Fees become new area of contention in UMass struggle

In the ongoing battle between the governor's office and the University of Massachusetts, trustees of the university earlier this month approved a $1,000 fee increase for Massachusetts residents and twice that for out of state students for the next academic year.

In last week's disclosure of further details on his higher education reform plans, Governor Mitt Romney criticized the "fee abuse," which he said would be a central issue in the ongoing debate concerning the fate of UMass.

The fee increase ranges from just over 15 percent at the Amherst campus to nearly 20 percent at Dartmouth. Bill Wright of the President's Office at UMass defended this increase saying that in the past four to five years there has been no increase and the fees "needed to be collected anyway."

However, TheBoston Globe quoted a Romney official saying, "The state colleges have abused students and the fee system for years, putting higher charges on the backs of students instead of cutting their own costs." Since 1989 there has been a 453 percent increase in fees.

By collecting fees instead of raising tuition, schools are able to remain more independent because all the revenue from fees stays with the university. In the current tuition-based program, the government collects and distributes money to all the schools. Under Romney's tuition based plan, however, the entire revenue would remain with each restructured campus.

President William M. Bulger, whose position is one of the major targets proposed for elimination in Romney's cuts, is trying to alleviate pressure from the recent budget cuts. However, the university's move also helps ween them off state funding.

In the same meeting in which fee hikes were approved, Bulger and trustees proposed a strategy, which would cut $40 million from the $440 million budget.

Wright commented that this is "in reaction to the $3 billion in state cuts" but would not say whether it is intended to improve the efficiency and self-sufficiency of each university.

The fees that students are charged are in addition to the flat tuition cost and are used to cover extracurricular activities, technology, and other activities on campus. While fees vary among campuses, the tuition cost is the same throughout the system.

According to Romney's education chief Peter Nessen, the reportedly poor performance of the president's office and the fee system is only a part of the problems with the UMass system. There have been low graduation rates and little accountability to tax payers, he said.

Romney has encountered considerable opposition in his vast restructuring of the state university system. TheNew York Times quoted an anonymous state representative as saying "Romney is not going to get his plan done on eliminating Bulger and reorganizing UMass."

One aide to Bulger claimed in a Times article that Romney is deftly campaigning against Bulger to set him up "as the poster child for the Legislature's unwillingness to let politics as usual die in this state."

Romney's proposed plan includes consolidating several of the UMass and community colleges into seven regional schools. The president's office would also be eliminated in an effort to save nearly $150 million. UMass Amherst would also be spun off to create a premier research institution more like UNC Chapel Hill or UVA.

Fees in the next academic year will range from $6,129 at Lowell to $7,482 at Amherst.