Student fees and tuition rates at Dixie State University are on the rise.
Members of the Student Fees Allocation Committee and DSU administrators presented their proposed plan for student fee allocation for the 2016-17 school year at the Truth in Tuition forum March 1 in the Dunford Auditorium. Student fees will increase by $12 next semester for all full-time students once the plan is approved by the board of trustees and the Utah State Board of Regents. This rise in student fees would reflect the possible rise in tuition, which the State Legislature controls.
For those who are not full-time students, Dean of Students Del Beatty said linear student fees have just been approved. Bryant Flake, executive director of institutional planning and budget, said linear fees will allow for student fees to be paid depending on credit load. The fees will start at $32.66 per credit, then at a 12-credit load to a 20-credit load, the student fees will stay at $368.
“[Linear fees] just make [the costs] more fair to all students,” Flake said.
One of the biggest changes announced to student fee allocation is the Student Services Program is being done away with as a student fee, reallocating the $55.90 of fees for that program into the Human Performance Center fund. With this additional income, the Human Performance Center fund will receive $115.75 out of every student’s fees, which is more than any other student-funded fee is currently receiving.
Student Body President Matt Devore, a senior integrated studies major from Mesquite, Nevada, said the Student Services Program will not disappear as a working program, but student fees are no longer going to fund it.
“We worked with President (Biff) Williams, and he agreed to take the sum of that fee from institutional costs so that we have money to work with,” Devore said.
The theater, dance, music, and art fund was re-named as the fine arts fee, Devore said.
Another large change that will occur are the plans to move the Multicultural and Diversity Center, which was also announced by Beatty.
Beatty said the current position of the MCDC was not mobility-friendly, housed as it is under the Student Activity Center. The current plan is to move the MCDC in the next few weeks to the second floor of the Browning Learning Resource Center. This should last for a few years while the Gardner Student Center gets renovated so the MCDC can eventually move into the Gardner Student Center, Beatty said.
Also during the meeting, six programs received approval for an increase of funding, including the intramural and fitness programs, department of student involvement, Health and Wellness Center, Testing Center, fine arts program and the MCDC.
There was one new fee introduced by Devore, which will be called Institute of Politics and Public Affairs. He said purpose of this new fee to is increase student involvement in politics both on the local and national level.
Part of that involvement is a proposed “Politics and Pizza” to encourage student discussion of political issues and feed students at the same time.
“[The Institute of Politics and Public Affairs] is something a lot of institutions already have,” Devore said. “We’re kind of behind the curve.”
As this fund will receive only $1 of each student’s fees, Devore said those who run the institute will collaborate with Dixie State University Student Association for a few years to get it off the ground.
“The [student fee allocation] process here is one of the best, most transparent processes I’ve ever seen,” Beatty said.
Beatty said he wanted the audience to continue to be involved in the allocation process and to tell others about it.
This article was updated on March 4 at 11 a.m.
Correction: A previous version of this story implied the final decision on the tuition change had already been made by DSU administration. The state legislature makes changes to tuition of public universities like DSU.
