Seventy-five students filled out a UB survey last month and wrote that they’re unhappy with their broad-based fees.
But UB never heard back from roughly 30,000 other students who could have taken the survey.
UB sent a 13-question broad-based fee survey to the entire student body in February and asked students about their fees and the services the fees fund. Although one student said they used all UB services, 67 students said they used only a portion or none of the services that their money pays for.
Students each pay roughly $1,200 in UB fees, according to past Spectrum research. The fees fund services ranging from Student Association events to counseling services on campus.
While students can waive some of the broad-based fees, the College Fee, Technology Fee and Transcript Fee are mandatory.
More than half of the surveyed students said parking and technology are important to their student experience. Forty-two students rated intercollegiate athletics as “not important at all,” despite UB Athletics’ overall success in the past two seasons.
Surveyed students said the highest priorities for fee money were student health, wellness and counseling services, academic and co-curricular personal development, bus/shuttle services, parking services and electronic library materials.
Surveyed students chose intercollegiate athletics, student engagement, official transcript services, recreation and intramurals and strategic investment initiatives (such as Lockwood Library and Capen Hall student service facilities) among the services that warrant the least funding.
A number of students also shared their opinions through short-answer questions, many of which referenced parking issues on campus.
“Parking is such a problem on both [campuses], it’s absurd,” one student wrote. “There are all sorts of fees to park then there's tickets to pay when you park in a spot. … Let us fight for spots while there's upwards of 100 open in a different lot that you're not allowed to park in.”
Other students responded with concerns about UB mental health service waitlists.
“Services at the counseling center need to be expanded; when wait times for an initial appointment for individual therapy are over a month, it is time to hire more counselors and support staff,” one student wrote. “This would also enable the center to offer more group therapy options, as well as greater engagement with the campus (and remote) community regarding mental health.”
Jacklyn Walters is a Co-senior News Editor and can be reached at jacklyn.walters@ubspectrum.com and on Twitter @JacklynUBSpec
Jacklyn Walters is a senior communication major and The Spectrum's managing editor. She enjoys bringing up politics at the dinner table and seeing dogs on campus.
