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Show Tuition keeps ur,■.• CREEPING UP mom Just give me your honest opinion. on students BY MARY ROYAL /STAFF WRITER GRAPHIC BY IVY SMITH aiting in long lines at the Student Services Building to pay for tuition is just the beginning of the worst things about paying for classes. Tuition has been rising for the last 20 years at a consistent rate, currently resting at more than $3,000 for 12 credits of undergraduate classes for Utah residents. Students, such as Emily Van Allen, a senior in urban ecology, are starting to speak out against the increase. "We get a great education here at the U, but the tuition increases have to stor Van Allen said. "When I first started at the U it cost me about $2,300 per semester to attend. Now I'm paying close to $5,000 per semester. Something's wrong with that picture:" Van Allen said there isn't an increase in the quality of education and overall campus experience to match the rise in tuition. Financial and Business Services at the U are trying to alleviate the burden of tuition costs, but the solutions have problems of their own. One option that many U students use is deferral. With this plan, students are required to pay 30 percent of their tuition bill upfront. But there's also a $30 sign-up fee. And if tuition is not paid in 60 days after the initial deadline, students can be charged an additional $60. In 2013 the U's Board of Trustees approved a five percent tuition increase, and last year the board approved an additional 5.8 percent tuition increase for the 2014-2015 school year. This was approximately a $374 increase per year per student. W Some cite the university's acceptance into the Pac-12 as a cause of the sudden increase, but the U still has the lowest tuition in the conference. Some of the students hit hardest by the tuition hikes are outof-state students.Their tuition averages more than $18,000 per year at the U with 12 credits a semester. Tuition hikes may have affected student enrollment and graduation rates as well. In Fall 2012, before the initial tuition hike, the U's enrollment was 32,388. In Fall 2013, this number dropped by a few hundred individuals to 32,077. By Fall 2014, the population at the U dropped to 31,515. Hidden among the growing costs to attend the university are student fees allocated to developing campus in ways that are not always recognized. One fee is intended to go toward renovating student-used facilities. Raven James, a senior in the College of Humanities, isn't buying it. She said the tuition increase doesn't benefit who it should. "In today's world you need a degree to get a decent paying job, but colleges and universities are pricing students out of being able to afford that;' she said. "We are students. We are poor. I understand universities need to make money, but they are going after the wrong demographic to achieve that end:' m.royal@chronicle.utah.edu @mary_royal FREEB!RDS WORLD BURRITO We only use all-natural, fresh ingredients in our burritos, nachos, salads, quesadillas, bowls and tacos - made in our kitchen, daily. KIMBALL JUNCTION TAYLORSVILLE SANDY WEST VALLEY CITY SALT LAKE CITY WE CATER FROM 10 TO 10,000 Lower division tuition rates (in dollars) for residents per 12 credit hour 801.553.2397 FREEBIRDSCATERING.UT@GMAIL COM FREEBIRDS.COM 13 0 over—A.. 3,000 BY STEFANIE AREVALO /STAFF WRITER PHOTO BY KIFFER CREVELING ii W hat exactly oozes on the floor of the classrooms in OSH?" asked Riley Ellis, a sophomore in exercise science. "I've sat in more than one classroom [there] and seen the trail of an unidentified substance across the room': Sights like this are not uncommon in OSH, the building many students consider to be the worst on campus. OSH is located just south of the Union. Roger Hansen, a custodian for OSH, receives complaints like these often. "Professors are always calling for me to clean up some mess, change some fixture or at least listen to their grievances in person," Hansen said. He said the unknown substance on the floors is usually water — "nothing to be scared of': 4 { THECHRONY NEWS OPINION ARTS In an unofficial straw poll of 50 students by The Daily Utah Chronicle, top complaints about OSH ranged from sudden temperature changes in the building to strange noises and faulty equipment. Melissa Brown, a sophomore in business, said she never knows what to wear for her class in the building. "In the middle of winter the classroom is known to be either an ice chest or too warm for comfort," she said. "To make matters worse, there is no thermostat handy for each classroom, so there might be a storm going on outside, but the eight layers I wore to stay warm slowly start getting peeled off because the classroom is too hot': Robin Jensen, a senior in religious studies, is bothered by the cracking sounds the building makes. SPORTS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015 "Once in class, I skipped breakfast and thought my stomach was making weird noises and the whole class could hear them," Jensen said. "Only then did I realize that the noises were coming from the radiators and shaky windows': Built in 1955, OSH was designed to house enough classrooms to accommodate the high number of incoming students. It was previously reported in Aug. 2014 that the U's Facilities Management was conducting a survey to get a better idea of the changes needed for OSH, but no renovation plans have since been released. s.arevalo@chronicle.utah.edu @ArevaloStefani 2,000 2,420.00 2,644.55 2,851.00 3,007.84 3,140.00 1,000 ' rt •' 'r, 10% OFF WITH VALID U OF U OR SLCC ID *Information was obtained from the U's Office of Income Accounting. 5 |