At the Nov. 30 ASUW meeting, the Senate formally passed its recommendation for student fee increases and changes for the 2023 fiscal year.
Senate Resolution 2761, passed on Nov. 30, presents the formal recommendation by ASUW regarding student fee increases in 2023. This includes increases in current fees and changes to fees and onboarding for new students
“I think the vision as stated by [Vice President] Chestnut is a good one, but I know that as a student who has struggled financially that a lot of students aren’t going to be willing, or at least not want to, spend an entire week to gain one credit hour,” Senator Engel-Cartie said in regards to onboarding changes.
The onboarding change, as described by Associate Vice President for Students Affairs and Dean of Students Kimberly Chestnut, would be a $400 fee for new students, which would enroll them into a “Saddle Up” program.
The goal of the program is to give new students an introduction to higher education coursework in a one-week course. In the recommendation passed by ASUW, this “onboarding” fee would functionally replace the current matriculation and orientation fees for new students.
“I don’t think that mandating that students coming in as a freshman, who are probably already struggling financially or reliant on other sources, I don’t think this is the best use of their time and our time for that matter,” Engel-Cartie said.
Several other senators echoed these comments, also noting that they appreciate the goal of the program, and fully expect some version of this onboarding plan to pass.
An alternative was also discussed, in which the onboarding fee would be $150. This would be a $50 increase over the combined cost of the orientation and matriculation fees that would be dropped according to addendum A of SR 2761.
“I will be voting in support of this amendment,” one senator said. “I do think that it is an appropriate use of student fees, I just still have concerns.”
“A lot of people found it was more demanding than college itself, We had too many obligations.” a first-year senator said. “You didn’t get to actually experience college life. When we got let go into actual college we were like ‘oh we have classes for 3 hours? What are we going to do’ and that’s where people started to derail.”
Similar concerns regarding the effectiveness and impact of the program were voiced, though most senators were in agreement that passing a recommendation on the cost of the fee would be more beneficial than attempting to decline it altogether.
“I would say at this moment, this amendment is not really about saying whether or not we approve of this new orientation and onboarding,” Senator Rhymes said. “This is more about whether or not we will be completely steamrolled.”
This quote was in regards to fears that fully declining the proposal would limit ASUW’s ability to negotiate the specifics of student fee costs before these decisions are finalized by UW.
The now passed resolution recommends a $150 onboarding fee with no added orientation or matriculation fee.
The recommendation also included a 13% increase to the ASUW fee, primarily for funding professional positions and upcoming changes to the ASUW Senate, and a new $4.50 “Interpersonal Violence Fee” that will fund anti-interpersonal-violence programs on campus.
Including one-time costs for new students, this recommendation would increase the current mandatory fee cost from $738.65 to $794.81 according to the resolution.
More information on SR 2761 can be found here. SR2761
