Students approve transit fee referendum

[NewsCopy]

University of Louisiana students have approved a fee increase that will be used by the University’s Office of Transportation Services to improve bus service and amenities.

A referendum to increase the student-assessed transit fee was developed by the Student Government Association. Students voted to raise the fee from $25 to $50 for the fall and spring semesters, and from $12.50 to $25 for the summer semester.

The referendum was approved by a 939 to 854 vote, according to results posted Tuesday to the SGA’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ulsga.

Students voted online by logging on to the University’s ULink system Monday and Tuesday. Voting ended at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Complete election results, including for SGA offices and Senate positions, will be released once they are tabulated and finalized.

Robin Roy, SGA vice president, said the SGA created the referendum based on requests from many students for upgraded bus service.

The University’s Office of Transportation and Development doesn’t receive financial support from the University or state funding. Its three sources of revenue are parking permits, tickets and a self-assessed student fee.

Revenue raised from the fee increase could fund several initiatives, including adding leased buses to the fleet of 11 buses and three shuttles owned by the University. Eventually, leased buses could replace those owned by the University.

The additional funding could also be used to pay for installing more bus stops and for parking garage maintenance.

For more information, visit http://sga.louisiana.edu/node/65

Louisiana.edu

[Turbine]

Cool deal, but for some reason I thought the Master "Plans" sequence was going to be vote on a campus improvements fee (which passed) then vote on athletic fee (hasn't come to pass)

This -while I applaud the students- seems to have cut in line, what am I missing?

By the time they get to athletics, the students will be burnt out on fees.

jmo

[Cajun2014]

Cool deal, but for some reason I thought the Master "Plans" sequence was going to be vote on a campus improvements fee (which passed) then vote on athletic fee (hasn't come to pass)

This -while I applaud the students- seems to have cut in line, what am I missing?

By the time they get to athletics, the students will be burnt out on fees.

jmo

ALREADY burnt out on fees.

[cb089]

This -while I applaud the students- seems to have cut in line, what am I missing?

By the time they get to athletics, the students will be burnt out on fees.

jmo

Trust me, we're already burnt out on fees. You should see the list of fees that gets tacked on when tuition is payed. That being said, as a student who rides the buses from Cajun Field every day, its an area of need for current and in particular, future students. Our fleet is very outdated and some of them are downright embarrassing to be operating for a university of 17,000 students. This part scares me though: "Revenue raised from the fee increase could fund several initiatives, including adding leased buses to the fleet of 11 buses and three shuttles owned by the University. Eventually, leased buses could replace those owned by the University." Notice the use of COULD fund, Eventually, COULD replace. I voted yes with the hope to see action. I have my fear the university is just going to sit on the money this raises.

[Boomer]

Trust me, we're already burnt out on fees. You should see the list of fees that gets tacked on when tuition is payed. That being said, as a student who rides the buses from Cajun Field every day, its an area of need for current and in particular, future students. Our fleet is very outdated and some of them are downright embarrassing to be operating for a university of 17,000 students. This part scares me though: "Revenue raised from the fee increase could fund several initiatives, including adding leased buses to the fleet of 11 buses and three shuttles owned by the University. Eventually, leased buses could replace those owned by the University." Notice the use of COULD fund, Eventually, COULD replace. I voted yes with the hope to see action. I have my fear the university is just going to sit on the money this raises.

----But please don't forget the tuition itself in so low compared to the other Louisiana schools!!!

[cb089]

I found the list of fees tacked onto tuition for the spring



INSURANCE $ 22.00
REG.FIXED 45.00
STU UNION 23.00
STU TECH 60.00
FIXED FEE 31.60
ENERGY FEE 60.00
STU HLTH 20.00
PARK/TRANS 25.00
RECREATION 20.00
STU UNION 55.00
ART MUSEUM 5.00
ACAD EXCEL 120.00
AUX IMPROV 15.00
BAND ASSOC 5.00
CHEERLEADR 4.00
OPER. FEE 61.20
LYCEUM 0.42
STU UNION 20.00
STU HLTH 5.00
S G A 7.50
ARTS FEE 7.00
AUX OPER 100.00
MAP 90.00
BLDG USE N 48.00

24 fees for $850. THAT is why students were hesitant to add on more fees. $850 in fees added on to $2,200 worth of tuition. Like I said, I did vote for the new transportation fee with the hopes that parking and transit options improve and can be a part of university growth. But at this point, new fees need to be carefully considered because they're stacking up fast.

