Student fees for the health center, athletic department, campus-based transportation and campus technology are proposed to increase by $19.50 per semester for the 2018-2019 school year.

Those fees are paid by every Oswego State undergraduate student and are meant to cover the costs associated with the various services provided by the campus. For the current 2017-2018 academic year, costs per semester total to $637. For a full year, they cost $1,274.

These fees, called the “broad-based fees,” go to pay for four major departments on campus: Mary Walker Health Center, Campus Technology Services, the Athletic Department and the transportation portion of Auxiliary Services’ budget.

“The transportation fee pays for the Blue Route, the Green Route and break transportation,” said Michael Flaherty, general manager for Auxiliary Services.

The health fee, athletic fee and technology fee will all be increasing by $6 per semester each, and the transportation fee will be increasing by $3.50 per semester.

The health fee covers costs associated with use of Mary Walker Health Center, which provides basic medical services to students who pay the health fee, such as flu shots, STD testing and strep throat tests.

“The health fee covers all services provided by the health center, counseling services, Lifestyles and all staff salaries,” said Angie Brown, director of Mary Walker Health Center.

The proposed increase to the health fee would cover the increased expenses due to cost-of-living wage adjustments for health center employees required by their union and the state of New York, an increase to staffing and the increasing costs of some medications, according to Brown.

According to a report by Consumer Reports, in the past year, about 22 percent of Americans saw an increase to the costs of at least one prescription medication.

The athletic fee covers the costs from the 24 varsity college sports teams supported by Oswego State.

“[The athletic fee] provides financial resources for our entire athletics operating budget, including transportation, meals, lodging, uniforms and equipment,” said Susan Viscomi, director of athletics for Oswego State.

Unlike club sports, which receive their funding from Student Association, the varsity teams are supported by Oswego State directly. Club sports teams propose a budget to SA annually and can appeal for money from the SA contingency fund to cover unanticipated costs. Money from that contingency fund is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, and teams generally do not get the total amount of money that is required to cover their expenses, requiring teams to fundraise or for team members to cover a portion of their costs themselves.

Students on the varsity teams are not required to cover costs through out-of-pocket payments, and things like building costs, referee payments and the costs of traveling to games are covered through the athletic department, which uses the student-supported athletics fee to cover a large portion of those costs, according to Viscomi.

The technology fee covers the costs of the technology present on campus, including Banner and MyOswego services. It is also used to maintain and upgrade the internet network present in academic and residential buildings on campus.

The broad-based fees can be increased by a maximum of 2 percent from their amounts the previous academic year, which is a limitation set by the Higher Education Price Index. The HEPI is a national figure that tracks the effects of inflation on higher education.

The directors of the departments that collect these fees hold an annual forum the week before spring break recess in order to garner student feedback on the proposed changes. Last year, no students attended the forum, and this year, according to Flaherty, one student who was working on a report for class attended the forum.

The forum is not the only source of student feedback, as each department that collects broad-based fees also goes before SA to get feedback from the student representatives. Mary Walker Health Center also has a Student Health Advisory Committee, which represents the student voice as the health center makes decisions about what services to offer, according to Brown.