Tuesday night’s ASUW meeting featured Robert Godby, chair of the programmatic fees committee, and ASUW senator Daniel Kerbs, to give an update on the status of the implementation of programmatic fees.
Originally, there would have been two fees: one for the college and one for the specific program. Now both fees have been combined into one fee.
“One of the changes that was recommended by the president and a subcommittee of trusties was to combine some fees to make it simpler,” Godby said.
Health Science fees were also changed. Nursing will now pay the same fee that kinesiology and communication disorders will pay.
“There was a $5 difference,” Godby said. “To keep them simple, they suggested those three fees in Health Science be the same.”
The disabilities studies minor will not be affected by the Health Science fees.
Godby spoke about student feedback in the form of a recent survey that was completed by over 850 students. Over 1,000 were started and not completed.
“With over 8,000 students on campus. it was pretty good penetration over one week,” Godby said.
Four focus groups were also conducted along with ten town hall meetings.
The results of the survey were divided. 45 percent reported they were against the programmatic fees, while 55 percent responded as for the fees or maybe for the fees. Each college had separate findings on the fees.
“Not surprisingly, a large number of students are against it,” Godby said. “It differs by college significantly.”
46 percent of students in the College of Business responded maybe, 25 percent said yes and 34 percent said no. On the other hand, in the College of Engineering, 10 percent of students responded yes, 35 per cent said maybe, 53 percent said no.
“You might think that as the fees went up, people would be more likely to be against it. But we’ve actually found that’s not the case,” Godby said. “Maybe students are more or less supportive of what the fees will be used for.”
Senator Kerbs examined the value versus impact of the fees.
“There was one question weighing cost versus benefit,” Kerbs said, when describing how the survey was set up.
Over 40% of engineering students believe the fees will impact them, according to the survey data.
“We’re still analyzing the data,” Kerbs said. “Moving forward, we’re really going to take that data and evaluate it.”
Ivenson Hospital forensic nursing coordinator, Michela Telford, also spoke at Tuesday’s meeting. Telford spoke about the services Ivenson provides in cases of sexual assault and domestic violence.
“From a campus standpoint, the biggest thing we’re going to see from the population is sexual assault,” Telford said. “Our program is set up where it’s a one on one thing: one nurse, one patient.”
Telford stressed that the hospital does not require mandatory reporting.
“If a patient comes to the hospital, no matter the circumstances, they do not have to report the sexual assault,” Telford said.
Senate Bill #2538: ASUW Endowment in Support of the ASUW Childcare Assistance Scholarship was passed unanimously.
