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Cost of attending SHU high enough without additional Student Activities Fee

To the Editor-

As a member of the Seton Hall community for the past three years, I am outraged by Dean Van Norman's proposed $50 per semester student activity fee. Since this letter can only be 400 words it will by no means be a comprehensive essay on the finances of the University—it will just serve as one student's voice against a poor budget idea.

Seton Hall University already assesses a "University Fee" to the tune of $650 a year for full-time students. The University's website does not clearly delineate where this fee goes, or what it pays for. I would think that $650 would be enough for all the "activities" that I participate in, but evidently the University thinks otherwise. In tough economic times when the cost of attendance for a year at Seton Hall is over $47,000 it baffles me that an increase of $100 for full-time students is considered a good idea.

The most disconcerting part is the fact that Dean Van Norman has no problem assessing this fee and raising $500,000 to give to "SAB and SGA to use as they see fit." Half a million dollars is a lot of money and I'm sure the University could think of many more beneficial ways to spend it—such as opening the Library before 3 p.m. on Sundays or keeping Express open past 8 p.m. on a Friday night—instead of throwing more money towards a Winter Ball in the University Center that only a handful of students attend.

A large scale event—such a Spring Weekend and a concert by a known musical act might be worth my $100. But from my experience at Seton Hall there seems to be too much red tape for such an event. Instead, I foresee this $500,000 becoming a regular fixture in the SAB/SGA budget with the money being sprinkled around various clubs with no real difference in programming being made.

I encourage Dean Van Norman, SGA and SAB to think long and hard about the impact this will make on students who already struggle to pay for their education. I suggest Dean Van Norman and her staff make an effort to audit the budget in place and reallocate some funds before once again reaching into the pockets of Seton Hall students.

Thank you,

Cynthia C. Bell

The Setonian welcomes letters to the editor. All submissions must include the authors first and last name and a phone number where the author can be reached. Submissions should be no more than 400 words. The Setonian reserves the right to edit submissions for style. Deadline for submission is noon on the Tuesday preceding publication.

Letters can be e-mailed to Brenden Higashi, Community & Opinion Editor, at thesetonianopinion@gmail.com.


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