somewhere.
It’s been noted by a number of commentators that student fees to pay for free services are a prime force behind the increasing costs of higher education in the United States. The best move to help lower income individuals get a college education is to reduce its cost while maintaining quality in the classroom. This is best done by keeping down the costs of student fees, which do not affect the classroom.
The vast majority of UNC students do not have children. Therefore, the proposed student child care fee is designed to fund a program which will be utilized only by a very small portion of UNC students.
Because of the limited market for this program, common sense and principles of sound government and personal responsibility support the view that this program should be funded only by those who will utilize it.
That is, child care services should be funded from charges billed to those who use the services rather than charging the entire student body for a service very few of them will use.
Therefore, we ask you all to take a stand for sound, common sense management at our university, and vote against the Child Care Services Fee in 2009! You can join our group on Facebook for more updates: Stop Student Fee increases in 2009!