Email Notice
September 6, 2005
Student Fees
Dear Students:
Welcome to a new academic year. For those of us who stay here year
round, it is always exciting and renewing to have students back on
campus. Toward the end of the last academic year, I made two
decisions that increased the fees you pay for your education
here. Although I informed your governance leaders shortly after
these decisions were made, I want to be sure that you are aware of
such changes and understand my rationale for these decisions.
The first fee decision I made was to increase the fee for the
Student Health Center. Most people value access to affordable, high
quality health care. It is particularly important for our students,
many of whom find themselves far from their homes and regular health
care providers. We have increased the Student Health Center fee by
$44 per semester effective fall 2005 with an annual adjustment
linked to the Higher Education Price Index starting fall 2006.
I take the recommendations of student groups and referenda very
seriously and did not make this decision easily. I explain below my
reasoning for the decision to approve this fee increase.
The Student Health Center services at HSU are consistently used and
rated highly by students. In fact, over 5,000 students annually use
the Student Health Center; HSU has the highest per capita use rate
of CSU campuses. Additionally, in a benchmarking customer survey
conducted by CSU health centers, HSU had the highest satisfaction
ratings among the participating campuses. Our remote rural area and
lack of community health services, along with the absence of local
HMOs, account for much of the heavy student demand for on-campus
health services.
Without the increase in the Student Health Center fee, services to
students would be reduced drastically, and many students would
suffer - physically, emotionally and fiscally. Such a reduction
would result in many students not receiving necessary, timely and
low-cost medical services. Even with the proposed fee increase, the
annual cost to a student for unlimited access to the Student Health
Center is low when compared to a single visit to a clinic, physician
or hospital emergency room.
The Student Health Center has not had a rate increase in over seven
years while costs have increased at a rate of approximately 5.5
percent per year. If the Student Health Center fee had been
adjusted for inflationary increases over this seven-year period, an
initiative to increase the student fee would not have been
necessary. The increase in the Student Health Center fee will become
part of the students' budget for financial aid awards; and for our
most financially needy students, the fee increase will be funded by grants.
The second decision I made raises our parking fees. Every year at
the beginning of the fall semester, I receive a series of emails and
letters from students, faculty and others complaining about the
difficulty of finding parking on campus. By state law, our parking
operations must pay for themselves. This means that the parking
program cannot utilize state funds allocated to the campus. Over
the last three years, we have had to use funds from our parking
reserves to meet annual operating costs. Our Master Facilities
Plan, which we developed last year with input from students, faculty
and the community, designs a campus that is in part: pedestrian and
bicycle friendly; removes much of the interior traffic and parking;
creates open green spaces; facilitates the use of alternative forms
of transportation; and moves parking to the periphery of the campus
through the construction of parking garages. Regretfully, our
previous parking fee policy cannot support solving the current
parking problems, increasing alternative forms of transportation and
planning for future parking needs. I made the decision to increase
parking fees as recommended by the University's Parking and
Transportation Committee despite a negative, although split,
recommendation from the Student Fee Advisory Committee. We also have
increased the parking fees that non-union represented staff and
administrators will pay. For an annual parking permit, it will cost
us $60 more or $22.50 per academic semester.
I regret that this state and many others in our country have begun
to move away from the position that public higher education is a
social as well as an individual good. This means that public money
is supporting a smaller proportion of the costs of public higher
education, thus shifting this social responsibility to students and
their families. I urge you to devote some of your energies and
imaginations to encouraging our society to change its position on
this issue. One of the best ways to do this is to get involved in
activities such as Associated Students, Residence Hall Council or
one of our many governance committees. I offer you my best wishes
for a productive and happy year.
Sincerely,
Rollin C. Richmond
President