The Students' Representative Council is developing a fee-restructuring plan to alleviate financial burdens. Photo: UNews Archives

MSVU distance students to pay student fees

Student council president Jeremy Neilson wants distance education students who use campus facilities at Mount Saint Vincent University to pay up

The free ride could be over.

Students who take distance education courses but live on or close to campus at Mount Saint Vincent University have been using campus facilities without paying, says Jeremy Neilson, president of the Students' Representative Council.

Neilson said there are about 890 on-campus distance students, which represents about $30,000 in potentially collectable fees. These students currently do not pay any student council fees.

"Our services are very accessible to these students as well as very frequently used," he said, referring to facilities like the athletic centre.

Neilson wants on-campus distance students to pay the same fee as full-time students, who pay $33.55 per full school year. Distance students are not required to pay this fee because of the nature of their relationship with the school - they never step foot in a classroom.

But some distance students have been running circles around the campus gym.

The registrar's office conducted a census and tracked the flow of students throughout the school using a large database of information on student enrolment and demographics. It found that a large majority of students who take distance courses are using campus facilities such as athletic facilities - a privilege other students pay for, said Neilson.

The extra cash would help alleviate financial burdens and pump money into awards funds, academic grants, athletics, and employment for students, he said.

The council is preparing a fee-restructuring plan to present to the university within the month. If approved, it could take up to a year to implement. The 2009-2010 school year is the first time the university is able to accurately track students and another year of census-taking is needed, he said.

"There's a lot of research that goes into this," he said. "We're looking into it just to make sure we're not putting students in a pickle."

"We're salivating at the door"

But fattening the council bank balance is only part of the council's plan to stabilize its books, says Neilson.

"If the distance fees ... is something that cannot be attained, we need to get on a better structure."

Included in the presentation will be a plan to streamline the cash flow from student fees. Right now, the council collects four installments each fiscal year: October, November, February, and April.

"We're salivating at the door, waiting for the next installment ... so that way we can balance our cheques and pay bills and payroll," said Neilson.

The scheduled increments have caused many headaches for Neilson. For example, outside companies involved in frosh week must wait patiently for a month to be paid because the first fee installment comes in October rather than September.

"There's comes a point when they say, we gave you the time, now we need the money."

As well, it is near impossible to plan events in January, he says. By the time the February cash is in the bank, "... it's spring break, and then it's March, and then it's elections. There is a lot of things we can't do because we're restricted with our installments," said Neilson.

The council wants to have more increments of less value to better disperse the flow of money throughout the school year.

Neilson hopes his two-fold fee-restructuring plan will level the financial playing field at the Mount.

"It's about balancing the table," he said. "It's making it so that we will be able to make a decision and go forward for the betterment of the students," he said before mentioning a winter carnival and big-name concerts.

"Financial stability is the ultimate goal."

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