Letter to the Editor: Student employee asked to donate money

To the Editor,

I’ve been a full time employee at USU for 6 months now, and while it is a good paying job, I wouldn’t say that my husband (a full time student) and I are “well off”. I’m taking two classes this semester, and was thrilled to get half tuition for my classes.

I was surprised when my father-in-law called the other day to say he had some mail for me at his house, from USU. I don’t know why they would have sent anything there; I’ve never listed that address as my own. I was surprised when I opened the letter and found that it was asking for contributions. The letter was from the former Classified Employees Association president, Milton Johnson. He stated that my efforts were truly noticed by others on campus, that I was a great employee, etc. He then went on the say how hard it is for students that have to work part time to balance school work with their other responsibilities. This could prevent them from having time to work with professors on research projects and other important things. If I would only sign up to have money taken out of my paycheck each month, I could really help those struggling students. My contribution could help offset the cost of tuition those students pay, because an extra $100.00 in tuition could cause someone to go to a different university.

That’s interesting, because I remember reading about tuition increases, new 40 million dollar buildings being built, and decreases in funding from the state recently. I guess the university thought it could solicit donations from its employees, implement hiring freezes, and raise student fees to offset their budgeting woes.

Candiss Petersen