12-5-2003

USA imposes facilities fee School imposes $50 fee
Mobile Register, December 5, 2003 Section: B Page: 2
Author: Jeff Amy

University of South Alabama to assess students up to $50 more per semester to help pay for bond issue. Students at the University of South Alabama will pay up to $50 more a semester to help finance construction and renovation of campus buildings.

Trustees unanimously approved a facilities fee Thursday to help pay for a bond issue of about $30 million that leaders of the 13,000-student university are planning for early next year.

The bond issue, among other things, will pay for a renovation of two buildings on the main campus to house the colleges of nursing and allied health professions, which are now located at USA's Spring Hill Avenue facility.

"We have a good growth rate in our enrollment and one of the things we have to do is provide good facilities for our students," USA President Gordon Moulton told trustees Wednesday. "Students are very discerning consumers, and their parents are even more so."

Full-time students, classified as those taking 12 credit hours or more in a semester, will pay the whole $50. Part-time students will pay a pro-rated share of the facilities fee.

Wayne Davis, USA's vice president for financial affairs, said the fee would cover about half the cost of a $30 million bond issue and that USA would pay for the rest with general tuition revenue. The school will have to pledge those revenues to lenders. Davis said the bonds could be sold in February.

Moulton had mentioned both the possibility of a facilities fee and the bond issue previously, but the proposal did not make a formal appearance on the trustees' advance agenda. It was added Wednesday, just before the Budget and Finance Committee met.

Moulton said he only made the final decision to go forward Wednesday. He said there was some urgency because the university fears interest rates will go up, making the borrowing more expensive.

He and other university officials said they chose to add an additional fee, instead of rolling it into a tuition increase, so that students would understand how the university is spending the money.

"The students like to understand and see where their money is going," Moulton said after Thursday's trustee meeting.

Full-time USA students already pay $190 a semester in fees. That includes a $60 registration fee, an $88 activity/athletic fee, a $19 student health center fee, an $8 student center fee and a $15 library and facilities fee. An undergraduate Alabama resident also pays $1,695 in tuition for 15 credit hours.

USA officials lacked price tags for most of the projects to be financed by the bonds. The most expensive project will probably be the overhauling of the current medical office building and cancer treatment building on the main campus to house nursing and allied health. Extensive renovations, including moving interior walls, will be needed. Work isn't expected to begin until summer at the earliest, and could take more than a year.

The second highest costing project, officials said, will probably be the construction of a new student services building between the student center and the University Library. That building will house the admissions, bursar, registrar, financial aid and veteran's affairs offices, all of which are now in the Administration Building. It will also house career services and international student services.

Other projects include:

Renovating the student center.
Renovating the former Alpha Dormitory South, now partially vacant, for academic offices and classrooms.
Providing $1 million to match $1.5 million in private funds raised to renovate Stanky Field, the baseball stadium.
Constructing roads, a bridge, utilities and landscaping for the 35-acre first phase of the USA Technology Research Park.
Catching up on general maintenance of other buildings including roof replacements.

Trustees approved plans for Stanky Field renovations and the technology park infrastructure Thursday.

They will have to approve other projects as plans are drawn up.

University officials met with Student Government Association President Clay Hammac Wednesday to explain the change. At Thursday's board meeting, he said he was supportive, but urged university officials to explain the increase to students.

"Once we do that, I think it will be easily accepted," he said.

Students on Thursday knew nothing about the change. Once explained, opinion seemed divided. Wes Pollard, a junior from Colorado, said he's willing to pay for upgrades.

"I already pay enough fees, but I think if it's going to bring a higher level of education to campus, right on," said Pollard, who is majoring in international business and Asian studies.

Others said that it would pinch their finances.

Heather Webb, a senior from Foley, said she receives financial aid, and her budget is tight.

"If they're going to make us pay another fee, I think they should educate us ahead of time," said Webb, a psychology major.

More pain is likely on the way for students. Moulton warned that because of a poor state budget outlook, another tuition increase should be expected next fall. USA officials raised in-state undergraduate tuition and fees by 10.6 percent this fall. USA tuition has increased 31.9 percent since 2000-2001.

The median level of tuition and fees among Alabama public colleges has increased 36.4 percent since 2000-2001 according to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.

Moulton noted that USA tuition remains lower than Alabama's six other doctoral-granting universities. Of the 15 four-year public universities, only three have tuition lower than USA.

"This institution is still a good buy," Moulton said Thursday. "It's still a bargain."

This article reproduced with special permission from the Mobile Register.