Your article on the president’s proposal to increase fees is partially misleading.It fails to address the fact that fees for housing are increasing effective this fall. It upsets me to see that students are raising hell about the possible increase in parking fees and the possible increase in the student service fees, but they aren’t raising hell about the increase in housing fees.Students this fall will have to pay an excess of nearly $1,000 just to live in a normal residence hall such as Smith Hall, while students in small houses just have to pay $980. Why am I having to pay over $1,000 to lug my personal belongings up three flights of stairs, having to fight heat exhaustion or heat stroke since I’ll be moving back into the dorm in the middle of the summer?As far as I am concerned, a small house should be a luxury. Why are all the dorms priced differently? Why should I pay more for a residence hall than a small house? Residence Life does not address that. Why are fees going up? Why should I pay more beginning this fall? Why should I pay over $900 for a meal plan? No one has answered those questions.As a student, it should be the school’s duty to address why these necessary fee increases are warranted. We are entitled to a reason for the increase. Also, the administration needs to realize how this fee increase will affect students.I am on financial aid in the form of student loans that I have to pay back when I get out of college. I should be entitled to a low-cost education that enables me to borrow as little as possible. I don’t want to spend 30 to 40 years paying the federal government back because of the reasons why the Student Government Association can’t address all of these problems. They are partially right, but mainly, the SGA is to blame.They don’t do enough to encourage students to attend their meetings. When was the last time you ever saw SGA publicize one of their meetings?I’ve been on campus for nearly four months and I’ve barely seen SGA do anything. They aren’t doing enough to encourage this so-called “voice to the administration,” as your article cited on Tuesday, isn’t speaking back to the students enough. They have this wild idea that the student should come to their meetings. Well, SGA, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. I say they should get off their lazy duffs and get out there and ask the students themselves instead of sitting there clueless waiting for the student to come to them.There can be solutions to the problems, but SGA needs to get out there and do something better instead of waiting for the student to come to them.
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