Written by Joey Brasil
The pandemic has brought college life to a depressing place due to the majority of classes being moved online. Despite hosting classes through Zoom and other apps like it, colleges have still continued to charge students for facilities and services that are no longer available to them.
For some SDSU students, the fees have even increased since the onset of the pandemic. Just this year, at the beginning of the spring semester, students were required to pay around $1,000 in campus fees, which does not include tuition. While the increase in costs for colleges can be attributed partly to inflation, the additional amount of money added to the fees are leaving students and their families with questions and frustration.
A father of a freshman student, Rick Richards, said, “It’s virtually impossible for students to take advantage of anything that they’re being charged for, especially while they’re attending class at home.” In similar opposition to the fees, an SDSU student created a petition that requested refunds from the school due to the lack of education quality and services. Despite the petition receiving over 5,500 signatures, campus fees have not been changed for students.
Campus officials for SDSU claim that the fees previously used towards the facilities are now being used to transition many of the student services to a new online format. Additionally, facilities such as the Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre and Viejas Arena are paid for with student fees.
Aside from SDSU, colleges across California are facing similar retaliation from students over campus fees. A student at Sonoma State University decided to sue the CSU system, demanding student fee refunds for the spring semester of last year.
Even for students in the UC system, campus fees have not changed, but the UC system claims the money is being implemented towards ongoing costs at the schools. Specifically at UCSD, Erika Johnson asserted that “campus fees cover ongoing costs at the university like financial aid, health services and building maintenance and that campus services are available to students remotely.”
Many students would have been less upset if their schools had communicated their intentions with campus fees better. At SDSU, officials further assert that while they empathize with students, there is nothing more they can do to help them financially.
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