San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec




San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

Proposed SHS fee increase gets no student vote

Ryan Lowy / Staff Photographer

By Anthony Bronson, Staff Writer

For the first time in eight years, Student Health Services is seeking a fee increase, which would take effect for the upcoming spring semester,;however, students will not be given the chance to vote on the increase.

If the Campus Fee Advisory Committee approves the fee increase, the health services fee will jump from $85 to $150 per student per semester in the spring and fall semesters and from $50 to $110 per student in the summer.

According to a presentation given at four open forums to discuss the fee increase, revenue declines, expense increases and increased service demands pushed SHS to ask the CFAC for an increase in the health services fee.

SHS is expected to experience as much as a $2.5 million loss this year unless the fee adjustment is approved, according to the presentation.

“We’re not allowed to have a loss so when I say we’re going to have a loss, that’s what we’re projecting,” Thomas Wilson, SHS interim director said. “If the fee doesn’t go through, I will start, probably in December, laying off staff and I will start closing clinics because we have to have a balanced budget by the end of the year.”

The loss is blamed on the reduction in enrollment and increasing medical costs from the rising demand in more complex treatments.

“The biggest thing that happened to us was the drop in enrollment,” Wilson said. “We were actually doing very well and when the enrollment started dropping, it significantly affected us.”

SHS said if the fee increase is passed, it will return financial stability, preserve and perhaps expand services, along with maintaining and increasing crisis care for distressed students.

“The general student population is presenting (us) with increasingly complex medical and mental health needs,” according to the presentation.

If the health services fee is not passed, SHS claims it will have to lay off employees, reduce hours, institute closures, assist students on a first come first serve basis, increase costs for many currently offered services and reduce the amount of services offered.

The decision of whether or not this new fee will take effect is not up to the students, but rather the decision lays in the hands of SDSU President Stephen L. Weber after receiving a recommendation from CFAC about whether the fee should pass or not.

Instead of proposing the health services fee increase as a referendum in which the entire student body would have a chance to vote through WebPortal, CFAC, by executive order of the Chancellor’s Office and Weber, decided to fast-track the fee decision using alternative consultation.

In using this method, students are invited to participate in discussion about fee increases through open forums such as the four held for the SHS fee increase in the first two weeks of this month.

“With referendums, our participation rate tends to be pretty low,” David Ely, CFAC Committee Chair said. “We’ll get 12 to 14 percent of the student body participating, which means a large portion of the student body doesn’t participate in these discussions at all.”

Ely said the goal of alternative consultation was to determine what the average student thought about the fee increase because the only students who vote in referendums are likely the students who have strong opinions about the issue.

“We went with this approach because we wanted to have discussions among students to get the information out and to give people the opportunity to ask questions and to make comments and have a detailed discussion among students about supporting or opposing this fee,” Ely said. “More than what would’ve happened if we would have done just a referendum where most students would’ve simply read some material on a website and then voted without having a conversation first.”

However, Ely said during the Oct. 6 open forum CFAC invited a large amount of students to participate in the open forums, but only a small group of students attended and gave feedback. Specifically at the Oct. 6 forum, only three students attended, two of which were from The Daily Aztec.

After asking five San Diego State students about their opinions regarding the health services fee increase, each reported having no idea  increase was even on the table. CFAC will vote on its final SHS fee increase recommendation for Weber next Friday.

To read more information about the proposal to increase the health services fee, visit shsfee.sdsu.edu.

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Proposed SHS fee increase gets no student vote