Student fees to increase for library, CAPS
The Utah State University Student Fee Board approved three new fees for the upcoming 2020-2021 school year.
A $1 adjustment was approved for the Merrill-Cazier Library, 49 cents for Counseling and Psychological Services and $2.97 for the Student Health and Wellness Center. Another fee, a 50 cent adjustment for the library, was dismissed.
A majority of fee board members voted for the $1 library fee, with one member voting against it. The money from the fee will go towards hiring an Open Educational Resources coordinator. Services from Open Educational Resources includes providing materials and textbooks that students can access free of charge.
The 49 cent increase for CAPS was approved by the majority, with only one person opposing the increase. The increase will go towards providing competitive salaries for CAPS interns, which will hopefully decrease wait times to see counselors. The $2.97 fee was unanimously approved. The adjustment will go towards the salary of a full-time psychologist who specializes in primary care for the Student Health and Wellness Center.
The board unanimously voted against the 50 cent fee for video streaming services for the library. The fee was intended to help the library get broadcasting rights for videos and documentaries at the request of professors.
USU Student Affairs Vice President James Morales also presented the opinion of USU’s Executive Council before votes were made. Executive Council members include USU President Noelle Cockett, USU Executive Vice President and Provost Francis Galey, as well as other deans and provosts.
According to Morales, the executive council unanimously supported the $1 increase for the library, while unanimously voting against the 50 cent increase for the library.
“The Executive Council said administrators need to work harder at throttling that demand,” Morales said, regarding the 50 cent fee, “because maybe it was just demand without real basis for request by faculty.”
For the 49 cent increase for CAPS, the majority of the Executive Council voted for the increase, with one person voting against it. The $2.97 increase for the Student Health and Wellness Center had unanimous approval from the Executive Council.
Further discussion of the proposed fees showed some disagreement among the fee board.
College of Humanities and Social Sciences Sen. Naomi Ward presented the case for the 50 cent video streaming increase for the library.
“These are not short videos the professors can pull from YouTube. These are full length films and documentaries the library is acquiring the rights for professors to show a class.” she said.
She added that the library received 122 requests for videos last year, with 86 being from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Ward also expressed frustration with the university over the CAPS fee.
“Last year we approved over $10 for CAPS,” she said. “I’m frustrated the university and the state legislature chose not to fund this and went to students for funding again.”
Utah State University Student Association executive vice president Dexton Lake said he would be addressing those concerns about CAPS in a letter to the president of the university.
School of Graduate Studies Sen. Jared Fry spoke briefly about the increase for the Student Health and Wellness Center and the hope to decrease wait times with a new psychologist. He said many therapy providers in Cache Valley, Utah and Salt Lake City, Utah have an average wait time of five to eight weeks, while USU currently only has a two-week wait.
“I do think this is important, and it should pass,” Fry said. “However, is it the university standard to provide a service to students that exceeds what the market and other universities are doing?”
“This is not so much a sign that we are doing better than we need to be doing,” Ward said, “but that those other organizations need to be doing better.”
College of Engineering Sen. Cooper Karras suggested requiring co-payment from students in the future if psychological services become too costly.
No amendments were added to any of the fees. Fees will be finalized pending approval from President Cockett.
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