I believe there are unnecessary fees that UNM charges students for but I will only mention two, which consist of paying to print in Zimmerman Library and the parking meters. If someone is doing research in the library, the only way to print is to pay 10 cents per page to print. It is inconvenient for most students because many do not carry change. We all pay students fees for paper with in our tuition. Therefore, why do we have to pay for paper twice? We are encouraged to print at the library yet with these fees, it discourages many students. Much of library info is online therefore needs to be printed out. For newspaper articles, you have to pay to print which are very valuable for research papers. Yes, there are computer pods in the Dane Smith, the Sub and the engineering and science computer pod where students are not charged with these fees.
However, during certain hours of the day it is difficult to get a computer in one of those areas. This is because of the high volume of students during certain times of the day. You need either to go early or stand in line for a few minutes. There are other areas on campus were you can print but only if you are part of certain departments. For example, if you print in the Ortega building you cannot get what you printed until you can prove to them that you are a language student. In addition, the Political Science building their computer pod is locked and only individuals who are graduate students have permission to use them. The computer pods are for all students to use them but they are not available to all students. Perhaps UNM should invest in some more computers for students to use.
The parking structure was made primarily for students. Yet we are paying to park not to keep it maintained but to paying to use it. Also, parking meters on campus during Tuesday and Thursday classes students are only allowed to put coins in the meter to last for an hour. However, Tuesday and Thursday classes last for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Are we supposed to get out of class early to pay the parking meter more money? Even if its empty for 15 minutes and you show back up at your car there will be a ticket for 15 dollars and if not paid it keeps going up. Even though after certain hours students do not need to pay for meters, I believe there are more students on campus during the day versus the evening. We should be paying for a lot more important issues such as better security because there are quite a few thefts on campus.
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Carolyn, While I agree there are enough fees and hidden charges mixed in with our tuition that it sounds crazy to pay for parking and printing. BUT- what about the good fees? Did you know a portion of our student fees go to the Student Fee Review Board that helps divide money and fund programs such as African American Student Services and The Muggle Society. In short, some of the fees in our tuition go to important clubs and organizations that (while not all students are involved) enrich the college experience and make UNM a more fun and diverse place for learning... Just something to think about... :)
ReplyDeleteI cannot agree more. There's no wonder why more people do not attend college. Aside from the high tuition and extraordinary cost of books, we have to pay for an expensive parking permit or get ticketed at every meter for going over five minutes. I paid one hundred twenty some dollars to have a parking permit in the south lot (very far from campus) in which I need to take a shuttle to class anyway and I recieved a ticket once because my windshield cover covered the permit half way. So obviously the enforcer knew I had a permit, but ticketed me because he/she couldn't see it completely! It is frustrating as a struggling college student too have fines left and right. We can't park anywhere for free! I completely agree with this blog.
ReplyDeleteI actually agree with the library charging a fee to print. When you think of all of the costs involved in printing with the equipment, paper, and ink it starts to add up. Anyone can go into the library and print up what ever they want which is why they charge a fee and the departments do not.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that the parking policy needs to be changed. I am a night student with a South Lot permit. Normally it is not a problem as I can park any where after 3:45. However, almost all of the services are only offered till 4 or 5pm and I do not get out of work until 5:30. The issue is in order rush over to the campus on my lunch break I have to use a meter even though I paid a lot of money for my permit. I agree that the parking permit is very expensive. Also, the South Lot should be cheaper that the other lots since i is extremely far away. I wasn't aware that you could only use the meter for one hour but that does seem very unfair especially if your class is longer than one hour.