UNC's Student Fee Advisory Subcommittee met Thursday afternoon to discuss adding $10 to the yearly Campus Health student fee, as well as renaming fees in the public health and medical school programs.
What's new?
- Executive Director Ken Pittman, Director of Business and Support Services Kim McCown and Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Dr. Allen O'Barr of Campus Health gave a presentation about increasing student fees. Members of the subcommittee were in favor of raising the annual Campus Health fee by $10.
- The fee would be increased to $410 from $400 per year and would be billed as $5 extra each semester.
- The increased revenue for the fee would go toward a new program, called the multicultural health program, that focuses on hiring more Black counselors for CAPS.
- "One of the things that this pandemic has pointed out is the significant health and economic disparities which exist for people of color and for marginalized populations," Pittman said.
- "When the civil rights reawakening began in May, it seemed like a very critical time," O'Barr said. "It was at that point that I requested the use of our reserve monies to do a one-year hire of four new Black therapists.”
- The revenue from the fee would go to maintaining their employment.
- The students on the committee, including Student Body President Reeves Moseley and Undergraduate Student Government Treasurer Stephen Wright, expressed approval for the program and Campus Health's attention to racial justice issues.
- "The committee agreed that we should do everything we can to allow them to maintain this expansion of therapists for students of color," Wright said.
- Members also voted in favor of changing the name of one fee and the description of another.
- The name of a fee for medical students was changed from iPad fee to M.D. Technology Fee.
- The description of a fee for students in the Gillings School of Global Public Health that goes toward students' capstone projects was changed in accordance with the ways the project has changed.
What does the subcommittee do?
- The SFAS is a subcommittee of the Tuition and Fee Advisory Task Force.
- Members oversee the student fee submission and review process.
Who is on the subcommittee?
- The group is made up of a mix of faculty members, administrators and representatives from Student Government.
- The members make recommendations to the Tuition & Fee Advisory Task Force.
For previous coverage of the subcommittee, click here.
