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VOL. 62, NO. 4 SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
Illustration by Lauren Johnson
Student petition demands reduced tuiton KATHARINE DEROSA Staff Writer
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students, increased by $30. The Capital Outlay Fee is required by the General Assembly to reimburse the state for costs of buildings and equipment for out-of-state students. “A Zoom meeting held in a dorm room or our parents’ home is not as valuable as the price of the type of education that we are paying for,” the petition states.
ANY STUDENTS ARE experiencing college in different ways this semester, particularly through the use of online classes, and some feel that the change in education should be reflected in a change in tuition prices. Sunny Lee, a senior psychology major, started an online petition last week, asking VCU to lower tuition and give students a voice on the issue. As of Tuesday, it has gained more than A Zoom meeting held 1,100 signatures on change.org. in a dorm room or our “I think the biggest thing is just parents’ home is not as getting the word out there,” Lee said, “and articulating what I think valuable as the price of a lot of students feel, but haven’t the type of education actually vocalized.” that we are paying for.” Lee started the petition after reading about students from Boston, Brown, Vanderbilt, George Washing- Sunny Lee, psychology senior ton and other universities who had similar complaints about tuition cost Freshman chemistry major Preet with respect to the education quality. Shah said she supports the petition, The petition states that online but thinks the quality of education classes provide a lower quality depends on how the professor is hanof education than in-person dling online teaching. instruction and an increase “They don’t really need to charge us in mandatory fees is unnec- everything,” Shah said. essar y due to an increase Shah said she was frustrated by in remote classes. having to pay for online platforms, VCU’s university fee increased by such as TopHat, when VCU pro$102 to $2,137, according to the an- vides Blackboard and Canvas, simnual budget. The technology fee in- ilar online educational platforms, creased by $2, the library fee increased to professors and students for free. by $10 and the Capital Outlay Fee, Shah said TopHat should be covered which only applies to nonresident by tuition costs.
Christopher Saladino, an assistant professor of political science at VCU, said he understands why students want to lower tuition costs, but thinks the petition came too late. Tuition and fees were due for most students at the start of the semester. Tuition reduction would need to be budgeted and approved by the Board of Visitors, which Saladino said could take a long time. The annual university budget, typically approved during the spring semester, wasn’t finalized by the Board of Visitors for the 202021 academic year until June 5 due to COVID-19. Tuition, the student activity fee and the health services fee did not increase from last year, according to the budget. Virginia residents pay $12,094 in tuition per year during the 2020-21 school year, and nonresidents pay $32,742. Room and board costs are the same for both Virginia and nonresident students. VCU estimates the cost of room and board to be $11,504 per semester. Saladino said he doesn’t think the coronavirus contributed much to the case for lowering tuition, since every higher-level institution is dealing with similar financial struggles due to COVID-19. He said the “practical part” of him doesn’t think tuition should decrease, as the cost of online classes was the same last school year. “I have kind of mixed feelings about it,” Saladino said. “If I were 19 years old and trying to pay my way through school, I’d be protesting tuition all the time.”