The new athletic fee that is being proposed is making its way to the TAMIU polls Mar 6 – 8.The questions to be asked are: should it be approved by the students and who will vote if there has not yet been much information about the voting for students to know that they have a choice on this fee (there are no signs on the green, on bulletin boards (as of Mar. 1 — five days away from the polls opening))? I hope this does not just reach the ears of a few students and that more students are made aware about their right to approve or reject this fee.
I for one cannot say yes or no to this because it will not affect me; I should no longer be paying tuition (may the Gods allow this) by that time.
But what about everyone else that is not graduating. They will have to fork over an additional $60 – $75 a semester depending on class load, not counting the 6.7 percent increase tuition will see this fall.
So what are the benefits of this fee?
One of the main benefits is that it will allow for more scholarships to be awarded. Many of you know that not all athletes get scholarships and/or that what some get is not enough to cover all of their expenses. So this is a very good cause when it comes to helping out our fellow students. The flip side to this is that Athletes make up a small percentage of the entire student body, meaning that the majority of the students would not qualify for these scholarships (correct me if I am wrong please)–the majority meaning those that will be paying this fee.
Another benefit is that it is to help alleviate the amount of money that is taken from Designated Tuition to cover Athletics (in other words: funds that could be used for something other than Athletics will eventually be able to be used for Academic purpuses). This would represent a sharp decrease in how much will actually be used for Athletics from the Designated Tuition over the next eight years. (If you attended one of the THREE forums held to inform the student body about these increases – you know what I am talking about…if not then you are still lost in the clouds)
Those are the two main benefits I see that would result from the Athletic fee increase if voted for by the students.
So what does this mean for you, the average student. This means that you have the choice to decide whether or not your money should go to Athletics.
$60 – $75 bucks is not a lot when you think about it…I mean what can you possibly buy with this amount of money? Examples of what you can get for that amount of money:
1.) A Text Book for a class (At the University Bookstore)2.) A Purse3.) A Playstation Game (for the gamers)4.) A Nice Curling Iron5.) A Bus Ride Home6.) Cloths
I am sure you can think of what you can put that amount of money into.
The other thing I want to mention with this is that I have not seen much publicity other than an email and a story on the TAMIU website about the vote on the fee.
Where are the sandwich boards (as of Mar 1…I see nothing)?Where is the “where to vote” information?The Administration says they want you, the students, to be aware of this information — but where is it other than those two locations (both online) that I mentioned above?
If no one knows that they will be able to vote, who will vote? Will it be only ATHLETES that vote because no one else is being encouraged to vote? It is begining to look that way to me, in my humble opinion at least.