Student DOTS fees to shrink next year

As state-wide budget cuts are forcing university officials to talk about raising student fees, DOTS is bucking the trend.

About one week after the university proposed charging $165 per student in new fees to maintain the libraries, the University Health Center and the university's classrooms, Department of Transportation Services Director David Allen said student fees for his department will drop by at least $3 next year.

Allen said the fee decrease is possible because gas prices have fallen.

This year, DOTS charged about $40 for part-time students with fewer than eight credits and about $80 for other students.

The fees marked a major increase from the previous year as officials worried that $4-a-gallon gas would become a permanent reality, but with gas prices now swinging in the opposite direction, Allen said the department could afford to charge students less.

"We told the [Committee for the Review for Student Fees] that if gas prices don't keep going in that direction, we will credit the money back to students," Allen said.

When gas prices dropped this year, DOTS went to the committee earlier this fall and proposed a decrease in the 2010-2011 fees.

"The process is still going on, so it is unclear exactly how much the fees will decrease," Allen said.

Once the committee approves the fees, they will be submitted to university President Dan Mote. The Board of Regents gives student fees final approval.

Various Shuttle-UM services provided by DOTS — NITE Ride, evening services and commuter services — require funds from student fees.

Although many students use these services, those who don't ride the buses feel the mandatory fees are unfair.

"If we don't use it, then why should we pay?" freshman letters and sciences major Kara Milstein said.

In light of possible hikes in student fees, some students feel the decrease in transportation fees won't make much of a difference.

"It will just balance out if they add more fees," Milstein said.

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