There are many firsts in a student’s life, first day of school, first car, first party and first day of college. With so many firsts it’s easy to get lost in all the excitement.
A student’s first day in college is overwhelming with all the information, instructions and the expectation to remember all of it.
That’s part of being in college rushing through everything missing what’s important and not getting the services that are offered. Students don’t fully understand what they pay for because the student handbook only provides a generalization of what the fee actual covers. Students in first year pay 16 fees from the $5 handbook to the $180 IT services fee. But what do these fees really provide?
First year students may find out what they’re getting out of college if they get involved via the Student Association, varsity athletics or IT services. These are the three services that students don’t know about.
In a poll of 20 students, 18 of them did not know what the fees that each of these three departments did for them. The others knew what the Student Association fee went towards.
The Student Association is the student government. In the student handbook it says that the fee covers things like “Awareness programs, blood donor clinics, charities, Last Blast, contests, designated driver programs, grad ball, intramural athletics…” and more. What does that really mean?
As the Student Association (SA) vice president of Campus Life Anthony Boland knows his fare share about the SA.
“The SA fee goes a long way,” says Boland. “It funds the Campus Emergency Response Team, the Women’s Centre, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning Centre.” That’s so many services on campus for one small fee of almost $70.
That is not everything that is covered. This fee also covers the two major events Campusfest and Last Blast. Campusfest this year featured Alexisonfire and Metric, two Canadian bands that have hit it big. The event had more than 3,500 students in attendance and was one of the largest outdoor orientation week concerts in the province.
Athletics are a big part of any school whether it is high school or college. They represent the school on the field showing school sprit and pride. Students have to be the best of the best to make it. There are two fees charged to keep athletics program going, an expansion fee and membership fee.
The athletic expansion fee and membership fee are what keeps the Athletic Complex alive.
Since the new campus Recreation and Wellness Centre was built as an addition to the college, it has its own mortgage. With being a separate building it has its own utilities and fees that it has to pay. That is what the expansion fee covers.
It pays the mortgage, gas, heat, hydro and water. The membership fee is what allows students to use and access the gym equipment, use the campus tennis centre, and squash courts.
The athletic expansion fee as well as the Recreation and Wellness centre came from a referendum voted on by students in 2005. The fee originally was $50 for students who would not get to use the new facilities, but increased every year to eventually reach its required goal of $145. That is why Ken Babcock director of Athletics said, “If you show the students value then they will say yes or no.”
The recreation centre not only holds the Campus Fitness Center, but also gave the school much needed space to hold exams. The new gym is able to hold hundreds of students every semester during exam week. Babcock later went on to add that the “Number one thing is students benefit.”
Lastly, the service students don’t understand is IT services, the reasons being because the students polled were not in a mobile learning program and did not understand what they got out of it.
With mobile learning changing next year students more than ever don’t know what exactly they will be getting.
All students next year will still get the 1,000 pages of prints they can use throughout the semester to print projects, assignments and notes. This fee will also give them access to the Durham College website and their mycampus email.
With other services like access to the wireless and consultation services, use of the commons really not much is changing for students without laptops. It’s those in the mobile learning program and those students who have to buy their own next year that will change.
The students who choose to buy out their laptop or purchase their own for next year will not be privy to the current services. They will not have parts replaced, get computers reimaged or receive a loner laptop with out a minimal fee. It will now be on the burden of the student to pay for it all.
IT services is thinking of an opt-in fee so all of these services will be available to new students but have not decided on an amount or if it will happen just yet.
