Students Provide Money to Contribute to Facility Management When State Funding is Unable
An administrative fee of more than $100 will be added to each CU student’s tuition per semester beginning this year. UCSU, the student legislature, voted and passed a bill to provide funds for capitol construction to build structures on campus for students on April 15, 2004. During this time, the state of Colorado was unable to grant CU the money to modernize the Fleming Law Building, which was outdated and no longer offered the minimum requirements to supply quality education.
“The law building was in threat of losing their accreditation from the Bar Association if CU did not get a new facility,” said Charles Johnson, a senior UCSU Tri-Executive and a finance and real estate major.
The bill stated that when the first building was completed, students would begin to pay a fee of $100 per semester for the first year. For the second year Colorado students will pay $200 for the construction of the buildings per semester, and for the third year students will pay $300 per semester. Students will pay $400 per semester for the next 20 years beginning the forth year after the first building has been constructed.
“Spending money is necessary to keep up with modern technology,” said Jessie Holzman, a sophomore psychology major.
Jenny Bloom, a sophomore environmental studies major, said she doesn’t mind helping pay for new technology and more classrooms.
“The school has to be maintained with new technology for students to keep getting a quality education,” said Bloom.
Adam Berlinberg, a sophomore biochemistry major, said the prices the student legislature came up with are steep and the administrative fee should be kept in the middle around $200 per semester.
“The state should pay for the (construction) because we’re a public university,” said Berlinberg. “It seems right for them to do that.”
The fees are paying for the Atlas building, the business building renovation, the visual arts center (which will be demolished within one to two years while design is in progress), infrastructure for the campus such as wireless internet connections and computer work, and the Wolf Law Building.
“(The Atlas building is) an incredible asset to a bunch of different departments like communications and film studies,” said Johnson.
The total cost of the Atlas building is $31 million dollars and students helped pay for $21 million of the total, according to Professor Robert Schnabel, Associate Vice Chancellor.
“There was no other choice at the time and it’s now an honor for the students to be able to help contribute to their campus and because the notoriety of this university is going to affect people long after they graduate.” said Johnson. “The value of their degree, we just want that to go up and up.”
The buildings are state-of-the-art and set an example for the entire country. They demonstrate what facilities should provide in terms of technology and good environment for students, according to Johnson.
“The new library in the Wolf building and the Atlas building will benefit students because they will be able to study in a modernized location with more sources,” said Holzman.
Berlinberg also said that he likes to be able to contribute to new technology for the campus.
While some students believe that contributing extra money to help build modernized facilities is a good thing, some students think that the state should pay.
“That’s why we pay taxes,” said Dylan Lyons, a sophomore finance major. “I go to a state school because I pay taxes which are supposed to cover our expenses.”