Extra fees for new student centre By Vanessa Burka burk0146@algonquincollege.com By Isabel Jarvo jarv0039@algonquincollege.com An additional $60 out of the students’ fees will go directly toward the development of the new student centre for 2011 for the next 25 years, according to Jack Doyle, the SA’s number cruncher. When the Ontario colleges experienced a tuition freeze, Algonquin was seeing a particularly difficult economic situation which was impacting their ability to provide students a quality level of service, said Rob Nettleton, SA President. The SA recognized this need and proposed an increase to the student activity fee of $60 and it was called the student services grant. After obtaining feedback from the students, the SA realized their needs in terms of more student space, quiet study space, computer labs and club space. “We then thought of creating a new studeny centre,” he said. “We talked to the students about either eliminating the student services grant, which would reduce the student activity fee by $60 or we could redirect that money towards the construction of student facilities on campus.” According to Nettleton, the student centre will happen by means of a loan and the $60 per student will go towards paying off that loan.Through online polling, canvassing and open forums, the SA asked the students if they would mind contributing to this big project. “It wasn’t formal, but there was a majority vote,” said Nettleton. “We wanted to gage feedback ... there was very little opposition towards it.” Questions arose about the enjoyment of these facilities for the current students. Nettleton wanted to remind students that existing facilities such as The Observatory, the Fitness Zone or the soccer doam wouldn’t exist for our use if our past alumni hadn’t worked hard for their development. “We’re benefiting from the pay-it-forward system,” he said. “Algonquin’s future students will benefit from our generosity.” |
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