ASUSU defines Tier II Tuition
Based on student input, a resolution was passed by the Associated Students of Utah State University last Friday defining where funds generated by Tier II Tuition should be allocated.
“One of the worst things created in higher education is that tuition is a guessing game,” Steve Palmer, ASUSU president, said.
“The resolution passed on Friday is a map to say where our tuition is going over the next three years,” he said.
Tad Thornton, Extensions vice president, said the resolution contained four main categories in which to spend Tier II Tuition – offering more classes for required general education, hiring more advisers, expanding and enlarging Supplemental Instruction and The Rhetoric Associate Program and giving a one-time allocation for recreational equipment and resources.
Thornton said because of the Truth in Tuition Act, students must be approached and asked where they think money should be spent.
Palmer said the administrators would rather have students tell them where the money should go anyway than guess.
“This year, President Hall has really helped students to see the long-reaching effects of Tier II Tuition,” he said.
Kristen Stokes, Family Life senator, said the resolution wasn’t simply a list of areas where ASUSU thinks money should be spent. The resolution took a lot of effort.
“We felt our priorities would help the most students,” Stokes said. “It will give us the most bang for our buck.”
One of the reasons Supplemental Instruction and The Rhetoric Associate Program is included in the resolution is in these programs students can gain valuable experience while having a job to earn money, she said.
“Students have come up to me and said one of the only reasons they passed a class was due to Supplemental Instruction,” she said.
These programs have been growing over the past years, Stokes said, but this resolution would help them to expand further and help everyone in the process.
“The recreational facilities have been a complaint for years,” Stokes said. “I look at [the resolution] as a Band-Aid.”