[Bandwagon King]

I'm not a student but have kids at school. May I ask this? Do you see what is being accomplished with those fees? Is it not worth it to see what those fees are starting to accomplish for the pride of the school in every area? Do you guys not think that eventually that pride will show itself in better paying higher profile jobs for the university's graduates as a whole?

[njustice]

I found the list of fees tacked onto tuition for the spring



INSURANCE $ 22.00
REG.FIXED 45.00
STU UNION 23.00
STU TECH 60.00
FIXED FEE 31.60
ENERGY FEE 60.00
STU HLTH 20.00
PARK/TRANS 25.00
RECREATION 20.00
STU UNION 55.00
ART MUSEUM 5.00
ACAD EXCEL 120.00
AUX IMPROV 15.00
BAND ASSOC 5.00
CHEERLEADR 4.00
OPER. FEE 61.20
LYCEUM 0.42
STU UNION 20.00
STU HLTH 5.00
S G A 7.50
ARTS FEE 7.00
AUX OPER 100.00
MAP 90.00
BLDG USE N 48.00

24 fees for $850. THAT is why students were hesitant to add on more fees. $850 in fees added on to $2,200 worth of tuition. Like I said, I did vote for the new transportation fee with the hopes that parking and transit options improve and can be a part of university growth. But at this point, new fees need to be carefully considered because they're stacking up fast.

I feel you. I felt your pain a little over a year ago when I was still a student, but the thing is, we're quickly losing money from the state.

We need to be able to enhance the value of our diplomas, and improving university facilities and services does just that. As a student who attended both LSU and UL, I can tell you that we are very cheap, and already get a lot for the money. We need to increase our self-sufficiency, while simultaneously improving the quality of education (not an easy task).

We are also one of only a handful on universities in the entire nation that does not assess a fee for athletics.

So I agree that these fees need to be properly managed, but they do need to be assessed so that our university can continue to grow.

[lcitsh]

I found the list of fees tacked onto tuition for the spring



INSURANCE $ 22.00
REG.FIXED 45.00
STU UNION 23.00
STU TECH 60.00
FIXED FEE 31.60
ENERGY FEE 60.00
STU HLTH 20.00
PARK/TRANS 25.00
RECREATION 20.00
STU UNION 55.00
ART MUSEUM 5.00
ACAD EXCEL 120.00
AUX IMPROV 15.00
BAND ASSOC 5.00
CHEERLEADR 4.00
OPER. FEE 61.20
LYCEUM 0.42
STU UNION 20.00
STU HLTH 5.00
S G A 7.50
ARTS FEE 7.00
AUX OPER 100.00
MAP 90.00
BLDG USE N 48.00

24 fees for $850. THAT is why students were hesitant to add on more fees. $850 in fees added on to $2,200 worth of tuition. Like I said, I did vote for the new transportation fee with the hopes that parking and transit options improve and can be a part of university growth. But at this point, new fees need to be carefully considered because they're stacking up fast.

Three fees for the Student Union? Are they for three different functions within the Student Union? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just wondering why three.

[Turbine]

Three fees for the Student Union? Are they for three different functions within the Student Union? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just wondering why three.

The Stud Union
The Stupid Union
The Student Union

... not necessarily in that order.

[zephyr]

I found the list of fees tacked onto tuition for the spring



INSURANCE $ 22.00
REG.FIXED 45.00
STU UNION 23.00
STU TECH 60.00
FIXED FEE 31.60
ENERGY FEE 60.00
STU HLTH 20.00
PARK/TRANS 25.00
RECREATION 20.00
STU UNION 55.00
ART MUSEUM 5.00
ACAD EXCEL 120.00
AUX IMPROV 15.00
BAND ASSOC 5.00
CHEERLEADR 4.00
OPER. FEE 61.20
LYCEUM 0.42
STU UNION 20.00
STU HLTH 5.00
S G A 7.50
ARTS FEE 7.00
AUX OPER 100.00
MAP 90.00
BLDG USE N 48.00

24 fees for $850. THAT is why students were hesitant to add on more fees. $850 in fees added on to $2,200 worth of tuition. Like I said, I did vote for the new transportation fee with the hopes that parking and transit options improve and can be a part of university growth. But at this point, new fees need to be carefully considered because they're stacking up fast.

This is nothing different from when I was in school. The funny part is that tuition doesn't seem to have really gone up since that time either

[cajunhawk]

This is nothing different from when I was in school. The funny part is that tuition doesn't seem to have really gone up since that time either

For in state tuition...it's pretty cheap.