A primary concern of my administration is to keep student fees at a minimum and to carefully scrutinize the existing fees. As students, we have a great impact on at least one fee that we pay each semester; the bond revenue fee. This fee is used toward all bond revenue facilities including the Holmes Student Center.

By virtue of the student center being a bond revenue facility, a defecit of its operational costs results in a student fee. In essence, when you purchase goods in the student center you are reducing the opportunity for others to raise your student fee. One person’s actions may seem insignificant in the scope of the facility’s budget; however, the student center bookstore has suffered such significant losses in business to the private entity down the street, that discussion rose of making our student bookstore private. This would result in a bookstore that would generally not serve students’ needs, but its own.

Students pay a bond revenue fee that suffered a hefty increase last year. It rose from $6.38 to $7.03 per credit hour for a semester. Fifty cents of this increase is allocated for operational costs of the student center. Revenues from our bookstore could maintain or even reduce this fee.

With a new bookstore manager being hired this month, services of our bookstore should increase significantly. I have heard some claim that the Village Commons Bookstore has less expensive books. However, the bookstores set their prices to be very competitive each semester. We all have a vested interest to see our bookstore succeed.

Huda Scheidelman

Student Association President