Tuition and fees rise, student services fall
WANTNEEDO by Kalan Lyra
Since tuition in the State of Texas was deregulated in 2003, tuition and fees for undergraduates at the University of Houston-Clear Lake have increased 65 percent. For graduate and professional programs it has gone up even higher.
This past spring, the Board of Regents for the University Houston System set the cap for undergraduates at a 7 percent increase for fall 2011. The board also approved a maximum 9 percent increase for graduate and professional programs.
Students are finding themselves having to dig a little deeper in their pockets to attend college. Due to the budget crisis, UHCL’s budget has been drastically cut, so non-essential services are being reduced or eliminated, leading to less services being offered to students. Students are paying more and more for fewer and fewer services.
As a result of the latest budget cuts, students, undergraduate and graduate, no longer receive free printing in the Alfred R. Neumann Library.
While we understand that the entire university system and all state supported schools face budget cuts, as students, we have to ask – what is next? Cutbacks should have the least impact on the educational services for students. The loss of free printing in the library affects all students, especially when we write papers and complete research projects.
While the university does provide students with the ability to save their work to their PC Lab account and print for free at any of the four computer labs, printing information from reference books that are available only in the library is still an obstacle for most students.
Many students have found this change to be an inconvenience. Printing in the labs has its disadvantages. Students do not have access to the special reference materials and the labs often have interfering noise levels. The labs do not have the same quiet as a library.
With more students printing in the labs, there is a longer wait time for printouts, especially on Mondays and Tuesdays when the majority of classes that take place in the labs are held. The reality is, with everyone going to the labs to print, the University Computing & Telecommunication’s budget is sure to increase this semester. How long will unlimited printing last in the labs? Will students be asked to pay more in lab fees to absorb these costs?
What about the ripple effects of these cutbacks that have not been heard or seen yet? Many of the student services offices are shorthanded by one or more people. We may soon see a longer turn around on responses or services and possibly even a decrease in programs offered. What services or programs could the university cut from the budget next?
We, the students, need to respond to changes in our campus services and exhibit an interest in future cutback trends. Students need to know thier rights.Student Government Association is the voice of the student body.
In fact, SGA has not yet heard any complaints about the new library printing policy. Less than one percent of the student body attends SGA meetings. They are held every Tuesday at the SSB Lecture Hall 11:30 am.
It is imperative that students pay attention to these changes because future budget cuts are inevitable as state support declines. Every UHCL student needs to become more involved in how the budget process affects higher education at the local and state levels. We must make our voices heard on campus and in our state legislature. We have lost free printing in the library. What’s next?
This year the Texas Legislature approved UHCL for downward expansion and freshman and sophomore classes will soon be offered. We will need more student services, not less. Tuition and fees should stay affordable without the loss of services for students. We cannot let getting an education to become a luxury.
It is absolutely important for UHCL to have free printing services for students. Students need a lot of referral materials and lot of web sources is imperative and mandatory in a student’s career, irrespective to the faculty they are in. Also, when the assignments and reports are asked by teachers in printed format, it is total absurd not to have free printing service. I don’t really understand any misuse of free printing service in university at all unless board members are concerned getting few dollars of savings into their pocket instead of being more concerned about student’s future. All the concerned senior members of UHCL need to understand that every college is to be first focused on providing resources to students, then think about implementing these sorts of ridiculous regulations.