The entire school is well aware that tuition skyrocketed for next year — by at least $1,200 or maybe more depending on your class standing. But the rapidly increasing smaller fees are a students’ death knell.
The fees for parking and transportation, among other things, keep rising. Students will have to deal with the University’s attempts to nickel and dime their bank account.
This week Parking and Transit Services announced a giant hike in the cost for the U-Pass, which lets students have unlimited access to the Metro Light Rail and some of the Valley Metro bus routes.
The pass, which costs $80 for an academic year now, will increase to $150 for the next academic year. While it still may be cheaper than paying to take the light rail every day, almost doubling a fee for a service that many students use — 14,000 U-Passes were bought this year — is unacceptable.
This comes on the heels of PTS announcing that parking rates on the West and Polytechnic campuses will go up as well. Fee increases on these campuses vary, but are in the general range of $35 to $70. The exception is that residence hall lot permits for the Polytechnic campus, which used to be free, will now be $280.
Seventy dollars more here and $35 more there? It adds up quickly.
These fee increases don’t take into account fees that some majors have. The natural and life science fields are tacking on an $800 fee next year, even though programs are being cut.
These fee increases severely diminish a student’s capability to have what many would consider a traditional university experience. Student tickets for football and men’s basketball games are $130. It costs money to rush for a fraternity or sorority. Who will have money left to do these traditional activities after banking accounts have been gouged and credit has been maxed out?
Efforts like ASU’s new Game Day initiative will all be in vain because students may either not have the money to turn out at these events or may have a work schedule that conflicts with these events.
We have as much Sun Devil pride as anyone else. But how can we show our school pride if it is beyond our budget?
The economic reality of college can be hard to take and the University is not making it any easier by making students scrounge for even more change just to pay for transportation to school.
If costs only keep rising, then we eventually need a new solution. Tuition and fees seem to outpace federal grants, financial aid and scholarships. That leaves student loans. More students are taking take out loans and graduating with a mountain of debt.
Paying more for parking and tuition. More student loans and fees. The traditional university experience may just be slipping away.
