Extra fees for Gordon Ford students

Gordon Ford Fees

Herald Staff

The issue: Starting this semester, the Gordon Ford College of Business is asking students to pay a $15 fee per every credit hour.

Our stance: With little information to go on, it seems as if this is a repetitive fee that has no immediate and direct impact.

It’s no secret that college students are broke. With the cost of tuition and everyday needs, we tend to have very little left over. Surprising students with an extra fee and little explanation creates a lack of trust towards administrators. 

The former provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, Gordon Emslie, said this last Tuesday that the money collected through this fee goes towards providing services for students. But, like us, he does not know exactly what all of these services will be, just that they will be addressed gradually rather than all at once.  

Jeffrey Katz, dean of Gordon Ford, initiated a task force that included only two out of the 2,228 Gordon Ford students to asses what resources would be best used in the college. These resources include job fairs, internships and free tutoring. The task force took their decision to the twelve members of the student advisory committee for approval, meaning only $2,700 of the roughly $600,000 estimated to be gained for the semester was represented.

Because this fee was implemented at the college level, as stated by Emslie, it did not need to go through the university administrators in order to be executed, and few students—the people directly affected by this—seem to have been consulted.

Additionally, Emslie noted, because the decision is made on the college level, there might be a chance that other colleges in the university could notice the amount of money being made and adopt their own student fees. 

In order for Gordon Ford to remain accountable, there needs to be a more detailed explanation of their plans for this accumulated money and more intensive consultation with the students. Right now, it seems the money is being used for services already provided by other agencies in the university, such as the Center for Career and Professional Development.  

Because of this fee, they will be making the better part of one million dollars this academic year. That is a lot of money to collect from students without having a specific plan as to where it will be going—unless they’re planning to throw a really superb surprise party.