By Sam Shelton
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Full-time students at Towson University would pay an additional $6 in student fees in 2017 under a plan adopted by the school’s Student Government Association Tuesday.
If approved by the university’s President’s Council and the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, the fee will increase from $42 to $45 per semester, or $90 a year – a 7.1 percent jump. Part-time students will continue to pay $4 per credit hour each semester.
The 19-4 vote came after an hour-long interruption by concerned black students, who protested during the meeting and refused to leave until SGA President Kurt Anderson signed and acknowledged their list of demands.
The SGA first proposed the $42 to $45 per semester increase at a Nov. 9 Student Fee Forum moderated by Vice President for Student Affairs Deb Moriarty and Chief Financial Officer Joe Oster.
The increase will provide the SGA’s $1.8 million operating budget with an estimated $100,000 in additional funds, according to a proposal compiled by Anderson.
SGA undergrad fees have increased three times since the 2006 fiscal year, when full-time students paid $76 annually.
Sen. Korey Johnson, who moved to table the resolution, was the only SGA member to speak against the proposed increase during the meeting, but three other senators voted against the resolution.
“Where I come from, $3 is a meal for some,” Johnson said.
Johnson argued that the SGA should have tried to find other internal “structural adjustments” to make before raising the costs to students.
“There’s no direct correlation between student groups getting money or students benefitting and [the SGA] raising the student fee,” she said.
Sen. Helen Grafton said that cutting costs elsewhere in the SGA budget would mean taking resources away from students. Sen. Jason Chato described the fee increase as “necessary.”
During the 2015 Fall Semester, 48 student groups requested budgets that were honored by the SGA. Seventy-six groups have requested budgets for Spring 2016, the report said.
More than half of the new revenue from the fee increase, a projected $55,000, will go toward funding student organizations.
According to Anderson’s report, $12,000 of the extra revenue will cover the SaferMobility app, which launched this semester, and $3,000 will be used to handle costs associated with the upkeep of the CollegeTown shuttle system.
In addition, $10,000 will be used for “information system licenses,” to “create a system that tracks interactions and engagement.” The report says that the SGA, in conjunction with IT consulting firm Sierra-Cedar, is implementing an information system designed to maintain better record keeping and other programs “that are contributing to student success.”
The reports lists that $2,000 of the additional income will go toward an executive budget increase, while $18,000 will go to salary increases for SGA employees to keep up with minimum wage.