USF is learning that running a state-of-the-art building isn’t cheap — and that it might come at a cost to students.
It seems administrators got a little too excited with the idea of a new, pretty Marshall Student Center — one that would attract new students and make returning students feel more at home — and forgot to take a look at the big picture.
Admittedly, it is a beautiful building to walk into and surely demands “Bull Pride.”
With all the marketing and money being put into the image of the University, it’s no wonder that in 2003, students agreed to pay a flat Student Union fee so a new Marshall Student Center could be built.
Unfortunately, many of the students who flipped some cash never got to enjoy the new center. This year’s students pay a flat fee at the beginning of every semester to cover the bills and incoming students may face an even higher fee.
After all the meticulous planning, administrators forgot one important thing: Who pays the bills?
According to the Tampa Tribune, the University paid $21,211.08 in September 2007 to operate the old Marshall Center. The bill for the Marshall Student Center this September, however, came out to $103,506.26.
The University covers these bills with Student Union fees. At this rate, however, administrators may look into raising those fees.
And while there’s all this talk of where money will come from, Student Government is rallying to spend even more.
SG wants to look into keeping the Library and Marshall Student Center open 24 hours a day the week prior to and the week of finals. The figures detailing how much it’ll cost to keep those hours, though, have yet to be released.
From a monetary standpoint, there is simply no way to justify leaving these buildings open so long.
Yes, both see an increase in traffic during finals weeks, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to money. It costs money to staff these buildings and keep them operating.
And while the University debates the logic of keeping the MSC and Library open 24-7 for two weeks, the bigger picture — who pays the big bills — appears to get lost in the shuffle. USF’s students may end up footing the bill for poor planning on the part of their administration.
Editorial: Late nights might cost students too much
Published: Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Updated: Wednesday, November 12, 2008
3 comments
Marc
I personally find it to be ridiculous that they would even consider keeping these facilities open 24 hours just to help out the slacking students who choose to cram their studies in at the last minute. As posted before, when people choose to cram all their studies in at the very end of the semester, more often than not it shows a real lack of academic commitment, and to raise the utility bill by keeping these facilities open to cater to the slackers is ridiculous. A much better approach to this situation would be to keep the library open till 3 or 4 AM, and not even bother keeping the MSC open. I do understand the MSC was supposed to be open just for the computer lab, however, the library contains a plethora of computers to be used, so it is quite unneccesary to keep the MSC open just for this singular purpose. I do understand that there are many grad students and what not who legitimately need the library open to constantly study and check out books during this time, which is why I consider opening the library until 4 AM is a completely legitimate way of dealing with this situation.
Lassy
If only there were some highly popular beverage that could be sold before 6pm to rake in more revenue... hmm.... I kid, I kid.
Billy
I agree. While keeping the buildings open a little longer is a good idea... keeping them open 24 hours a day is ridiculous. As the article reporting the issues said today... students need to sleep a little in between classes. Cramming at the end just shows that you did not read anything all semester long and you decided to do it at the end OR you are obsessed with getting a higher grade (which is good) and could likely study at home. In a time where we like to spend too much money too often, as students, we should restrict the overspending a little and do nothing more then we have in the past as far as building hours go...
