2008 Woodie Awards
Students to Protest Fee Increases
Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner
Tuition, books, rent … and parking.
It'd be another big-ticket annual cost for University of Baltimore students, enraged and alarmed by an upcoming increase in the annual parking tab from $170 to as much as $1,400.
"It's outrageous," said Brian Shepter, a third-year law student.
"At a time when we are looking at a recession, and students already can't afford the price of education and then throw this on top of it and not tell us about it, it's really going to hurt."
Like other students, Shepter complains the university administration shut students out of the decision to raise fees.
The increases, which take effect this fall, depend on the amount of time a student spends on campus, ranging from $311 a year for two days a week, for example, to $819 for four.
Students involved in extracurricular activities at the school, which primarily serves commuters because the campus has no dormitories, could pay as much as $1,400.
"Students feel the university is forcing them off campus" except during classes, said Joe Slider, Undergraduate Student Senate president. "It's unfair to charge the students in one lump-sum instead of staggering it."
The fee increases, which would be the first since 1999, will help defray the costs of a new parking garage, university officials said.
"I understand the student concern and anger. No one likes to raise rates. I'm going to pay more, too," said Peter Toran, a UB spokesman.
"The bottom line is we want to provide more and better parking for students. We haven't figured out a way to provide for more parking without paying for it."
Students lamented how the university unveiled the increases.
"They approached students, but it was too late in the game," said Cari Watts, Graduate Student Senate president.
Courtney Smith, a freshman criminal-justice major, got her driver's license last week.
Now she worries about how she'll pay to park.
"I cannot afford this," she said. "I'm already working three jobs."
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kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com
Reprinted with permission from The Examiner.
See article at The Examiner
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