Spring Break
SGA OKs new fee
David Fitzgerald
Issue date: 2/16/05 Section: News
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The Student Government Association saw two resolutions on student fees at Tuesday's meeting, tabling one to next week and approving a new $7 per credit hour fee.
The new fee, the Facilities Enhancement and Life Safety Fee, will be levied only on incoming students and pay for Western Illinois University to install sprinkler systems in all residence halls.
Illinois House Bill 4361, also referred to as the Fire Sprinkler Dormitory Act, requires that post-secondary educational institutions to install fire sprinklers in all dormitories by 2013. According to Vice President for Student Services Garry Johnson, the cost to "sprinkle" Western's residence halls would run between $7 to 9 million. The Fire Sprinkler Dormitory Act also included a loan program to help pay for the sprinkler upgrades, but the loan program was not funded.
The fee will only be applied to incoming students to uphold Western's Cost Guarantee and will cost them each $105 per semester based on a 15 credit hour schedule. Johnson said Western estimates making about $600,000 from the fee in its first year.
SGA passed the resolution by consent, but the fee will not be official until the board of trustees approves it later this month.
Jose Marroquin, Latin American Student Organization senator and sponsor of the fee resolution, said the state put Western in a tough place with the unfunded mandate.
"It's the law and this money has to come from somewhere," Marroquin said. "It's a matter of safety."
Addressing the senate at Tuesday's meeting, Western President Al Goldfarb said many other universities have similar fees, which he termed infrastructure fees.
Goldfarb added that once the sprinklers have been paid for, money raise by the fee would go toward other "significant" projects, such as a new cultural center.
Student Tenant Union senator Aaron Stoecker said he knows Western needs to come up with the money to comply with the law, but expressed concern that the fee will continue indefinitely.
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