Students enrolled at SF State and living off-campus for the 2019-2020 school year can expect to pay $1,587 of their tuition costs on transportation, according to the Office of Student Financial Aid.
Students who commute on their own need to have a way to opt-out of the transportation and campus fees included in their tuition because the money is not being used for it.
Rather than having to pay for campus amenities that are not used by everyone, a better option is having that money funneled toward other bills students face in college.
SF State students automatically get charged with gym, health center and public transportation fees as part of their tuition, despite not always getting to use these facilities.
Of the 50 students who participated in a randomized poll, 48 of them said they believe students should have the option of whether or not these fees should be included in their tuition.
SF State is still a commuter school. The majority of the student body strictly attend classes before immediately leaving for the day.
“We are already struggling to pay for classes and now we have to also pay for these resources even if we do not use them,” said Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts (BECA) major Caurraine Titus.
Since a high percentage of students commute and only spend time on campus to attend class, their lives take place outside of San Francisco, leaving them no time to take advantage of the gym, health center or other campus-wide activities.
“I think students should have an option or at least redistribute those fees into stuff like parking permits or gas cards for people who drive because I use none of the other facilities,” said English major Erica Salas.
Only 4% of the students who participated in the poll disagreed on students having a choice.
“I don’t really think the students should have an option,” said marketing major Sarah Keiper. “The fees are not that bad and if we are already being charged for them, might as well use them.”
College students have a hard enough time surviving financially to make ends meet. So to pay for unused campus facilities is a waste, considering that many students do not use them.
A.Goodman • Sep 28, 2019 at 8:06 am
Student living redefined….. your now in the U Corp vortex where fees and amenities are a profit margin for their growth…..
A commuter school transforming to a university has impacts transit housing and open space being major impacts, and than unseen ones like environmental impacts social and equity concerns.
The CCSF campus has similar issues, and with the transportation and housing impacts many other concerns remain un-addresses by campus administrators caught up in their own masterplanning excercise….
The housing and transit impacts by SFSU-CSU are drastically impacting the westside of SF. Senior and family housing was devoured by sfsu’s Growth in UPS and UPN to allow more students but ignored the impacts.
Transit wise was the same as they proposed eliminating the garage and not helping pay for better links to Daly City Bart or the 19th ave proposals for a subway or connecting monorail concept….or even a trackless train bus (zoo-bus) to get more people quickly to Bart….
The fees dont discuss emissions/ carbon impacts and the growth syndrome that will destroy other neighborhoods and ignores how the creative arts building and wellness center eliminated prior ammenities for renters in parkmerced without a discounted plan for residents….
The story is deeper than the article, and the concerns only growing with sfsu’s Growth.